I love apologetics.  I love defending the faith “that was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3).  However, I have found the most perplexing thing in all this is that I have yet to convince an unbeliever of the truth, even though all the arguments have been clearly laid out in a logical way so that they can plainly see the truth. 

I could walk away from this and say, “Apologetics doesn’t work.”  But then I would miss the truth that there is another side to this coin—apologetics is not just a powerful tool to steer the unbeliever in the right direction… it also (in my experience, more so) gives the Christian a better understanding and firmer faith in their walk with Jesus.

You see, the enemy’s oldest trick is still his most powerful… “Did God say…?”  He is like a door-to-door salesman and only needs the door opened a crack so that he can put his foot in the door and offload his lies.  Doubt does that.  Our children will leave the protection of our homes to go into a world that is full of door-to-door salesmen, looking for every opportunity to pour in their doubt and force that door open to full-blown unbelief.

It is true; I can’t say I have led a single person to Jesus because of apologetics (that I know of). And this is not for lack of trying or lack of opportunity. However, apologetics has encouraged me and built my faith to a place where I am more and more convinced of the truth of the claims in God’s Word.  Not only that, but it has given me the opportunity to solidify the faith of other Christians—by helping them to see that what we have, as Christians, is not only true, but can stand against the strongest of onslaughts/salesmen.

Now, I need to pass this onto my children. It is of little value that I am strong and solid in my faith if I have not passed this onto my children. In fact, I am more and more convinced that success in any area of my life at the failure of my family’s spiritual well-being is failure. The opposite is also true.  I may fail (in the eyes of the world) everywhere else in life, but if my family knows Jesus, and if each one is secure in their relationship with Him, I have succeeded at what matters most in life. 

To that end, working through the PACEs with my children and opening their eyes to the truth of God’s Word and how they can, not only apply it but believe in it and stand firm on it, makes more sense to me than sending them off to the government’s anti-God indoctrination centres, commonly called ‘schools.’  It has been said that we are all indoctrinated; the only question is:  What doctrine? 

Our children are second generation ‘ACE’ers’.  Each PACE that they do is a step in apologetics that will help solidify their worldview.  I’m even more excited about the specially developed Apologetics PACEs that are now available for them.  However, I never want to lose sight that the most powerful apologetic in my children’s lives is my relationship with Jesus.

My relationship is made stronger by knowing that what I believe stands up against every question (doubt) the salesmen of this world try to throw at it. I love apologetics—not only because it gives me an answer, but because it has helped to build my faith in Jesus, which in turn, helps me to build my family’s faith too.

Donovan Doyle, ACE Graduate