Archeology And The Christian Apologist

To most people, today the Bible stands as a historically discredited book. This is not because the facts of history go against the Bible, but rather because of the false propaganda of the German radicals who were aided in this mission of destruction by liberal government funding. Only a reasonable acquaintance with Biblical archeology can help a person to counter the pervasive influence of these sophisticated lies.
There are several categories of people who have doubts about the historical accuracy of the Bible, and each one of these needs us to use a different approach. Before one can do that it will be good to have a look at these groups and their distinction.
The Apologist And Non-Christians: A large number of non Christians take interest in maters related to Bible and history, as testified by a large number of books on this subject they buy, specially from the secular marketplace, about the alleged travels of Jesus to India and similar titles. This is clear as these titles continue to be bestsellers in the non Christian world. Consequently, the Christian desiring to use Archeological information to help others has a very large segment of non-Christians among his possible clientele.
The most responsive among them are usually well read, or willing to read any useful publication on this topic. They are serious in their inquiry, and once they get answers beyond a certain threshold, they become highly inclined to accept Christ as their savior. This group should be given the highest priority among non-Christian inquirers, and one should be willing to go to any length to make resources available to these people. They do not argue  unnecessarily, do not waste your time, and do not wander aimlessly. They know what they wish to know or read, and once the correct information is given to them they devour it with all devotion.   The second group is made of inquirers who are not very serious. They wish to know, but have nothing more than that in their minds. At the same time they are not at all hostile to the Christian faith, and therefore they are very useful contacts for sharing the gospel. Simple booklets and articles on exciting archeological topics such as the twenty-thousand-volume Ebla Tablets, or the discoveries related Caiphas the High Priest; etc can be quite attractive to them. Once they develop a certain level of interest, more serious archeological material can be given to them.   Then there are two difficult groups: the escapist and the serious anarchist. The escapist has some inkling of truth, and knows that anything that leads to proof for the historical veracity of the Bible would put pressure on him to believe. This he does not want to happen, and therefore he never takes anything seriously. For each solid proof that the apologist presents, he will have two or more excuses -- and many of them will not even make sense to an intelligent person. Thus it is futile to invest too much time on him. Rather than pouring out all the available proof on him, it would be better to confront him with one solid proof at a time, answering his objections, rejecting his stupid statements on his face, and pressing him not to evade the issue at hand. These people can tax even the most experienced apologist because one dishonest opponent is often worse than two honest enemies. Unless the Christian apologist learns to stop such people in their tracks, personal frustration would be the outcome.
The serious anarchist is a person who does not want to accept the Bible, come what may, and is therefore well prepared to reject even the best evidence. However, there is a crucial difference between him and the escapist. Both of them rejects the evidence, but the anarchist tries to refute it with serious and learned arguments  while the escapist simply brushes it away. This means that one can at least get the anarchist involved in direct dialogue on the issues involved. This opens the door for confronting him with evidence, forcing him to rethink his premises,  and there are many cases where such people have finally come to Christ.   The Apologist And  Christians: The Christian community is full of people who are interested in historical evidences. Unfortunately, in spite of the proliferation of resources, many of them have not seen or read the best resources in archeology. Such people will be highly helped if the Christian apologist would share his knowledge of archeology with them. This can be done orally, through the print media, or even through the electronic media which have now become accessible to a large population. Within this group the professionally trained ones would enjoy material ranging from the popular to the highly technical. On the other hand, the untrained Christian, in spite of his interest, can become discouraged with material that is too technical. So he must be given resources that range from popular to semi technical. Once properly equipped, these people will become good resource-persons for helping others.
Within the Christian community one will also find certain people who are not at all serious about apologetic issues. Thus they might never get excited about a book or a lecture on archeology. Mention of Ebla Tablets might not move them, and they might not know what the Dead Sea Scrolls stands for.  However, they are not trying to escape the issue, and therefore they can often be won over to see the need for convinced, they can also render great help.
The third group among Christians can be called the “escape artist”. He uses all his energy and intelligence to avoid making a decision. This might be because of his inner rebellion, gradual deviation from earlier commitment, or unwillingness for any serious commitment. He wants to be labeled a Christian, but does not wish to make choices that make him one. He loves the title "Christian", but not the practical implications of it. Thus he keeps pretending to be serious and committed, but cleverly brushes aside every question and argument that demand an honest response from him. Christian apologists should avoid exhausting their collection of information on these people. Rather, they should present just one or two solid historical data and repeatedly try to bring these people back to these point, so as to elicit some definite, howsoever feeble, response from them. Once they succeed in doing this, they can give out the next round of proof and repeat the same process. Instead, if they give out all the evidence in the first instance itself to an escapist, they will be left with nothing to confront these people during succeeding rounds of discussion.
The most dangerous and harmful person is the Christian Radical and the Christian Anarchist. Since they are insiders to the Christian community, they knows how to spot the weaklings, doubters, and the rebels among the Christians. He knows what their vulnerabilities are, plus when and where to attack so as to influence these people and destroy their faith. And this they do regularly and frequently. These people are Christians only in name and their loyalties are to anti-Christian philosophies.
Brief apologetic encounters  with these people will rarely serve any purpose. Nor will longer encounters benefit if the Christian apologist is not thoroughly armed. Nor should public encounter be of any benefit. On the contrary, they will use all such opportunities to sow further seeds of doubts in the minds of those who witness such discussion. They have nothing to lose if they do not win the argument. The Christian Apologist, however, has everything to lose whether he wins or loses the argument. For, to win one person he causes numerous persons from the audience to develop doubts which they did not have in the first place. Such is the influence of these people.
The best approach would be multiple private encounters with these people, and that also only by thoroughly equipped apologists. Plenty of time should be available, and only as much of the subject should be touched as can be handled within the available time. It is definitely possible to engage these people in interaction, but plenty of time and solid preparation would be needed to do that in a satisfactory manner.
Summary: The Christian faith is a completely history-dependent one. This is the reasons why Radicals and Rationalists love to attack the history recorded in the Bible.  Biblical Archeology helps Christian to defend the historical foundations of Bible,  which in turn helps them to face the anarchists, and strengthen sincere Christians in their faith. It also helps them to enlighten seekers for truth.

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Dr. Johnson C. Philip is an acknowledged Guru in Net Based Income, and Christian Studies.

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