A review of The Lazy Approach to Evangelism by Eric Hernandez.
It’s a mistake to think that Christian apologist Eric Hernandez is taking the easy way out by writing The Lazy Approach to Evangelism. Nor is the book a cynical reflection on the state of the evangelical church in America today. It’s actually the perfect approach for those of us who think that we must start reciting from our Bible-based answer list when first challenged about our faith.
The book is an excellent companion to Greg Koukl’s Tactics and Street Smarts because like Koukl, Hernandez provides unique approaches to answering questions from not just the curious but also the skeptics conditioned by our secular culture to reject religion in general and Christianity in particular. For example, Hernandez shares a question he likes to ask in church gatherings: “Why are you a Christian?” Most will share their personal testimony to explain why they believe. The right answer, “Because it’s true!” After all, he notes, when asked if water is made up of two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen, do we say “Yes, because I believe it” or “Yes, because it’s the truth”?
The hard part, of course, is engaging with powerful arguments to defend the faith. That is the definition of apologetics. Unfortunately, as Hernandez accurately points out, most Christians are not equipped, and that is not biblical: “Any Christian that is not engaging in the discipline and task of apologetics is in rebellious disobedience to the word of God.”
It’s critical that we understand what makes the faith true, and can effectively defend the historicity of the Bible and, most importantly, the resurrection and divinity of Christ. What’s equally important, and I have certainly been guilty of this, is NOT jumping right in to provide all the arguments for the faith. Hernandez rightly says the folks making any claim—-for example, that the Bible is just a bunch of stories, Jesus was just a good teacher, there are no such things as miracles——must bear the burden of proof. After all, that’s their position. Far too often, we jump in with our answers because we’ve been threatened. This lets them off the hook. “Don’t take the bait!” Make them defend their claims. There will be plenty of time to state your case.
“Any Christian that is not engaging in the discipline and task of apologetics is in rebellious disobedience to the word of God.”
An illustration from the book: When we’re challenged by someone claiming we can’t prove the existence of God, instead of starting with evidence, first ask, “What evidence do you have that God doesn’t exist?” As Hernandez explains, “In all this, I emphasized that our goal for this portion of the conversation is not to defend Christianity but to gather information and identify their position. Doing so allowed us to accomplish the first task in evangelism (know who you’re talking to) in order to achieve the second (adapt your approach accordingly.)” This certainly doesn’t mean we don’t defend the faith. It means we have to be strategic in order to be more effective.
Hernandez does an excellent job outlining the key competing worldviews, or what he calls the three biggest Plausibility Structures in our culture: Postmodernism: All is relative, there is no absolute truth and everything is subjective to the individual. Scientism: Science is the best or only way to get knowledge about reality. Naturalism: The physical world is all that exists; nothing more, nothing less. He then provides an in-depth critique of each and how best to counter the claims from the Christian worldview.
The book ends with a comprehensive look at the Biblical basis for presenting evidence. As Hernandez repeats throughout, our personal testimony, while important, cannot be all we rely upon as we engage with the lost because “it may be insufficient for showing that Christianity is true.” It’s simply too easy for those stories to be tossed aside as “nice for you, but it doesn’t work for me.” As he explains, we must be prepared to answer critical questions. The final chapters lay out five arguments to illustrate that Christianity is true. (The argument from contingency, the Kalam Cosmological argument, the argument from morality, the argument from the existence of evil and the resurrection of Jesus.) The final section transitions from presenting the evidence of God to the historicity of Jesus. He uses a lot of Gary Habermas’s “minimal facts” arguments to effectively defend the faith.
I don’t agree with Eric’s critique of the definition of worldview as the lens through which all humans see the world. That’s not a big deal, however, because his ideas enhance the Believers’ approach to engaging with those who lack a Christian worldview. His examples of encounters with atheists, agnostics and skeptics are powerful, though it would have helped to include some times when he struggled. (Something that Michael Licona so effectively does in his Jesus Contradicted: Why the Gospels Tell the Same Story Differently as he recounts his difficulties in a debate against an atheist.) We are going to be caught flatfooted at times. Some self-deprecation would add memorable, and educational, touches.
These are minor quibbles. The Lazy Approach to Evangelism is a tremendous addition to our library so we can be more prepared to stand for Christ in the most effective ways as we face an increasingly secular, hostile and lost culture.
Stuart Kellogg