Years ago, it was not very important for most Christians to be aware of the issues when it comes to textual criticism of the New Testament. The debate took place mainly in the halls of academia and the vast majority of people had no idea of the issues and they would hardly ever come up in conversation with neighbors. That is certainly not the case today. When Christians share their faith, it is very often the case (if not the norm) that they are immediately confronted with mis-information from people who have heard certain things attacking the trustworthiness and reliability of the Bible. The attacks have gone mainstream.

1 Peter 3:15 commands Christians to always be ready with an answer for the hope the lies within us. The technical term for this is “apologetics” – a defense of the Christian faith. All Christians are to engage in apologetics, though of course, some people will be more highly trained in this discipline than others. I believe it would be a right application of this Scripture to say that part of a Pastor’s job is to help God’s people know how to defend their faith.

With this in mind, and seeking to provide an answer to the skeptics, I post this lecture by my friend Dr. James White. I recommend it highly.