Two Tools Every College Student Needs in Their Arsenal—Plus Eleven Practical Tips

“Some people dismiss Darwin’s ideas as ‘just a theory,’” your professor states, quoting from this week’s assigned textbook chapter. “However, as we have seen, the pattern of evolution—the observation that life has evolved over time—has been documented directly and is supported by a vast amount of evidence.”1

As the lecture continues, you listen to example after example of this “evidence,” each case backed by a professionally illustrated diagram. You can think of answers to some of the evolutionary arguments, but others you’ve never heard before. A couple of times, your textbook has even responded to arguments you’d previously heard against evolution! All the intelligent, authoritative professors and textbooks you’ve encountered clearly take evolutionary origins for granted. And looking around the lecture hall, you suspect all your classmates do too.

Here’s where you get to choose your own adventure. Do you . . .

Option A

Panic. Obviously, your church and parents didn’t know the whole story when they taught you about creation and the Bible. The people you’ve met at the university understand what they’re talking about. Now that you’ve been enlightened with higher education, you’ll have to rethink what you believe—about a lot of things.2

Option B

Remember the truth. You may not have all the answers, but your prior learning, research, and life experience have fortified your confidence that God’s Word is completely trustworthy. While studying how to defend your biblical worldview, you’ve seen over and over that Scripture always stands up to scrutiny. You realize new questions will arise, but you know how to think about faith-challenging information and where to seek scripturally and scientifically sound answers. As you do, you find that your biblical perspective isn’t becoming compromised—it’s growing stronger.

Understanding Intellectual Foundations

Students are far better equipped to choose Option B if they have strong intellectual foundations, which involve apologetics training and critical thinking skills for defending your biblical worldview.

As you might have guessed, students are far better equipped to choose Option B if they have strong intellectual foundations, which involve apologetics training and critical thinking skills for defending your biblical worldview. But what does all that mean—responding to skeptics’ questions by getting defensive about your beliefs or apologizing for being a Christian?

Hardly.

Let’s unpack what intellectual foundations mean, strategize ways to strengthen them, and begin foundation-building by investigating evolutionary concepts to understand before university. For starters, we’d better take a closer look at what apologetics and critical thinking really are and why they matter.

Apologetics

The best way to understand the word apologetics is to travel back in time and get arrested in ancient Greece. Go ahead and do that, and you’ll notice that at your trial, the prosecution will explain the charges against you in a formal speech called a katagoria (κατηγορία). When the katagoria ends, you can answer the prosecution, refute their charges, and justify your position by delivering a defense speech, or apologia (ἀπολογία).

Apologia is the word Peter used when he wrote, “But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense [apologia] to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15). Being prepared to make this defense is what apologetics, the field of study named after the word apologia, is all about.

As the examination of why biblical Christianity makes rational sense, apologetics equips us with reasoned, respectful answers about how we know the Bible is true. Here are just a few of the topics that apologetics investigates:

• The Bible Itself
  Where did the Bible come from? How can we know its manuscripts are trustworthy? Does Scripture contain contradictions?
• The Bible and Human History
  What does history show us about biblical prophecies? Do other historical sources mention events recorded in Scripture? Does archaeology affirm the Bible?
• The Bible and Science
  Did God really create the world in six days? Has science disproven Genesis? What about dinosaurs, ape-men, or carbon dating? Does observational science confirm the Bible?
• Christianity and Other Worldviews
  How do we know the Bible is true compared to other “religious books”? Does Christianity borrow from other religions? How can we defend and proclaim the gospel to friends who believe other worldviews?
• The Nature of God
  How do we know God exists? If we have a loving, all-powerful Creator, why is the world full of death and suffering?
• Jesus
  Did Jesus really claim to be God’s Son? How do we know he was telling the truth? Did he really live, die, and rise again?

Because the Bible is true, we can be confident that answers exist to these and other questions,3 recognizing that observational science confirms what Scripture teaches. Reality attests to God’s truth so completely that Paul said in Romans 1:19–20:

For what can be known about God is plain to [sinful humans], because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

That phrase, “without excuse,” is the Greek word anapologetos, meaning “without defense.” You might say being anapologetos is the opposite of having an apologia. This means that only people who embrace God’s revealed truth can fully have apologetics on their side.

Critical Thinking

While apologetics arms you with answers to specific worldview questions, secular classrooms and cultures will almost certainly raise messages you’ve never encountered before. That’s where critical thinking skills come into play.

Critical thinking is one of those phrases that’s not super clear, especially since the word “critical” often has negative contexts—like being critical of others or being in critical condition. But what does critical thinking mean? Criticizing everyone we think about? Thinking quickly in critical situations? Or maybe critical thinking is just a synonym that textbooks use for “extra work.”

While growing up, that’s basically how I viewed critical thinking. I’d see it referenced in places like textbook exercises, which suggested that students “think critically” but didn’t often explain how. I began to suspect that “critical thinking” is just a vague phrase that educators like using to make up assignments. But then I read another textbook explaining what critical thinking is about: evaluating messages to see whether they’re worth believing.4

I suddenly saw critical thinking transform from a scrap of junk jargon into an indispensable mental tool kit. The tools inside include skills like spotting faulty logic, sensing psychological manipulation, and sorting facts from opinions, interpretations, or assumptions. These tools let us avoid being taken in by bad arguments, manipulative advertisements, and false teachers. Since God’s Word is the ultimate truth, such tools are also invaluable for combating the lies in messages that contradict Scripture.

In a world that swarms with such messages, biblical critical thinking skills can come in handy for almost any situation. Whether online, in classrooms, or through the media, persuasive-sounding information bombards us in ways meant to influence our thinking, beliefs, and decisions.

Some of this information may be at least partially true or promote useful ideas. But others, not so much. Critical thinking tools help us discern which are which.

After testing these tools over four years at a secular university, I’d rate them as a must-have for any Christian in secular classrooms and culture.

Wait, Isn’t Critical Thinking a Secular Tool Kit?

Some Christians might be concerned because critical thinking is a concept that secular humanists praise. As an atheistic worldview, secular humanism relies on human reasoning as the authority for truth. You might notice humanists (or even Christians) trying to contrast “reasonable” or “rational” thinking with faith by mistakenly defining “faith” as “belief without evidence.”

Typically beginning with the assumption, “If you can’t measure it, then it doesn’t exist,”5 secular humanists may incorrectly redefine rational as “excluding references to God.” The word rational means having reason or being reasonable.6 Critical thinking is rational in that sense. By switching the meaning of rational from the dictionary sense to the redefined atheistic sense, some people claim critical thinking is a bulwark of humanism. This doesn’t mean critical thinking is secular; it just means the definition of rational has been manipulated. As a pamphlet from the American Humanist Association states:

Since humanism is a rational philosophy, it is dependent on a methodology that successfully addresses questions and problems related to the natural world. Critical thinking provides that methodology and includes skills, attitudes and dispositions that a person can learn and practice. In fact, science itself can be thought of as a subset of critical thinking.7

Ironically, however, secular worldviews cannot provide a consistent foundation for the concepts that critical thinking depends upon, like logic, truth, and reasoning. Human reasoning is fallible even by humanists’ standards,8 especially since humanists believe the mind is a by-product of evolution (and ultimately a cosmic accident). And how do we know whether any thoughts resulting from a cosmic accident are trustworthy? Those thoughts would be accidents too. Besides, truth, logic, and reason themselves can’t be measured. So they technically wouldn’t exist within a consistent humanistic worldview.9

Unlike humanism, a biblical worldview provides a consistent philosophical basis for the use and existence of knowledge, logic, and critical thinking.

In contrast, a biblical worldview states that humans are made in the image of a logical God. Our self-existent Creator is the source of truth. He knows everything, created an orderly universe, reveals truth through his Word, and designed us with faculties for learning, knowing, and reasoning. Unlike humanism, a biblical worldview provides a consistent philosophical basis for the use and existence of knowledge, logic, and critical thinking. And since the Bible is the Word of God (who cannot lie), it will always stand up to scrutiny. So Christians have no reason to avoid critical thinking—and every reason to embrace it.

Critical thinking and apologetics work together. They help you answer questions about your beliefs, strengthen your faith, share the gospel, exercise discernment, and make good decisions potentially saving heaps of heartache. In these ways, intellectual foundations can help you not only keep your faith in secular classrooms and cultures but also live a wiser life.

Eleven Practical Foundation-Building Strategies

So how can you start building stronger intellectual foundations? The main way is to dive into the many biblically and scientifically sound apologetics and critical thinking resources available. These include books, videos, articles, magazines, seminars, conferences, camps, and curricula that not only answer apologetics questions but also teach you how to reason about worldview topics yourself. Plunging into this ocean of information can seem overwhelming, so here are a few dos and don’ts to help you maximize your intellectual foundation-building efforts:

1. DO . . . take advantage of free resources!

Tons of solid apologetics articles, videos, podcasts, and entire ebooks are available online for free, which (speaking from experience) is fantastic news for starving students. As a student, I particularly loved large, trustworthy apologetics websites where I could quickly find articles responding to questions from my evolutionary classes. Even if I didn’t have time to read a long scholarly paper, just seeing that a well-reasoned answer existed helped.

2. DO . . . make intellectual foundation-building part of your routine.

The mountain of solid apologetics materials out there might seem too daunting to climb for long. But remember, the way to conquer a mountain is one step at a time. Work a little intellectual foundation-building into your everyday routine, and you’ll be gaining ground before you can say anapologetos. Even if you take a few minutes to learn about one apologetics topic every workday, you will have armed yourself with at least 160 answers after just one school year.

(Hint: listening to apologetics videos and podcasts while doing other activities, like cooking or commuting, lets you strengthen your intellectual foundations even when you’re time-crunched. Find what works for you!)

3. DO . . . take time to learn the basics.

As you decide which apologetics topics to study, I’d encourage you to learn answers to some of the most common objections to Christianity. Here are just a few of the top questions you’ll likely find in secular classrooms and cultures, no matter what academic field you study:

• If a loving, all-powerful God created everything, why is there so much death and suffering?10
• Haven’t Christians done a lot of bad things throughout history?
• Isn’t the church full of hypocrites?
• What does the Bible really say about gender and sexuality?11
• Hasn’t science disproved the Bible?12
• Doesn’t everyone know the earth is millions of years old?13
• What about evolution?14

4. DO . . . think ahead to your university classes.

Along with learning these basics, it’s wise to think about apologetics topics relevant to subjects you hope to study in the future. If you’re planning to study zoology, for instance, you’ll likely want to learn biblical ways to interpret supposed evidence for evolutionary relationships between animals. Or if you hope to study psychology, you may want to find answers to claims that “religious beliefs” evolved because of how our minds work.15

5. DON’T . . . hinge your faith on a single apologetics argument.

Researching all these topics will almost certainly strengthen your faith, reminding you how true the Bible really is. But it’s key to remember that while apologetics arguments can confirm your faith, your faith does not rest in any one argument or apologist. It rests in God and his Word.

I’m mentioning this because many of your non-Christian professors, classmates, and textbooks have probably heard arguments supporting the Bible or contradicting evolution, like you have. If they offer a counterargument you’ve never heard before, you may feel like panicking if you’ve placed too much stock in that one argument. (This is especially true because not all “apologetics arguments” may be equally watertight to begin with—more on this in a moment.)

However, tons of observations from different streams of reality—including science, history, philosophy, other Christians’ stories, and your own experience—affirm God’s Word is true. Your trust in God must not stand or fall on autonomous human reasoning, much less on a single human argument.

6. DO . . . hone those critical thinking skills.

On that note, just because a counterresponse may exist to an apologetics argument doesn’t mean the response is logically valid or scientifically strong. This is one more reason to have critical thinking skills that help you evaluate counterarguments on the fly. Learning how to think like an apologist yourself is vital for answering new faith-challenging messages that come up in your classes. After all, there’s no way you can memorize answers to every question you might encounter in secular classrooms and culture. Critical thinking will also help you avoid promoting faulty arguments yourself.

7. DON’T . . . use bad arguments to support your worldview.16

This raises an important point: Not all the pro-Bible arguments you hear may be logically sound—or even biblical. Of course, the fact that people can try using bad arguments to defend the Bible’s teachings does not make the Bible any less true. God’s Word is true no matter how humans reason about it because truth is inherent to God’s nature (Numbers 23:19; John 14:6).

Nevertheless, bad arguments can affect Christians’ credibility in the eyes of others, who might not know about all the extremely sound reasons for trusting in Scripture. Bad arguments, when refuted, can also shake Christians’ faith if they’ve banked their beliefs on that one flawed argument rather than God’s infallible Word. These are further reasons to think critically and biblically about the messages we encounter—even from apparently Christian sources.

8. DO . . . be careful who you’re learning from.

That last point highlights the importance of making sure your apologetics sources are biblically sound and logically trustworthy. Even many Christians who truly believe in Jesus and offer brilliant apologetics insights may promote compromised doctrines, especially about Genesis. This doesn’t necessarily mean we shouldn’t learn from their many uncompromised teachings. (How’s that for a triple negative?) It just means we must always be vigilant to esteem God’s Word as our authority over any human thinking that contradicts Scripture—even when the thinkers happen to be fellow believers.

9. DO . . . learn about other worldviews.

The only two worldviews any person can choose from boil down to believing God’s Word or man’s word. The religion of man’s word manifests itself in endless forms, encompassing unbiblical belief systems around the world. By learning about other worldviews from a Christian perspective, you’re less likely to be blindsided by new ideas at college. Plus, understanding different worldviews helps you anticipate barriers others may face when coming to Christ, letting you better communicate the gospel.

10. DO . . . be wise when learning from skeptics.

Speaking of other worldviews, here’s a crucial reminder. While it’s possible—and in many cases important—to strengthen our intellectual foundations by learning and responding to skeptics’ arguments, skeptics clearly shouldn’t be our sole information sources. When I was a teenager, I heard an apologetics speaker warn, “As you start researching all these worldview topics, make sure you’re not just spending all your time on atheistic websites. Even if you know their arguments can’t possibly be true, you can get so turned around by them.”

The speaker’s point was that you become like who you listen to and who you spend the most time with. Now, I’m all for knowing what skeptics are saying, as understanding others’ perspectives can let us better share and defend our faith. I even took four years at a university to learn evolutionary arguments from secular sources. But I went into those classes already having strong intellectual foundations and mentors who could offer a biblical perspective on the issues I was learning. Beforehand, when I was only beginning to build those foundations, I would instead learn about secular arguments by researching biblical responses to skeptics. For instance, I’d read Christian reviews of atheistic books.

11. DO . . . find a biblically grounded mentor.

The reality that we become like those we hang out with reiterates the importance of mentors who stand on God’s Word without compromise. As you research apologetics topics, a biblically grounded mentor can talk through these topics with you, point you to additional resources, and help answer further questions. (Bonus points if you find a mentor with experience in the academic field you hope to study!) My own mentor, Dr. Margaret Helder, helped me prepare for college this way during my teen years, offering continued support throughout my undergrad years—and beyond.