If apologetics didn't exist, there literally would not be any Christians or any religious people at all for that matter.

Apologetics are literally the only reason people still believe in the Bible, period. If any rational person with beyond a 6th grade education read the Bible, they'd see how batshit it really is.

But that's why they built the churches. The community draws you in. They claim to be fun and friendly when that's a flat out lie. They start you off with a light, fun-filled sermon that's comedic if the pastor is good enough.

So you keep going. You go to the light stuff that's fun for the general populace. But then in one sermon the pastor drops how they have an "inside group" where they learn the "real truth" about the Bible. This is for insiders only, you see. If you don't want to be considered a "leech" (because apparently donating 10% of your monthly income doesn't count for shit), then this is where you become a "real" member.

In the end, it's just a fucking cult. At least, this was my experience in Evangelicalism.

They are so steeped in their Evangelical bullshit that I do actually believe the pastors believe their own bullshit that they spew.

All because of apologetics they've been told themselves their whole lives and their teachers before that.

I've noticed a pattern here. Those who go to church constantly and never question their faith do not see anything wrong with the Bible and its contradictions. But those who move away and get out of their Bible have a much higher chance at deconverting because reading the Bible without the apologetics intended for it during church services activates the rational side of your brain and makes you go... hold on a second, this is all bullshit!

At least, that was my experience when I moved to Japan. Granted, it dead lead me towards a hard truth and a struggle when I finally dropped belief in God altogether and realized I had to walk on my own two fucking feet.

All that said, I wonder if the original conmen of this religion ever thought it would still be around thousands of years after they were gone. That it would be dictating world wars, starting literal crusades, and that a church like the Vatican would claim to have dominion over literal kings.

Probably not.