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Apologetics is Never, Ever, Defending the Faith!
The Good Shepherd, carrying His own.
Devotional Thought for our Days:
18 All this is from God. Through Christ, God made peace between us and himself, and God gave us the work of telling everyone about the peace we can have with him. 19 God was in Christ, making peace between the world and himself. In Christ, God did not hold the world guilty of its sins. And he gave us this message of peace. 20 So we have been sent to speak for Christ. It is as if God is calling to you through us. We speak for Christ when we beg you to be at peace with God. 21 Christ had no sin, but God made him become sin so that in Christ we could become right with God. 2 Corinthians 5:18-21 NCV
15 But respect Christ as the holy Lord in your hearts. Always be ready to answer everyone who asks you to explain about the hope you have, 16 but answer in a gentle way and with respect. 1 Peter 3:15b-16
870 Matters can rarely be resolved by aggressive polemics which humiliate people. And things are certainly never cleared up when among those arguing the case there is a fanatic.
In my high school freshman or sophomore yearbook, there is a note from an acquaintance with I used to argue with a lot. We were both interested in history and debate. She was a disciple of Engels and Marx, me, not so much. Her note was full of admiration, a salute to our ability to debate and still respect each other. (despite frustrating the hell out of each other – because we couldn’t understand the position of the other! )
As I read the words from St. Josemaria this morning, my heart brought back the memory of those words. And of many presentations, I have seen about “apologetics”. Usually, these include th idea that we are on a “crusade”, that we have to defeat our enemy, crushing their logic, unveiling their inconsistencies, doing battle and claiming the victory in Jesus name.
There was no call for respecting them as those Jesus died for, whom God created. No sense of love, or peace that would envelop the conversation, and rarely, any hope that was explained and explored. I encountered this as well when teaching world religions once, where several of my seminary level students wanted to know how to crush people who depended on false Gods. They chose the path of the fanatic and the aggressive polemics that leaves people broken and crushed.
Compare that to the verses above, the idea of being ready to explain the reason (this is where we get the word apologetic from btw) for the hope we have! Peter goes on to say, but do so with gentleness and respect. Look at how many times Paul mentions peace that God makes with us. Look at the idea that God is calling to those whom He would reconcile to Himself, to those He would give His peace to, through us. Reading that, does it seem that the tactic best suited to doing so is walking with them, exploring this hope we have, this incredible idea that God wants to live with us in peace. Helping them see that Jesus would walk with them, in all the ways described in the beautiful words of Psalm 23.
Some might say this doesn’t allow us to properly deal with their sin, but I don’t agree. Sin is brokenness, and whether we will admit that everything we do is sin ( and Christians play this game too!) we do recognize the brokenness it causes in our lives. Sin is not just our deliberate rebellion in this action or that, but those sins are the symptoms of the brokenness of sin, something every religion deals with, mostly through threats and punishment, of being cut off and sent away.
Christianity meets that brokenness offering hope, offering peace with God, because of the cross and the empty grave. A completely novel way not just to scare people away from future sin, but to bring comfort to the shame, the guilt, and despair that we all live with because of our pasts.
This is the apologia, the hope, the peace, knowing the love of God who comes to us.It’s not something we have to defend or hit people over the head with. It is something offered with great love, with mercy consistent to God.
It is what we depend upon, what we hope for… it is Jesus….with us.
Escriva, Josemaria. Furrow (Kindle Locations 3559-3560). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Apologetics, far more than a “defense of the faith”… It’s about giving hope
English: Icon of Jesus Christ (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Devotional thought of the day:
14 But even if you should suffer for doing what is right, how happy you are! Do not be afraid of anyone, and do not worry. 15 But have reverence for Christ in your hearts, and honor him as Lord. Be ready at all times to answer anyone who asks you to explain the hope you have in you, 1 Peter 3:14-15 (TEV)
As I was looking through all of the resolutions our group of churches will consider this summer, there are many that concern me. One of them calls for our seminaries and our publishing house to work on training all pastors in “the defense of the faith”. One of the texts such is based on, I’ve shown above.
The resolution troubles me…. a lot.
The word “answer” in the italicized text is the word in Greek that we get apologetics from, a word many translate as “defense”. When they translate it either from a milatristic sense – we have to defend our position, or from the sense of jurisprudence – defending ourselves in court.
And for a Christian, neither is necessary, and it is not what the passage above is talking about – at all.
The word in Greek from where we get apologetics is a compound word – from “apo” the word “from” and logos – the word we get logical, and reason, and well “word” (as in John 1:1-14.
St. Peter’s words here aren’t about creating a philosophical, forensic defense of the Christian faith. It’s not about defending the church from persecution for its beliefs. It’s not about doing battle with other religions, or with atheists and agnostics. It’s not about the church at war. Apologetics isn’t about memorizing arguments and strategies for dealing with the enemies of God. ( Atheists and agnostics and those of other religions aren’t our enemies… they are those we are called to love and serve and sacrifice for, that they may know God)
It’s about the church, the people of God and explaining the hope that we have, living in Christ Jesus.
You see – the logos part of the word apologetics is used again in the sentence….the word “explain” as in explain the hope.
That they would know the hope… that they would be able to rejoice and dance as they realize God’s love, and the freedom He gives them from sin, and from evil and that they no longer have to anxious about death… for they know they will then share in God’s glory.
We go on the defensive, we plead our case… they don’t hear why we have…. hope.
We don’t need to be trained to go into battle – we need to know God’s love, we need to know why we have hope….
When it comes to giving a plea before judges and courts, hear these words of Jesus,
18 You will stand trial before governors and kings because you are my followers. But this will be your opportunity to tell the rulers and other unbelievers about me. 19 When you are arrested, don’t worry about how to respond or what to say. God will give you the right words at the right time. 20 For it is not you who will be speaking—it will be the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Matthew 10:18-20 (NLT)
One final thought – that word logos….
It’s Christ.
He is our hope, He is our reason… and He is what the world needs
