The Christian Apologetic Reserve

Knowledge, Wisdom, Understanding

If a debate pulls us away from God then I can only assume that the faith of that person was weak to begin with.

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James 1:27

Great thread!

bluwaterz,
We know that apologetics is necesary for believers because of:

1. The exhortation of Scripture,
2. The biblical example of Paul addressing the Areopagus (Acts 17:22ff) where he used his launching pad the inscription, "to the unknown god."

In this era of intense questioning of Christian presuppositions and conclusions, I consider that it is critical that Christians provide answers (an apologetic defense) to these penetrating and pertinent questions. Otherwise we run the risk of causing new converts to become disillusioned in their faith.

I'm not supporting being argumentative. That is not what a good apologetic defense is about.

also, bluewaterz, its not that Apologetics is designed to take the place of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is the one who convicts and takes out hearts of stone and replaces them with hearts of flesh. But, God usually accomplihes these ends (conversion, strengthening the faith of believers) with means, and the means we are speaking of here are apologetics material. Earlier Acts 17 was mentioned, but not only did Paul refer to the inscription the Greeks had to an unknown god, Paul also used secular philosophical writings and poetry (which is often very philosophical ehh?) in his witnessing to the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers at the Aeropagus. He appeals to Aratus and Epimenides as starting points of contact with the Greeks before launching into the truth as given in the scriptures.

Secondly, as previously mentioned, apologetics can often go a long way towards strengthening the faith of persons who are already believers, and there seems to be nothing wrong with this, right? Today's day and age of pluralism and political correctness has given a bad name to debate, and unfortunately some Christians have unknowingly adopted this secular view into their Christian worldview. but if you look at the Scriptures, especially Paul's writings, you see that they are in fact a debate meant to bring people closer to God. For he debates with the Judiazers and with the Gnostics, as does John. Jesus Himself debated the Pharisees on many occasions. Today, to tell someone else that they are wrong about thier beliefs seems to be the last taboo. It is the height of uncivilized discourse. But the biblical writers did not harbor such modern hesitation to directly and forcefully address and correct error. Apologetics just follows in this tradition. Debate can be sinful, but only if it is carried out sinfully, it is not necessarily, inherently, sinful. We have to guard our hearts carefully as we share the exclusivisitc claims of Scriptures with a pluralist relativistic culture, to be sure. But we can hope to shed more light then we generate heat, God help us. I often think of CS Lewis' prayer/poem in this regard:

The Apologist's Evening Prayer

From all my lame defeats and oh! much more
From all the victories that I seem to score;
From cleverness shot forth on Thy behalf
At which, while angels weep, the audience laugh;
From all my proofs of Thy divinity
Thou, who wouldst give no other sign, deliver me
Thoughts are but coins. Let me not trust instead
Of Thee, their thin-worn image of my head.
From all me thoughts, even from my thoughts of Thee
O thou fair Silence, fall, and set me free.
Lord of the narrow gate and the needle's eye,
Take me from all my trumpery lest I die.

Of course Lewis remained an apologist all his days, yet he felt the pain of defending the faith in an unbiblical way, which as Peter reminds us, we ought to do with gentleness and respect:

1Pe 3:14-16 esv But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, (15) but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; (16) yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame."

Lord help me

Amen

blessings,
ken

__________________
"The venerable dead are waiting in my library to entertain me and relieve me from the nonsense of surviving mortals." Samuel Davies 1723-1761
"When I get a little money I buy books; and if any is left I buy food and clothes." Erasumus 1466-1536

I just recently read two books by the Christian Philosopher Greg Koukl that have been the most handy books when it comes to conversational apologetics. Here are the two titles "Tactics" and "Moral Relativism." You can get these books at his website which I can't post at the moment because I don't have enough post points???? Just type his name in Google next to the titles of the books and I am sure you will do fine finding them. I have looked them up at bookstores but they seem to never have them in stock so ordering them was the route I took.

In Christ,

Chad

Steven84,
I was able to locate Greg Koukl's books at Amazon.com. See:
Tactics;
Relativism: Feet Firmly Planted in Mid-Air

In my early days of investigation of the heterodox teachings of the Jesus Seminar, including John Dominic Crossan, I found some of Greg Koukl's writings very helpful, including, "The Jesus Seminar Under Fire."

In Christ,
Spencer

Remember this: some of these critics in those websites are not pointing out to what actually is restricting faith but they are attacking popular pastors. We don't know who are they are which created these websites. This is not to say that Christian leaders are unaccountable - they like other humans can be susceptible to mistakes - but that Satan can use any tricks to sway people away or vilify the Christian faith.
In Rev 2:13 we read about Pergamos and the Lord says that the very throne of Satan is located there. The modern day Church is certainly in that picture of Pergamos - they are those who are harming the work of God.

I just finished What Have They Done With Jesus?: Beyond Strange Theories and Bad History by Ben Witherington III. I really enjoyed it. He did actually float a new theory on the authorship of the Gospel of John, mentioning that it might have actually been sourced from Lazerus' experience and that Lazerus might have been the "beloved disciple". The book does go through all of the gospels however, to that theory isn't the main thrust of the book.

I'll second Ravi Zacharias, too, though the books I've read from Ravi are at a bit more popular level.

I also have some books from some New Testament scholars that I'll list when I get home. I found them in an antique store and one is a really in depth analysis of the entire New Testament - definitely not a popular level book. I don't know if it's even in print anymore.

i like these:

ntslibrary.com

biblepro.bibleocean.com/app

hebrew4christians.com

ntgreek.net

globalchristians.org


.....check them out.

are there topics that are interesting here?
who wants to post a question?