I don't get why christians get in such a roar over the GLBT community.
Why do Christians defend the faith??? Because we are to always be ready to defend it, and if we are to be ready then we are also supposed to do it.
1 Peter 3:15
15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear NKJV
We are to: always be ready to give a defense. The Greek word there is the word apologia," which simply means: to give reason or a defense. It is from this Greek word that that we get our English word apologetics. To be skilled in apologetics is to be able to give a defense of the Christian faith to someone who asks, or to someone who challenges your beliefs.
Some well-intentioned Christians say, We just need to preach the gospel, and trust the Holy Spirit. The Word of God doesnt need to be defended. Its alive and powerful, sharper than any two edged sword!
The Bible does tell us to preach the Gospel. The Word of God is alive and powerful, and we recognize that the Holy Spirit is necessary for conversion. So I agree for the most part, but the Bible also tells us to engage in defending the faith.
We saw that in the scripture listed above, and that isn't the only place that we are instructed this way.
Jude v. 3
3 Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.
So who was Jude writing to here? Was this a letter to the senior pastors in Antioch, or Jerusalem? No. Was it a letter to some sort of super intellectual theologians? No.
When we look at the first verse in Jude we see:
Jude 1
1 "Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ..." NKJV
Jude was written to the church at large. It was written for you and me. The Bible here exhorts us, as believers, to contend earnestly for the faith. The word contend, that we see in verse 3 means to fight.
That word earnestly means... seriously or intensely
Isn't God saying that it is the responsibility of the whole church to put up a strong, intense fight for the Christian faith.?
Now lets look at verse 4, and we will see why we must contend for the faith.
Jude 4
4For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. NKJV
OK, so we see that the faith of the people in the church was being undermined by the false teachings of deceitful, ungodly men. So Jude's message to the church was, Dont just sit there! Contend earnestly for the faith!!!
God doesn't want us to sit idly by as the Christian faith is attacked, and undermined by critics of the faith.
God desires that we tackle the challenges and objections that skeptics and critics of Christianity have, and tear them down.
What does it mean to Tear them down? Well it doesn't mean to tear down the person, but the ideas, the lies, the misinformation, etc.
2 Corinthians 10:4-6
4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds,
5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,
6 and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled. NKJV
God told Jeremiah in
Jeremiah 1:9-10
9 Then the LORD put forth His hand and touched my mouth, and the LORD
said to me: Behold, I have put My words in your mouth.
10 See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms,
To root out and to pull down,
To destroy and to throw down,
To build and to plant. NKJV
Our primary task is to preach the gospel and to make disciples, but sometimes before a person receives the Gospel we have preached, we must first demolish the lies and misconceptions about the Christian faith.
As God used Jeremiah, so too He wants to use us for the rooting out, pulling down (not of people) BUT of the ideas, the philosophies, the lies that keep a person from truly knowing God. So, yes, we preach the Gospel, but we also are to be ready to defend the truth and attack error.
Here are some examples of people who gave reasons, or an apologia, defense of the Christian faith.
Philippians 1:3-7
3 I thank my God upon every remembrance of you,
4 always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy,
5 for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now,
6 being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;
7 just as it is right for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart, inasmuch as both in my chains and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers with me of grace. NKJV
Paul realized that he was not only called to preach the gospel, but there was a responsibility to defend the truth of that message as well.
Philippians 1:16-17
16 The former preach Christ from selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my chains;
17 but the latter out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel. NKJV
Acts 19:8-9
8 And he went into the synagogue and spoke boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading concerning the things of the kingdom of God.
9 But when some were hardened and did not believe, but spoke evil of the Way before the multitude, he departed from them and withdrew the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus. NKJV
Again, we see Paul, not only proclaiming the Gospel, but he sought to reason with people, and persuade them to believe.
John 2:18-22
18 So the Jews answered and said to Him, What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?
19 Jesus answered and said to them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.
20 Then the Jews said, It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?
21 But He was speaking of the temple of His body.
22 Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said. NKJV
In other words, Jesus said This will be a sign to you, an evidence, a reason, why you should accept my word as authoritative My resurrection from the dead.
He didnt just call upon believers to believe the Gospel.
He offered evidence and signs that confirmed that the Gospel was actually true.
