What Is Apologetics?

Thank you very much for explaining that. I do not have experience sitting down with people and explaining why I believe in God and Jesus and the bible, etc. I do realize I need to. One really big barrier for me is my hearing impairment. I have a pretty severe hearing loss -- approximately 100 db hearing loss in both ears, requiring powerful hearing aids, sigh. I have lost hearing since I was younger. So I do feel very limited in my ability to communicate with people. So I mostly take time communicating with people I know already and know I can understand them, etc. I do think that is why I like the internet and the ability to read and write back and forth really helps breaks down the barrier for my deafness, although a lot of stuff online also relies on audio stuff on videos etc that I cannot benefit from.
Out of my family, I am the only one who really believes in God...not to say this in a self-righteous, judgmental way. Just that I feel like I am the only one in my family who goes to church and reads the Bible and believes in the stuff in the Bible. My mom, for example, believes in "god", that all religions lead to the same "god", and we need to be more "tolerant" of each others beliefs, etc. We spent a little bit of time touching on this topic recently, and honestly did not feel prepared to explain why I don't agree that all religions lead to the same "god" and all that. I realized I need to really be praying for God to open her eyes to see, because that is the job of the Holy Spirit to prepare her heart and to help her see, and I want wisdom from God to know when and what to say to her that will help her understand, and hopefully she won't be too offended to listen. My sister I know is about the same...not exactly sure what she believes in. My brother...no idea cuz we don't communicate, sigh. So I do feel like the odd one out in my family. So I do want to learn more about being able to share with different types of people about God and Jesus and the Bible.
I'll have to check and see if Ravi Zacharias' website has some written material that I can read to get an idea of his teachings that you are talking about. I have seen him occasionally on tv. but don't know his schedule.
Looking forward to learning and sharing on this forum!
Blessings,
Tonya

I think a great book of Ravi's that you need to check out is his book, "Jesus Among Other Gods". All religions are not the same. A man named Steve Turner in his poem entitled "The Creed" has a line or two poking fun at this. He writes, "All religions are basically the same. At least the ones we read were. They all believe in love and goodness. They only differ on matters of creation sin heave hell God and salvation." All religions are not the same. Christianity gets blasted for it's exclusive nature and th affirmation that Christ is the only way to God. All religions are exclusivistic. Islam is exclusivistic. Hinduism is excusivistic. Anybody who says that they include everybody is lying because they exclude the exclusivists. All religions when you begin to lift the layers have exclusive truths and some things they will not negotiate about. That is the nature of truth as it applies to reality. Truth is truth is truth is truth. Civil engineers don't build bridges on the basis of conjecture. Air traffic controllers don't guide plane into airports on the basis of myths of fancies. Imagine hearing one say "Ok your at 5000 feet. At least it's 5000 feet to me. I don't know what it is to you. OH no yor at 10,000 feet". A third example, take a surgeon. Let's say you are in there to get your appendix taken out and the surgeon goes to make his marks on you so he knows where to cut and he starts drawing on your neck. You ask him why he's drawing up there and he responds by telling you that it doesn't matter where he draws or where he cuts because organs are organs and stuff is stuff. The point I'm trying to make is why do people when dealing with religion take their brains out and some how think they can apply a different manner of thinking and logic to truth. You smply can't do that. The only reason someone should believe in anything is not because it works for them, not because it feels right, or looks right. The only reason people should believe in anything is because it is true otherwise you are wasting your time. The apostle Paul said that he was most to be pitied if Christ be not raised. Many people do not see it like that and for the most part people's thinking on this subject is skewed. Apologetics can be a useful tool, but even so it cannot take the place of the gospel even thought the person wishes to take the word away from yo and make it invalid. One's witness in what they do apart from speaking and one's life and the way they live it speaks more volume than any verbal arguement or discussion.

Do check out some of the things on Ravi's website www.rzim.org. Other than his book "Jesus Among Other Gods" I also recommend "Cries of the Heart".

I think that apologetics should be a standard part of any Christian's witness. There is a lot of opposition out there, and as Christians, we MUST be able to defend our faith. The apostle Paul told Timothy "study to show thyself approved."
In this same vein, though, there is a lot of deception, which is why the work of the Holy Spirit is SO imperative here. We can defend our faith until the cows come home...we can reason and point to the facts....but if a person is vehement in their opinion, many times, reasoning with them won't work. It will take the Holy Spirit to move upon their hearts, and break the wall of deception that they have built for themselves.
I have found that deception does not come overnight. It comes about through years of denying the truth...through years of ignoring reality, and convincing oneself that what is true is actually false.
For instance, let's take atheism. The Bible tells us that God has revealed Himself, not only through creation, but through conscience. If a person REALLY observes the world around him..the way it has been ordered, and operates according to principles that have been put in place....there is no real way that person can logically say that there is no God, so that person creates his own set of logical rules to try to disprove the existence of God, then convinces himself that those rules are real and valid. The Bible tells us that God was the one who ordered the universe, and set the laws into place. It also makes sense, because order doesn't just come about from randomness.
Not only that, but the fact that people have a conscience is another proof that there is a God. Some people seem to have no conscience, but that is only because they have ignored their internal conscience for so long, that it loses it's hold on a person's life. I know when I was involved in the industry, I was able to ignore that conscience, even though deep inside, I KNEW what I was doing was wrong. I know that when I came out of the industry, even when I was in the industry, there was a LOT of guilt. If the conscience didn;t exist, then why all the guilt? Why all the shame? And if we DO have a conscience, then where did it come from? There is no other explanantion...It came from God.
The truth is, there is PLENTY of REAL evidence to prove that there is a God, but when a person refuses to really consider that evidence, it makes it hard to reason with that person. Likewise, that person will hold to arguments that support his claim, even when those arguments are weak. That person is deceived.
Deception is a powerful tool that the enemy uses to keep people in bondage...to keep them from acknowledging the truth. That is why apologetics is so important. It can't break the barrier of deception...only the Holy Spirit can do that...but it CAN get a person to question his worldview, and leave a place for the Holy Spirit to begin breaking down that wall.

I really enjoy Ravi Zacharius. We use his book "Jesus Among Other Gods" in our homeschool curriculum. His book "Grand Weaver" is fabulous. I also enjoy Josh McDowell, especially the work he does for youth. It's pretty scary to hear professing Christian kids say the bible is only "partly" real. C.S Lewis is another great author who was ahead of his time, he wasn't necessarilly labeled an apologetic, however his work is in line with apologetic teaching.

Roman 1:18-32 is the Bible passage that talks about God revealing Himself to us. Seared conscience, it's a horrible scar to show to people, I know. Praise God that they are scars now rather than wounds still.

Blessings and Grace
broken

Yes, I do agree we all need to be able to explain why we believe what we believe. We need to be able to study the Bible with the Holy Spirit's guidance, knowing that the Lord gave us the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of truth, to remind us of everything Jesus taught us. And the Holy Spirit will give us wisdom of what to say, as Jesus says in Matthew 10: 19-20 "...do not worry about what you will say or how you will say it. At that time you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you."

But of course this would mean we would really need to have that abiding, intimate relationship and be walking in obedience and trusting in God and knowing His voice, which takes time to develop that. Too many Christians seem to think they know enough scriptures to say something to others,(and I am guilty of this!), but are not being led by the Holy Spirit. I am trying to get to the place that I make sure I don't rely on my own wisdom and scriptural knowledge, but truly have that relationship and know the Lord's voice. "The watchman opens the gate for Him, and the sheep listen to His voice. He calls His own sheep by name and leads them out...His sheep follow Him because they know His voice." (John 10:3-5)

Shabbat Shalom,
Tonya

I may be a little odd in this post. To start with I am a Jew not by religion but by natgionality, however I am also in the body of Christ. I have a problem with the term "Christian." I would have less of a problem if Jesus would have said, "become a Christian, but He didn't. In fact the word Christian only is brought up twice in the New Testament.

But besides that I have difficulty with definitions. For example the word Jew simple means "God's people, so does that mean that Jews are no longer God's people? Also when one states that the are a Christian I always wonder what that means or how they are using the term. Today there are more than 20,000+ sects of Christianity, so when one says to me that they are a Christion I really am not sure what that means and honestly I would think that if I were running around saying I was a Christian it expects me to know what you are talking about or at least your brand of Christianity.

Now before ppl start throwing stones at me as a heritic or something, I would like to say that Jesus is the gate where by all must enter to be born again, but what they enter is the promise and are grafted in at that point. I also have to say it is not enough to just enter a gate to really be something. We are known by our fruit and not our label.

I do believe that Jesus was sent so that there could be peace on earth and good will to all, but He came so that we could be a part of Him and to work to put an end to the enemy. The major trait that we should have is love one for the other and not so much on the preaching or teaching but be led as a condition of the heart.

Jesus to me is a brother. He is also God's only beggoten son, but He was here to be an example for us. I would like to note that we are to be living epistles. He never once in His work ever built a church building. He did not judge and He had no will or agenda of His own except the will of our Father who sent Him.

In contrast in Christianity we have a bunch of buildings and more on the way and stil we have some 14,000 starving to death DAILY. I wonder if that is God's will they starve to death? Don't worry that was rhetorical in nature.

I see that God is over no one and is the servant to even the servant, so if the goal is to be like God then it would seem we would have to go in a different direction than having big named ministers?

The biggest thing at least in my opinion is that Jesus never told one person to be a Christian. I do see however that all sorts of harm has been done in the name of Christianity and that Christians tend to believe they are above all of that.

I see a less formal way of passing forward what God and Jesus have done for us, which is to love one another, even our enemies.

I read in the news all the time about Christians trying to push forward a Christian agenda, but are really never clear about what that agenda is. I would think if God is rather clearn then and if Christians are from God there should be clarity.

As a Jew I know that all power comes from God and there would be nothing living except it be through the work of the Holy Spirit or God's very own heart. I see that whatever we do to EVEN the least of these, whether they are believers or not, we do to God directly and intentionally.

In being a Jew it is not so much what happens when one comes out of the womb, but what one does and focuses in life, where in Christianity the focus is on getting saved and at that point your alright? Paul of course did not seem to undersand that as he seemed to think that we each need to work out our own slavation with fear and trembling.

I grew up in a Christian home and it was a home almost void of love> I went to a church that also seemed to be void of love. I seemed to go the other direction for a long period of time, but stopped short of being in the porn industry, but did just about everything else one could imagine. In fact I can honestly say I am alive only because of God's grace. To me I was forgiven a lot, so I love a lot. I don't work so much to be right, but love. Comeing from where I do I find it difficult to be critical with anyone.

I hope this has not offended too many people as it was not intentional, but felt it important to at least let people know where I stand. We are in an interesting time and the only way I see out of it is for all to stand together with locked arms globally to put an end to the work of the enmy, because if we do not, his desire is to bring an end to us. The only way one will lock arms with each other is by love, forgiveness, commitment and humility.

I see two mothers, the one will giver reasons why she cannot do what is needed to be done. The other mother does what it takes for her children.

Dr Sarah Carrol

God does have a plan for everyone and everyone is called to be a part of ministry somewhere. All jobs in ministry are important as it is designed by God to be a servant and save lives. God gave us so much, but how much do we give Him in return?

What Is Apologetics? Can't answer that one, but what does work if some one is not sure about God or dosen't believe in God, I ask if they want the truth to find out if there is a God or not. If they say yes the want the truth, I ask them to go in quiet area and ask God to prove Himself to that person (or them).

Meanwhile I ask God to visit that person.

He does and they know it. It is not always the same way, it is something that is unique to that person, but they do know at that point there is a God. God reaches people on thier own leve, doesn't matter how far up or far down or whether we may wonder if they are all there. I am proof of that one. (no spell check and no smiles, whats up with that)

Sarah

God does have a plan for everyone and everyone is called to be a part of ministry somewhere. All jobs in ministry are important as it is designed by God to be a servant and save lives. God gave us so much, but how much do we give Him in return?

Ok, you asked for it, how about, instead of defining the word, how about the "defense or proof of Christianity?"

What does it mean to be a Christian and where does that come from? Jesus? HUH?

Sarah