Not Dead!

I am alive! I have not died, as one might have thought due to the lack of postings on my blog. Yes, I know that a new year has been ushered in since I last posted an entry on my blog, I will endeavor to be more consistent in posting in 2008, (but I make no promises).

I have started this new year with a bang! Operations, assignments, guys, house hopping and so much more, are just been some of the interesting happenings of the last two months, (it has been insanely nuts, to say the least!)

All that to say my topic for today is, Christian Apologetics, which has absolutely nothing to do with my recent adventure!

The subject of Apologetics, or to apologize, does not only mean to say sorry. The greek word apologia which is from where the word apology originates, actually means to defend or make one's case for a particular opinions. So the topic of Christian Apologetics relates to the subject of defending the Christian faith.

But the question that comes to my mind is, does the Christian faith actually need defending? Or should our lives in actual fact reflect the love of Christ and do the arguing for us? Will actually arguing with a person who isn't a Christian about the validity of the Gospel actually win them to Christ? On the first page of my Christian Apologetics textbook, this issue is debated. "Douglas Groothius urges pastors to begin setting forth a "rational defense of Christianity." Yet within the same Christianity Today column, he acknowledges that such arguments "seldom win a soul to Christ." (Christian Apologetics in the Postmodern Wold, pg10.)

The conclusion I have come to is a very grey one indeed, I think that if God wants a person to come to Christ using the tool of apologetics, then that is his prerogative! However, most people convert to Christianity because of a relational interaction, and what has developed in the context of that relationship, not because they were proven wrong!

This is not to say that I don't think Christian Apologetics is not vital, it most definitely is! We as Christians need to know what is truth, and how to best profess and defend it. Otherwise we will be taken for a ride, and disregarded. It was Peter who said, "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have." (1Peter 3:15).

So as I come to study the topic of Christian Apologetics, I have to wonder if I will end up frustrated learning about the how and the why of apologetics, simply because I want to be learning more about the faith that I am learning about arguing about! (If you get my drift...)