It's good to know the stories in the Bible, the characters and the lessons. But we also have to know why we believe! There's no point in believing something if you can't explain why you believe it in the first place. Many Christians do not take the time to learn even the important things, like how the Bible survived thousands of years. Gabe is suddenly realizing he has no idea how to do this. |
Apologetics. That's what defending your faith is called. We use it every time we use an argument to defend our beliefs. It's not so scary a word. Though, some times it gets confused with apologizing, which isn't what we're doing. Just think: Arguments. (Note: apologists J. Warner Wallace prefers to call it "case-making" and that's cool too. Check out his website, Case Makers Academy.) By the way, Micha wasn't hurt on this page, she's tough. :) |
Sunday school will teach you many good things from the Bible, but some times they forget apologetics! Ok, they forget a lot. It's up to you to bring it up. "Hey, teacher, can you teach apologetics this week? We all know the Noah story already, maybe you can just answer some questions we have? :) Be polite and eager to learn and they'll see you're serious. Come ready with some questions. |
We'll answer one of these floating questions really quickly here: Are All Religions True? Well, think about this, Judaism says that Jesus was not the Messiah. Christianity says that Jesus was the Messiah. Can they both be true? No, because they are opposite statements. Either Judaism is true or Christianity is true, or they're both wrong. But at no time can they both be true! All religions differ and contradict each other on VERY important things, like the Messiah. So no, not all religions are true. We have to then figure out through evidence and logic which is telling the truth. That's where apologetics comes in really handy. |
It's a good idea to learn about other ideas and religions, like Paul. At the Areopagus (ACTS 17:22) he showed that he knew about their culture and writings, even using evidence from the pagan poets (Stoic) for his arguments! If you learn as much as you can, you can be ready for many situations. Remember, your ultimate goal as an apologist is to tell others about Jesus and what He did for us. |
A lot of people think we have a blind faith, just like Skepto here. But the Bible never says to follow blindly, or to just have faith ( if a pastor tells you that when you ask him a question, run far away from him). Instead, the Bible says that we should trust in the eyewitnesses and evidence and test everything we read in the Bible. 1 John 4:1 says “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” This verse tells us the opposite of blind faith, it says to test the spirits! |
This was one of my favorite pages, because it's soooo true! We make a lot of excuses, even I do, to not study or read my Bible. Yet, we waste sooo many hours on other pointless things like watching 6 hours of sports on Sunday or playing a video game for half the day. Here, Gabe doesn't even realize it until disembodied voice points it out. It takes a little effort to become a good apologist, you just have to do it. Try researching a topic for 30 minutes every day for a few days. You'll be amazed what you can learn! |