What is apologetics?

What is apologetics?

Apologetics comes from the Greek word, apologia, which means defense.  Building a case for or defending a certain position of thought or belief is called apologetics, and a person who supplies the defense is called an apologist.  There are many different types of apologists.  Every religion can have its own apologetics.  This blog deals explicitly with Christian apologetics.

What is required for apologetics?

Apologetics is a difficult branch of Christian study.  It requires a working knowledge of many branches of Christian theology (read “What is Theology”).  For example, before a defense for the Christian faith can be given, the apologist would need to know Christian doctrine inside and out in order to know if the objection being raised against Christianity is even against a true teaching found within the Bible.  The apologists would then need to be able to correct the misunderstanding in biblical teaching from the scriptures in a way that the objector will understand.  Sometimes the misunderstanding comes from not knowing the full context of that passage within its chapter or book or within the Bible as a whole, which would require Biblical Theology.  Other times the misunderstanding might arise from a lack of knowing the cultural context, historical context, literary type, or the Biblical languages of Hebrew and Greek, which would require Exegetical Theology to resolve the doctrinal misunderstanding behind the objection.

The Apologist would need to know Historical Theology, which deals with the history of the church and church movements.  This might be necessary to know in order to answer objections to the church’s involvement in the Crusades, or objections that there isn’t satisfactory archeological proof to back up the Bible’s claims.

The study of Philosophy from different worldviews would be necessary to understand and relate to the mindset of anyone an apologist might meet.  Philosophy is good for the apologist too, because it helps the apologist build reasons for the Christian faith based on reason and logic, so as to be able to make a defense for the existence of God without needing to use the Bible.  This is important because if someone doesn’t already value the Bible as the Word of God or agree with its historical reliability then it has no authority or reason to be trustworthy to that person.

Pastoral Theology is also necessary in apologetics.  Many people may offer objection after objection and hear answer after answer but never come to faith, not because the answers weren’t satisfactory for their intellectual yearning, but because of another issue in their life: a vice or lifestyle they refuse to give up, growing up in an abusive Christian family, hurtful words from a pastor or church member, or some other personal issue apart from “head knowledge” objections to the Christian faith.

A Christian apologist must also study other religious faiths. It’s important to be able to show that you care enough about a person to take the time to learn and understand what he or she believes without only having the agenda of changing his or her believes to yours.  Also, some religions might have similarities in beliefs, teachings, and practices as Christianity, and if so these similarities might be good starting points to create a bridge to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  It’s also good to know what other religions teach so that the prevalent teaching that all religions are at their core the same, or that they all are just different ways to the same end, can be countered by actually showing the specific differences that make them each truly unique.

A good knowledge and following of pop culture is helpful for apologetics.  Television shows, movies, music, and art all tend to present a certain worldview or philosophy in life.  Evidence of this is the current fad of putting out books with titles such as The Philosophy of South Park, The Philosophy or Star Trek, and The Philosophy of the Simpsons.  Being aware of the religious imagery, ideas, and philosophy of the people an apologist interacts with is key to initiating religious conversations in a way that is not as confrontational and in fact natural – it’s simply talking about issues brought up in a movie.

Important to Remember

Apologetics is not purely an academic, “head” practice but it is also very a “heart” practice.  Apologetics is very much related to being considerate and polite when presenting the teaching of the Christian faith and always handling the objections to the faith out of love for the objector.  “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.  If I have the gift of prophesy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.  If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3, NIV).

It’s important to remember that apologetics does not save a person’s soul.  God saves people, all three persons of the Trinity – the Father through sending his Son and accepting the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, Jesus in offering himself as the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world, and the Holy Spirit through creating faith in the hearts of men.  Christians should never lose sight of this, so that we remain ever humble and in prayer through all apologetic efforts, trusting that it is the Spirit at work in us to bring others into faith in Christ.

Finally, no Christian is off the hook when it comes to apologetics.  “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer [apologia – a defense] to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.  But do this with gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15, NIV).

Andy Wrasman4 Comments

Hell is too extreme a punishment! Hell is unjust punishment!

You and I aren’t in prison right now.  We haven’t robbed a bank, forged important documents, dealt drugs, or killed anyone.  Well, I know I haven’t.  I’m assuming you haven’t either.  People who commit such crimes, go to jail, but often times, they get out for good behavior!  It seems that eternal punishment doesn’t fit the crime for people like you and me who really haven’t done anything seriously wrong.  I also know that a lot of people, who are not Christians, still serve the poor and the needy, physically and financially.  By our standards of law and order, only the worst of the worst would deserve hell, and even then we wouldn’t wish such a punishment upon our enemies.
We must admit that we all have lied, cheated, stolen, lusted, hated, coveted, disobeyed authority, and the like.  To the degree that most of us have committed such acts, we don’t deserve time in prison or exorbitant fines.  I believe we all agree that punishments should fit the crime, and the problem I think you are raising with this question is that for the degrees at which we have sinned against God, most of us, if not anyone of us, deserve eternal punishment in hell! Let me explain, however, how hell does fit the crime.  If a person commits murder with a gunshot to the head, how long did the murder take?  A second, but the punishment is life.  This is an equal exchange, a life was taken, a life must be taken in return.  If a person runs illegal dog fighting and has dogs killed, his jail sentence won’t be the same as a person who murdered another human being.  Why?  The life value of a dog is not as great as that of a human.  In the case of God and hell, the crimes are being committed against God, and the crimes occur over the course of an entire life.  The laws being broken of course are God’s laws and we must be measured by his standards, of which all of us have fallen short.  To his standard, hating someone in your heart is on par with actually murdering.  In your heart, you have murdered that person.  By rejecting God through hatred and open rebellion to his Word, existence, and provision, you have murdered God.  God is eternal.  The punishment likewise, for the crime that occurred constantly over the course of your lifetime, warrants an eternal sentence.

Even though none of us are good in God’s sight, God is good and gracious.  He provided a substitute for us.  Imagine if someone you loved was on death row, awaiting execution, and you are innocent of crimes and the judge allowed you to take the place of your loved one and be put to death in his or her place.  Most of us wouldn’t make the exchange, but if the judge saw that the substitution still met the requirements of the law, a life for a life, the exchange could occur.  God being the lawgiver and judge has made a way for such an extraordinary provision of both justice and grace, and he provided the substitute by sending his Son, Jesus Christ, into the world.  Philippians 2:6-8 says, Jesus, “being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death– even death on a cross!”  Jesus was innocent and took the place of all of us sinners, setting us free from the penalty of eternal death.

Andy Wrasman3 Comments

Why would a loving God send people to Hell?

Why would an all-loving God send people to hell?

Validation:

I think it’s important to validate someone’s question before jumping right into answering it.

This is a difficult question for us to comprehend.  We can’t imagine allowing our worst enemies to suffer eternally, much less subjecting them to such inescapable torment.  I think that this question and the problem of evil are the two most common rejections of Christianity offered in our day and age.  I think they are the root of our other objections too.

Answer:

Option 1 – Hell is God’s Monument to Human Freedom Answer – It’s clear in Scripture that God does not desire for anyone to perish forever, but for everyone to come to repentance and salvation.  Again God does not desire for any of us to suffer perpetual death!  Hell is God giving individuals what they both desire and deserve, eternal separation from him.  John 3:19-20 says, “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.  Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.”  The Light is Jesus Christ and men love darkness instead of light.  Those who reject Christ do not want to know God and have a relationship with him.  In hell, God is giving them the desire of their hearts, to be forever separated from his grace, riches, and provision, forever awake and dying in the darkness of eternity.

Option 2 – Hell Wasn’t Intended for Humans Answer – We must remember that God doesn’t desire for humans to suffer in hell for eternity.  Hell wasn’t intended for humans, but rather the demons.  In Matthew 25:41 Jesus states that hell was “prepared for the devil and his angels.”  But because of man’s own wickedness, we too deserve hell.  The people who are destined to hell do not want anything that is of God in this life.  What is to say that they all of a sudden will flip a switch in heaven?  Heaven is a place of perfection for it is the place that God’s glory dwells.  Nothing evil can exist in his presence.  If people don’t want to be washed clean and to be forgiven by the work of Jesus Christ, God is left without a choice but to cast them out of his presence.

Option 3 – Who Are We? Answer – Based on our human understanding of love and hate, crime and punishment, we reject the notion that a loving God could possibly punish someone for eternity for matters that we feel are trivial. This is arrogance on our part.  As God reminded Job, “Who has a claim against me that I must pay?  Everything under heaven belongs to me” (Job 41:11).  Have we not stopped to consider that God’s ways are not our ways, and that in fact his ways are greater and better than ours?  Is it not possible, that in this situation, hell is the only possible consequence for sin that a good, loving, and just God can deliver?

Option 4 – Share the Gospel Answer – Read “Back to the Gospel” within this question.

Scripture:

2 Peter 3:8-9 – “But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.  The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”

1 Timothy 2:1-6 – “I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men—the testimony given in its proper time.

Isaiah 55:9 – “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

2 Corinthians 5:21 – “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

Back to the Gospel:

Whenever answering an objection to the Christianity, the goal should always be to turn the conversation back to the Gospel, for it is the power of salvation for all who believe.  (Romans 1:16)

The terrors of hell are real and we act as if a loving God who chooses to send people there must not exist.  We have no grounds upon which to make this accusation, because God himself has suffered the penalty of hell in the person of Jesus Christ.  What greater love is there than for God to give his only, eternally, begotten Son to die as a substitute for us, who though he was sinless bore our sin and took the penalty of our guilt upon himself?  We can’t claim that God is not loving for sentencing people to hell, when God allowed his own, innocent Son to suffer hell, so we don’t have to!  God didn’t have to send his Son to die for us, but he did, out of love for the world.

Andy Wrasman7 Comments

Homosexual Marriage… What does the Bible say?

I received the following email from one, Joshua Suh:

It seems like the last two videos were about love? Is this in correlation to valentines day coming up?! hahah, what does contradict say about gay love? Not that I’m gay or condone gay marriage, it’s always so relevant though, this whole, ” progression” “down with the ignorant conservative” movement, but I would be interested in hearing contradicts opinion from a biblical perspective, aside from all the political banter, just biblical facts. It often happens people quote or misunderstand Bible Verses.. out of context about homosexual marriages! There is always the Inner ” Christian Circle” argument” between Christians who support gays and christians who don’t, which doesn’t really help our case if we can’t agree upon it ourselves..): But what would Contradict say about this?!!

gay marriage

What stood out to me was that he didn’t want to hear any politics, just biblical facts.

  1. On Judging – First, I have heard it said a lot that we shouldn’t judge others.  People who say this are likely getting this view from Matthew 7:1, which says, “Judge not, that you be not judged.”  When more of chapter 7 is read we see that, “For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”  This shows that we can judge others, only after we have addressed our own sins first.  If you notice, the judging in that situation is done with the goal of helping your brother remove the speck from his eye.  Matthew 7 also falls with the Sermon on the Mount which is leading us to see that none of us righteous enough to enter heaven.  We all need a Savior!  This means we can’t throw judgment upon others, while claiming that we are righteous on account of our own merit.
  2. Marriage in the Bible – Marriage is established in Genesis Chapter 2 at the creation of humanity as a relationship between a man and a wife.  Genesis 2:18, 21-24 reads:

The Lord God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him’…and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and closed up the place with flesh.

Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said, ‘This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.’ For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.

3. Homosexuality is a Sin – I pulled the following verses from a John MacArthur article that shows God opposing homosexuality throughout all of his Word to us:

– In the patriarchs (Genesis 19:1-28)

– In the Law of Moses (Leviticus 18:22; 20:13)

– In the Prophets (Ezekiel 16:46-50)

– In the New Testament (Romans 1:18-27; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; Jude 7-8)

Of these I often cite, Leviticus 18:22 from the Old Testament, to show that homosexuality is a sin, which says, “You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination,”  and I quote Romans 1:22-27, which I recommend all of you to look up and read directly.

Consider supporting my Kickstarter project for my second book, GP – God’s Promise.  The fundraising is all or nothing for meeting my goal and the deadline is July 15th, 2019.  Thanks. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/contradictmovement/gp-gods-promise

4. Division among Christians – Josh mentioned that there are divisions among Christians on this issue.  I firmly believe that if all the passages listed above are read, it’s unavoidable to come to the conclusion that God sees homosexual activity as sinful.  As we share God’s standard with others, I think we need to approach it as Jesus commanded, by removing the log from our own eye first.  We all have lusted, which means we all have committed adultery in our hearts (Matthew 5:27-28).  We all need a Savior and we all must come to repentance.  We all have sins that we will struggle with throughout this life.  The struggle against sin is a sign that we have faith in Christ.  Hebrews 10:26-29 says:

 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left,  but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.  Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.  How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?

Andy Wrasman1 Comment

What is Wicca?

A blog called CA Psychics wrote about Wicca.  The opening line of their blog says, “In 1990, the American Religious Survey found 8,000 people who identified themselves as Wiccans. In 2001, that number was 134,000, an incredible growth!” http://blog.californiapsychics.com/blog/2011/01/the-growth-of-wicca.html/

I first met a Wiccan when I was in high school.  I forget how it came about, but I met him sitting around a campfire.  I knew nothing of the religion, besides what was mentioned about Wicca in the show Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  The guy referred to himself as a warlock and said that he did practice magic.  He also was a palm-reader.  He explained to me that he believed everything in the world was connected through a divine energy, and that it was the harnessing and directing of this energy that was the practice of magic.  I asked him if it was like the Force in Star Wars.  He said that was a good description.  So I asked him if I and the fire were connected if I could magically extinguish it, or if I wanted another drink, I could just open the cooler and have one float to me like Luke Skywalker.  He laughed and told me no.

At the Christian university I went to, I met two Wiccans living on campus.  I had some very interesting conversations with them.  Maybe they knew more about Wicca than the guy I spoke with in high school, or maybe I just knew more because I had studied it a little bit and knew better questions to ask.  The one shared that she did practice magic, and that the black magic comes back on you three-fold, so she doesn’t practice that anymore.  She only does white magic, and she claims it works.

Basically, Wicca seems to be a lot like Hinduism.  They believe in reincarnation.  There is a divine essence in all things.  They believe in a moral law of cause and effect that is similar to Karma.  Rituals can be practiced as the individual practitioner desires and sees most beneficial.

And I do believe there are connections with the growth of Wicca, the New Age Movement, and the many Psychic shops I see popping up around America.  It’s disheartening!

Here’s a video that shares a lot more of the Wicca religion that some students of mine created:

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