Post by slyzr on Nov 16, 2022 17:05:19 GMT -8
Wondering if anyone else is concerned about this.
I know, I know... this is a pro-apologetics board.
But let's discuss what apologetics are good for and what they are bad for.
I joined a small group recently at our new church. Good group of people I love them.
I'm especially captivated by the remarks I hear from a Christian woman who is new to the faith.
I knew the couple before we joined the group. Fine folks really.
She seemed to be very concerned about learning apologetics.
The goal seemed to be to have an answer to every question.
So she busied herself with memorizing all the "right" answers.
This is something that has irritated me for some time.
Evangelical apologists feel the need to answer EVERY question.
If they don't know the answer they feel compelled to make something up.
It's never okay to say that you don't know. As if there are no mysteries.
Back to what happened in the small group discussion.
She asked a question about Predestination.
The group facilitator provided the canned answer.
I couldn't keep my mouth shut on this one.
So I addressed the whole whole group about predestination.
Because I didn't want to pick on the new Christian.
Most Christians don't take a critical look at apologetics.
There is no single answer about predestination. It is a mystery.
And if God predestined some for eternal life,
then he also predestined the rest for eternal death. (to put it mildly)
Where is free will in that equation?
I remember when apologetics first came on the scene.
Debates were forming between Christians and agnostics/atheists.
We needed to win the debate so we could argue people into the kingdom.
Seriously?
When I saw a book titled: Know What You Believe, I knew we were off.
New Christians need to read a book, or take a class, to find out what they believe.
What's wrong with this picture?
At some point we realized that this wasn't working.
Enter Friendship Evangelism. This changed a Christian prospect
into something other than a project. A step in the right direction.
Sorry if I'm rambling on here. The point is...
Let's take a step back and evaluate what apologetics
are good for and what they are bad for.
It seems that most Christians use apologetics to argue with
other Christians that don't share the same opinions,
claiming the other is not following the Bible.
Is there really any value in that?
On most Christian forums, everyone is selling, but no one is buying.
How about if we tried a bit of fair trade?
I would agree if this is done purely to prove you are right, it could be misguided, but if it is done to show Biblically where an idea comes from in Scripture, then it is a valuable skill. We need to know where our doctrines come from, or we should not hold to them just because someone said they are the truth.
That said, at the front end of our Christianity, before we start learning the Bible for ourselves, we have to trust our teachers, but as we mature in the Word, everything that we cannot support with scripture, should be abandoned
I thought an apolgetic was more like an apologizing.
