{"id":9243,"date":"2024-02-11T00:05:31","date_gmt":"2024-02-10T18:35:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/2024\/02\/11\/a-brief-but-deep-thought-on-defending-the-christian-faith-or-not\/"},"modified":"2024-02-11T00:05:31","modified_gmt":"2024-02-10T18:35:31","slug":"a-brief-but-deep-thought-on-defending-the-christian-faith-or-not","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/2024\/02\/11\/a-brief-but-deep-thought-on-defending-the-christian-faith-or-not\/","title":{"rendered":"A Brief but Deep Thought on Defending the Christian Faith (Or Not)"},"content":{"rendered":"


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I\u2019m not a big fan<\/a>\"\"\u00a0of Christian apologetics. Nothing personal, and I know some smart people who do it.\u00a0It\u2019s just not for me.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not against the engagement of intellect and faith. Not at all. I do that all the time. But I\u2019ve never seen an argument for why Christianity is true that can\u2019t be met by some alternative argument.<\/p>\n

I am not interested in trying to establish whether Christianity is \u201creasonable\u201d\u2014a lot of things are reasonable and I don\u2019t center my life around them.<\/p>\n

Nor am I interested in whether Christianity is probable or possible\u2014a lot of things are probable\u00a0and\/or possible\u00a0but I don\u2019t dwell on them.<\/p>\n

The notion of \u201cChristian apologetics\u201d presumes that the intellect\u2014weighing evidence, sifting through pros and cons, rigorous analysis\u2014is the primary<\/em> arena for engaging the truth of\u00a0Christianity.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think it is. At least it hasn\u2019t worked very well. If it works, it works among those already convinced. At its worst, it simply props up the apologist\u2019s insecurities.<\/p>\n

A burden of (at least western) Christian apologetics isn\u2019t so much in failing to show the wider world how well Christianity\u00a0works intellectually, but in presuming that the intellect is how Christianity\u00a0works.<\/p>\n

But our arguments are constructed after the fact, after we believe, not in order to believe.\u00a0Belief<\/a> is first. Intellect follows.\u00a0The problem I have with apologetics is that that order is reversed.<\/p>\n

The best apologetic isn\u2019t proving we have a better intellectual system.\u00a0Nor do we persuade others with\u00a0fear of\u00a0divine retribution<\/a> if they don\u2019t agree and the promise of an afterlife if they do.<\/p>\n

The best apologetic is where there is payoff now.\u00a0<\/em>Embodying, \u201cYour kingdom come\u201d\u2014how Christians live\u00a0positively toward others, showing the\u00a0difference our faith makes to those near us and our global community, living out the notion that we are here to serve and not to be served.<\/p>\n

We<\/em> are the apologetic, and that is much harder than crafting arguments.<\/h2>\n

Proverbs describes a life before God as a\u00a0way<\/em>, and path<\/em>, a road\u2014<\/em>not a classroom or think tank.\u00a0The best\u00a0apologetic is one where our words provide the narrative for our path, not where words are left alone to construct that narrative.<\/p>\n

. . . sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence. . . \u00a0<\/em>(1 Peter 3:15)<\/p>\n

Not, \u201cBe ready to out-debate those who disagree with you about the nature of objective reality.\u201d<\/p>\n

But, \u201cGive an gentle account for what drives you, for why you do what you do, why you stay in the game\u201d\u2014especially when the chips are down, as was the case with the suffering readers of 1 Peter.<\/p>\n

A faith that acts fearlessly well toward the other, regardless of\u00a0who that other is; following daily the Christian path for all to see; showing that this Jesus stuff works, that there\u2019s payoff, now.\u00a0That is the best apologetic.<\/p>\n

All the rest we can talk about later . . . after we\u2019ve earned the right to.<\/p>\n

[Please remember that I moderate comments and that may take as long as a day. I\u2019m not ignoring you. If your comment hasn\u2019t been posted by then, assume Jesus told me personally not to.]<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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I\u2019m not a big fan\u00a0of Christian apologetics. Nothing personal, and I know some smart people who do it.\u00a0It\u2019s just not for me. I\u2019m not against the engagement of intellect and faith. Not at all. I do that all the time. But I\u2019ve never seen an argument for why Christianity is true that can\u2019t be met […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9244,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[]},"categories":[44],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9243"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9243"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9243\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}