Christians
need to be constantly stressing the need to not only know “what” they
believe, but also “why”
they believe it. Too many Christians seated in any given Church on Sunday can
give you a nutshell paraphrased version of what the Christian faith is all
about to them. But when you ask them “why”
they believe what they supposedly believe in their Christian faith, the margin
of capability narrows quickly. For many professing Christians the reason they
believe what they do about God, Jesus and the Bible is based on what someone
they trust and/or revere has told them. Thos same Christians just accept what
they are told as fact without making it a personal endeavor to know how the
fact was birthed into a truthful reality.
There
is a great need for the development and the use of apologetics, especially in
the changing society that is currently being experienced. The world has never
experienced an age when truth is perceived as more personally relevant than
entirely absolute. If Jesus Christ is the embodiment of real absolute truth
then we need to know Him intimately and we need to know why He is that truth.
The truth is not “out there’ somewhere. It is within us by the Holy Spirit’s
presence, and it is before us in the printed word of God – the Biblical
text.
Christians must
not only know God’s Word, but
also know about God’s Word in order to be able to make an accurate presentation
to non-believers that will help them see their personal need for salvation
through Jesus Christ. The Scriptures should be preeminent in the life of every
Christian. They are the reaffirming source by which God has transmitted to us
the salvation we can have and experience. However, empirical and rational
philosophical thought can also be excellent supplemental arguments in our
apologetics also. This is why it is important to know “why” one believes what
one believes - and not just “what” we believe.
The
technique of stepping up on a soap box in the town square and preaching “hell,
fire and brimstone” is no longer
nearly as effective as it was even three decades ago. When the Old Testament
prophet Daniel said that “knowledge would
increase” (Daniel 12:4), he was probably unknowingly describing the current
day and age very accurately. In this age, true Christians cannot afford to just
be preachers - as important as that is.
The
Gospel of Jesus Christ must be proclaimed and His principals displayed in our
daily living. Today’s Christians must become well trained and proficient
apologists to communicate the Gospel effectively in the changing global
community of the 21st century.
