16 May 2005

Why do we do apologetics?

Steve McCoy over at Reformissionary made an interesting statement/question about apologetics today 'lately I've been starting to wonder if what many call "a defense" of the faith has really become about being "defensive" about the faith.'

I thought of H. Richard Niebuhr's book - "Christ and Culture." I read it several years ago in Seminary (GGBTS Arizona Regional Campus). Perhaps I need to go back and review it again. It was written in 1951 before the major changes of 60's and the 90's, but still holds a lot of wisdom and insight. This book among others helped to refine my overall view of the apologetic task.

The most important apologetic defense is a life that speaks the love of Christ without using words initially. Telling someone about the love of Christ using words are necessary at some point, but I wonder if we have become too confident in the words we speak and not relying enough on the work of the Holy Spirit using our actions as the medium.

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