Thayer Thursday – Apologetic extremes to avoid
Chris Thayer is the Director of Discipleship at Good Shepherd Church in Charlotte, NC where he oversees adult life groups and Biblical education. On Thursdays I share his weekly “Thayer’s Thoughts” for small group leaders, which are based on the previous Sunday’s sermon. Click HERE to watch or listen to the accompanying sermon.
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When I went to college my head was teaming with questions about God. Up until that period in my life, I assumed that having questions about God’s actions or even His existence was a bad thing. I thought it meant that I didn’t have enough “faith,” and therefore the answer was for me to somehow “believe” more than I already did.
However, once I got to college I decided to ask those questions. “If God isn’t big enough to stand up to my questions,” I told myself, “He isn’t worth me giving my life to.”
After reading books by authors such as C.S. Lewis and Ravi Zacharias – I found that I was not alone in having the questions I did. I found there were brilliant scientists, Biblical scholars, and philosophers who dedicated their lives to answering some of their deepest questions about God, the Bible, and the person of Jesus. Many of the questions I had, these men had dedicated their lives to answering.
Knowing I wasn’t alone and having a place to sincerely and without fear of reprisal ask my questions is an integral part of the faith I now have in Jesus. For this reason, I am a strong proponent of encouraging people to ask their questions about “the hope that we have” in Jesus Christ.
Unfortunately, however, one of two extremes is usually taken when it comes to the practice of answering questions or objections people have to the Gospel of Jesus (also called Christian Apologetics[1]).
The first extreme is to protest the need for Christian apologetics at all. The objection is that Christianity is about faith, not knowledge. Therefore we’re supposed to set our brain aside and simply ‘believe it because the Bible says so.’
The second and opposite extreme is Christians availing themselves of their ‘verbal weaponry’ in response to any question or objection to the Gospel. Any conversation quickly becomes a verbal ‘war’ which can only be won when their ‘opponent’ is thoroughly wounded by the truth of the Gospel and must limp off the stage.
I’m speaking slightly tongue-in-cheek as I describe these two extremes; but the sad reality is that many people take one of these two stances in varying degrees.
While there are many different passages of scripture one could point to in order to reject these views – 1 Peter 3:15 (and the surrounding chapter) is one of the clearest directives we have as Christians in this regard. We are called to have an answer, a defense, for anybody who asks why we have the hope we do; and that answer is to be given with gentleness and respect.
This message from Peter directly opposes both extremes Christians sometimes take to Christian apologetics.
Not all of us are called to be a C.S. Lewis or Ravi Zacharias. Not all of us will have answers to all of the questions or objections that people have to the Gospel. But all of us can and should have a reason for the hope that we have in Jesus Christ. Keep that answer on the tip of your tongue so that when people ask you for the reason you have hope in Jesus: you can give them an answer.
Your story is powerful. Don’t be afraid to tell it.
Chris Thayer
[1] “Apologetics” is not an ‘apology’ in the sense we typically think of the word (i.e. saying “I’m sorry”); but is instead a ‘defense,’ or an answering of the objections or questions people raise about a particular issue or topic – in this case, the message of Christianity.
Categories: Blog, Ministry, New Testament, Thayer Thursday