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REASONS
One of my professors said that theology could be described as “God-talk.” It is what we think and then verbalize about God. There is a lot of “God-talk” going on in our culture. It seems to me the talk in our culture about God is very different than it was even a few years ago. Years ago, at least from my experience most people talked about God from a Christian worldview and usually from a Catholic or Protestant point of view. That is just simply not the case anymore.
With the continued rise of “New Age” ideas about God, pluralism (the idea that there is more than one path to God), secularism and syncretism (where one picks and chooses their own ideas about God) the “God-talk” in America can be very confusing. This is why it is important for believers in our culture to have a firm foundation for their faith. We need to have a growing understanding of what we believe and why we believe it. Peter put it this way: “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.”(I Peter 3:15)
The bible says we need to be able to give “the reason” for the hope that we have. Giving reasons for your faith is called Apologetics. When someone talks about Christian apologetics it is not about apologizing for what you believe. It is from the Greek word “apologia” which means giving a defense or a reason for believing in something.
This is important because the Christian faith is a reasonable faith. There are reasons why we believe what we believe. The Christian faith is unique in that it does ask its followers to base their beliefs on their feeling that the Gospel is true or even in traditions/stories passed down for centuries. The Christian faith is based on real historical truth. C.H. Dodd in his book The Apostolic Preaching and Its’ Development points out that the message which tied the New Testament and the early church together was the historical event of the Gospel. “First and foremost, I handed onto you the facts which have been imparted to me: that Christ died for our sins, in accordance with the Scripture; that He was buried; that he was raised to life on the third day, according to the Scriptures.” (I Corinthians 15:3-4) Dr. Dodd’s conclusion was that this was the message preached by the early Christian church, that it was repeated over and over, and it became the essence of their faith. We must remember we have the historical Gospel which is rooted in reality that has been handed down to us. We have a responsibility to understand and defend our faith.
I completely reject the stereotype that implies to be a Christian and to take your faith seriously means you put your brain on the shelf. To have a Christian world view means you are just not very smart. Jesus was clear that one of the ways we love God is by engaging our mind. We need more Christian minds with a biblical world view who will take it into the worlds of science, education, media, law, etc. So engage your mind. There is no question or doubt that is off limits. The Christian faith has stood the test of time and hard questions because it is rooted in historical truth.
Peter reminds us the attitude in which we give reasons for our faith. It is with “gentleness and respect” not anger and arrogance. There are some Christians that approach the subject of apologetics with anger and arrogance. The Christian mindset is not to rail against the world or to try and out intellectual the world. It is not about who is smarter or better able to debate. The Christian faith has a response to the questions, criticisms and challenges the world and our cultures brings to the table. We need more Christians who are able to defend their faith and respond to our culture with truth and love. Peter says do so with a spirit of gentleness and respect.
Here is the point. As followers of Christ, we are to know what we believe and why we believe. Secondly, we are to engage our culture with the truth in a Christ-like spirit of love and respect. My prayer is that at Olivet, God will raise up men and women, young and old who have their hearts and minds fully surrendered to Jesus. It is with this in mind we are going to begin a series in September on Sunday mornings called “Reasons” why I believe. We are going to deal with questions like: Does God Exist?, Does Evolution Disprove God?, Can I Trust the Bible?, What about Suffering?
These kind of questions are increasingly important today. There are more and more people who reject the God of the bible, the Christian faith because of stereotypes or false ideas about God. I heard a preacher say that when people said to him, “I don’t believe in God” he would say, “tell me about the god that you don’t believe in because I probably don’t’ believe in him either.” I have used that at least twice over the last few years and both times it was true. They had false non-biblical ideas about God that I didn’t believe either. It would be tragic to miss heaven and a relationship with Jesus without ever taking the time to hear the truth about Him.
I hope to talk further about the REASONS behind this series but let me encourage you to not miss a week. You may have questions and doubts or have a friend with questions and doubts about God. Come and bring them with you. I hope you will come as we look to find God’s answers.
Pray for the Brazil team August 15-24
Pastor Scott