But in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as Holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you… 1 Peter 3:15 (ESV)
Ever since my high school days I’ve had a thing for apologetics. I used to debate non-Christians on various web forums over science, philosophy, and belief; then in college I belonged to a group some friends started called the Society of Christian Apologists and Philosophers (SOCAPS for short—it had a ring to it!). We took the Bible, Faith Has Its Reasons, and Mere Christianity as our main texts and sought to engage others on the U. of Oklahoma’s campus with the truths of Christianity. In the course of time I have moved from being a you just need to believe fideist to a Geisler-loving evidentialist to a Schaeffer and Van Til following presuppositionalist to a…well, whatever it is I am now. It was an interesting philosophical journey, but along the way something began to happen: I started to question how effective my debating (which seemed a lot of times to be mostly arguing) actually was in helping people see Jesus and the Gospel.
In truth, it wasn’t.
Then I started thinking more about this verse…how our primary apologia is to give a “reason for the hope” to the one who asks. This isn’t about debate and who can argue the facts better, but a reason for hope. (That’s not to say that evidence and presuppositions don’t play a part, just not the greatest part). Even more, two other verses came to stand out: John 13:35, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another,” and John 17:23, “I in them and you in me that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.”
Jesus describes this apologetic of our Christian faith as community—the family we call “church”—and how we love each other, care for each other, and join with each other.
My problem was that I could debate all I wanted so that people could hear/read my words and my arguments, but they never saw a life that went with them. Even more they never saw a life lived in relationship to others. Different religions and beliefs fill the world, as do billions of fallen people who share the same basic human needs including a sense of belonging (and of course, salvation).
Our Gospel is one of hope: turn from sin, come to Jesus, be saved, have new life, eternal joy, perfect forgiveness, and future resurrection/restoration all bound up in being part of a new people/nation/family. What better way for others to see that our hope is real than the very things that Jesus said: love each other and be one with each other? We build a community of grace based on the work of Jesus, serving and caring for each other, and inviting others to find faith in Jesus and become a part. It’s popular to disparage the local church (and some criticism is well founded, but not all and probably not most), but the individual church communities are essential to engaging the world with the Gospel.
Will we ever be a part of a local church that displays this apologetic community perfectly? Of course not, after all even in the church we’re still dealing with fallen people—though we have been saved by grace and are patiently being reshaped (sanctified) by Jesus. But we must do our best to love others, work though our differences, and strive for a greater unity all for the glory of Christ and for the sake of our defense of the hope that is in us.
Too often it seems the world sees us Baptists more for what we are against, or more for our infamous church splits, or more for our arguments over minor issues…let’s instead show them the Gospel, Jesus, and love through our communities of church. And how? Here’s a few ideas in a few simple words: prayer, forgiveness, concern, fellowship, humility, service…(feel free to add your own…)
I like you Mike Bergman. I like you a lot. May God continue to keep you and bless your ministry in a big way. selahV
‘in communio’
The Kingdom
The Body of Christ
The Vine and the Branches
The Communion of Saints
Unity in Diversity
All themes that honor the connection Christian people have in Our Lord. I am glad to see Baptists exploring the nature of Christian community in depth.
QUOTE It was an interesting philosophical journey, but along the way something began to happen: I started to question how effective my debating (which seemed a lot of times to be mostly arguing) actually was in helping people see Jesus and the Gospel END QUOTE
Mike, I agree wholeheartedly with your above assessment, though I disagree with your premise of what is the “primary apologetic.” I don’t think it is community. I would say it is the Person and Work of Jesus Christ. But, I get your point.
I have an advanced degree in Philosophy of Religion with a major in Apologetics and a minor in Evangelism from the most prestigious SBC seminary in the land. My thesis (required for the degree) was “God As the Foundation for a Theory of Everything: Understanding the Existence of God in Light of New Developments in Quantum Physics.”
Yea! That’s the same reaction I get when anyone asks me what my degree is in — a big yawn.
It has been said by a brighter mind than mine: “People don’t care what you know until they know that you care” — and, I would add, 99% of them still don’t care much about Quantum Physics.
Thanks for your thoughtful post.
Mike, I agree wholeheartedly with your above assessment, though I disagree with your premise of what is the “primary apologetic.” I don’t think it is community. I would say it is the Person and Work of Jesus Christ. But, I get your point.
I know what you mean by this (I think), but I would view the person and work of Jesus as the central point to our faith/Gospel. Our apologetic is our defense of that, our witness to show others that Jesus is real and his work is true. Thus what he said about “the world will know you are my disciples…” etc. So I’m still going w/ community is our primary apologetic of the person and work of Jesus.
And as a side note: Yea! That’s the same reaction I get when anyone asks me what my degree is in — a big yawn.
My undergrad degree is in meteorology w/ a minor in math… we never dealt w/ quantum physics but the entire degree is essentially applied newtonian physics (in other words: I’m a bit of a science nerd)…so I think the thesis sounds pretty cool! 🙂
Mike,
This is a GREAT post and I wholeheartedly agree. You make the right distinction:
Gospel=central in our faith.
Community=central in the defense of our faith.
In fact, when Poly Carp wrote his apologetic as a second generation Christian, the community amongst believers was in fact his primary argument.
Mike, I could be persuaded by your argument when you focus on the element of “love” as the central theme of community. Love is really the primary virtue of Jesus and His primary work. So, I think I could get on board with “community as the primary apologetic” if we keep the focus on Christ as the source of our love for one-another.
I can follow that argument.
SSBN: “Love is really the primary virtue of Jesus and His primary work.”
Isn’t love the catalyst of His entire being [God is love and so Jesus is love.] and from that love came the reason for His primary “work” which is to save sinners?
It has been years and years since I thought of any particular approach. The digital, two-sided, apparently contradictory, paradoxical, intellectual, historical, evidentiary, God-given power identified as faith, the two-step dance of faith and fact, the overwhelming difficulty of perception, these all constitute the problem of the Christian apologetic. Our biggest problem today is that we lack Christian researchers, people willing to spend long years investigating source materials, primary and secondary, then thinking and reflecting on the ideas involved for long periods of time and ready and willing to capitalize on sudden flashes of insight that only come from/through such tedious processes and then formulate the understandings into challenges for the inept frameworks of unbelief now offered as pabulum (sp?) for the masses in order to mislead, deceive, and manipulate them. Biblical and Christian perceptions truly derived by rational and evidentiary processes are the way of the future that will sweep the generations into the Kingdom by winsome persuasion, especially when conjoined with that Heavenly Presence that accompanies the truth and producing that sense of humility that is ever the mark of a true Awakening for which we pray.
Dr. W,
I agree we do not have the depth of scholarship as in past generations. There are still great scholars, don’t get me wrong, but the internet and computer based research seem to substitute for prayer and meditation on the Word.
Anybody can get his or her name in “lights” so to speak in blogland. If you read just this thread you will see just how shallow the theological pond has become.
I guess that is why I feel more at home with dead scholars than some of the live ones 🙂