The woman overheard me telling someone else I am teaching high schoolers at church. That must’ve piqued her interest because she asked in a positively curious tone, “Oh, what are you teaching?”
“Apologetics,” I told the 30-something year old Christian.
“Oh….what does that mean?” she asked, her tone now more confused than perky.
“It means knowing why you believe what you believe,” I responded.
“Oh…” she said uncomfortably, “…that’s….cool….” She didn’t know what else to say, I guess.
Unfortunately, I think this conversation could take place with a large number of people who genuinely love Jesus in our churches.
I’m concerned for Christians who don’t know why they believe what they believe and are OKAY WITH THAT.
Most of the people in this category probably grew up in church. They’ve always believed Biblical doctrine (and some not-so-biblical doctrine, but that’s another post entirely). They base their beliefs on what their pastor has always said, or what their Grandma always taught them, or what their parents said was the truth. And the buck stops there. What’s good enough for these role models is good enough for this kind of Christian. They don’t question what they’ve been taught. They don’t see the need.
But here’s the problem with that.
Pastor and Grandma and Mom and Dad aren’t necessarily going to be there with this Christian when life gets tough, and if they are there, they can’t choose for this Christian whether or not he or she is going to believe God in the midst of hardship.
When the pain of circumstances makes it hard to breathe and God feels totally absent, other people’s beliefs about God won’t be enough motivation for someone else to retain their beliefs in God. We have to know for ourselves why we can believe that God is sovereign and good and trustworthy even in the most brutal times of our lives.
Similarly, when the temptation to live for self is stronger than an ox, other people’s beliefs about God won’t be enough incentive for someone else to choose to resist temptation. We have to know for ourselves why we believe living life God’s way is ultimately in our best interest and that we have power through the Spirit to resist the pull of wrongdoing.
This building our own faith upon the faith of others rather than upon the Bible itself happens. A lot. And it can have disastrous effects.
A kid that “witnessed” to me in high school got so frustrated with my refusal to believe in God that he literally threw his hands up and yelled, “JUST BELIEVE JUST IN CASE!” And then he went to college. And denounced God. He never knew why he believed what he believed growing up.
We can’t coast through life hoping that so-and-so’s beliefs about God are both right and will be all we need to make it through trials and tribulations. They might not be accurate, and, at some point or another, they probably won’t be enough to get us through trying times. If our faith is based on someone else’s faith, we are setting ourselves up for a huge spiritual fall.
I’m also concerned for Christians that don’t know why they believe what they believe and are okay with that because they aren’t equipped to share their faith, which means they probably aren’t. And that’s the whole reason we are on this earth – to go and make disciples! If we aren’t doing that, we are blatantly disobeying a command given to us by Jesus in the Bible (Matthew 28:19-20), and we are missing the whole big picture of Christianity! The Gospel is good news – too good not to share – and it is essential news – too essential not to share.
But how can we share our faith if we don’t even know why we believe what we believe? From personal experience, I guarantee you no one will accept Jesus because you tell them, “My pastor says Jesus is the only way to Heaven, and I’m pretty sure that’s in the Bible somewhere.”
When we share our faith, we have to be prepared for people to ask questions, namely, “Why?” Why should they believe what you are saying is true? Why should they trust the Bible? Why is Christianity any different or better than any other religion? Why do you think Jesus was God? Why do you believe in a God at all? Why does a good God allow evil and suffering?
Believers, it’s time to know why. For you. For others.
Yes, yes and yes!!! Great thoughts and it’s so very true!
Thanks for the post. Our church offers bible classes and the pastor always advice members to attend for the same reason you are pointing out here. The teachings focuses on the character. As correctly say, most of us go to church because we grew up in a religious family but don’t have our own relationship with God.
Stay blessed
Thanks for the comment.
Fantastic!!! Home run!!!!
Rick Levatino
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Thanks, Rick.
If someone believes things without having considered why it is true, they are acting completely arationally. People in this state are open to all kinds of delusions and deceptions and are particularly susceptible to following extremist leaders spouting moving rhetoric. Blind faith is very dangerous in certain contexts. Sinful desires are behind not caring about the truth.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Brian.
Some things cannot be amswered, some things you must have faith in even though you don’t understand how they work. If you believe God to be true then his word, the Bible must also be true, so if it says it in the Bible it must be true. Some things I can’t figure out but because the Bible says them, I believe them to be true. Because I guess, that’s what faith is. Interesting post though!
1 Peter 3:15 “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:”
Definitely – there are things we won’t understand, and we are expected to believe them by faith because they are in God’s Word. We do, however, need to know why we believe the Bible is God’s Word and why we trust it. The world does not grant that it is the ultimate authority on truth, and we need to have an answer for why we do. Thanks for your thoughts.
yeah that’s true, by the way since you seem into the apologetics side of things (as all Christians should be as you mention above) may I please ask which Bible you use and whether you think it’s important? thanks
My favorite translation is NIV (1984), probably because that’s what I was introduced to first. It is a balanced translation, concerned equally about readability and word for word translation.
Example of a translation that focuses heavily on readability is NLT, and an example of a translation that focuses heavily on word for word is NASB. NIV is right in the middle. ESV is more popular these days, and it is somewhat balanced as well, although it leans a bit more toward the word for word goal than the readability goal.
As for whether or not I think it is important, I don’t. Actual Bibles (i.e., not paraphrases like the Message) are all translated pretty similarly. The majority of the time when we look up verses in multiple translations, there is little difference in meaning and application. Pick a translation you like and go with it.
I see, I was reading the NIV too. However I was introduced to the KJV and I really that alone now. I suggest you read into the matter and if you are interested please allow me to share some insights into why I believe that the King James Bible is the only we should read and it alone is the inerrant word of God . I would say everything now however you may not want to know which is why I asked first. Let me know!
I have heard this belief before and disagree with it, but you are welcome to post your thoughts if you would like 🙂
On Fri, Oct 10, 2014 at 11:55 AM, Calculating Grace wrote:
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Sure, it’ll take me some time to get all the information together. It’ll be a long answer so I’ll just write a blog post and send you the link when I’m done
Hi, I’ve written a post here, I don’t expect it to change your mind, it just gives some history, I will be writing more posts in the following week and will give you the links to those if you so wish to read along! http://lmtmt21t.wordpress.com/2014/10/10/the-bible-version-issue/
second post, really interesting lmtmt21t.wordpress.com/2014/10/11/whats-the-big-deal-about-the-kjv/
Lots of truth and good points here. My story exactly. Kinda raised in the faith (not like others are usually) but at least exposed to it enough, but when I had to answer why, I almost slipped into atheism. Thankful there are strong reasons to believe.