The A.P.O.L.O.G.E.T.I.C.S. of Apologetics

Apologetics is much more than simply defending the faith. To try and flesh out the fullness of apologetics, I will use APOLOGETICS as an acronym.

Apologetics shouldn’t just be about the pet interests of the apologists but should be applicable to the need of the audience.

We should be praying for ourselves and the people we talk to.

We should be open to hearing the other person and not just using the time to prepare our response.

We should have love as the motivation for our apologetics activity.

We should seek to uphold the orthodox Christian faith as revealed in the Bible and articulated by the historical church.

We should seek to bring glory to the one true God who is Father, Son and Spirit.

Although apologetics can be used with both Christians and non-Christians, apologetics should have a close relationship with evangelism.

We should seek to always proclaim the truth and this means doing the research to make sure our facts are accurate.

We are never done with the process of learning and we should seek to develop as intelligent ambassadors for the kingdom of God.

Although WWJD (What Would Jesus Do) has become a bit of a cliche, it is always good to ask if our apologetics activity is Christ-like in its nature.

We need to be prepared to stand for the truth and not back down in the face of opposition.

Each of these elements are important for being effective Christian apologists.

Liked it? Take a second to support Stephen Bedard on Patreon!