One of the primary goals of this blog, THE MAIN THING, is to show how reasonable it is to believe wholeheartedly that Jesus Christ is the Rescuer of all mankind. Presenting reasoned arguments in defense of this central tenet of Christianity is sometimes called apologetics. The word comes from the Greek word apologia. According to Bible.org:
In ancient Athens it referred to a defense made in the courtroom as part of the normal judicial procedure. After the accusation, the defendant was allowed to refute the charges with a defense or reply (apologia). The accused would attempt to "speak away" (apo—away, logia—speech) the accusation.
So it's basically making a defense of the Christian faith. It sounds a little funny, though, don't you think? Imagine the reaction of a somewhat cynical skeptic hearing the word for the first time: "What? That guy's a Christian apologist? Oh, I've been waiting for this—I've got to hear his apology!"
It seems like most people, whether they consider themselves Christians or not, have questions about Christianity. I certainly did (and still do, about some things). My questions tended to fall into these categories:
Is the Bible really the inerrant Word of God?
Who was Jesus Christ, really?
Are miracles real?
I became interested in apologetics because I wanted reasonable answers to questions like these. I had grown a little tired of the stock answers one sometimes gets from well-meaning churchgoers:
Just have faith!
Try praying about it!
God works in mysterious ways!
I wanted my Christian faith to make sense to me. I wanted to be able to explain what I believed to someone else with questions. I didn't want just a Sunday-morning faith that I felt I should hide away during the rest of the week, in fear some skeptic might challenge me about what I believe. I wanted to be a fearless Romans 1:16 type of believer:
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.
Over the years, my study of apologetics has led me to a deeper understanding of not only Christianity, but also the true nature of reality. And as crazy as it may sound to some, I've become totally convinced Jesus Christ is our Rescuer!