On Apologetics – Humility

Greetings Dear Reader,

When I attempt to show reason for why I have hope then I must do so with humility.  As my Grandfather used to say and I have said before humility is an elusive thing.  The moment you think you have it you have lost it.

I used to have a great deal of knowledge concerning apologetics but I had little humility.  I could win battles but seldom the war.  I came off as arrogant and loveless.  If I do not approach the subject of apologetics with humility then I am just another loud arguing fundamentalist alienating those I am required to love.

Nothing about defending the Gospel requires pride.  It is not my reasoning or truths that make the Gospel valid.  It is Christ and his sufficiency that matter.  Jesus does not need me for the truth to be valid.  He does not need my meager understanding for who he is and what he teaches to be valid. 

What I am to do is live and teach the Gospel from a position of humility.  My journey to and journey with Christ has at times been carried on anger and hard teachings.  I was much more an angry prophet than a loving fellow traveler.  It is not my place to judge or condemn anyone else.   

So how does one “argue” for the faith of Christ without arguing, judging, and condemning others?  It is simpler than one would think.  I first must embrace that my place in apologetics is to be an example first.  I must realize that as much as I think others need Christ and to follow him, I need that same thing every moment to fight the fallen nature in me.

Any good I do is because of God’s grace and not my own goodness or power.  When I am successful at loving, giving, and accepting others it is God’s grace at work in me.  When I offer a successful explanation of the hope I have in Christ it is Christ in me that speaks and not my own fallen tongue.

So for me the first order of apologetics is to seek humility as an always available and sometimes attainable place in my heart.  God has blessed me with intelligence and a gift with words.  God and my parents provided me with an excellent education.  I have worked at reason and articulation.  If, however, I do not approach the discussion of my faith and the reasons for it with humility then I fail at the start.

That humility must spring from a clear realization of who I am: A fallen man who has be graced with the love of God.  It must also account that I am not better than anyone else.  True humility will inform me that I owe a debt of love to God and that he commands I pay by loving those around me.  It is humility born out of love than can crush the barriers to faith.  “I may speak in the languages of humans and angels but if I do not have love I am a loud gong or a clashing cymbal.”

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store."