You might hear some Christians use the word “apologetics.” What does that mean? “I’m sorry for what I believe and won’t bring it up again”?
That seems to be the case for more and more Christians. “25 years ago, nearly every one of us who had had a spiritual conversation about our faith believed we had a responsibility to share our faith…. But today? Only 64 percent of us would say the same thing…. What we believe about sharing our faith has changed.” (“The Reluctant Witness,” 50, 52)
The old, churchy word “apologetics” doesn’t mean, “I’m sorry.” 1 Peter 3:15, “Always be ready to give an apology (that’s the Greek word) to anyone who asks an account for the hope that is in you.” Apology means a defense, a reply. “Let me tell you why I believe what I believe.”
Some “in-the-know” Christians think apologetics means giving reasons why Christian faith is superior to every other belief. “I’m going to reason you into my way of thinking.” That may have worked in the past but not now. “The idea that the only God is Yahweh (the Hebrew name for God, Exodus 3:14) or Allah… all these are manmade notions. They are inventions—they are social constructs. Few people really believe anymore in an objective reality” (“Postmodernism for Beginners,” 151). “You shall know the truth” says Jesus (John 8:32) but fewer and fewer Americans believe there is objective, eternal truth.
Although it’s hard, perhaps impossible, in our postmodern times to reason someone into faith, backing away from spiritual conversations is not the answer. “We must be careful, however, not to continue to propagate that witness in modernist ways: by attempting our own rationalist demonstrations of the truth of Christian faith…. The new apologetics will be an unapolgetics, it will at the same time be characterized by faithful storytelling, not demonstration” (“Who’s Afraid of Postmodernist?”, 73-74). “May I share with you how my faith in Jesus helps me?”
“One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ). He brought him to Jesus” (John 1:41-42).