"But in your hearts revere
Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you
to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and
respect." 1 Peter 3:15
Odd thing,
this life. I sometimes wonder how much we are products of our environments
versus how much, in truth, we are actually beings who produce our
environments. Lately, be it in conversations in church or in one of my small groups,
the question of why Christians must constantly defend their faith has come up,
over and over again. As it has, sure enough, I’ve had everyone from my godson
to one of my employee’s either confront me or simply ask me to explain my faith, which has been either rudely described as “blind” or sweetly
defined as “innocent”, as if I'm either ignorant or naïve to believe in Jesus,
God or an afterlife.
What’s
fascinating is how some Christians struggle with defending their faith, myself
included. I've more often than not walked away from such encounters feeling
somewhat defeated, as if my faith was so weak that I could not properly pound
some intellectual sense into the other party. But last night I came to the
conclusion that most of my internal debates come from, well, my debate
training from school, back in the day, and even worse, from that old friend of “mind”
that I used to hang out with alllll the time who goes by the name of Pride.
But Paul
has instructed us, very clearly, to take a different path, to be prepared to
answer those who attack our faith, yes, but to do so absent the presence of
pride or any preconceived notions of victory or defeat, because anyone who asks
us about Jesus or our faith has already “won” something, in a sense: that small
kernel of curiosity that can lead to the manifestation of salvation. Our job is to
answer what we can, when we can, with “gentleness and respect”.
One cannot
“pound” Jesus into anyone, nor can one “reason”, or “cajole”, or “persuade”, or
“convince” him into anyone. Jesus comes in his own time to those who need him,
when that individual is ready to receive him and often before that individual
even knows they are ready to receive
him.
I believe this is a church culture thing, a mindset of defensive evangelism that every churchgoer feels they need to have polished to perfection. Nonsense. And remember, the verse says to "give an answer...for the reason for the HOPE you have." It doesn't say to grind people into the ground with eloquent arguments bereft of holes. So...going backwards through this verse...starting with YOU. The hope YOU have - who are you? The answer you give people will be idiosyncratic, and natural. It will differ from my answer. Then, the HOPE. Why are you a Christian? Hope is an emotion, so I believe this aspect would be emotional. Maybe that's just me. And lastly, what is the reason for this emotion? Here's where the intellectual aspect comes into play, but again, this will be unique to the individual. Some people will suggest books written by people much, much smarter than ourselves. Some people will bring up history, archaeology, logic, even mathematics. Some of my personal favorite theologians are physicists. They're kind of smart. Anyhow...I love to tell people about my faith, how Jesus is closer than my own breath, and that sometimes His presence overwhelms me. And I love to read intense, intellectual theology, and tell others what I've learned. And I love the beauty and poetry of the Bible. I love the mysticism of it. Anyhow, the "be prepared" to give an answer, I think, just means this: Why do you believe? Why are you in love with Jesus? It's important to really know why, and that's the answer that you will always have. There's no panicking required, you have done your part, you have been honest and straightforward. Your friend can take it or leave it.
ReplyDeleteYou know, I just thought of this - there are many verses in the scripture, that when dissected like we've done here, reveal so much more beauty than at first glance. For instance, I always like to understand the concept of the Trinity by comparing it to our own selves - we're made in the image of God, God is triune. So, God is the Father, number one, the Great Creator, the Intellectual. Jesus is the Son, number two, the Body, the physical presence. Holy Spirit is the spiritual presence, the counselor, the comforter, the emotional sense. Like us - we only have three parts - Intellect/Brain, Physical Body, and Spirit/Soul.
So here's the thing - if we truly live in the fullness of our creation, then our answer will be loving, unique, and powerful. YOU = physical, your activities, your environment, your experiences. The HOPE = emotional, spiritual. The REASON = intellectual. Interacting with others, "being prepared" in this way, through the fullness of this triune image, would be true loveliness. Wouldn't it be nice to rest in that knowledge, that by just being ourselves, that is all God requires? Because, honestly, that's hard enough.
I am wiped out right now so I hope that made sense. The hippie kids and I took a long hike today. Barefoot little wonders.
Great thoughts Hil. Thanks :)
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