In my last post and first of this two part series we covered the theory behind epistemology. This is key to understanding what I’m going to talk about in this one, so if you haven’t read it go do that!!! Now, we are going to take epistemology and apply it to the daily life of a Christ follower aka apologetics.
It’s always crazy how God works things together, when I reached out for topic ideas I again got two great ones. Epistemology and being consistent in our walks. At first I had no clue which one to pick, but as I studied them it became very clear that I had a theory to application flow forming.
How in the world do epistemology and apologetics come together you might ask? Pretty perfectly actually! You see as discussed epistemology is the study of knowledge and justified beliefs, and apologetics is the study of how to defend our faith! I truly believe if you claim the name of Jesus, then you claim the title of scholar and student!
“but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,”- 1 Peter 3:15 ESV
In this letter to the churches from the apostle Peter we see a few key words: Always, prepared, anyone, asks, respect, gentleness, reason! I mean come on! That is spot on for both of the fields of thought we are combining here. I think one of the biggest issues we as the church deal with is lack of understand of what we truly claim to believe!
So often we have friends, church members, even parents that act one way at church or with a group of friends but a complete different way around other places and people. It can be so confusing and so frustrating to have inconsistencies in how people live Christian lives in this world today.
Here’s the deal, we learned that in epistemology that true belief has 3 premises: an appropriate amount of truth, belief in that truth and justification for believing. If we look back at 1 Peter 3:15 we see that Christ needs to be honored in our hearts as holy and that we need to be always prepared to make a defense for our hope with in us. Taking these two groups of data we see that justifying our belief in Christ and then defending it takes always being prepared.
This means that the Gospel needs to so radically change your life that your life around you will reciprocate the evidence of the belief your heart claims. We learn that for justification of your belief to be solid, the evidence should point to it, and it should come from a reliable source (people around us). If the gospel made you believe Christ is your true savior, and the change in you is evident to the world around you because you are being consistently like Christ? This then leads to a proper defense of your belief. So how do we know what type of life we need to live to see change?
“Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.”- 1 Timothy 4:7-8 ESV
The apostle Paul gives Timothy and us the command, train yourself in godliness for it has great value and holds promise for present life and afterlife! No one will believe you if you only act like a Christian part time, just like you won’t make a good athlete if you only train when others are looking. Paul encourages Timothy that training in godliness is key to a valued life. When we want to prove something to be true like our faith and Jesus as savior, we need to constantly be training in scripture and living like it.
to conclude: the reality is that if we claim to be Christians and that Christ is the risen savior, we need to constantly be preparing to defend those claims.
Being consistent in chasing Christ and reading scripture when we are with any person, anywhere will lead to a proper defense for the hope we have in the Gospel.
Relentless¥Servant 