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Back in 2005, I was driving home from work one day and I heard an awesome song on the local Christian radio station - it sounded just like the country song “The Devil Went Down to Georgia,” but I found out it was actually “The Devil Went Down to Jordan,” a song about Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness! That was my first experience with the band known as ApologetiX (www.apologetix.com). They’re a Christian parody band, so they change the words of popular songs, all the way from oldies of the 1960s to modern day songs, to explain Bible stories or explain concepts of the Christian faith. They take their band name from our word of the week, which is apologetics.

Apologetics comes from the Greek word apologetikos, which means “suitable for defense.” Apologetics can be defined as providing a reasoned account of the grounds for believing in the Christian faith. When we give such an account, that account is called an apology. Apology is from the Greek word apologia, meaning speaking in defense of. We need to defend our faith to those who would try to sway us from it.

Being able to give an apology of your faith is of utmost importance to Christians. We need to be able to explain to nonbelievers why we believe what we believe. 1 Peter 3:15-16 gives us the command to do this:

“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, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.”

Take note of the phrase in the middle of that passage - “with gentleness and respect.” If you present your apology with rudeness and anger, it will turn off the person you’re talking to. Respect that person’s apology of what they believe when presenting yours, and they will better respect both you and Christ, the person your apologetic is for.

I encourage you to think through your faith and why you believe what you believe. I had the opportunity to do this during the theology classes I took during my seminary studies. We students had to write a paper on various topics of the faith, including God, sin, and what happens at the end of the world. It was a very challenging experience to get my faith down on paper, especially why I believe those things, but very worthwhile.

Think through your faith and be ready with your apologetic, so when someone asks you why you believe something, you can tell them the reason for the hope that you have - with gentleness and respect.

A note from Jason DeZurik: Due to some of you possibly being confused by the word "apology" in this post, please remember that Katie takes us back to the origin of the word and what it means. We do not apologize for our faith. The word "apology" here means, speaking in defense of. So when giving a defense of your faith in Christ remember to do it in love and let us not forget what General George Patton Jr. has to say about defense, "Nobody ever defended anything successfully, there is only attack and attack and attack some more." We need to remember that a strong defense can be a strong offense as well. Have a great week!