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I think we could probably all agree that one of the most annoying types of people in the world is the apologist. You know who I'm talking about. This person exists in many areas of life. It's the guy who is always making excuses for why he or his team lost. "The referees made bad calls". "The injuries were impossible to overcome". "The weather was awful". Finally, the absolute worst in my opinion: "There's a conspiracy against my team and it's obvious that the authorities just simply don't want us to win". If you are a sports fan like me, you may have used these excuses before. You may also, like me, be completely annoyed at those who say these things rather than just simply admitting that their favorite team got beat fairly, especially when their favorite team is the one you can't stand! The apologist also exists in the realm of politics. He rips the candidate from the opposing party for getting caught in a scandal, and then makes excuses for the candidate he supports who ends up in a similar situation. I could go on, but you get the point. An apologist is annoying in any area of life because he is completely irrational, and the only one who can't see it is him!

Those of you who are reading this and do not profess to be believers may feel that Christians are apologists according to the description I gave above. You feel that our claims are unfounded, unsupported, and irrational. You feel that we sit back and "make excuses" for things in the Bible or the Church that do not seem to be consistent with the God we serve. Because we remain steadfast in our faith, you may see us as annoying apologists. I'd like to explain why we do not fit into that judgment and maybe even more clearly explain something about our faith in the process.

As Katie pointed out in Monday's blog, "apologetics" simply refers to the process of defending something, more specifically the Christian faith for the purpose of these blogs. While we will always defend our faith in Jesus Christ as the only one who can save us from our sins and give us hope and abundant life, that does NOT mean that we become apologists for those who have used the Christian faith to justify all kinds of evil. We also don't need to defend every apparent contradiction in the Bible. The goal of our "apologetics" is not to prove ourselves right and everyone else wrong. Instead, we aim to offer the rest of the world the same defense that we have. We will not apologize for our faith (as Jason said), but we also will not apologize for our failures in the sense that we try to defend or justify ourselves. Romans 3:23-24 explains that "all have sinned...and are JUSTIFIED FREELY by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus". You see, when we talk about "defending our faith", it has nothing to do with what we have done, what we have discovered, or how we are correct. We are actually defending our belief in the fact that we have no defense, and therefore needed Christ to be our "apology" for us. "God made him who had no sin to be sin (literally a sin offering) for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians 5:21 [NIV]).

For those of you who want to argue with Christians about all the problems religion has caused or all the apparent contradictions in the Bible (which only exist because of human translation), please realize that many of us know why we believe what we believe. We also know many followers of Christ do not seem to know what they believe and why they believe it. We here at Worldview Warriors are not looking to prove anything though or "win" an argument. We engage in these conversations because we desperately want the whole world to understand the hope, love, and "apology" we have in Christ. I can't speak for all Christians worldwide obviously, but I can speak for myself and the others who are part of this organization that puts out these blogs. Hopefully, if you've been reading these blogs, whether you consider yourself a follower of Christ of not, you have seen that we are not apologists. We make no excuses for our mistakes or those of the Church. We don't seek to place ourselves above anyone, including those who don't agree with our faith. Instead, we seek to offer what we have to everyone, because we believe that without this "defense", we would all be doomed. Looking at things this way, you might realize that our failures are not a reason to reject Christ. In actuality, they are a reason to turn to him completely. I once heard someone say it this way: "How amazing is the God we serve, that He would take a group of people (Church) like that who are complete messes and love them, nurture them, train them, and send them out to bring Him glory!" I can't remember who said that, but it hit the nail on the head. Whether you are a Christian or not, I hope and pray that you will stop looking to defend yourself or YOUR thoughts and turn to the One who through obedience on the cross became the only "apology" we will ever need.