WHAT’S YOUR MOTIVE FOR APOLOGETICS AND DOCTRINAL DISPUTE?
Does your desire to correct the beliefs of others come from a need to be right and “set them straight,” or does it stem from a genuine compassion and concern for their soul? If we’re honest, many of us just want to remain sure that what we believe is the truth.
What a great question? I want to learn and to fill the holes in my theology, but truthfully i want the evidence to confirm my track of mind.
Unity of the Church and conversion of the lost.
I am only interested in knowing what is truth about God and helping others to obtain that truth.
In the military we are trained how to field strip the enemy’s weapon, should the need arise to use it… the devil uses preachers with good words and fair speeches to deceive the hearts of the simple… the truth is always gonna be known to the few… within the few, the deeper truths will be even more scarce during the end times… spiritual gateways have been open and gives the enemy legal ground to deceive many… in age when prayer and fasting is soo unused, the church is not operating in true power, but rather a form of Godliness… 100 years ago the conservative churches of today would be called worldly… who is willing to be separated and made fun of? Mocked? …
A.D.2020
I Cannot Lie, I Will Stammer And Will Have No Direction.
Biblical accuracy and truth is key for me. If the Bible errs in any way, then how can we trust it is true and accurate anywhere?
Mine is to lead people to Christ and help many who are in the church understand the gospel that is often distorted
I have found some many false understandings of what science actually says and a stone wall built in the scientific community that prevents real, verifiable evidence to come into play. I am chipping at this wall and showing factual verifiable evidence for the creation, the Bibles accuracy, and for the resurrection of Jesus.
This gets rid of the cobwebs and allows the real issues of the heart to surface where a real and honest conversation can take place.
I like clearing up falsehoods and misunderstandings.
Very important point you made here. Our motives are extremely important. I catch my self often just trying to win an argument. Our hearts, where desires and passions come from, are deceiving above all things (Jeremiah 17/9).
Seeking to speak the truth in love is what I try to do when th opportunity comes. Keeping the conversation civil and respectful is key! If the other person resorts to insults and vitriolic comments , it’s time to shut it down.
It’s a little bit of both. When you consider the way society is today especially towards the Christian belief, they portray us to be uneducated dunces. They put so much stress on sciences and a secular historical agenda is pushed in public schools that the younger generations graduating has been indoctrinated for 12 years to one side of the argument. We place teachers and professors to be infallible in their eyes so they graduate with a stone cold stance on anything Christian.
So yes part of it is to win the argument. If you can never convince them that their understanding of Christianity is skewed then you’ll never reach them regarding their soul.
When you speak to someone about the council of Nicea it’s always the same regurgitated bull you see on the history channel documentaries. It’s made to make the viewer believe the reason they met was to put a bunch of books together that could be used to influence and control the masses. Which is totally a lie. Then you get “what about the BOOKS BANED FRIM THE BIBLE!!” I all capped that cause that’s the way you see it when the documentary comes on TV. They want to get your attention as if the books rejected as canon somehow was left out cause it didn’t contribute to the control of people.
Another argument is, oh it’s been translated so many time we can’t tell if what’s in the Bible today is what was originally written. Stuff gets lost in translation.
So Christian apologetics is necessary for both points. To win the argument, and win souls.
1 Peter 3:15
[15]But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear: the word answer in that verse is apologia in the Greek, this is where we get the word, apologetics from.
We are to speak truth, defend truth and expose the liars! It’s not a choice, it’s a command!
I am very concerned with souls. People who are being led astray from God’s truth. Whether some like it or not were here to judge, correct, rebuke, and forgive each other. Not to give compliments for false doctrines or beliefs
My main concern is the pretrib rapture crowd.
I believe they are being set up to fall from the faith because of the false promise of avoiding the tribulation.
I also believe these same people are likely to persecute the church in the last days. Much like how ex smokers persecute smokers. People who become atheists by losing their faith tend to be the most bitter about it.
TO CRUSH MY OPPONENTS!!!!!!! Actually to help me learn and grow.
I just want to be biblical.nothing else matters
It’s the love of God in us that wishes people could see the truth because unless believe the word of God and follow you will die in your sins
I agree 100% that it’s necessary to hold to the Word and correct heresies or misconceptions. We can’t just let anything and everything slide without saying something.
My goal here is to get us to weigh the motives for why we’re disputing the beliefs and ascertations of other. If it’s done because we love others and don’t want to see them led astray then it’s good. If it’s because we want to be right then it isn’t. For a long time I was of the latter kind.
When we dispute others from arrogance or intellectual pride it’s much more obvious to everyone around than we realize.
The Kingdom with regard to. ALL souls matter
Sometimes people have bad motives but do good things. Helping people understand what is true and correct is a good thing. It can lead them to christ and dramatically improve their life.
Good point!
“Let us not fall asleep in the truth. Let us not be easily fooled. So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober.” 1 Thessalonians 5:6
Several reasons, but mostly to glorify God, uplift Christ, and present the truth to the world.
The definition of truth; what is correct. There can only be one truth!!!
The same motive for learning or discussing anything: to get at truth. ?♂️
Both
PEOPLE WHO DONT KNOW ARGUE A LOT.
I like to ruffle feathers and make people question themselves lol
I share for lots of reasons.
I want to share the Truth with those in error.
If I’m in error, I want to know that as well.
I like discussing things with people with whom I disagree. Makes me think and brings unfamiliar ideas.
Also, God told me long ago there are plenty of workers harvesting the easily converted but few stick with the difficult ones. I’m not a quitter.
The Great commission instructs us to be witnesses. Is it only a limited amount of witnesses that should know and tell of His goodness?
Please don’t take this wrong, but it seems presumptuous to list only two reasons for Apologetics (I think doctrinal disputes belong outside Apologetics personally).
I have zero desire to be right or ‘correct’ anyone. (This seems like an offensive strategy). And while I like to think I am a moral person, it is not my job to be concerned with someone else’s soul, that job belongs to God alone. (This also seems to be an offensive strategy). But I am always happy to be an instrument for God if He so calls me.
For me Apologetics allows me to *defend* why I believe, what God has gracious given me, in faith. If anything I would like to teach other Christians how to gently defend their believes. Because it is fair to say, while I wouldn’t use the word “persecution (at least in reference to Americans), we are mocked and even slightly harassed or verbally bullied for our faith. I remember years ago a new teacher in our department. She wore a cross. She was told religion has no place in an institute of learning. HR was called on her, because her jewelry offended some. To my knowledge she never spoke of God publicly at work. But others would start the conversations with her asking how she can work in science while wearing an symbol of an archaic superstition that has been beyond a shadow of a doubt proven false. She was quoted Dawkins, and others. If there was any other Christians there, they didn’t jump to her defense, they sat by on the sidelines. Sad to say, one day she stopped wearing her cross. Was this persecution? No. Was this harassment and bulling? I would say yes. How do you stop a bully? You stand up to them. But if you built your house on sand and not a rock foundation, how can you stand up to a bully?
I know many theologians might want to say she was never truly saved. Maybe she never gave up her faith, I don’t know. Maybe she just is hiding her faith. But what did Jesus day about denying him before men? No matter how you look at this she needed and didn’t have a way to defend her faith in Christ.
For me I want to help other Christians see that their faith is not only a gift and complete awesome, but it is also rational, logically, falsifiable and found true. So they have that rock foundation their faith is built on.
I have recently realized that much of my motivation has been to convince others that I am “right” in order to feel safe and comfortable in my own beliefs. This realization has been very disturbing and humbling. It has been my experience that God never shines a light on anything until He is ready to walk me through it, I am trusting that to be true in this as well. <3
The thing I realized is that many doctrinal disputes are not issues of a prerequisite for salvation. We can simply agree to disagree, so there should be no concern for the salvation of their soul. However, in regards to who Jesus is, is He Lord or not, that doctrine is a prerequisite for salvation.
For me, there has been times I wanted to set the other straight because I just knew I was right. I’ve since learned don’t need to get heated up about any dispute, but to simply defend the scriptures, plant seeds or water, and if it is a matter of their soul, or any other thing, let the Holy Spirit work and lead the other.
The lady has hit the nail on the head with one word “opinions” you get that more on pages like this than anything else. Or people just want to argue and put someone down because they do not see things the same way.i have had to block people because they would not shut up or move on
I want to know the truth, so I can serve and understand God better.
I might also add I believe it’s important that every Christian study and analyze the Bible as if lawyers, scrutinizing every detail to make sure we have the soundest of doctrines, forcing ourselves to reject old paradigms. just because we feel threatened by differences in traditional beliefs is no reason to not dig through scripture and ask is this really what it says, or am I reading it to justify traditional interpretation? I remember how I felt when I found out pretrib rapture wasn’t biblical. I fought it until I got honest with God about studying and analyzing His word.
No, I just do it for interesting conversation and to understand what others believe. The vast, vast majority of these disagreements are not heretical and are not hindrences to salvation
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