Hello guest, I see you are visiting, and I would like to welcome you here. If you can and have time, I would love to encourage you to grab your Bible and something to take notes if you would like. Join me as I go over defending the faith.

Some of you here visiting this page have read on the home page that Crushed Olive Ministries (COM) is an apologetic ministry for youth and women, and are wondering what does the word apologetic mean? Or you have heard from certain Christian pastor's (I have heard it from a few so-called Christian leaders say this), that the study of apologetics is wrong for it is based in philosophy and not on God's word, and ALL that is needed to share the Gospel is the Bible. In this blog I will address these two points.

I first will begin to explain what the word apologetic means. The word apologetic comes from the Greek word "apologia", which means to defend. The verse that is known as the main "go to", for apologist comes from 1 Peter 3:15.

" But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear."

What Peter is saying here is that believers (who have God in our hearts) are to be ready to give a justification or a defense of the reason why we believe our hope is Jesus. Which is interesting since many non-believers claim that Christians only hold this belief because we were indoctrinated into the religion based on being born in America and logic and reason have nothing to do with our faith. Yet we see in scripture that many used logic and reason to defend the faith. The first and honestly most important is Jesus who used apologetics in his ministry many times. Every time Jesus gave parables it was a form of an apologetic. Jesus was speaking on a level that his audience could relate to when they didn't understand the scriptures or when they were taking them out of context like many times the Sadducees and Pharisee's would do. However, one of my favorites is when Jesus used apologetics in John 5:31-47. In this passage Jesus is speaking to the Jewish council since they just rebuked him for healing a paralytic man on the Sabbath. Jesus is debating with them and is now giving reason's that He is in fact the Son of God.

1. The Witness of John the Baptist (John 5:31-35 -Jesus states that the person whom John the Baptist spoke of was Him. This actually holds a lot of water because the Jewish council listened and respected John. So why would they reject who John was testifying about?

2. The Witness of the Works of Christ (John 5:36) Jesus is speaking of the works in which He was sent by the Father to complete. Although, we can look at this that it includes all the wonderful miracles He had done, I believe He is referencing Him dying on the cross to save humanity. That work in itself proves that He is the Son of God for no other life could have saved humanity other than Gods.

3. The Witness of the Father (John 5:37-38)- Jesus speaks that the Father has given testimony within their spirit that Jesus is the Son of God. Yet the scribe the ones who should have been the first to recognize the Christ, rejected to believe the facts.

4. The Witness of the Scriptures (John 5:39-47) Jesus states that scribes who had the job of studying the scriptures if they really knew them and knew who to watch for, they would see that Jesus was in fact the prophesied Messiah that Moses who they revered, pointed to.

So here Jesus speaks of looking at evidence that He is God. He never says just believe me because I say so, no, he states, that him boosting of Himself holds no merit, but the evidence does. The evidence says that the respected prophet John the Baptist spoke of Him, Jesus' works declared Him, the Heavenly Father instilled it within us to know Him, and the scriptures taught of Him.

The next person to use apologetics was Peter in Acts 2:14-39. Peter stands and addresses the men of Jerusalem uses the scriptures of Joel. Peter brings up scripture that spoke of Jesus hundreds of years before. Peter points out how Jesus had fulfilled this prophecy, and the evidence shows that Jesus was the Christ. Because of this apologetic (and of course the Holy Spirit), 3000 people were saved.

Stephen had an amazing apologetic in Acts 7:1-53. Keep in mind that Stephen is a Hellenistic Jew. Meaning although he was Jewish by blood, he was raised in Greek culture and had assimilated to Greek customs, language, and rituals. But he was saved shortly after Jesus was resurrected. He was teaching in the synagogue and the men of the synagogue could not debate him successfully, so they brought in the Jewish council to come against him. Now Stephen being full of the Spirit was disputing everything they were saying. They became so angry with him they began to say Stephen didn't know what he was talking about, after all he was a Hellenistic Jew, he didn't understand the Jewish ways, history and customs. But to the surprise of the council Stephen gives them an in-depth history lesson of the history of the Children of Israel, this was a mic drop moment. Stephen was on point on every fact he presented, that is why the council had to kill him, because Stephen proved that Jesus was the awaited Messiah, and the priest drew the people away instead of to Him. If the people realized that the priest were wrong, they would have lost their respect, privileges, position and maybe even their lives. So in the priest mind they had to kill Stephen before that happened. Now, although Stephen lost his life, his words were not in vain, for they are recorded for all to read for themselves.

These are just a few examples of how apologetics were used in the Bible. Apologetics is not something to be used instead of scripture, but in addition to scripture. It helps strengthens the understanding of scriptures to those that believe and provides common ground to those that do not believe. For example, if I am talking to a nonbeliever and I give bible verses to prove that God created the universe. The person might respond and says," that means nothing to me, because I don't believe in the Bible, to me it is no different than a Harry Potter book." I can't continue to give scripture because it has no authority with the nonbeliever, so I need to ask why do they not believe the Bible is historical or truth? Only then can I address what the issue is. If they say well it was written by man, okay I can then show evidence of how the Bible defies understanding of how it is a compilation of 66 books, by 40 different authors, in 3 different languages, in 3 different continents, over a 1600-year span that all have the same message that Jesus is our sent Savior. I can prove how 20 century archaeological discoveries confirmed the accuracy of the Bible.

As a nurse I am trained in always ask questions. Why are you sick or hurt, what caused it, how can I fix it or make you better? What will prevent further issues? I take this same approach with the Gospel, because God in all His wisdom has purpose for everything. I encourage you to ask these questions and research the answers, so you are better equipped to defend the faith and to give a reason for the hope you have inside of you to others that see it. I hope you have a blessed day. If you are interested in booking me for a speaking engagement look under my contact tab and it will give you the information to contact me.

Vedel