I am a Christian. I believe in a magic sky clown that makes everything happen. Everything that happens is His will. Sometimes bad things happen, but that’s because He moves in mysterious ways – says so in the Bible.
I believe that this magic sky clown came to earth as a Jewish Zombie to tell us to obey Him. I believe that if we don’t believe in Him and obey his 10 Commandments, then we will be eternally punished in a lake of fire by devils with horns – says so in the Bible.
Beyond that, I don’t believe in Science. I don’t like words such as evidence of proof or logic. I have Faith. I’m happy with not knowing.
I don’t think they should teach evolution in school. I’m a Christian and therefore a creationist, and I believe that the world was created 6000 years ago with the appearance of age. Any so-called science that seems to contradict that is merely a test of faith from God. Don’t get me started on dinosaurs.
I don’t like anybody who disagrees with me. Because I know I’m right. I believe I have all the answers.
I’m a good person because I’m a Christian. If you’re not a Christian, you’re not a good person and, more than that, you can’t really understand what it means to be good. Only Christians can truly understand morality. I’m better than you.
You should just believe in God. Don’t think about it too much. Just believe, and come to church. You should do what I do and use religion as a crutch. Says so in the Bible.
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All the above statements are obviously moronic, but all of them are genuine accusations I’ve had thrown at me by friends. We are boundary setting at this early stage in our journey, and it’s probably important to lay out what we’re trying to do with this apologetics strand.
Some people are very anti-apologetics. The main objection raised is that nobody can be argued into heaven – that it requires God’s spirit to convert people. Now, that’s entirely true about the Holy Spirit, but it’s also a cop out. The paragraphs above show just how much misunderstanding exists about the Christian faith in our culture – a culture that labels itself as ‘enlightened’ about such things. Apologetics shouldn’t exist to argue anybody into anything. It should exist to help break down some of the intellectual barriers that people build up between themselves and Jesus. For example, if you are of the opinion that science has totally disproved God or that there’s no way that a good God could send people to hell, then you could have a vision of Jesus and it might not make any impact on you whatsoever – you’d simply find a way to dismiss it. The DS (Demolition Squad) has been set up to blow apart some of the misconceptions and overturn the dismissals.
Apologetics is massively biblical. Both Elijah and Paul are seen debating with people of rival beliefs about the nature and reality of God. 1 Peter says this: Always be prepared to give a reason for the hope that is in you, but with gentleness and respect. Always, Reason, Gentleness, Respect: If we ever develop a Demolition Squad sigil, maybe that could be our motto? It’s better than ‘God Hates Fags’, I’m sure you’ll agree.
The New Testament does not distinguish between apologetics and evangelism as though they were different activities. Little enough is said about “the evangelist”, but not a mention is made of “the apologist”! They had one approach in evangelism and its central feature was two-way dialogue. They listened seriously to what people were saying. They engaged with the cultural world of their hearers. They tried to understand their difficulties. Tuning in and finding their cultural and intellectual level, they set out to demolish opposing arguments before presenting the gospel in a convincing way, in terms their hearers could understand.
So that’s what we’re about. We’re just about ready to get started, I think….
