FOUNDATIONS OF APOLOGETICS, VOLUME ONE:

MICHAEL RAMSDEN: CONVERSATIONS THAT COUNT


This is a good DVD and a hearty start to what promises to be a very useful resource.

The premise is fairly simple: ask questions of their questions.

1 Peter 3:15-16 is the set text and somehow an hour disappears without ever slowing. These are my notes based on his key points. The whole lecture, which was given at Wycliffe Hall in Oxford is laced with personal stories, anecdotes and humour.

1) IN YOUR HEARTS HONOUR CHRIST AS LORD

• Teaching of the whole passage is holiness
• Apologetics is not an academic exercise as much as it is a spiritual discipline
• A defence is not just with words but with life

2) BE PREPARED

• Preparation is much like getting fit
• Not just a one off process like getting a degree, but actually “being” fit, being prepared for the moment they ask, at that time, and having a life that reflects the truth you defend, at that time

3) TO MAKE A DEFENCE

• Such as when Paul made his defence to Agrippa. Agrippa knew Paul wanted him to believe (Acts 26:28)
• A defence is actually an invitation: not just to say what is not true but to say what is true and call people to believe it
• We need to ask questions of their questions! Seven points of this will be given in a following post.

4) TO ANYONE WHO ASKS YOU

• People are asking
• We need our message to answer the questions people are asking
• Our lifestyle should provoke the questions 2 Cor 3: Living letters: what are they reading and does it provoke questions?

5) FOR A REASON

• The gospel CAN be explained
• Not just HOW we were saved but WHY
• Focus is entirely on the person and work of Christ: what convinced us?

6) FOR THE HOPE THAT IS IN YOU

• Hope in Jesus
• An apologetic that does not come from and end in the person and work of Christ is redundant
• Our hope is different: Buddhism could have happened through someone other than Buddha. Islam could have happened through someone other than Muhamed. Jesus is our hope, on Him our hope rests

7) WITH GENTLENESS AND RESPECT, HAVING A GOOD CONSCIENCE

• We are talking to people God loves
• We should reflect His attitude to them
• Our only confidence is in Him, not in our own skill or knowledge
• Don’t fake answers
• Don’t patronise
• Don’t “win” discussion but lose the person

HIGHLIGHTS?

Some classic one liners from someone who evidently has hung out with J. John a bit!

“Sorry, your application to join the trinity has been refused”

“Take Christ out of Christian and all you are left with is three letters I A N. All you have left is Ian and he can’t save you!”

LOWLIGHTS?

He really does speak incredibly fast, making even filling in blank spaces in the accompanying manual quite a task! The pause button on the DVD is a godsend when actually trying to take down some of the finer details! I find his style utterly gripping, but I would imagine it would be a bit intense for some people to follow for the full hour.

THE CHALLENGE:

The key point that stuck with me was not making the defence of our faith “How” we became a Christian but rather “why”. What if in your testimony you had met a Buddhist not a Christian? You went on a Zen course not an Alpha course? Was it circumstances, almost fate, that made you “pick” Christianity, or a deep rooted discovery of the truth itself, of Jesus?

Telling our own story is important, but not at the expense of explaining the uniqueness of Christ and that we did not choose Christianity from amongst many but rather it consumed us by an overwhelming confirmation of truth found in Jesus.

Overall: an excellent start to a series that I think could be really, really useful in our Church.