Total Church chapter 11 Apologetics

I confess that apologetics is not a very strong point of mine. I am always fascinated with the ideas but often lost in the process. I find that people who are argumentative have one of two issues, either they hope to put God off so they can continue living like they do, in which case I miss seeing the work of the Holy Spirit bringing conviction in their souls and find it meaningless to argue, or they have been deeply disappointed with God in some crisis that they have faced and they are angry. Those who are angry at God fall into one of two camps, they are either being dealt with by God in which case they are crying out for help or they have not reached the point of truly wanting an answer to the "why" of disappointment and no amount of reasoning will prevail to bring them to Christ. That does not mean that I don't give any of these individuals time if they open a dialogue, since I certainly cannot know which ones the Holy Spirit is drawing and which ones He is not, but it does help me in the process to determine where they fall as I dialogue with them.
I thought the most interesting parts of this chapter were found on pages 166 and 167. 167 in particular list the most relevant scriptures relating to the heart motive of atheism. Certainly the wager on page 168 makes sense. Eternal destiny is a lot to bet against a momentary liberty to sin. I think the most profound statement is on page 169, "Corresponding to human blindness is God's hiddenness. God hides himself from those who would know him without loving him." Wow, that is so true!!! The author then goes on to state that only the one who is given the gift of faith is capable of discovering the truth about God. Also, "The cross is the revelation of God to those disposed to love God, but it hides God from those disposed to reject his reign." The author later quotes Matthew 11:25, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children."
The arguments concerning truth and power that are put forth in the section titled "The Message of the Cross and the Limits of Postmodernism" are very good. The final paragraph on page 173 sum up the problem of Postmodernism very well. Truth is power but balanced, but power without truth is unstoppable and leaves hopelessness. The truth we proclaim is not a truth to dominate for our own advantage, but a truth that has been proven through the sacrifice of the truth giver. Love causes God's truth to be trustworthy.
At the top of page 176 the author again rightly brings community into the work of apologetic. Quoting from Randy Frazee in "The Connecting Church" it states, "Our relationship with each other is the criterion the world uses to judge whether our message is truthful. Christian community is the ultimate apologetic." For sure, John 13:35, "By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." The authors closing statements on page 178 really speak to this point the best, first they define the word apologetic then they quote I Peter 3:15 where the Greek word for apologetic comes. The context is clear that the answer we are to be able to give to others who inquire is based on the question arising from observing our own lives and our confidence and hope. Oh that all of us lived life in such a way that we were bombarded with questions from unbelievers about our hope.

Total Church chapter 10

This chapter on Theology might, at first glance, seem to be uninteresting, but it really is the foundation for the ideology of this book. I like how the authors have approached the subject from the position that the only reason we know anything at all about God is because He has initiated our understanding of Himself. The chosen source of His revelation is His Word and therefore the Bible is the ultimate resource of understanding God. The section on "Mission-Centered Theology" emphasizes the responsibility of all Christians to be theologians in the sense of pursuing the knowledge of God through His Word and also of sharing that knowledge with others. All Christians should also allow the Word of God to transform them through a work of the Holy Spirit who makes the Word come to life in power.
The authors state that all theology should be shaped by a missionary hermeneutic. By this, they mean that the Word or knowledge of the Word must become alive in and through us. They state that unbelievers are not satisfied with pat answers, but rather need living proof through changed lives. I especially like the quote they use from Rene' Padilla that every culture makes it possible to show a new and unique aspect of the gospel and its ability to fit each culture. They say that these cultural mission opportunities allow us to discover what part of our belief system actually belongs to the gospel and which part is simply a product of our own cultural application to the gospel. Mission then helps us to filter our belief system and is vital to discovering truth. For example many Christians sit in auditoriums with belief about miracles and until miracles happen in their theater of safety, they have no intention of going into the world, but the reality is that going into the world defines our true understanding or belief about miracles because they follow the message of faith rather than proceeding.
Community-centered theology is also a powerful concept because it again forces us to live what we believe and brings our knowledge of God to the table of trial. In our daily interaction with each other we put our belief system to the test and discover what we really believe versus what we think we believe. I appreciate the authors emphasis that true theology "is not just about me and my Bible", page 158. Their argument for a more Anabaptist approach is compelling. I definitely like the idea of those who feel a drawing toward teaching and dissecting the Word gathering together to dig in together.
Lastly, their statements concerning the academic approach or scholarship of theology is interesting. I think there is a way to blend the two ideas of academic and local church, but it is certainly difficult if the student is not aware of how influential the professors can be and also how biased they are when they teach.