Mothers. Apologists. Are They Synonymous?

 

Apologist. Kind of a scary word, isn’t it?  It sounds so intellectual. It can be; however, it’s not that far out of reach. You don’t need a degree in philosophy to be an apologist. Obviously, if you want to grow and learn more, a degree would serve you well. But, for this context, just a bit of studying will enable you to be a better one.

What does apologetics mean? “Apologetics (from Greek ἀπολογία (apologia), “speaking in defense”) is the discipline of defending a position (often religious) through the systematic use of information. ” (apologia, my addition)[1]

It really is quite simple. It is defending what we believe. It is doing what we’ve been commanded to do in I Peter 3:15: “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:”

Did you notice the word “reason?” This is not just an emotional topic, although it can be. It is also intellectual. The problem I’ve begun to notice, though, is that a lot of adults could not tell you why they believe in the Jesus of the Bible as opposed to the Jesus of the Mormons. Why is this? Did the youth pastor not do his job in teaching them? What about the pastor? Did he not do his job either?

Whether they did their jobs or not is not the issue. Frankly, God never said that it was the youth pastor’s job to train our children in defending the faith. It is our job as parents, to do this. The question is, how? When?

Mothers are busy. Training children to obey, teaching them how to take responsibility, doing laundry, cleaning, wiping noses, cleaning, cooking, baking. Did I say cleaning? You get the idea. It seems that many times I collapse into bed happy that everyone is still in one piece!

Unfortunately, it is easy to get lost in the grind of everyday living and forget that there is a bigger purpose to parenting. God has given us our children to train them for him. If we fail in this area, then we will have failed completely. Even if my child grows up to be kind, thoughtful, and a hard worker, it won’t matter if they don’t know God and go into eternity without him.

(I am not saying that children shouldn’t be taught manners and the value of hard work. The more they are able to do this, the more they will be open to listening about Jesus. It all goes hand-in-hand.)

Just a side note. There is a lot of nonsense going around that a woman shouldn’t  lead in family devotions, or what have you. It is thought that all of this is the man’s job. Believe me, nothing could be further from the truth! When we stand before God, he’s not going to say, “Well, honey, it’s okay that you didn’t teach your children about me. It was, after all, your husband’s job.” Should our husbands teach our children about God? Definitely! But whether or not they are, we just need to keep in the forefront of our mind that they are our children, too. Just do it. Their eternity depends on it.

Okay, I’m finished with that rabbit trail!

The question is, how do we do this in our already busy day? And what topics do we need to teach?

Here are some ideas on when and how to teach your children:

1. Pick a topic that you would like to teach, and learn, if you need to. (I will cover the subject of topics in the next few posts.) Write down the verses that go with each one on a 3×5 card and memorize these with your children.

2. Talk about it while you’re driving to the grocery store, while you’re cleaning the house together, or doing any other activity.  It doesn’t have to be a long, drawn-out lesson, just a short and sweet thought.

So, I find that the answer to the title of this post is, yes, mothers and apologists are synonymous!

In my next post I’m going to talk about what I believe to be the most important doctrine of all:

 

The deity of Jesus Christ.

 

 

 

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apologetics