Apologetics

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Apologetics
Effective Apologetics

• at the
• Workplace

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Effective Apologetics

• Principles regarding the defense of our faith
• 1. Engage the heart not just the mind

Truly effective apologists seek to understand the
motivation for a question rather than to simply
answer a question.
The Onion Peel effect
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Effective Apologetics

• Principles regarding the defense of our faith
• Understand the Dictionary not merely the
  Vocabulary

Not every person comes at spiritual issues with
the same frame of reference.
Words have different meanings
Fundamentalism
Evangelicals
Church
Peace
Holiness
spiritual
God
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Effective Apologetics

• Principles regarding the defense of our faith
• Present the Position of Agreement before the
  Position of Contest

The key to bridge building is from the familiar
to the unfamiliar
Familiarity with Operational Paradigms
The Mars Hill Discourse
Familiarity with Logical Paradigms
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Effective Apologetics

• (Acts 1722-32) Paul then stood up in the
  meeting of the Areopagus and said "Men of
  Athens! I see that in every way you are very
  religious. For as I walked around and looked
  carefully at your objects of worship, I even
  found an altar with this inscription TO AN
  UNKNOWN GOD.

The Mars Hill Discourse
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Effective Apologetics

• (Acts 1722-32) Now what you worship as
  something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.
  The God who made the world and everything in it
  is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live
  in temples built by hands. And He is not served
  by human hands, as if He needed anything, because
  He Himself gives all men life and breath and
  everything else

The Mars Hill Discourse
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Effective Apologetics

• (Acts 1722-32) From one man He made every
  nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole
  earth and He determined the times set for them
  and the exact places where they should live. God
  did this so that men would seek Him and perhaps
  reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not
  far from each one of us

The Mars Hill Discourse
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Effective Apologetics

• (Acts 1722-32) For in Him we live and move and
  have our being. As some of your own poets have
  said, 'We are His offspring.' Therefore since we
  are God's offspring, we should not think that the
  divine being is like gold or silver or stone--an
  image made by man's design and skill. In the
  past God overlooked such ignorance, but now He
  commands all people everywhere to repent

The Mars Hill Discourse
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Effective Apologetics

• (Acts 1722-32) For He has set a day when He
  will judge the world with justice by the man He
  has appointed. He has given proof of this to all
  men by raising Him from the dead."
• When they heard about the resurrection of the
  dead, some of them sneered, but others said, "We
  want to hear you again on this subject."

The Mars Hill Discourse
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Effective Apologetics

• Principles regarding the defense of our faith
• Create a Reasonable Theology from a Dogmatic
  Theology

Dogma has the purpose of guidance and clarity
Reason has the purpose of persuasion and bridging
What I believe, I know
What I know, I believe
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Effective Apologetics

• Principles regarding the defense of our faith
• Good arguments are no substitute for good
  character.

(2 Timothy 224-26) And the Lord's servant must
not quarrel instead, he must be kind to
everyone, able to teach, not resentful
(2 Timothy 224-26) Those who oppose him he
must gently instruct, in the hope that God will
grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge
of the truth
(2 Timothy 224-26) and that they will come to
their senses and escape from the trap of the
devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.
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Effective Apologetics

• Principles regarding the defense of our faith
• Good character is no substitute for good
  preparation.

(2 Timothy 42-5) Preach the Word be prepared
in season and out of season correct, rebuke and
encourage--with great patience and careful
instruction
(2 Timothy 42-5) For the time will come when
men will not put up with sound doctrine
(2 Timothy 42-5) Instead, to suit their own
desires, they will gather around them a great
number of teachers to say what their itching ears
want to hear
(2 Timothy 42-5) They will turn their ears
away from the truth and turn aside to myths
(2 Timothy 42-5) But you, keep your head in
all situations, endure hardship, do the work of
an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your
ministry.
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Workplace Apologetics
Effective Apologetics

• Why do people talk about Faith in the Workplace?
• Often, the workplace is the only avenue to
  express issues of faith free of the prejudice of
  history and culture.

Workplace Apologetics
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Workplace Apologetics

• Why do people talk about Faith in the Workplace?
• 2. For many, the work community represents the
  only consistent community outside of family

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Workplace Apologetics

• Why do people talk about Faith in the Workplace?
• 3. Between Politics and Faith, Faith has become a
  little more acceptable because of use of faith
  terms by numerous motivational and organizational
  thinkers

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Workplace Apologetics

• Why do people talk about Faith in the Workplace?
• 4. Apologetics invites people to think outside
  the box of their ordinary understanding of
  faith. Often, the workplace is the perfect place
  for out of the box thinking.

• Several important considerations when mounting a
  defense for your faith at the workplace
• The Workplace is not a Pulpit but a Community.

Faith Questions within the workplace community
are normally prompted by simple displays of Faith
Practice
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Workplace Apologetics
Workplace Apologetics
Where Community takes place

• Several important considerations when mounting a
  defense for your faith at the workplace
• 1. The Workplace is not a Pulpit but a Community

In Context
Outside Context
(e.g., at the office, in meetings, on the phone)
(e.g., at lunch, BBQ, golf course or retreat)
Business Only
Information Exchanged
The effectiveness of the apologist increases as
the sense of community at the workplace increases
Business Personal
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Workplace Apologetics
Workplace Apologetics
Where Community takes place
In Context
Outside Context
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2
An intelligent defense of our faith is met
intellectually
An intelligent defense of our faith prompts
curiosity
Business Only
Information Exchanged
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4
An intelligent defense of our faith gives
opportunity for a faith response
An intelligent defense of our faith creates room
for pondering
Business Personal
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Workplace Apologetics
Workplace Apologetics

• Several important considerations when mounting a
  defense for your faith at the workplace
• 2. The rules of the Workplace are based on a
  System

In this System, written and unwritten rules
exist the ethics of a profession, or the
hierarchy of position or seniority
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Workplace Apologetics
Workplace Apologetics

• Several important considerations when mounting a
  defense for your faith at the workplace
• 2. The rules of the Workplace are based on a
  System

Observance of the System allows the apologist to
structure the type of argument used
conciliation, reason, challenge
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Workplace Apologetics
Workplace Apologetics

• Several important considerations when mounting a
  defense for your faith at the workplace
• 2. The rules of the Workplace are based on a
  System

The significance of the System often overrides
the atmosphere (environmental context) we find
ourselves in
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Workplace Apologetics
Workplace Apologetics

• Several important considerations when mounting a
  defense for your faith at the workplace
• 3. We are at our workplace for a reason to work

Use the Workplace as a place for connection, and
look for ways to invite people out to another
context
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Workplace Apologetics
Workplace Apologetics

• Several important considerations when mounting a
  defense for your faith at the workplace
• 3. We are at our workplace for a reason to work

Be honest with your fellows, competent in your
work, and godly in your conduct.
Faith without work just misses the point
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Workplace Apologetics
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