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Question: What is "apologetics"?
What is "apologetics?"
You can never argue a person into faith; Christian theology and apologetics exist in order to make sense of the world for the believer, but they do not in themselves create that belief
—Gerald Bray, "Man's Righteousness and God's Salvation," Evangel, the British Evangelical Review 10. 2 (1992): 6.
—Gerald Bray, "Man's Righteousness and God's Salvation," Evangel, the British Evangelical Review 10. 2 (1992): 6.
Questions
Many people are not familiar with "apologetics," and raise a variety of questions. These include:
- What is apologetics?
- Why are we "apologizing" for our doctrine?
Detailed Analysis
What is apologetics?
The word "apologetic" is not commonly used in the LDS community and may be unfamiliar to many people. The word literally means "in defense of the faith." It is not talking about apologizing to anyone or being sorry for something. (From the FairMormon FAQ.) The word comes from the Greek "apologia" and is used four times in the Greek New Testament, including 1 Peter 3:15.
Notes