No Apology

TITLE: No Apology
DATE: May 29, 2019
TEXT: 1 Peter 3:15-17  - ESV - 15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, 16 having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. 17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil.

In 1960 , Brenda Lee was nominated to get a Grammy for  the song, ”I’m Sorry.” For those of you not acquainted with the song, some of the lyrics are:
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I'm sorry (So sorry) So sorry Please accept my apology
But love is blind And I was too blind to see
You tell me mistakes  Are part of being young
But that don't right The wrong that's been done

All of those “sorrys” make Brenda Lee an apologist, or a person who is expressing regret.

But, there is another definition of the word: apologist.  

An apologist can also be an individual who takes a stand for a cause. When Paul stood before the Emperor and explained the tenets of Christianity, he would have been an apologist.

Although they are a global organization, until recently I had never heard of the group Ratio Christi (Translated: the reason of Christ.)

I heard of them now because this group which helps people become apologists and defenders of the Christian faith had been de-affiliated by the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.

The University took this action because the Ratio Christi had drawn up, at least in the University’s opinion, some pretty strange rules for leadership. While Ratio Christi accepted atheists and agnostics into its ranks, it did demand that their officers be believers in the Savior.

To me that sounds like the Christian apologist group was making a reasonable request.

Well the University disagreed, they took action and pretty soon Ratio Christi was on the outside looking in. But not for long. You see this Christian Group just didn’t teach others how to stand up for their faith; they also practiced what they preached.

They took the University to court and they won.

Basically their argument was: You can’t force the Vegan Group to have Steak-lovers as their leaders; and you can’t expect the Campus Chinese Association to have officers who are from Taiwan.

Today I can tell you the law-suit is over and Ratio Christi won.

Now there is a reason I applaud this law suit. We live in a world which is becoming increasingly hostile to the followers of Christianity. The Lord told us that would happen and we expect it.  Which is why, we use the law to stop the pendulum from going too far.

For example, while we don’t want Christian students to be given extra-credit for being believers, we don’t want them to be penalized for their faith. While we don’t expect to be applauded for what we believe, we didn't expect to be put down for it either. We don’t expect the rights of every person to be defended… except for those who are of the Christian community. We don’t expect to be profiled when nobody else is.
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Which  means we become, “Here I stand” apologists

THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, surely the days of persecution is coming. Grant that we may be prepared to give an apology for our Savior, the crucified and ever-living Redeemer in Whose Name we pray. Amen.

The devotion for today was inspired by various recent news articles. For further reading you may wish to go to this site:  http://www.breakpoint.org/2019/05/the-point-ratio-christi-wins-at-university-of-colorado/ and the article written by ,:John Stonestreet for Breakpoint

The music which introduces and concludes our devotions was written by Guy Baumann. He along with three of his brothers perform on the album: The Baumann Brothers which may be ordered here: http://thebaumannbrothers.com/index.html