The Way I See It

I don’t know why it has taken me so long to learn a simple phrase that I think is helpful in apologetics. I recently noticed that I was beginning my responses during a Q&A time with expressions like “What makes sense to me” or “What I’ve found compelling is . . .” or “The way I see it is . . . ” I think there something to framing our responses in this kind of personal and even subjective way.

We are subjects after all. That doesn’t mean we have to subscribe to subjectivism or some form of postmodernism. But we don’t hold our convictions in a kind of vacuum state that is gutted and removed from all lived experience. We don’t answer questions from nowhere.

We are all standing at a particular place and there is a path that led us to where we are. When we explain our answer in a way that includes our journey, it comes off as more of a dialogue and less of a sermon. It gives a more honest and personal answer.

Why do I think this is a better way?

Well, what makes sense to me is that we are all trying to figure things out and wrapping our answers in humanity is probably more effective than handing out a list of propositions we happen to affirm. After all, even the way the Apostle Peter explains that we should be ready to give an answer is related to when people ask us a reason for the hope that is within us (1 Peter 3:15). That’s personal. That’s a good way to explain to others how an what we believe. That’s what seems compelling to me.