Evan 525-Db Forum 3
Incarnational Apologetics
The “incarnational apologetics” has a life changing impact on how the gospel is taught and
lived out daily in the lives of Christians. All unbelievers are watching the believers to see if they
live (incarnational) the way they talk (informational). “The wicked watches the righteous And
seeks to slay him (Psalm 37:32, NKJV).” Every word that a believer proclaim must be lived out
daily, understanding that it is hypocrisy to live differently. It is easy to teach or tell someone to
love those who hate them (informational), but it requires the power of the Holy Spirit to
accomplish this task in your daily life (incarnational). Therefore, they are balanced through and
by the Holy Spirit, man cannot perform this combination (incarnational and informational)
without Him (the Holy Spirit). To be an effective evangelist, the balance of incarnational
apologetics and informational apologetics, is a necessity. Personally, I struggle with the
informational part of defending my faith. I like to know all the answers, I am afraid of being
asked something I do not know, probably, because I have taught Sunday school for so long, and
my students expect me to know or at least, find all the answers. Through the leading of the Holy
Spirit, I have learned to say, “I am not sure about that, I will have to pray on it, then depend upon
the Holy Spirit to reveal it to me.” Having a relationship with my students and community like
this, has been helpful. They are always watching my every move and listening carefully to how I
respond to every question. Since I have learned to combine both (incarnational and
informational) and depend more on the Holy Spirit to reveal the answers, I struggle a lot less
with the informational part of apologetics. “In the end, this requires a balance between the
realms of both informational” and “incarnational” apologetics. One must never consider it
socially liberal to exemplify an authentic Christian lifestyle of servanthood and kindness that
validates one’s faith to an unbelieving world. At the same time, one must never remain silent
concerning biblical truth and the significant issues relating to faith.”1
Lindsay Video
This video is truly mind-blowing to me, while I was watching it, I really realized how very
important it is to try to reach as many souls as possible with the gospel. Lindsay’s faith,
concerning God and life should be a motivator for any Christian that hears or watch this video. I
had to play it twice, just to make sure that I understood what she was really saying. This
assignment is the first time that I have had to really think about how to approach a person with
beliefs like Lindsay’s. This course is needed for every born-again believer. Lindsay believes
that God is an energy, and everything has a certain kind of energy. Therefore, she believed that
God is in everything, including her cigarettes, she said, “I am smoking God.” She also believes
that the church is just a place you go to where the people mostly focus on “getting your money.”
Clearly, the gospel is not going to affect Lindsay without the power of the Holy Spirit. She
believes that there is no absolute truth, only “individual truths.” Whatever anyone believe is an
absolute truth to them, God may be Buddha or whatever, and to get right with him, you must be
extremely open-minded. She believes that Jesus Christ was just a leader who led a lot of people.
Some people followed him, and some did not. To reach a person with a mind-set like this will
take the power of the Holy Spirit. The evangelist will have to first pray to even know where to
begin with her. Employing the three V’s, being vulnerable, visual and verbal may be effective.
Using the three circles, God’s design, brokenness, and gospel could be a good method. Using the
questions in “Sharing Jesus Without Fear” could be a solution. Whoever want to reach a person
1 David Wheeler, Class Article, Incarnational Apologetics, 4.
like Lindsay, must call upon, reply on, and be used solely by the Holy Spirit to be successful.
“Evangelism is a matter of spiritual conflict (Eph. 4:12). It is Satan and wicked spiritual beings
that are seeking to deceive, to blind, and to confuse those who are struggling over the drawing of
the Holy Spirit in their lives. The Christian can stand in the gap through intercession with the
Father.”2
2 Will McRaney, The Art of Personal Evangelism, Nashville, Tennessee, B & H PublishingGroup, 2003, 64.
