The Church Is the Evidence: Article
A shorter version of my address on second-century apologetics, and also some fun A.I.-generated depictions of my apologetics hero Aristides of Athens
Before I provide you with this morning’s content, I’ve been having some fun with A.I. that I thought I’d share with you.
I asked several artificial-intelligence art generators to provide me with depictions of the second-century Christian apologist Aristides of Athens.
What I received from A.I. ranged from something that looked like an outtake from Thor to one that appears to be shirtless Santa Claus on a Mediterranean holiday. I’ve scattered my three favorite A.I. depictions of Aristides throughout this post; scroll down to the bottom of the post for my favorite one.
I don’t think our robot overlords will be taking over the art galleries anytime soon.
A New Article at NAMB
Now for today’s content: I recently wrote an article for the North American Mission Board apologetics website—an article that was most definitely not A.I.-generated.
What I provided in the article was a brief, simple summary of my extended academic argument regarding how the church functioned as an apologetic in the second century. You can find the full and unabridged version of the academic address here and here.
But most of you don’t have a full hour available to read the full-length version, and I get that.
That’s why I put together this shorter version of my argument in an article that will only take you ten minutes or so to read: “The Church Is the Evidence.”
Here’s an excerpt from the article that captures the heart of what I’m getting at:
God will work through practices such as these to form us into the type of communities that persist past the rise and fall of every power that resists God’s truth. Even if these defenses do not persuade the world that Christianity is good for society, they form us into a community that persists in holiness, love, and proclamation of the gospel. Through it all, the church is not merely the context for our faith; the church is itself evidence for the truth of the faith.
Read the rest of the article here.
On “pronoun hospitality,” my 27-year-old son identifies as asexual and agender, and requests they/them pronouns. I try to use them in his presence, because I want to maintain a decent relationship with him. What say you? (I’m sincerely struggling with this.)