{"id":3982,"date":"2022-07-02T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-07-02T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stpaulsmarietta.org\/?p=3982"},"modified":"2022-07-01T16:00:18","modified_gmt":"2022-07-01T16:00:18","slug":"7-3-9-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stpaulsmarietta.org\/?p=3982","title":{"rendered":"7\/3-9\/2022"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/stpaulsmarietta.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/SPc-Logo-2018sm.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"185\" src=\"https:\/\/stpaulsmarietta.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/SPc-Logo-2018sm.jpg\" alt=\"St Pauls GoodNews\" class=\"wp-image-3882\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stpaulsmarietta.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/SPc-Logo-2018sm.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/stpaulsmarietta.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/SPc-Logo-2018sm-300x56.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stpaulsmarietta.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/SPc-Logo-2018sm-768x142.jpg 768w, https:\/\/stpaulsmarietta.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/SPc-Logo-2018sm-150x28.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>This Week<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Sunday: 10:00 Worship, Communion<\/li><li>Tuesday: Bible Study @ Jeremiah&#8217;s, 2 p.m.; Elders, 3 p.m.<\/li><li>Saturday: Emmaus Reunion Group, 8 a.m.<\/li><li>AA Meetings: in the Parish Hall:<ul><li>Tuesdays, 6:30 \u2013 7:30 p.m. &#8211; Discussion<\/li><li>Wednesdays, 7:00 \u2013 8:00 p.m. &#8211; Big Book<\/li><li>Fridays 7:00 \u2013 8:00 p.m. &#8211; Discussion<\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Men &amp; Church<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>By Timothy Fox<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There\u2019s a critical gender gap problem in America: Christianity\u2019s gender gap. Men attend church far less than women. Why? There are many reasons, from weak, whiny worship to emotions-based sermons. Church isn\u2019t masculine, so men don\u2019t go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So what\u2019s the solution? Churches create \u201cmanly\u201d ministries and boot camps, involving sports and YELLING and other macho stuff. Now, as great as these can be to help form relationships with other Christian men, many men\u2019s ministries are only indirect bridges to the church. How do we get men fully engaged and active within the body of Christ? I think the answer is apologetics<a href=\"#sdfootnote1sym\" id=\"sdfootnote1anc\"><sup>1<\/sup><\/a>, the rational defense of the Christian worldview. Here are three reasons why:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Men are logical<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I\u2019m a pastor\u2019s kid. I grew up in church. I always believed in Christianity, but I also always had a major disconnect. Church was completely feelings-based: sensing God\u2019s presence through emotional worship and charismatic preaching. That wasn\u2019t for me at all. I\u2019m a logic guy. I have a B. S. in Computer Science, worked for many years as a software engineer, and now teach mathematics. Like I said, a logic guy. It wasn\u2019t until I discovered apologetics that Christianity clicked for me. I found my place within the church. I finally belonged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I\u2019m sure many men have the same problem with church that I did. Fortunately, apologetics can show them the rational side of Christianity. We have a deep intellectual tradition that should not be forgotten. Our worldview is not based solely on blind faith and religious experience. There are good, logical reasons to think that Christianity is true. Of course, the emotional side of man is important as well, that worship services can \u2013 and should \u2013 reach the entire person, both mind and heart. But there is an imbalance in our churches. Apologetics can help fix that and draw in men.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Men need to do something<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Do you know any men who always find something to fix, even if it isn\u2019t broken? They\u2019re constantly tinkering here or making a home improvement there. Some guys just need to do something at all times (which is better than being idle!). They want to feel needed and important, to help solve problems. But men see nothing to do at church. It\u2019s mostly passive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Apologetics can give men a purpose in their church. Teaching a class or helping the pastor research for a sermon. Being a resource, on-call when needed. Apologetics make men a vital part of a church instead of being a passive attendee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Men need to protect<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I found it interesting how many of my male classmates in Biola\u2019s Christian Apologetics program had either military or martial arts background. These men had an instinctive need to protect their country, community, and family, and now sought to protect their church. And that\u2019s exactly what apologetics is: providing a defense for the Christian faith (1 Peter 3:15).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">More and more young people are leaving the church. Statistics show that once your children leave for college, they\u2019re probably going to abandon their faith. Men, what are you going to do about that? Are you going to sit back and watch that happen, or are you going to fight for your children\u2019s faith? Studying apologetics will give you the tools to inoculate your children against the false worldviews and beliefs they will certainly encounter in school and on social media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Conclusion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">My argument isn\u2019t that apologetics needs men, although we can always use more (and women too, of course!). No, my argument is that men need apologetics. It meets specific masculine needs that the church is unfortunately lacking. So if you want to get the man in your life to become passionate about spiritual things, introduce him to apologetics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#sdfootnote1anc\" id=\"sdfootnote1sym\">1<\/a>Apologetics: a branch of theology devoted to the defense of the divine origin and authority of Christianity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This Week Sunday: 10:00 Worship, Communion Tuesday: Bible Study @ Jeremiah&#8217;s, 2 p.m.; Elders,<span class=\"more-dots\">&#8230;<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3882,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-goodnews","category-worship-this-week"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/stpaulsmarietta.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/SPc-Logo-2018sm.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"Paross","author_link":"https:\/\/stpaulsmarietta.org\/?author=1"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stpaulsmarietta.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stpaulsmarietta.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stpaulsmarietta.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stpaulsmarietta.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stpaulsmarietta.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3982"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stpaulsmarietta.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3982\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3983,"href":"https:\/\/stpaulsmarietta.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3982\/revisions\/3983"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stpaulsmarietta.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stpaulsmarietta.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stpaulsmarietta.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stpaulsmarietta.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}