Over the last month and a half I have been asked on multiple occasions about what exactly apologetics is. First and for most, apologetics sounds a lot like the word apology, which is exactly the opposite of what we are all about on Monday mornings. 1Pet 3:15 tells us “Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope” and this is exactly what we are doing. Now I am sure that you are asking yourself, how is this any different from our normal Lifeteen youth group? Well, the answer is, not a whole lot. With apologetics we have less time, so we have to cram a lot into just one hour. We also use the Bible A LOT. We are not just learning about our faith, but we are also learning how to defend and explain it. For example, one of your protestant friends might ask you why your Catholic Bible has more books in it than their protestant version. This is an excellent question, but many Catholics don’t even know that there is a difference, and thus they are caught off guard. Sometime around 250-125 BC the entire Hebrew Bible (our Old Testament) was translated into the modern language of the day, Greek. This translation, called the Septuagint because of the 70 scholars that worked on it, was done in Alexandria and contained 46 books, This was the set of scriptures in use at the time of Christ, Paul, and all the original Apostles. It wasn’t until about 100 AD that a group of Jewish rabbis met at a place called Jamnia and rejected 7 book of the Alexandrian cannon because they could not find the original Hebrew scriptures that they were translated from. The Christians, however, continued to use the Alexandrian cannon. After all, good enough for Jesus, good enough for us. The council of Hippo in 393 A.D. and the Council of Carthage in 397 both affirmed both the 73 book cannon that makes up the Catholic Bible. In 405 Pope St. Innocent I approved this cannon and the discussion was closed. The Bible was determined for all Christianity in the 4th century and remained that way until changed it 1100 years later. He agreed with the rabbis at Jamnia and began to use their cannon for his Old Testament, while the Catholic Church continued to use the Alexandrian Cannon that Jesus and the first Christians used.
Questions and topics such as this one were part of the focus of the retreat two weeks ago. Tim Staples converted to the Catholic faith because of truths like these and he was a huge, spirit filled inspiration to all of us who attended to get to know our faith better.
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