What does it mean to be an Apologist?
Posted: Thu Jan 03, 2008 7:10 am
So what does it mean to be an Apologist? Does it mean supporting something at any cost?
moksha wrote:So what does it mean to be an Apologist? Does it mean supporting something at any cost?
Def: a person who argues to defend or justify some policy or institution
I think in terms of Mormonism it means to JUSTIFY the church in any way possible. I mean, not all apologists defend it the same way, but they all justify things somehow. Some will simply take a statement or doctrine and revert back to "It's unofficial" and thus OK to be wrong...while others will claim that it's true and go on to give some long twisted explanation trying to justify how everything could be in harmony even though the probabilities are little to none and seem to have holes.
I think apologetics is more of a justification than a defense in many ways. Many apologists believe the concept of Mormonism without committing themselves entirely to the Leaders' desire of the concept of an infallible church. The only thing LDS apologists have in common is justification of the church...they often disagree on defense of individual concepts/doctrines and whether they matter.