ApoloWHAT??

ApologetiX gets their unusual name from the word "apologetics" which means "the defense of the Christian faith." It's based on the Greek word for defense, apologia, which is in the original text of this Bible verse from the Apostle Peter:

1 Peter 3:15
"But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer (or defense or "apologia") to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect."

When a person is called an apologist these days, he could be defending a number of ideas. If you like soccer and you're trying to convince someone that soccer is a great game, you could be called a "soccer apologist." But the original apologists were the early Christians who were trying to defend their faith to outsiders (the Romans, for example) who thought they were a cult and were spreading unsubstantiated rumors about them.

When we picked the name back in 1992, it was because Christian apologetics was really important to us. As ApologetiX lead singer J. Jackson says:

"Although I went to 12 years of religious school (Grades one through 12) and attended church faithfully, participated in choirs, etc., before I became a born again Christian, I didn't have a clue as to exactly 'why I believed what I believed.' When atheists or agnostics or cultists wanted to debate with me, I'd run away.

"Then I started reading the Bible and really, really researching things, and I discovered that there is a whole lot of evidence to back it up. There's a whole lot more to the story, but the point is that I wanted to be able to help others know 'why they believe what they believe.' So we chose the name ApologetiX, adding the "X" on the end to make it look more modern and to ensure we had a name that nobody else had ever used. We liked the name ApologetiX because it could be used with a "the" in front to make it sound like a '60's/'70's vocal group ("The ApologetiX," the Stylistics, the Dramatics, etc.) or a without a "the" to make it sound like a modern rock group ("ApologetiX," Anthrax, etc.)

Plus, starting with an "A" puts our name near the top of the alphabetical lists on the Net, in stores, etc., too (Ha ha ha!)

Past tense. Present tense. And if you thought they were tense, wait till you see the future:

"Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains. Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved." (Matt. 24:7-13)

Yet the same person who said that, Jesus Christ, also said, "So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." (Matt. 6:31-34)

Similarly, the Apostle Paul painted a pretty pale picture for posterity: "But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.having a form of godliness but denying its power." (2 Tim. 3:1-5a)

But he also said, "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us." (Rom. 8:18)

A tentmaker by trade, Paul likened our bodies to tents: "Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life." (2 Cor. 5:1-4)

Rather than focus on a tense future, Paul preferred to focus on our future tents. And if we follow his example, we'll all be happy campers. Think of this CD as a bunch of songs to sing while we're in the woods.