The Greek word apologia means "to give a reasoned defense for what you believe to be true." It is used 19 times in the new Testament. 1 Peter 3:15 (Amplified) is one such instance.

"But in your hearts set Christ apart as holy [and acknowledge Him] as Lord. Always be ready to give a logical defense (apologia) to anyone who asks you to account for the hope that is in you, but do it courteously and respectfully"

We, as followers of Christ, are mandated to defend our faith in every area. This section is dedicated to answering the questions of many as to the authenticity of our faith as Christians. Though it will not give detailed answers, it will attempt to convey some core truths about Christianity.

What is original sin?

Original sin is the first sin of man from which all other sins originated. It was the first act of disobedience towards God, performed by the first man, Adam. Adam ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil which was in the Garden of Eden after God specifically commanded him not to, warning him of the consequences should he disobey. “And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die." (Genesis 2:16,17). Because of his sin, Adam was banished from the Garden of Eden and destined to die. This is what is known as the Fall of Adam.

And why are we held accountable for Adam’s sin?

When Adam fell all of mankind also fell since Adam, as the first man, represented the entire human race which would be birthed from him. Because we were all contained in Him in seed form, we have all sinned along with him. “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned—for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come. (Romans 5:12-14) The Word of God records that we were conceived with original sin as noted in (Psalm 51:5) “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.”

When Jesus Christ came, He came as the second representative of the entire human race. But with a great difference -- He was sinless. He who was sinless came to earth and willingly took the sins of all of mankind upon Himself. He suffered and died so that we would be justified of our sins, made righteous once again, reconciled to God the Father, and inherit eternal life. “For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.” (Romans 5:19) All who receive Jesus Christ as their personal Savior are now made a part of His body instead of Adam’s body and are covered by His righteousness and justified of Adam’s original sin which we committed along with him and the sins we committed all by ourselves. “so in Christ we who are many form one body (Romans 12:5). “And he is the head of the body.” (Col 1:18) All who are saved are now contained in Him, and reconciled to the Father. We are now again connected with God the Father and can commune with Him as in the days of Adam before He sinned.

It is God’s great love and mercy to allow one man to represent us in the Fall, so that one man could represent us again in the reconciliation unto Himself. Had we been allowed to come into this world without this representation, we would have still have sinned individually -- just like Adam -- and there could not be one man who would represent us in paying the penalty for our sins. We would all have to go to Hell.

Why did God not make us (or Adam) so that we would never sin?

The answer lies in the free will which God made us with. For God to make us so that we would never sin, He would have had to make us without free will. You see, with the ability to choose, comes the possibility of wrong choices. If God did not give us free will, we would have been robots or “yes” men and women, incapable of real love which has to be freely given for it to be love. Free will is what was intended to make us perfect beings. However, while God desired us to choose to love and obey him so that we may have abundant eternal life, He had to create the possibility of evil in order to provide us with free will. How else would we be capable of choosing good if there was no evil? How would be capable of choosing to love if there was no hate? Without free will we would only be smiling robots or pre-programmed dolls. In order to give us the ability to choose, God had to create the possibility of evil, but this evil cannot manifest unless we choose to perform it. Ronald Rhodes said “God made evil possible, but creatures make it actual.” Some would state it this way – God did not create evil since everything He creates is good and perfect. The devil cannot create evil since He cannot create anything. God is the only Creator who even created Lucifer himself. Lucifer (now the devil), the Bible records, was created as the most beautiful angel in Heaven. But he chose to rebel against God. Evil then was never created. It is simply the rejection, perversion or the twisting of the good and perfect which God already created, and this has to be performed in order for evil to become manifested reality. For example, Satan perverts or twists God’s truth to become a lie like He did in the Garden of Eden. Sin, it follows, is simply choosing to reject, twist or pervert God's truth and/or act upon twisted truth, instead of believing God and acting upon His truth. Sin is a choice.