Non-interest In Christian Apologetics

By Author: Johnson Philip
Total Articles: 90
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Among Christians there are some who do not take any interest and who do not give any encouragement to Christians interested in Apologetics. They do so not due to any fault of apologetics, but mainly due to their own misconceptions, and misunderstandings. Such people can be divided into six categories:

1-People who never had any doubts in these subjects.

2-People who never had to face questions and attacks from scornful people.

3-People who have indeed faced personal doubts and external attacks, but who have been running away from facing the challenge.

4-People who believe that the Bible does contain errors.

5-People who have lost sensitivity towards the pains and problems of others.

6-Pseudo Apologists who love prestige, but who have never mastered the subject.

THOSE WHO NEVER HAD DOUBTS:Of these five, people who have never faced any problems are fortunate, but they should not assume that others will have a similar experience. Nor should they assume that others are having doubts because they lack spiritual commitment. A healthy person should never feel proud against ...
... a sick one. The right Christian response would be sensitivity and sympathy.

THOSE WHO NEVER HAD TO FACE ATTACKS:People who never faced any attacks against their faith from friends, coworkers or the popular literature have no justification to assume that others are equally safe or insulated. In fact the majority of people among our young educated people face some sort or other of attack from their peers or contemporaries. Thus people need to be sensitive to their doubts, rather than ignoring their need for apologetics.

PEOPLE WHO FLEE (Escapists):People who have faced doubts and external attacks, but who are running away from it all are doing great harm to themselves and also to others. Doubts and fears never decrease by avoiding them. These have to be faced objectively and courageously. Those who run away never develop a balanced or whole spiritual life. The fear they are trying to hide will gradually eat up their mental peace.

PEOPLE WHO BELIEVE IN ERROR-PRONE BIBLE: Some people believe that the Bible contains errors. They prefer diluting the historical and scientific accuracy of the Bible. They want the best of both the worlds (which in itself might be a legitimate desire), and feel that the Bible should be diluted to achieve this goal (which is a wrong assessment). Consequently many of them become quite hostile when they spot anyone defending the Bible.

People who believe that the Bible contains errors become panicky when someone defends the Bible. Unfortunately, and unknown to many of us, there are plenty of these people within the Christian world. They get annoyed when someone starts talking of a literal creation, historicity of the Bible, or anything that seems to imply that the scriptures are beyond error. They are spiritual compromisers, and they will surely attack anyone who takes a non compromising attitude.

PEOPLE INSENSITIVE TO OTHERS:Some people become spiritually so insensitive to other believers that even the slightest mention by others of their spiritual problem or doubts provokes great anger, hostility and contempt from them. Since apologetics starts with the assumption that people can have problems and difficulties in believing the Bible, any mention of this subject acts as a great provocation to insensitive people.

People who have become insensitive towards the needs and pains of others are never able to appreciate the problems faced by others. Most of such people live in an artificial world of their own selfish creation, where they never have to be sensitive to the needs of others. Thus they become more and more hardened towards others who face real-world problems and dilemmas.

PSEUDO APOLOGISTS: The Christian world has many pseudo-apologists. Usually these people have some qualification in the sciences or humanities, but very little training in apologetics. When faced with troubling questions, they use their own human knowledge to build up a private system of apologetics. Not having a background in theology or apologetics, and not having come in contact with Christian apologists, their private system of apologetics might be quite deficient or even outright faulty. Yet due to non-contact with real bible-based apologetics, they continue to live happily with their own brand of apologetics in their world of ignorance.

Many of them recognize this deficiency as soon as they hear the presentation of a trained apologist. Thus they feel quite threatened when they listen to apologists. Instead of broadening their grasp of the subject by mutual interaction, they take recourse to attacking other apologists.

Of the six categories of people mentioned above, none has a valid biblical objection against the discipline of Christian Apologetics. Their objections and oppositions stem from their personal prejudices and ignorances. Consequently, the apologist should never worry about the opposition they put up. Rather, he should always expect some antagonism from them and try to use these to examine and refine further his presentation of the subject.

People who believe that the Bible contains errors, who are insensitive to others, and who would not like anything except their own private system of apologetics find their world collapsing when they see Christian Apologists in action. This is not a problem of theological origin. Rather, it is a personal problem that has no easy solution. Further, these people are not truth-seekers or sincere inquirers. Their aim is to impose their erroneous views upon others, and therefore their conversation is not marked for humility or the spirit of free, objective inquiry. Rather, their aim is to impose their erroneous views upon others. Thus it is a waste of time arguing or discussing with them.

The first three category of people above might readily listen to a good apologist if he is willing to explain the whole situation to them -- that a lot of genuine seekers are indeed struggling due to these questions, and also that they should not run away from their own doubts. However, the last two categories (the compromisers and the spiritually insensitive people) may not listen all that easily. One should be quite discerning when talking with them lest one end up wasting time and losing patience.

The Lord Jesus Himself provides a good example that proof seekers are not to be shunned. When doubting Thomas demanded proof of resurrection, the Lord did not refuse his request. Rather, at the appropriate occasion he Himself personally, and with all compassion, invited Thomas to attempt his empirical verification.

The Lord did say that "blessed are they that have not seen, and yet believe", but surely this was not a rebuke for doubt but only a comparison of insights that different people had about Lord Jesus. This becomes very clear in the light of what the Lord Jesus did to other disciples even without their asking.

Most Bible readers overlook the fact that the Lord Himself was the first to offer empirical evidence to ALL the disciples, even without the disciples asking for it. The gospel says, "Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself : handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have" (Luke 24:39).

Doubt about spirituals is common even among dedicated Christians. If such people are sincere, one should surely help them by emulating what the Lord did with Thomas and the rest of the disciples.
Opposition to Apologetics

There are some Christians who are opposed to the very idea of apologetics. They do this because of a number of reasons, some of which are as follows:

DISTRUST OF REASON: Some people oppose apologetics because they are completely distrustful of human reason in spiritual realm. According to them, faith and reason are to be placed in totally separate compartments, having no role to play in each other's realm. For them, reason is for the natural world while faith is something for the spiritual world. However, such a view that compartmentalizes truth lacks coherence. The Christian approach to truth is an integrated one where one has to accept that faith and reason do mix with each other in many realms of spiritual truth.

FEAR: Some people oppose apologetics because they find them selves ill equipped to face the attacks. So instead of facing the problems, and instead of making a defense for the faith that is in them, they prefer to run away from it all. Since apologetics is a very difficult subject to study and master, running away from the reality is easier for them than facing it. However, cowardice is NOT the way of Christian thought or practice.

Faith is the starting-point of Christianity, and once faith is established Christianity can be shown to be consistent with truth and reason. There are may who will be strengthened in their faith if this consistency is shown to them, and it is the task of the apologist to help every genuine inquirer.

WILLFUL BLIND OPPOSITION: Many people oppose Christian Apologetics due to their ignorance. Such people can be engaged in mutual conversation and a reasonable explanation will convince them that their opposition is ill founded. However, some people oppose Christian Apologetics and Biblical Creationism willfully and due to their stubbornness. It is usually futile to waste time upon them.

All serious apologists should expect some hostility. They should not waste their time either in worrying about the attack or in trying to counter the hostile parties. They should realize that a person willfully opposing apologetics is not a sincere inquirer. Further, there is no medicine to cure willful opposition.

In summary, every apologist should expect intense hostility from some people, but they should steer clear of them for the sake of their own effectiveness.
Dr. Johnson C. Philip is a scientist and an acknowledged blogging guru having a worldwide following.