How Chess Made Me a Better Christian
In my apologetics journey, I’ve found myself engaging in dialogues and sometimes heated debates with people who want to attack the Christian faith and biblical worldview. Before I dove into researching tough questions and deeper Christian philosophy, whenever I was confronted by a skeptic trying to undermine my faith, I would simply dodge such questions and challenges as I was unequipped to discuss deep subjects and engage in thoughtful arguments. But what does chess have to do with this? Allow me to explain.
There is a strategic principle that is at the heart of the game of chess. Before you make a move, you first stop and consider possible responses from your opponent, and decide how you will counter their responses. Often, you can make an educated guess as to the most probable response your opponent will make and think a few moves ahead based on the series of moves with the highest probability.
This is similar to how many apologists approach arguments and debates. In fact, the apologist Clay Jones proposed that Christians desiring to get into apologetics do so the way he approached chess years ago.
When Dr. Jones attempted to increase his skill at chess, he became overwhelmed with the numerous openings and strategies, just as one entering for the first time into the world of apologetics could be overwhelmed by all of the topics and arguments. Clay knew he could hardly master all of the openings in chess. However, he decided to set a more modest goal. He chose one opening that proved to be the most effective, and he studied it carefully and thoroughly, learning every possible response to the Queen’s Gambit opening. Before long he had all but mastered the Queen’s Gambit and became a formidable player.
I give the same advice to those who are thinking about taking their first step in learning to defend their faith. There are so many topics under the umbrella of “apologetics” that it can be difficult to know where to start! Do you start with one of the arguments for God’s existence such as the Kalam, Moral, Teleological, or Ontological arguments? Or do you begin with the historical evidence for the New Testament, such as the evidence for the resurrection or the evidence that Jesus was a historical person rather than a myth or legend? Or perhaps one could simply start by researching resolutions to supposed contradictions in the Bible? The answer, of course, is yes!
Don’t overthink where to begin when learning how to defend the faith. Find the subject that interests you the most and learn it inside and out. Start with the basic information. Then, once you have the basics down, research scholars who have specialized on the subject and learn what they have to say about the topic. For example, if you choose to begin with the Kalam Cosmological Argument, as I did, then once you have understood the basic argument, you should look into Dr. William Lane Craig’s work on it. He has plenty of videos on YouTube in varying levels of depth. He also has books available on Amazon if books are more your speed. If you wish to go the historical route, I would recommend the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus and follow the work of Gary Habermas and Mike Licona.
Just as in the game of chess, once you learn the most common responses and challenges to the argument you choose to master, with a little practice and patience, you will be an effective debater on the issue you have chosen. You may be the one God uses to show a skeptic that there is indeed an intellectual side of Christian belief.
Recommended Resource:
Book: A New Kind of Apologist by Sean McDowell