The Danger of Apologetics
So many apologists fall into a trap as they study and share the answers they’ve found to tough questions about Christianity. I myself have found myself slipping into this temptation that so easily entangles. Many apologists begin studying apologetics with great intentions: to bolster their faith or the faith of their fellow Christians, to become a more confident and effective ambassador for Christ, etc. However, it is easy to lose sight of these goals and become distracted by our prideful nature. Yes, the danger of apologetics is arrogance.
Okay, I admit, the title of this article was a bit click-bait. My point is not to say that apologetics is somehow dangerous. The danger is not guarding our hearts against our sinful inclinations to prove ourselves intellectually superior to others. The point of apologetics has never been to simply win arguments or debates (although in its proper place, winning arguments and debates can be incredibly fruitful for the kingdom!). The point, as previously mentioned, is to bolster faith, and become a more confident and effective evangelist (if you are a Christian, you are an evangelist). Allowing yourself to fall into pride can have the opposite effect. Apologist Sean McDowell shares a story of when he realized that he had slipped into this mindset.
One day, Sean and a friend of his went to get their haircut. While his friend was getting his haircut, Sean was reading an apologetics book in the waiting chair. The woman cutting their hair noticed. When it was Sean’s turn, he sat down in the chair, and while the woman was cutting his hair, she asked him if it would be okay if she asked him a question about God that had been on her mind. Sean eagerly said yes, thinking to himself, Bring it on!
“Well,” she started, “why does God allow so much evil and suffering in the world?” Really, that’s all you got? S ean thought to himself.
Sean was prepared with the classical free-will theodicy. He laid it out skillfully for her, which led to her asking more questions. Sean found that he could answer each one fairly easily. She’d ask one, and he’d tackle it with answers ready at hand. He thought the dialogue was going extremely well, until she paused for a moment. She stepped back from the barbers chair and began to cry!
“This is a bunch of bs! You’ve got an answer for everything. It can’t be that easy. You just don’t understand.” She said.
Sean was speechless. What just happened? He thought things were going so well. Finally, he changed the subject and left a generous tip before leaving the barber shop. Outside the shop, Sean turned to his friend and asked him why he thinks she was so defensive. His friend took a deep breath and looked him in the eyes, as if trying to see whether he was ready to hear the truth.
“Well,” he said, “do you have any idea how arrogant you were toward her?”
Sean then realized that, rather than treating her as a woman made in the image of God who needs to hear the gospel, he was simply treating her as an apologetics Jeopardy game.
Sean says of this story in his book A New Kind Of Apologist, “What I saw, maybe for the first time, is that truth must be wedded to grace, and that what we say is important... but how w e say it is equally critical.”
No matter whether you are a professional philosopher of religion or one who studies apologetics in their freetime, we must always remember that without love, we are but noisy gongs. “L et all that you do be done in love.” - 1 Corinthians 16:14
Recommended Resources:
Book: A New Kind of Apologist by Dr. Sean McDowell