Dr. Johnson C. Philip & Dr. Saneesh Cherian
The word “confrontation” upsets many, including Christians, today because activities like taking a stand, showing the difference, separation, etc. are anathema to the present generation steeped in Moral Relativism. However, the Scripture commands God’s children to discriminate between good and evil, and to confront and oppose evil. Thus the Christian Apologist should be ready for confrontation, but in the spirit of meekness and humility. With that in mind, the Apologist should take the following steps:
1- Assess The Opposition: Every battle requires strategy and Apologetics is not different. Success requires that we launch a counter-offensive that would be proportional to the offensive. Also, we must assess the terrain and climate. What is conducive to those who oppose the Christian faith might be totally hostile and harmful for the Christian Apologist. For example, an irreverent and jeering crowd would highly suit a critic of the Christian faith, but would not allow the apologist to move an inch. Any attempt at defending the Christian faith would be met by the mockery of an irreverent and uninterested crowd, and the net result would be loss. Only exceptionally capable speakers with unusual powers of rhetoric might be able to silence such a crowd for a short period of time. A shrewd move by the opponents can shatter this peace and attention in moments, and therefore position. When the scripture asks believers not to cast their pearls in front of swines, it is a warning that an unworthy recipient might not only reject good counsel, but might even turn against the speaker to tear him to pieces.
The apologist should check the opposition (individuals or groups) to see if the spirit of inquiry is there, or whether they are at least willing to listen carefully and peacefully. He should also check if they have the capacity to appreciate the subject proposed for discussion. Even the stupidest person can ask questions the answer of which he cannot understand. Also, Christian Apologetics is made up of a broad spectrum to topics that range from the most simple to the extremely complex and specialized topics. He should also check if officially designated moderators would be available if needed in a large group. In smaller groups he should check for similar factors that would be conducive to an open and honest discussion.
Whether the opponent is an individual, a small group, or a crowd, the Apologist should be wary of situation that would be hostile or an atmosphere that would promote mockery. He should also assess the energy, courage, and time that would be needed to effectively face the question. He should never forget that unfinished discussion and partially answered (or unanswered) questions will always hurt the Christian Apologist by creating a false impression that he was defeated in the argument, or that he was not able to rise to the occasion.
2- Assess The Opponent: In addition to the atmosphere and opposition, the nature, attitude, and intellectual capability/training of the opponent plays a substantial role in Apologetics. For example, if he is a trained person, but who inclines towards mocking the opponent, the dialog or debate cannot succeed, and it would be better to drop the idea of discussion.
The most important factor to check in the critic is whether he is honest. He might be biased towards evolution, rationalism, or other critical viewpoints. But if he is basically honest and willing to discuss with a spirit of inquiry, the discussion will in all likelihood prove fruitful. But if he is dishonest or evasive, then no meaningful discussion will ever be possible.
If the opponent is highly trained, inclined to a critical view, but basically honest, the discussion will be fruitful. However. the Apologist should also be of a reasonable intellectual caliber. Else he would only be able to put up a shallow show. I have seen many Christian Apologist who have a good rhetorical ministry among intellectually average Christians. The same people collapse like a house of cards when they face an intellectually bright and trained opponent.
Thus before deciding to get into a public discussion or debate, the Apologist should make sure that his opponent is sincere. If not , the results would be catastrophic. Similar he should make sure that he can rise to meet his opponent at his intellectual level. If not, it would bring only shame to the Christian community. These conditions can be relaxed somewhat in a private discussion and debate, but that does not mean that the Christian Apologist can become reckless.
3-Know The Topic: Christian Apologetics has to deal with an unbelievably large range of subjects, and that also from the simplest to the most complex technical level. Consequently, it is not possible for any Apologist to face all the possible opponents and all the critical topics. The field is as diverse as any field of study. Thus at least in any public discussion he should know in advance the topics which his opponent is going to present, lest he be embarrassed and lose face.
For example, consider a person with an exceptionally good background in Philosophy might be a cipher in Physical Sciences. He might have a great image as a thinker, and therefore his loyal followers might want him to debate a rationalist who us an empirical scientist. The followers might not understand the difference between Philosophy and Empirical Sciences. For them an argument is just a debate which any brilliant person ought to be able to reply. However this kind of a discussion or debate would be disastrous for Christians and Christian Apologist. Rarely only can a philosophy-major handle the technical arguments of a Physics or Archeology major, and vice versa.
I remember two incidents. The first involved a British missionary, the author of an extremely popular apologetics book, who was highly in demand for his lectures. He had the image of an undefeatable Apologetics Superman everywhere, including India. Thus an Evangelical Christian organization fixed his programs in some of the top Colleges and Universities in India. Professors, researchers, and intellectuals were invited in masses and also given a challenge to come and be undone by this carpet-bomb from the Christian community. Obviously, the academic community came in large numbers with great expectations of meeting an intellectual giant who was going to silence all their learned arguments against the Christian faith. Ten minutes into his first lecture, and most of them (who were teachers all their lives) realized that the man was shallow beyond belief. While he was good at rhetoric, there was no substance in his lectures. The question-answer session turned out to be a disaster, and he fumbled with questions an average science-student could have answered with confidence. Here was a big cipher, blown even larger by all that propaganda by Christians who did not realize that they were going to pit an expert in rhetoric against experts in science. All subsequent programs in Indian educational institutions were hastily canceled, and he was promptly shifted to small-group presentation of Christian apologetics among exclusively evangelical and thoroughly discipled Christians.
The second case involved that of an Engineer-turned-apologist, but with no background in philosophy. Worse, while he was a skilled orator, he never had any formal training or reading in Christian Apologetics. His deepest acquaintance with this topic consisted of reading the latest best-sellers written by many journalist-cum-apologists,who were able to captivate readers with words, but who never touched the core of the issues. Nor did they ever grapple with the serious problems of Rational Apologetics. Compared to the missionary we mentioned earlier, this man was invited to speak in a more informal manner to groups of 50 to 150 seekers, most with a university background. However, this small-group informal setup created an atmosphere that none of the organizers had anticipated. Here the audience felt much more easy to ask questions and grill the Apologist without any hurry, and this turned out to be the undoing of it all. Once the questions become serious, the Christian started fumbling. He also refused to address the questions. Instead he would simply ask counter-questions. Finally some of the frustrated people stood up and told him on his face that they would any time prefer an ignorant Christian over a dishonest one. On both the occasions the Apologists were skilled speakers and committed defenders of the Christian faith, but only in a limited range of subjects. Neither they, nor the organizers, realized the perils when the opposition came from learned people in subjects which the Apologists were not competent to handle. The Christian Apologist should be careful to speak and challenge people only in those areas where he has as expertise. If a Neuro-surgeon is not embarrassed when he refuses to speak on Pediatrics, a Christian philosopher should not be embarrassed in refusing to debate topics related to Physics.
4. Know The Size Of The Hat: Though Christians see specialization everywhere, and though they would not go to a General Practitioner when only a Super Specialist would do, they quickly forget this principle when it comes to Christian Ministry. In such meetings they try to make the hat of a single size to fit everyone. This is seen when they invite a highly trained Christian philosopher or scientist, asking him to present the latest Christian Evidence from his area of specialization, and then invite everyone with an IQ of 30 and above to come and “enjoy” the lecture. Worse, often the majority in the crowd would be made up of people in this low-IQ or low-education category, and then everyone insists that the presentation in the area of his expertise should be understandable to this crowd. In other words, the hat actually meant for the experts should now be made to fit every single person in the auditorium. This is simply not possible.
I had a sad experience of this type a few years ago. I was invited by a very large church in a cosmopolitan town. The meeting was held in the banquet hall of a large hotel, and it was attended by professors, research scholars, and medical doctors from the nearby educational institutions. My lecture was well received, and there was a demand for some more lectures. The organizers announced their pleasure, and kept the meeting in their church with the assumption that this will enable them to attract these contacts to the church. Unknown to the organizers, some enthusiasts announced the meeting to the folk in the church also.
The next evening, three fourth of the church was packed with laborers and families: men, women and even children. At the back was my target audience, the university crowd. To make matters worse, some of the church people insisted that my apologetic presentation should be translated into the local language so as to benefit the laborers and families. The best English to Tamil translator available on that day never had anything to do with academics, and had never read even an article on Christian Apologetics. The result was disastrous. I was supposed to address the learned crowd, but the stupidities and antics of my translator so distracted everyone that all were frustrated.Worse, the laborers for whom this compromise was made did not grasp an iota of the lecture. Every single person including me had a depression. The only happy person was the naive translator who had no inkling of how thoroughly he had messed up everything.
One size never served everyone, more so in Christian Apologetics. To scholars it needs to be a scholarly talk, and to the common man it needs to be a popular talk. However, if an organizer tries to mingle both, the Apologist should not accept that recipe for disaster.
5- Assess The Presentation: Public Apologetics can range from very simple and friendly lectures up to extremely hostile and technical presentations. Each one requires a different strategy and even mood. While very simple and friendly lectures from critics can be handled in a similar fashion, most critics and criticisms requires a more serious confrontation and a more calculated strategy.
What’s important is to decide what approach would yield the best results. This would vary with speaker, situation, and topic. At times a direct and immediate refutation might suffice, while at other times presenting a solid case first and then giving a quick and fast refutation might be a better strategy. Experience is a good teacher here, as it is in every practical field, and gradually the Apologist would develop an intuition about all this. His chief aim is not to win an argument, but rather to present a clear and convincing defense for the Christian faith, so as to lead people with questions and doubts into conviction and growth. Refute where refutation is needed, and expound where such detail is needed. Quotations, statistics, news, and even stories and humor should be used at appropriate places in the right proportion. However, the Apologist should not leave it at that. He should consolidate his position by giving them a glimpse of the very big field of Christian Apologetics. He should also guide them to resources in this field.
6- Tell Them Of The World Of Apologetics: Though Christian Apologetics is a subject as old as the Christian faith itself, not everyone knows this. You can safely assume that the majority of your listeners would be totally ignorant about it. Most of them would be under the false impression that this this is the first time that these questions have been asked, and also that perhaps nobody has the answers. This causes them to continue in fear even if this particular session was helpful. Thus the Apologist must definitely give them a glimpse of the wider world of Christian Apologetics.
He should tell them something about the Jewish Christian Fathers of the bygone eras who defended the faith orally and also in writing. He should then tell about the current situation. At present more than 5000 small and large booklets and books are in print related to Christian Apologetics. There are at least two dozen technical and five times as many popular periodicals on some aspect or other of reason and revelation. There are several professional societies of Christian Apologists where only professionally qualified Apologists can become members. Then there are at least a thousand organizations, small and large, that work in Christian Defense. What’s more, there are at least a thousand high quality websites that offer information related to Christian Evidences. Among them they freely offer thousands of book-length manuscripts and tens of thousands of smaller but substantial articles. There are also over two dozen web-based Apologetics journals on the net.
Once the Apologist gives them a glimpse of these things, the confidence-factor of sincere inquirers takes a massive leap. The assurance that they are not the only people asking questions, and that thousands of highly qualified scientists and philosophers are there to answer these questions helps them to face critics with confidence.
7- Introduce The Resources: Though an unbelievably large collection of resources is available, most inquirers have no clue about the quantity or the source of materials. Thus the Christian Apologist should point to the sources from where they can obtain more material. This is essential for the success of the apologetic mission and there are at least two reasons for that.
First, there is none who has one and only one doubt. Attacks against the Christian faith come in clusters, and therefore the doubts also form a cluster. Just because one or two doubts from a cluster are solved in a given lecture, it does not wipe out the doubts that remain. People need their doubts to be solved up to a certain threshold (say, as much as 70% of all doubts) before they feel reasonably confident about the Christian faith. Unless solutions reach this threshold, these doubts keep gnawing at their faith and confidence. Thus a single exposure to Apologetics is usually not sufficient to fully strengthen and stabilize a person. He needs to be exposed repeatedly through conversation, lectures, books, and electronic resources till he reaches the level where he cannot be shaken easily.
Second, attacks against the Christian faith are not a one-time event. On the contrary, they are a continuing process which keeps nagging them. Old attacks often put on new clothes, and seemingly new attacks will keep cropping up.Thus an ongoing exposure to current apologetic resources that tackle both old as well as contemporary attacks would be needed to strengthen a person.
The world of Internet has done great favor to seekers in the form of thousands of reason/revelation websites. The apologist should select three to five sites on major topics such as evolution/creation, Bible/Science, Bible/Archeology, and other apologetic issues. None may ever visit all of them, but the large number of sites will ensure that each person would find sites that directly cater to his specific needs.
8- Encourage Ongoing Study: As mentioned earlier, most sincere inquirers need more than a one time exposure to Apologetics before a reasonable level of doubts are overcome. One good approach would be to subscribe to an apologetics magazine. A second one would be to subscribe to free electronic periodicals.
Listening to audio lectures would be another highly beneficial approach. Since many compressed formats are available for audio, many websites now offer series of audio on Christian Apologetics . You should encourage them to download and listen. Scores of hours of audio can now be carried on a single disk or audio device, and this capacity is only going to increase. The costs are also crashing down, bringing audio to the reach of everyone. The Apologist should keep searching the net for the best Apologetics audio, and he should keep such information on give-away sheets of paper that interested people can pick up.
9- Do Appeal For A Verdict: Unless an apologetic presentation leads to decisions, all the hard work of the Apologist results in little benefit. Thus every public and private presentation should include an appeal for a verdict. This need not be similar to the traditional alter-call\, and it can be tailored to suit the more academic environment of Christian Apologetics.
Many Apologists wrongly assume that a powerful defense of the Christian faith is sufficient to lead people to decisions. While a few who were on the verge of making a decision would automatically make a decision, the rest may not. Their rush to go back to homes and jobs, the continuous assault of a busy time-table or demands of their profession can quickly push all of it out of their minds. Once that happens, there will be no “repeated exposure”, and they would never get the full benefit of the Apologist’s labors.
If the audience contains even a single unbeliever, the Apologist must give an appeal to accept Christ as their Saviour. Believers should be challenged to build apologetics into their study and witnessing . The precise appeal would depend upon the audience, but you must definitely make a strong, powerful, and even passionate appeal for a verdict.
While private discussion plays a significant role in Christian Apologetics, every Apologist gets plenty of invitations for public debates. Many of them carelessly rush into debates without evaluating the occasion, place, topic, audience and freedom for presenting one’s views.
Many Christian Apologists soon discover that in their haste they have painted themselves into a corner. This frequently happens when the program is organized and totally controlled by the critics. They then make the first presentation, steal the bulk of the time, leave little time for the Christian Apologist, and conclude the program before the Christian can complete even an introduction. Once the curtains are down, nobody will stop to listen to him. Even if a couple of them do stop, he will find the sound-system, lights, and the ventilation (AC) of the auditorium turned off. The security might also arrive to evict them and lock the hall. Christians expect fair play, but many an Apologist has discovered in the past that the world of the opponents is not controlled by such expectations. For them it is war, and they will try to win it, fair or foul — probably foul.
I know many Christians who fell into this kind of traps. The great eagerness with which people approached them made them believe it would be fair play and an easy battle, only to discover that no combat is possible when the enemy controls the ground, communication, transportation, and supplies. Humiliated, many of them returned totally upset. I myself had a similar experience but in a controlled manner. Few years ago I was visiting a town for ministry when a Muslim Apologist happened to have a massive meeting close by in that place. That evening a few local Muslims came with a Coach and urged me to accompany them and listen to that man. I did accompany them as I was free that evening. However since they knew about my presence and also location in the auditorium, the organizers came to the stage towards the end of the program, announced my name, and declared that I was there to ask my doubts and get an answer from the Muslim apologist. This was an attempt to trap me to open my mouth, without giving me an opportunity to refute his statements. The only other option was to remain silent and be counted incompetent. The Lord gave me wisdom and I stood up, took the wireless mike into my hand, and said “you people brought me on a Coach as a guest to listen to the lecture and not to ask any question. I would appreciate if you would not play any tricks with me now”. Everyone heard my comments because I was on the mike, and the organizers hastily came to apologize. The sound system was also promptly turned off lest I make any more comments.
Christian Apologists should be careful not to jump into public debates. They should carefully weigh everything before they accept an invitation. On the other hand, they can more readily get involved in private debates because nobody can invoke mob-mentality to create a difficult situation. Also, in private small-group discussions it is more easy to control the situation. One can always insist that the opposite side give answers and not evade pointed questions of the Christian apologist. Nobody can cut off the Apologist by turning off sound systems and things like that.
The best situation would be for a skeptic or critic to discuss one-to-one with the Apologist. Another good situation would be where one to five inquirers and perplexed people ask all their doubts and discuss their questions with the Apologist. In such an atmosphere he can answer questions one at a time, completely answer a question under consideration, and then move on to the next question. That is always the best approach whether it is a one-to-one discussion or a small-group discussion.
Every Apologist dreams of discussions and debates where a direct and straightforward discussion takes place, where everyone is courteous and also logical in their assessment. However, this never happens, specially when the audience is large. At least a few of them will disturb the meeting by whispering to those on their left and right, by giggling at the most inappropriate moment, and even by disturbing others. Experienced public speakers control such behavior in many ways and the same needs to be done here also. However, there is one kind of a troublemaker who can destroy the most well-crafted presentation. That is the Persistent Interrogator and cross-examiner.
The Persistent Interrogator makes his appearance in almost all public meeting. He thrives on asking questions and putting down the speaker. He might be a person who keeps studying all his life but who is never able to come to final answers about any topic. Or he might be one who has the outward form of a dedicated Christian, but who is a rebel deep inside. There are a lot of Christians of this kind whom everyone considers very dedicated due to the outward form of their Christians life, but who resent the Word of God deep inside their hearts. These people become miserable when the reliability of the Scripture is defended, and they lash out against the speaker. If anyone points to them that they should not have been so blunt or harsh, they escape using the pretext that they asked in such a manner and put forward such questions because “many others” have these doubts but that they could not gather the courage to ask these questions. There are also many pseudo-intellectuals who bring up a whole bunch of trivial or irrelevant questions.
The Persistent Interrogator can disrupt the smooth flow of the Apologetic presentation. He frustrates the speaker, irritates the audience, and creates the impression at the end that the Apologist is incompetent, and that he was no match for the challenge posed. All of this, because of a couple of irrelevant questions. Thus as soon an Apologist spots this type of a person, he should publically say something like this, “Your questions require personal attention from me. They also require more time than what is available here. So please meet me in private after this program is over, and we can discuss your doubts for any length of time. Others can also join us in this in-depth discussion ” Once this person is silenced, the Apologist can concentrate upon the more genuine inquirers. What’s more, the persistent interrogator (who does not want to be convinced anyway) will not turn up for a private discussion. He thrives upon public attention, and once the Apologist refuses to give him a chance to show off, he will lose the charm of discussion and will take his business elsewhere. However, there is a rare kind of persistent interrogator who will be delighted at the offer of private discussion and who will come for such a discussion. He is the genuine inquirer.
There are always a small number of genuine inquirers who wish to ask a load of questions. Trying to help them in a public meeting will distract others who wait for a chance to ask their doubts, but whose opportunity is denied by the incessant questions of the Persistent Interrogator. Thus it is always better to invite him for a private discussion, which he will appreciate. There might be many other kinds of troublemakers, and all of them are to be handled almost the same way. Do not give them an opportunity to show off in front of people, and their enthusiasm will vanish.
Nobody can spontaneously answer all the Reason/Faith related questions posed to him, especially in the tense atmosphere of a public meeting. The difficulty is compounded by the fact that even a fool can ask more questions than the wisest man can answer. Thus every active Apologist will face many questions which he cannot answer immediately or with sufficient authority on the spot. This is a professional risk in Apologetics, and denying the possibility of this happening to one is dishonesty. Worse, an Apologist who is dishonest about his limitations and boundaries will be so unprepared that he would be embarrassed at the most critical stage.
Every Apologist gets difficult questions, but the way he handles them will determine the outcome. He can be a winner even if he is not able to answer a few questions, provided he is open and honest. On the other hand, a dishonest Apologist can seemingly answer all questions, including the ones whose answer he does not know clearly, and yet become a loser. That is because in addition to the answers, people also look at the attitude of the Apologist. They respect a man who answers what he knows, asks for time to ponder over difficult questions, and guides people to experts or to resources that can answer questions which he cannot answer. I remember the initial days of my public ministry. I was at that time trained in Rational Apologetics, but not in Philosophy or Philosophical Apologetics. An outstanding Philosophy scholar, George David, used to be present in many of my more difficult public meetings. During question-answer sessions he started indication to me his desire and willingness to answer questions that were strictly Philosophical in nature. Soon I started inviting him to tackle these questions by saying “that is a strictly Philosophical question, so George David the Philosopher can answer it better than me”. Except for the Persistent Interrogators (who wanted to put me down) everyone wanted authoritative answers, and they welcomed this approach. They knew that nobody is an expert in all fields and therefore had no ill feeling that I referred questions of a strictly philosophical orientation to an expert in that field.
Whether it is Medicine, Engineering, Law or Christian Apologetics, no individual would have all the answers. Referring to an advanced textbook or an expert is the standard practice, and one need not be embarrassed about doing so.
A person could work in any field a few centuries ago without much training and also without much of a professional approach. The town iron smith could also double as the plumber, and small town grocer could also double as the postmaster. However, increasing advancement, complexity, and professionalism has introduced so many changes that today a person can succeed only if he gets trained and adopts a professional approach and works in a systematic manner. This is true of Christian Apologetics also.
While a person does not need to get a professional degree in Apologetics, he needs to study the subject in some depth. He also needs to develop a system of effective refutation, defense, and exposition. Adapting the tools and insights developed by professional Apologists in the twentieth century is the best approach. And finally, he should recognize that in this era of specialization even Christian Apologetics has developed into many advanced branches so that a person trained in one branch of Apologetics may need help from a specialist in another branch of Apologetics. He will also need to conduct his public and private discussions in a calculated manner, so as to minimize distraction and maximize effectiveness.
You are welcome to reproduce this article for non-commercial purpose in any kind media with the following attribution: Article Reproduced By Courtesy of www.ApologeticsCourses.Com. Copyright Dr. Johnson C. Philip