Field Training

Advice from a Young Christian Apologist

I am sometimes asked to offer advice to up-and-coming young Christian apologists. As one who is of the younger generation myself (25 years old) and who has been active in public apologetics from a relatively young age (20), I can speak from experience on this topic. In this article, I want to address young people (in their late teens or twenties) who aspire to do public work in apologetics. In particular, I want to pass on the lessons I have learned over the past five years—some of them, unfortunately, the hard way.

Lesson 1: Take Your Youth & Inexperience into Account.

When someone has a new idea, it's natural to want to share it. Online blogging enables people to share their ideas quickly and widely. While this has obvious advantages, there are also significant risks, especially for young people. Among the latter is the fact that what you publish publicly on the internet is effectively public material forever.

When you're young, your views and ideas are still crystallizing and maturing. As you get older and better educated, you are likely to revise your positions or even change your mind on certain issues. Your arguments, too, are likely to become more refined and sophisticated. Imagine, then, the frustration you may feel some years hence, when someone Googles your name, and the first hit is to an article you wrote four or five years ago, articulating a view you no longer hold or argumentation you no longer employ. Your current views and arguments will also be available, but they won't be the first things people see, and many will look no further. In this way, things you've repudiated can come back to haunt you years later.

In addition, speaking out on some areas related to apologetics can have repercussions for your career choices. For example, in our current academic environment, publicly supporting intelligent design, or even just questioning Darwinian evolution, may hinder you from building a career in science. Public criticism of homosexuality or same-sex marriage can have similar repercussions.

So give careful consideration to how early you enter the public arena to express your views. Think about allowing them time to crystallize first. Alternatively, using a pseudonym or alias may be a relatively safe option.

Lesson 2: Research Your Argument Thoroughly.

This should go without saying, but you'd be surprised at the number of people who do not take the time to hunt down a primary source, relying instead on what other people have said about the source. This is a very bad habit. When you read a quotation in a book that has been taken from another source, avoid using it yourself unless you can trace it to the primary source. If the quotation was lifted out of context or misinterpreted by the secondary source and you don't verify it, you will be just as culpable of misuse or deception as the source you relied on.

Always be ready with primary sources to back up points you make in debate. In addition, read the relevant sections of primary sources carefully. Don't base your interpretation of a scientific paper on its abstract, or even worse, its title! Neverproof-text a passage whose context you aren't familiar with. Exercise great concern for factual accuracy. As Christians, we believe that Christ is Truth itself (John 14:6). We are thus committed to a very high standard of accuracy and fair representation.

You should also be acquainted with the responses that have already been offered to the argument you are making. If you are making a new argument, try to anticipate possible objections. Even better, get someone who takes a different view to read and critique your argument. Friends can also be invaluable in critically appraising your work before you go public with it.

Lesson 3: Understand the View You Are Criticizing.

Strive to understand the view or argument you are criticizing as well as its best defenders. There are few things worse than an apologist who makes basic misrepresentations of a view when he could have avoided the mistakes with a little research. My advice here is to not limit your reading to books you agree with, but to read ones representing the other side of the debate as well. If you are critically appraising a religion, read its primary sources. Don't get your information on Islam, for example, solely from Christian sources. Apart from being intellectually responsible, this also opens doors and builds bridges to people of other persuasions. People respect it when you can demonstrate that you have done your homework, and they will be more inclined to listen to what you have to say.

Lesson 4: Be Honest About Weaknesses.

An argument is rendered more credible and respectable when the person making it is willing to honestly state its weaknesses upfront. This allows the audience to objectively evaluate its pros and cons and come to their own conclusion about where the balance of the evidence lies. All propositional claims have both strengths and weaknesses, and we are all susceptible to confirmation bias, that is, the tendency to seek or favor information that confirms our beliefs. It is important to take steps to minimize the impact of this bias in our public arguments.

Lesson 5: Be Charitable.

Always look for the most charitable way of reading your sources. Give them the benefit of the doubt whenever possible. Show that you can responsibly critique a position or argument even when it's presented in its strongest form. If a critic makes a mistake, don't immediately blast him for lying or having malicious intent. Point out the mistake, and if he admits the error, commend him for it. But if someone has had a mistake pointed out to him repeatedly, yet persists in stating the falsehood, then I'd be inclined to be less charitable.

Related to this, one should generally seek to engage with the most respected and capable defenders of a given position. Richard Dawkins and other New Atheists have often been criticized for engaging with the worst representatives of Christianity and for avoiding the best ones. This is not a trait you want to emulate.

However, if the poor defenders of a position happen to be popular, it is appropriate to critique them, so that the vacuousness of their arguments may be exposed. It is unfortunate that the most popular apologists for atheism also happen to be the least intellectually sophisticated (e.g., Richard Dawkins, Peter Atkins, A. C. Grayling). But since these men are popular, they ought to be responded to. Your engagement, however, shouldn't be limited to them.

Likewise, so many Muslims listen to Zakir Naik and Ahmed Deedat that their arguments must be responded to, even if they are very unsophisticated. But try to engage Islam's more reflective apologists, such as Shabir Ally, as well. To quote Proverbs 26:4—5: "Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you yourself will be just like him. Answer a fool according to his folly, or he will be wise in his own eyes."

Lesson 6: Be Consistent.

The application of double standards is a sure sign of a failing argument. It is important to be intellectually consistent. Don't, for instance, use an argument against another religion that would work equally well against Christianity. Apply standards consistently.

Even more important, ensure that your style of living is consistent with the message you are proclaiming. Ignatius of Antioch, a second-century church father, put it well in his epistle to the Ephesians (15): "Indeed, it is better to keep quiet and be, than to make fluent professions and not be."

Lesson 7: Be a Good Listener.

Listen carefully to those with whom you are conversing and seek to understand where they are coming from. Don't presume things about them based upon what you have read about their religion. Let them have their say whenever they wish to speak. Be wary of steamrollers, but be careful not to be one yourself. It is better to allow others to speak too much than too little. Respond to the position they have articulated, not the one you think they should adhere to.

Try to keep them on point, however. If you're debating about Scripture, ask them to stay with one passage and reach a verdict with you on that passage before moving on to another one. This is particularly important in dialogues with Jehovah's Witnesses.

Remember, just because you disagree with an individual does not mean you have nothing to learn from him. Everyone has unique experiences and ideas you can learn from. Remain teachable, even from those with whom you vehemently disagree.

Lesson 8: Be Prepared to Admit Mistakes.

Everybody makes mistakes from time to time. When someone legitimately points out an error on your part, don't try to cover it up. Admit to it, noting that it was an honest mistake. If someone contends that you have erred and you are not convinced that he is right, promise to check your sources and get back to him. It takes grace and humility to admit error, but people will respect you for it, and you will have greater credibility. Just don't make a habit of making mistakes!

It is also important to confess when you are unable to answer a question or challenge. Everybody's knowledge is limited, and there is only so much you can have researched. When you are met with challenges that you haven't considered or encountered before, don't attempt to wing it. Instead, admit that you haven't yet come across that argument or idea and promise to investigate it further.

Lesson 9: Never Repay Insult with Insult.

Ad hominem attacks, which are leveled against an individual rather than an argument, have unfortunately become common, especially online, where people feel safe behind the anonymity of the internet. One should never repay insult with insult, however. Set a good example of how intellectual discourse ought to be done. Show the world how Christians conduct themselves in argument and debate. To quote Ignatius of Antioch's epistle to the Ephesians again (10):

Meet their animosity with mildness, their high words with humility, and their abuse with your prayers. But stand firm against their errors, and if they grow violent, be gentle instead of wanting to pay them back in their own coin. Let us show by our forbearance that we are their brothers, and try to imitate the Lord by seeing which of us can put up with the most ill-usage or privation or contempt—so that in this way none of the devil's noxious weeds may take root in you.

Christ did not retaliate against those who mocked and insulted him. As 1 Peter 2:23 says, "When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly." Also emulate Polycarp of Smyrna: when mounted soldiers tracked him down and came to arrest him, he reportedly ordered at once that they be given all the food and drink they wanted. By behaving like this toward someone who reviles you, you will, to quote another Proverb, "heap burning coals on his head [i.e., make him feel guilty for the way he treated you] and the Lord will reward you."

Lesson 10: Don't Be Confrontational.

In class, avoid drawing attention to yourself by being confrontational with your professors. Granted, there are occasions when it is appropriate to challenge a professor, but such occasions are not common. In general, you should avoid portraying yourself as a peer. In a professor-student relationship, this makes you look arrogant.

Lesson 11: Be Above Public Reproach.

Personal integrity is important for all Christians, but particularly for public apologists. Being an ambassador for the Christian faith makes you the object of other people's scrutiny. Many of them will be looking for things in you to find fault with, and there would be nothing worse than to have your reputation sullied by your own lapse in moral judgment.

The life of the believer is the ultimate apologetic. If the way you live your life does not comport with the message you are proclaiming, people are going to think, "This Christ has evidently not had much of an impact on his life, so why should I expect Christ to have an impact on mine?" The second epistle of Clement illustrates the point well:

For when outsiders hear the sayings of God from our mouths, they are astonished at their beauty and greatness. Then when they discover that our actions do not match our words, they turn from astonishment to blasphemy, saying that our faith is some kind of myth and error.

For on the one hand, they hear from us that God has said, "It is no great accomplishment for you to love those who love you; it is great if you love your enemies and those who hate you." And when they hear these things, they are astonished by their extraordinary goodness. But then when they see that we fail to love not only those who hate us, but even those who love us, they ridicule us and the name is blasphemed. (2 Clement 13:3—4)

As Jesus said to his disciples, "Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves" (Matt. 10:16).

Lesson 12: Your Studies Must Take Priority.

It doesn't matter how much you know; you are not likely to be of great use as a Christian apologist if you have no academic credentials to your name. Therefore, as long as you are in school, your academic studies must take priority. Striking the right balance between academics and your other intellectual interests may be hard, but you must give precedence to the former.

This is of particular importance if you adopt intelligent design (ID) theory as your view and this becomes known among the faculty in your department, because that means you are now an ambassador for this view. You don't want to discredit the ID community by poor performance, and you also don't want to give any defensible justification to those who may want to penalize you for adopting such a view.

Lesson 13: Keep Your Eyes on Christ.

In his book The Doctrine of Repentance, the 17th-century puritan Thomas Watson wrote,

Some bless themselves that they have a stock of knowledge, but what is knowledge good for without repentance? It is better to mortify one sin than to understand all mysteries. Impure speculatists do but resemble Satan transformed into an angel of light. Learning and a bad heart is like a fair face with a cancer in the breast. Knowledge without repentance will be but a torch to light men to hell.

It is of upmost importance that Christ be the cornerstone of everything you do. Take care to maintain a healthy prayer life and meditate daily upon the word of God. Continuously examine yourself to see whether your beliefs are manifested by your actions. Remember that we are not saved by our adherence to a body of doctrine or by our ability to articulate and defend the Christian faith. Be sure you are not one of the ones to whom Christ will say, "I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness."

Conclusion

These are just a few of the principles I have picked up through my own involvement in apologetics. Some come from my own experience, others from observing others. If you commit yourself to applying these principles consistently, you cannot go far wrong.