I received quite a few comments, both on Facebook and here, on an earlier post about Apologists Attacking Apologists. Some people agreed with me, some people disagreed and some people were confused as to what I was getting at. Instead of responding to individual comments, I will try to cover the questions here by making ten points.
1. I am not saying that Christians should not disagree with each other. I am not saying it is wrong to call a Christian leader on an error. In Galatians, Paul publicly corrects Peter. But notice that he does not bring it up in every letter about how Peter made that one mistake.
2. I believe that there is a need for conversation about differences in doctrine. However, I am not sure that things like social media are the place for heated disagreements between Christians. No matter how justified you may feel, non-Christians are watching and are judging Christianity by what you say and do.
3. You can disagree without flying into a rage. Sometimes people bring up Jesus’ cleansing of the temple as if that is our model for how to deal with differences. The power of that passage is in how different it is from the way Jesus normally acted. We are supposed to notice that.
4. Keep disagreements rational. If you want to look to Jesus, study how he debated with the Pharisees and Sadducees. The Gospels portray the opponents as getting very emotional as Jesus calmly picks away at the logic behind their arguments.
5. There have always been differences in the Church. We forget how hard it was in the early church to hold together Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians. We see in Paul’s epistles the conflict emerging. We see James trying to keep the unity of faith and allowing differences of opinion to coexist. Read 1 Corinthians 12 and try to understand what a body looks like.
6. Pick your battles. With the constant attacks by atheists, increasing numbers of people from other religions and a society that demands secularism, I am not sure why an evangelical needs to go after another evangelical with a slightly different opinion. Have we really run out of work to do?
7. What do I mean by attacking? Some people asked for examples. If I gave real life examples, I do not trust myself not to do the same thing that I am warning other people against. I would say it is acceptable to say that I disagree with apologist X about some technique or position. It is fine to have differences of opinions. The line is crossed when I disagree with apologist Y and take it on myself to destroy their career and reputation. I put my energy into a smear campaign and look for every misstep or imprecise word to humiliate them. That is an attack. If you do not think that happens, explore Facebook groups and Twitter feeds.
8. Know the differences between heresy and orthodox theology. I do not mean how you feel personally but historical definitions. I know there are Baptist groups that call each other heretics (I say this as a Baptist). There are differences in theology within the orthodox camp. Get over it and do the work that really matters.
9. You do not have to prove yourself all the time. There are times I hear someone say something and I believe I have a more accurate interpretation. If it is not an essential doctrine, I can let it go or at least talk to the person calmly in private. I do not have to make a big deal about always being right. But of course I could be wrong about this.
10. Remember Jesus’ high priestly prayer from John 17. When Jesus prayed for the future church, he prayed for unity. Ask yourself, when you attack someone theologically, is your focus on your own theological position or on Christ’s church?
- Apologetics
- Apologists
- Conflict
- Disagreements
- Theology
