Busting Myths
I came across an interview featuring the Christian author of a book entitled, Busted: Exposing Popular Myths About Christianity. I thought it might be fun to make a game of it. Tonight, I’m posting the four questions that the interviewer asked the author. On Saturday, I’ll post the author’s answers, as well as the link to the interview. Sometime between tonight and Saturday, you can provide your answers and/or commentaries in the comment section. I think it could be fun to compare your thoughts with those of the author. For those who really can’t wait until Saturday to see the answers, I’ll provide them below. But, please try to answer/comment on the questions before reading the author’s answers.
Here are the questions:
1. What do you say to Christians who believe that apologetics just alienates unbelievers? Isn’t it better to focus on relationships in the new postmodern reality?
2. How can a church leader motivate average Christians to learn how to defend the faith?
3. What’s behind the growing biblical and doctrinal illiteracy in our churches?
4. What’s the most common myth out there about Christianity that needs busting?
Let’s have some fun!
– the chaplain
ANSWERS:
What do you say to Christians who believe that apologetics just alienates unbelievers? Isn’t it better to focus on relationships in the new postmodern reality?
Actually, I think apologetics just further alienates Christians from reality. The harder they try to reconcile facets of their belief not just with reality but with the rest of the facets of their belief, the further away they get. Occasionally though, it pushes them to drop the belief once they realize it all can’t be reconciled.
How can a church leader motivate average Christians to learn how to defend the faith?
By scaring the crap out of them to think it needs defending. Play up that whole persecution thing. In fact, say that as many times as possible until they start mumbling it like a mantra, “we Christians are being persecuted, we Christians…”
What’s behind the growing biblical and doctrinal illiteracy in our churches?
Well religion thrives in ignorance, so there’s been a great effort in this country to dumb everybody down. Great strides were made, first with Reagan, to gut our nation’s ability to get a proper education. Cutting public school funding, cutting college grants and loans, oh and home schooling has been quite the boon. It’s certainly in the churches’ best interests to keep up the biblical and doctrinal illiteracy, or else you might get people realizing it doesn’t make any sense (see above).
What’s the most common myth out there about Christianity that needs busting?
Damn, I can only pick one? Well I guess I have to go with that it’s any more real than any other religion.
Great answers, Philly. Thanks for getting the ball rolling. Since I know what the author said, I’ll withhold my answers.
1. So what? The point of apologetics is to reassure believers, not convert unbelievers.
2. Only exceptionally pig-headed Christians should learn how to defend the faith. The average Christian shouldn’t be encouraged to think too carefully about the arguments that guys like Strobel and McDowell make lest he or she realize that apologetics is bullshit.
3. General literacy.
4. Every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings.
1. What do you say to Christians who believe that apologetics just alienates unbelievers? Isn’t it better to focus on relationships in the new postmodern reality?
Apologetics and a focus on relationships constitutes the same thing: manipulation. Apologetics is a manipulation of the mind — the type of focus on relationships featured in most churches is emotional manipulation. Either way, these should alienate not just unbelievers, but also religious people. These cynical and underhanded tactics have persisted for too long in the church. How about you genuinely care about people and their needs instead of just toying with them?
2. How can a church leader motivate average Christians to learn how to defend the faith?
Manipulatively and overbearingly, just like everything else that they do.
3. What’s behind the growing biblical and doctrinal illiteracy in our churches?
Most people I know go to churches to feel comfortable. They’re not there to hear about doctrine. This is a direct result of the “focus on personal relationships” and two-bit apologetics used to cynically reel in the most vulnerable among us over the past few generations. It’s all too predictable.
4. What’s the most common myth out there about Christianity that needs busting?
Well, there are many strong contenders. That the Bible is inerrant. That the Earth is only six to ten thousand years old. That there is no other morality besides a Christian or a religious one. That having faith in something with no evidence makes you a good person.
1) every case is different.
2) all sorts of ways. depends what the leader values. if the leader is just a trickster, then rhetorical arguments work fine. if the leader is a thinker, intellectual arguments might come up.
3) the same force that’s behind political and scientific illiteracy – apathy and anti-intellectualism.
4) that anyone who believes in the Bible is an irrational, anti-scientific buffoon, that all religion is mistaken, lies like that.
1. What do you say to Christians who believe that apologetics just alienates unbelievers? Isn’t it better to focus on relationships in the new postmodern reality?
It doesn’t help relationships with Christians when they lie to us. They need to do the intellectually honest thing and admitt that they don’t have the truth through “divine inspiration”. The truth doesn’t come that way, it takes a lot of mathematical study and experimentation with nature to arrive at the truth and since it doesn’t sync up with the Bible, the Bible should be discarded as myth, not the data. I think the Pastor should teach the Bible on Sunday from the standpoint of a myth, same as the ancient Greek and Egyptian Mythologies.
2. How can a church leader motivate average Christians to learn how to defend the faith?
Faith in the truth of magic and myth is indefensible. Perhaps the average Christian should just admit there is no such thing as magic and then teach it from the context of how the Bible violates many physical laws as well as many of basic intuitions. This, as far as I’m concerned, disproves many of the irresponsible claims and false premises made within the Christian Worldview.
3. What’s behind the growing biblical and doctrinal illiteracy in our churches?
There are much better explanations to the facts of nature than Christian Doctrine has to offer. Science actually disproves many of the assertions as well, such as demons and faith healing, etc. Doctrine doesn’t replace reason, that’s a fact of nature, Christian Doctrine is going to lose out every time.
4. What’s the most common myth out there about Christianity that needs busting?
Oh, wow, there are quite a few myths about Christianity that are already busted and yet people still believe them. How about the existance of God?
I was going to have a little fun with this, Chappy, but PhillyChief, no doubt using his Satanic-Atheistical Mind-Reading Powers, answered all but the first one exactly how I would have. To that one, I would have naswered:
Unbelievers, by their very nature, are going to H-E-Double Toothpick, and who wants to have a relationship with filthy, filthy atheists and/or foreigners, anyway? It’s their responsiblility to bend over backwards for The Chosen, anyway.