Is Evidential Apologetics Dead? - Part 2

In all the conversations I have seen regarding whether evidential apologetics are no longer useful, something strikes me as odd. One reason evidential apologetics seems under attack is because the notion of "bomb-proof certainty" has been abandoned. It is often stated that certainty is one of those enlightenment ideas that should be given up in favor of epistemological modesty and an embrace of mystery and ambiguity.

Part of the reason for this is criticism from skeptics who insist many of the traditional "proofs" of this or that are not adequate. But I tend to think there is a bit of category confusion going on here. There is a lack of definition of what is meant by the term "proof".

I tend to think of proof in terms of three types - mathematical, scientific and legal.

Is Evedential Apologetics Dead? Part 1

The late Robert Webber coined a phrase in "The Younger Evangelicals" which has caught on in Emerging Church circles - "embodied apologetics". He means, if I read him correctly, that because we live in a postmodern age where young people are skeptical about the triumph of the scientific method, they are not receptive to the old apologetics approach of "evidence that demands a verdict", but do respond to a "proof is in the pudding" approach where seeing Christianity lived well is compelling.

I generally have liked Robert Webber. He does not seem to travel the path of others who are sensitive to postmodern cultural shifts - that is, though he recognizes that many enlightenment ideas art now seen as discredited in the culture at large and are considered naive by postmoderns, he does not seem to buy all of the tenets of the postmodern epistemology uncritically. Webber tends to speak in measured tones - not overstating his case, not trashing all things modern, not treating postmodern notions as the latest and greatest thing. He seems a bit more cautious than others in this regard.

So when Webber says "embodied apologetic", guys like me tend to listen and not react like we do when hearing the more provocative spokesmen of EC make their pronouncements. He seems to be saying "we need to understand the culture without succumbing to it." We don't have to accept everything in PoMo epistemology, but we do need to deal with it. If the folks we are trying to convince of the truth of Christianity don't warm to rational proofs, then we are foolish to take rational proofs as a starting point. If they do respond to genuine community, then by all means, having goals of establishing and maintaining communities that are genuine makes sense. One does not have to throw out the baby with the bathwater.

The Glocal Church

I was challenged by the CT article about Bob Roberts. His revolutionary ideas about using laypeople as missionaries globally is really intriguing. He seems to be saying the true mission of the church is to the whole man in the whole world, in a way that building houses and digging wells is a part of the total mission of the church. So "making converts" is a narrow vision. "Making disciples" implies transforming whole lives, not just changing theological beliefs. It has some deep implications I like, but will have a hard time imitating.

But the part of the article that struck me was this passage. Roberts had apparently attempted a church plant, and it was going nowhere. He found himself questioning himself and God.

Christian Teens and Sex

Disturbing article in World about teen sexuality. The article deals with a book Forbidden Fruit: Sex & Religion in the Lives of American Teenagers by Mark Regnerus. The telling statistics...

"...evangelical teens tend to have sex first at a younger age, 16.3, compared to liberal Protestants, who tend to lose their virginity at 16.7. And young evangelicals are far more likely to have had three or more sexual partners (13.7 percent) than non-evangelicals (8.9 percent)."

Apparently, Regnerus offers no pat answers, but the article asks a couple of hard questions regarding the cause of this concern.

"We can blame the culture. Regnerus gives evidence that correlates the sexual activity in the schools that Christian kids go to with their own behavior. Peer pressure is real, and Christian teenagers are not immune.

"But might we also blame the culture of the church? Not only because so many of today's evangelical churches follow the path of cultural conformity as a way to grow bigger and bigger. It goes deeper than that.

Ravi Zaccharias on Mitt Romney

A minor controversy has erupted over comments by the brilliant Christian apologist Ravi Zaccharias regarding the candidacy of Mitt Romney. Before I get in trouble myself, I need to say Romney is not my favorite choice. But the topic at hand was whether conservative evangelical Christians should support a Mormon for president. Ravi says it all quite well in the first paragraph...

What we want is a politician who will understand the basic Judeo-Christian world view, and on the basis of that the moral laws of this nation are framed, and then run this country with the excellence of that which is recognized in a pluralistic society: the freedom to believe or to disbelieve, and the moral framework with which this was conducted: the sanctity of every individual life.

In other words, as I have stated elsewhere, we don't live in a theocracy. One's view of eschatology or even Christology will likely not have a significant effect on decisions about economics or foreign policy. What matters is a more generalized understanding that human rights are not endowed by the state, but come from someplace higher. What matters is a belief that guy in the top job in the nation is not God and cannot willy nilly make up the rules according to his whims or the latest polling data.

Unfortunately, many comments have been posted criticizing Ravi for not criticizing
Mormonism. That is unfortunate. The topic is politics, not faith. They overlap, but are not one and the same.

Lost Faith

From Hugh Hewitt...If you don't believe a lack of holiness and doctrinal purity can be damaging to others, read this.

I do not mean to take God's place and pass judgment, but Jesus words about those who mislead children having a millstone around the neck are rather sobering. Lord have mercy.

Can Faith be Rooted in the Symbolic?

Chuck Colson has an interesting little bit today about how the emphasis on symbols may be contributing to overall illiteracy. The example he focuses on is how automobile dashboards are increasingly covered with symbols, pictures and no words describing the function of this or that button or switch. As someone who currently works in education I find that a point of interest - how kids who do not read well have difficulty in every other area of education and how well meaning educators from time to time have emphasized other ways of learning to accommodate those kids, only to find that they sacrifice long-term essentials for short term gain.

But this is the quote that really struck me...

As the late Neil Postman wrote in his book, Amusing Ourselves to Death, the medium of communication actually helps shape the way people think. The printed word requires sustained attention, logical analysis, and an active imagination. But television and video games, with their fast-moving images, encourage a short attention span, disjointed thinking, and purely emotional responses.