How to be a Balanced Apologist

The Temperament and Calling for Apologetics

In your how many years of apologetics are you dealing with Muslims? And and then I want to ask you there's a lot of youngsters that are drawn to apologetics because it's a fight and You've mentioned earlier that it's not in everybody's temperament in actual fact to effectively participate in debates.

Do you want to comment a little bit to that and also speak to the youngsters that are coming up? And let me just say they never had a theological interest in the Bible. But now predominantly it's to find arguments in the text.

So they go to the scriptures. They basically have the temperament of I need to find an answer for everything even in the devotion and didactic. It's all about picking the right Responses and having the right say.

What would you say to youngsters like that. Because we've got quite a few to be very honest.

Long-Term Ministry, Debates, and Self-Knowledge

Yeah, yeah, we do. You know Islam has been the last major subject that I've I've addressed. I mean I I began my first debate was in 1990. So we're coming up on on 30 years as far as the debates go. So and the ministry had begun prior, you know about seven years prior to that.

So we're coming up on 40 years of ministry, but Honestly not everyone is called to do this kind of work and I normally Tell people who come up to me after a debate and go I want to get into apologetics.

I say if there's anything else you can do that. Because you don't see all the preparation you don't see all the other stuff that goes that goes into it and not everyone is. For me when I'm attacked I just become all the more calm.

I figured the person's losing the debate right now by the way, they're behaving so.

You know a.

Lot of people do not react that way and respond that way. They just go toe-to-toe and.

So.

Those are some of the things you have to look at yourself and you have to. You may not even be able to honestly analyze yourself. You might want to ask a mature older person to analyze you as to whether you have the gifts to be able to engage in that type of stuff, but I was talking to someone after a debate just last week and they were struggling with some of these issues and what I said was For me the greatest thing that has helped me keep my balance over the years Has been the fact that I've always been a churchman.

The Importance of Being a Churchman

I've always been involved with the church. That's key I've been in. I've been preaching and teaching and you can't preach every sermon as prime rod apologetics you you have to. You have to deal with the word what it really says and not everything that the word says is about apologetics.

And so being involved with the church teaching wide varieties of different types of people Has kept me grounded and I really think for apologists. That's vitally important and sadly Apologists are not well known for being churchmen.

Avoiding Lone-Wolf Apologetics and Burnout

Yeah, they tend to be lone wolves. Off on their own doing their own thing. I think that's that's Massively destructive to them. I can think of lots of former apologists that are atheists today because they burned out and they didn't have the right motivations and and so yeah being being in the church is I think The most important thing and being involved in doing ministry that isn't Involving yelling and screaming at somebody or always answering a question or always answering an objection.

That's I think vitally important. We need to have that balance and a lot of folks don't have that.