Over the last few years, one thing that I have noticed about myself is that I have developed a passion for apologetics. For those who are unsure of what apologetics is, in the Christian faith, it is the intellectual defense of one’s faith, and it is usually considered to be a branch of theology. For Catholics, it is the defense of Catholic teachings as a whole, and it is usually associated with the fundamental theology of the Catholic Church.
Most people would liken apologetics to be about the differences between Catholics and Protestants, which of course, I am passionate about. It’s no secret that despite placing their faith in the same God, there are some major differences in theology. Many Protestants believe that the Catholic Church is unbiblical and governed by man-made laws and doctrines.
It does not help that the state of catechetics in the Catholic Church is simply not the best. When a good number of Catholics are questioned by their Protestant friends about their beliefs, they are simply unable to answer. We find that quite a number of “weaker” Catholics leave the Catholic Church to become Protestants, as they too become convinced that the Catholic Church is unbiblical and clings to traditions which do not make sense.
There is a real need for Catholics who are formed in the faith, to defend the Faith and to share the love of God with others through dialogue about the Church. Surprisingly, many such Catholics are converts from other denominations of Christianity. Not many are cradle Catholics. This is because for many Protestants, when they go looking for answers to their theological questions, come to the realisation that the Catholic Church has all the answers. They come to the realisation that many of the things they had been taught about the Catholic Church were simply untrue.
As much as I am passionate about these things, I cannot help but notice that a lot of the time, my conversations with others about apologetics can be rather toxic. I’ve come to the realization that with apologetics, there is a very real temptation to push for the agendas that we believe in, without being open to learning things from a different point of view.
Many of us, Catholics as well as Protestants, get into conversations about apologetics with the aim to prove that we are right, and we refuse to back down even when others prove that what we believe is untrue. In other words, we are afraid of admitting that we have been wrong.
I think that as much as we should cling on to the tradition of the Church, and that we are very much obliged to defend the faith that we profess, the true mark of a Christian is not solely about being right about what he or she believes in. The true mark of a Christian, be they Catholic or Protestant is their love for their neighbor.
When we defend the faith, we need to be aware of our motives for doing so, because if we are doing all things purely out of love for one another, there’s no way that our conversations can become toxic. When we approach apologetics out of pure love, we wouldn’t be so concerned as to whether or not the other party gets the point we are trying to make.
On the contrary, we’d be open to hearing things from different points of view, and we’d be a lot more compassionate and understanding toward others who struggle to agree or come to terms with adjusting their beliefs. We’d be a lot more sympathetic to those who need time to process what was brought to light in our discussions. And we’d also know that love entails respect for one another.
Perhaps for those of us who get into apologetics, this might be the challenge for us. Myself included. Perhaps it’s time to purify our intentions.
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Originally published at The Barefoot Journey Home.
Photo: Sebastian Herrmann, Unsplash / PD-US
5 thoughts on “Toxic Apologetics”
Hi Nicholas,
I think you went a bit too far when you wrote:
“Many of us, Catholics as well as Protestants, get into conversations about apologetics with the aim to prove that we are right, and we refuse to back down even when others prove that what we believe is untrue. In other words, we are afraid of admitting that we have been wrong.”
Catholic teaching can never be “wrong” since it is the fullness of truth. Our understanding and knowledge of the Catholic faith can be wrong, but that doesn’t mean that the Catholic Church is wrong. In other words, there is nothing that is right about Protestantism that the Catholic Church doesn’t already teach. Conversely, there is nothing wrong in Catholicism that Protestantism gets right.
One Thousand Upvotes to you, Mike, for your comment.
Hi Mike, thank you for your feedback. However, I stand by what I wrote.
What you say about the Catholic Church having the fullness of truth is absolutely right. And I absolutely agree that we need to defend the faith, However, love also entails respect, and we need to respect the free will of others to accept or reject. Furthermore, many Catholics today also go into apologetics to push their own agendas. Such agendas include the rejection of Vatican II as a liberal reaction to a changing world, the abolishing of the Norvus Ordo, the requirement for priests to break the seal of the confessional in exceptional circumstances, and the list goes on. This is where we need to be open.
Hope this clarifies. May the Lord give you peace.
In Canada, Western Europe and increasingly the US, the catholic-Protestant apologetic fight is dead. No one cares. The real fight for apologetics is between Christianity/Catholicism vs Islam, apathy and atheism. It’s past time Catholic apologetics addressed these huge challenges and opportunities.
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