(2) Why I love a good debate

Ok, so where did the dollar go? I trust no one had to cheat and look up the solution. If you watched the debate, you likely already know my complaint. The fallacy is in the question. If you haven’t watched yet, that’s fine; I do not intend to discuss it straight away. Instead, I am going to address a few things I liked about the debate and debates in general.

Debate on YouTube, posted Dec 17, 2012 by Athanasius TV

In keeping with one of my favorite Scriptures (Philippians 4:8), today we will examine why this debate and consequently, this blog series is not a waste of our time. I also want to thank the participants for putting it out there and for engaging in what I believe is the fundamental proof that God is real and that He has revealed Himself to us through Scripture.

In any argument, where sincerity of purpose exists, knowledge of truth is sought. In my world view, the reality of this world as well as all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge is hidden in Jesus (Colossians 2). He is truth, and people searching for truth will always come full circle to Him no matter where their search begins (Colossians 1:17). So debates, as long as they represent a sincere search for truth, always contain the possibility that God may open spiritual eyes. This is exciting to any believer. There is also the possibility that we may gain deeper understanding of truth as the Holy Spirit determines through His gift of discernment. In any sense, debates are rife with possibility to him that listens. Even if the participants are stubbornly locked into their viewpoints, a hearer can learn much, if not about the actual topic of debate, at least about the worldviews behind the viewpoints.

This is why Christians have to be experienced debaters–master debaters. Because the most convincing part of a debate isn’t the content of your argument, but the content of your character. We already know that the content of our argument will meet resistance. Only the softening of a person’s heart will change that–something we have zero power over. But we can help take down barriers to belief by defending truth in the right way. It is deception we fight against, not people. Be prepared to handle when an argument shifts to a personal attack. That is a normal human response. Be prepared to catch yourself when you begin to make personal attacks. You’re human. Learn to love your enemy and fight the deception.

Scripture is full of warnings about deception. It encourages people to closely scrutinize everything held out to them as truth. Debate is quite biblical in that regard. We are warned in 2 Timothy, chapter 2, not to become mired in pointless debates, but meaningful debate is a healthy sign that God is real and active in the world. A trend away from debates would be more alarming.

In the book, How Now Shall We Live? by Charles Colson and Nancy Pearcey, Chuck Colson writes:

Debate can be unpleasant at times, but it presupposes that there are truths worth defending, ideas worth fighting for. In our postmodernist age, however, your truths are yours, mine are mine, and none are significant enough to get passionate about. And if there is no truth, then we cannot persuade one another by rational arguments. All that’s left is sheer power–which opens the door to a new form of fascism.

This delves a little too sharply into political implications, which I do not intend, but it also illustrates the reason that we mustn’t disengage from one another simply because we disagree. The courtesy and mutual respect displayed in the debate that spurred this series of articles is a wonderful reminder that postmodernism and moral relativity have not gained so much traction that fascism looms inevitably before us.

Next, we’ll examine authority and empiricism as support for arguments in a debate. So, if you still haven’t watched the debate, no worries. We’ll get to specifics later.

Series Navigation for “I Love A Good Debate:”

(1) | (2) | (3) | (4) | (5) | (6) | (7) | (8)