"Contemporary popular apologists tend to look for any way to salvage the text, no matter how unlikely or untenable the argument. They'll use scholarly sources selectively, or pounce on one scholar's argument and run away with it, without any concern for the fact the vast majority of scholars haven't been persuaded by it. They're not interested in what's plausible, only what's "possible," if it serves their immediate purposes. They trade in eisegesis, wild speculation, and fanciful interpretations, reading into the text what isn't there, indeed, what's often contradicted by the very passages they cite...
"But they seem oblivious to the real harm they're doing. Not only are they giving permission for Christians to be dishonest with the material, they're reinforcing delusions that disconnect well-meaning Christians from reality...
"These apologists are perpetuating an insular Christian culture, giving well-meaning Christians permission to switch off their brains and their consciences and go about their business, pretending everything is all right. The apologists don't care to convince those struggling on the margins of faith - they're preaching only to the converted, only to those who are looking for easy answers to questions others are asking them, but which they aren't asking themselves."
"These apologists are perpetuating an insular Christian culture, giving well-meaning Christians permission to switch off their brains and their consciences and go about their business, pretending everything is all right. The apologists don't care to convince those struggling on the margins of faith - they're preaching only to the converted, only to those who are looking for easy answers to questions others are asking them, but which they aren't asking themselves."
Thom Stark, Is God a Moral Compromiser?
I've run into few people who like insular culture as much as Thom Stark. I know from experience that he takes personal offense when he is challenged.
ReplyDeleteI wish he would channel his considerable passion and his formidable intellect to serving the Lord Jesus instead of attacking the trustworthiness of the Scriptures.
Tell you what, BLJ, get back to us after you've actually read the review and are prepared to deal with the issues raised, rather than indulging in ad hominem twaddle.
ReplyDeleteI took no personal offense, and you never challenged me. It's difficult to take personal offense at a straw man argument.
ReplyDelete