For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions...2 Timothy 4:3 This came to mind during my devotional today. For what its worth: While this passage deals with the importance of teaching sound doctrine, it is also a reminder for me as a Christian Apologist (who deals with scientific issues) to make sure that I dont fall into the trap of tickling peoples itching ears. It can be tempting to fall into the trap of saying things that people want to hear about scientific challenges to evolution, just to please the audience. There is the fear that if I dont say what people at a particular church expect to hear then I wont be invited back. Or, I might be ostracized by the apologetic community. Unfortunately, a number of the most popular arguments for design are, in reality, straw man arguments against the evolutionary paradigm. Yet, they play well to church audiences. Again, the temptation is to give people what they want... Dont get me wrong. In my view, there are powerful arguments for the creation model, and very real challenges to the evolutionary paradigm. But sometimes these arguments and challenges are difficult to communicate to lay audiences, or arent as potent as the straw man arguments. Or, they lack credibility when simplified... What to do? Do I want to broker in truth, or popularity....
Posted on: Thu, 25 Sep 2014 14:54:32 +0000
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