Stand to Reason Apologetics

[MikeInWI (Mike)]

Hi! The church I attend is offering an apologetics seminar by Greg Koukl from Stand to Reason in October. One of the sessions is on faith and science.

It looks like Koukl is old earth but not too keen on evolution. Has anyone heard more of what is presented by him in the faith and science sessions?

Any suggestions for what be a thoughtful and graceful question to ask during a Q&A if I decided to attend the seminar?

Thanks!

[jpm (Phil McCurdy)]

I attended a similar weekend seminar led by Lee Stobel’s group quite a few years ago. It was actually pretty good as apologetics go, which is another conversation, and he seemed to be in the ID camp, with the related talks being more in the way of discussing fine tuning etc as pointing to God. What was interesting, was that they had breakout sessions and one was led by a guy who presented an old world discussion, that seemed friendly to evolution, perhaps in the same way Reasons to Believe is. In the question and answer session, two or three very forceful guys asked questions in the “gotcha” mode out of the AIG playbook, playing off of one another and killing any meaningful discussion and flustering the presenter.
Hopefully, that will not happen there. You may be in a hostile land, however, as apologetics meetings tend to attract that type of defensiveness on the part of participants. My suggestion would be to ask questions along the line of how to interpret the Bible in regards to how it addresses science and modern understanding of natural events, as that is the root issue, rather than trying to advance any particular position in the culture wars.
Just looking at the website, Kouki has what sounds like a strong position on inerrancy, but has the usual caveats that make it pretty wishy washy when examined closely. That sort of goes along with discussion of the interpretation issue, and also it would be interesting to discuss how different views can be held by faithful Christians and how those views are secondary and not primary issues.

[T_aquaticus (The Friendly Neighborhood Atheist)]

@jpm

Hopefully, that will not happen there. You may be in a hostile land, however, as apologetics meetings tend to attract that type of defensiveness on the part of participants. My suggestion would be to ask questions along the line of how to interpret the Bible in regards to how it addresses science and modern understanding of natural events, as that is the root issue, rather than trying to advance any particular position in the culture wars.

I would hope that they could establish a baseline where everyone is accepted as fellow Christians no matter their views on the age of the Earth or evolution. That alone could diffuse a lot of problems, IMHO.

[jammycakes (James McKay)]

@MikeInWI

Any suggestions for what be a thoughtful and graceful question to ask during a Q&A if I decided to attend the seminar?

I’d ask him how to make sure that we’re basing our apologetics on honest reporting and honest interpretation of accurate information. It’s all too easy in apologetics to approach subjects such as science as some sort of “ammunition gathering exercise” and end up misunderstanding things completely, and I think that’s where a whole lot of dubious claims about science, and practices such as quote mining, can all too easily end up coming about.

[jpm (Phil McCurdy)]

You may find it helpful to read over this book study done here on the forum:

“The End of Apologetics: Christian Witness in a Postmodern Context” by Myron B. Penner

Last Edited: 09/28/2022 This was an experimental book discussion group that took place during the summer of 2022. We discussed Myron Penner’s book “The End of Apologetics: Christian Witness in a Postmodern Context.” See below for the blurb. We attempted to read and discuss on a schedule in order to stay on track and finish the book. We attempted to have read and then BEGUN discussion of each section by the date indicated. [The original schedule is no longer needed and has been removed in …

The question I ask of myself as a result of the discussion of the book, and one you might consider asking is “How do make sure our discussions are done in love and respect for those with whom we are interacting?”

A related question is “Do we risk winning the argument but losing our Christian witness in these arguments?” Of course, a lot of apologetics is just reassurance for believers that they hold a legitimate position, and that is good enough sometimes.