An Unarmed Opponent

Would you be willing to fight an opponent who is unarmed? Let’s talk about it on Deeper Waters.

If anyone has seen me, they know I’m not much physically. I weigh about 120 pounds and don’t have any muscle mass to me at all. Now I can run pretty good and I do seem to have limitless energy for physical work, but I’d be practically useless in a fight.

Now let’s suppose that I’m in an alley somewhere and I have an opponent who I know seeks to harm me physically. My opponent is unarmed. I have a gun that I know how to use well and it’s loaded and I’m ready to fire.

Who are you putting your money on in this fight when the guy charges at me?

A gun is a great equalizer.

In our modern age, we are facing an onslaught in the church. Now let’s face it. A lot of us might not be intellectually gifted, and that’s okay. Not all of us are physically gifted, but that doesn’t mean we’re necessarily useless physically. When we look at what’s going on outside the church, we can look at ourselves and wonder if we can do much.

Is there some sort of equalizer like a gun?

There is.

It’s called truth.

Most of the apologists that you know out there and admire are not necessarily intellectually gifted. Many of them are just people who have worked hard, much like someone might have a natural bent towards athletics in the world, but a lot of them get where they are simply because they wanted to and worked out hard at a gym and practiced to get to where they are.

It can be easy to look at the apologetics world and see what is being done and think that you can’t do that much. You’re not really a thinker too much. You don’t know how to do this deep philosophy. You’re someone who considers yourself ordinary.

It is also wrong to think that way.

I honestly do think I have a natural bent towards intellectual matters, but I know most of what I’m doing today is because I work at it. It’s because I’m spending time reading and asking questions and listening to podcasts and taking place in actual arguments. Everyone has to work in this field. Just like in sports, there is no such thing as success without effort.

I’d like you to know something about your opponent also.

They’re not that tough usually.

Seriously. Most opponents I meet are like little dogs. They like to bark a lot and act like they’re big, but they’re not. The majority of arguments you will come across from people have no substance from them.

Which ones do have substance? Usually from the atheists who are taking this seriously, and they’re the ones who are also open to evidence. The ones that tend to bark the loudest are the ones that are most resistant to any real dialogue whatsoever.

What would it take? Just a simple reading of simple apologetics books designed for the layman. Books like “The Case for the Real Jesus” or “Cold-Case Christianity” or “Reinventing Jesus.” Of course, if you want to read more scholarly books, feel free!

It would mean spending your time on a commute to work listening to a podcast like my own Deeper Waters Podcast, or other podcasts like Unbelievable? Keep in mind the reason we do this kind of work is so we can equip you, the layman, so you will be ready. My greatest hope would be that I would be able to help people so much that they don’t really need me any more.

In reality also, most of your opponents have not looked at the arguments that they throw at you. “Christianity was copied from pagan myths!” It is most likely that the person who says this has never read any of these pagan myths. They have just read it online. If you are reading informed people and getting information from them, you will be ahead of the game. If you know what you believe and why you believe it both, you are prepared for much of what you see out there.

And besides, don’t you want to do that anyway? Don’t you do that in every other area of life? Why not do that with the most important area of your life, your worldview you live by every day?

And if enough of us do this, we can start having our Christian revolution. We can start making an impact for Christ. We do not need to fear our opponents. They are little dogs that are making much bark, but their bite is not there. You do not have to be a genius or total academic to defeat your enemy. You just have to be informed.

Something you should be anyway.

Please make sure you are informing yourself. To lower yourself intellectually if that is your concern is not an option. You may not have the kind of mind you desire, but you should love the Lord with all the mind that you have.

In Christ,
Nick Peters