I don’t mean to incite a violent spirit pero tayong mga mananampalataya ay may spiritual blood na palaban like Paul in 2 Corinthians 10:4-5
The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.Naalala ko tuloy diyan yung Christian song na “Maintain” ni Jonathan McReynolds na may linya, “You gave me all the weapons, but it's still a fight.” At dito po sa verse na ito ang fight seems to be towards demolition of arguments and the seizing of the thought to be subject to Christ.
But before we get the wrong violent idea let me just emphasize that this act of demolition is for opening a door. Kumbaga, a person locks himself in a life using argument after argument that set themselves up against the knowledge of Christ. I do not want to leave you with the imagery na wasakan lang but actually opening a door by kicking it. You want to make it a point na kapag nag-aapologetics ka you want to keep a door opened doon sa nagre-resist sa knowledge of God. This is a God-given ministry as we shall see later on. Tandaan natin, in the words of AW Tozer, “Every ransomed man owes his salvation to the fact that during the days of his sinning God kept the door of mercy open by refusing to accept any of his evil acts as final.” The same goes with doubts and intellectual rebellion to God.
A few episodes ago we talked about positive apologetics. Last episode at ngayon at sa susunod pang araw we will talk about negative apologetics. Sabi Luke Nix tungkol sa distinctino ng positive at negative apologetics --
The positive case shows the evidence for the view we are defending, while the negative case shows the problems with the alternative being presented. Both are necessary in the overall case. The negative case is necessary because the adherent of the other view needs a logical reason to abandon their view for an alternative. The positive case is necessary because if an adherent is provided a logical reason to abandon their view, the other view being presented may not be the only option. The way that a view is shown to be incorrect is that its claims are put to the test against reality and reason. If the claims are found to not reflect reality or they are not logical, then the view is false. However, the claims of a view can be of (at least) two different types that require a different approach.*Itutuloy natin sa episode na ito yung pagtuturo sa concept ng negative apologetics na refutation bilang tugon sa adversity na hinahatid sa atin ng ating kausap. By "refute" we mean yung pagpo-prove ng isang bagay na mali. We understand this to be a valid biblical case especially if we read sa 2 Timothy 3:16 “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” focusing on the word “rebuke” according sa Louw-Nida Lexicon means, “to cause something to be or to become correct, with the implication of a previous condition of faults or failures - 'to correct, correcting faults.” Nagawa ito ni Paul kay Peter sa Galatians 2:11 where Paul “rebuked [Peter] to his face.”
But “rebuke” is oftentimes a word we use to fellow believers, pero I discussed rebuke because I wanted to indicate that opposing somebody is not always impious. In fact the apostles did it, Jesus always did it and believers must also do this to an argument that “sets itself up against the knowledge of God.” We will call this negative apologetics -- isang apologetic method kung saan either you are rebutting or undercutting an objection. This is one of the wings of rational engagement in apologetics -- the other being positive apologetics, which means marshaling a case for one's belief.
Sa positive apologetics, pinapaliwanag mo sa nagtatanong o nag oobject yung laman ng iyong pananampalataya, gina-ground mo siya sa proof bilang tugon sa kaniyang pagdududa o pagtatanong. In short ito yung “offering reasons for supposing that theism or Christian theism in particular is true.”†
Sa negative apologetics at yan yung nagde demolish ka ng arguments in the spirit of 2 Corinthians 10:5 “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”
Many people today, among them fellow Christians, think wrongly that to refute is always not fair game for Christians to do. First of all, self-refuting statement yan kasi nagre-refute yan; pangalawa, although there may be instances na hindi appropriate mag refute, yet it is not always the case.
I have heard time and time again Christians advising me to avoid refutations, to avoid undercutting and rebutting but do either two things sa pag engage sa mga objectors. Una, use piety as the foundation ng engagement. Kumbaga don’t argue but to love and build relationship muna; or pangalawa, just give evidence or build a case for the truth of Christianity, wag ka na mag refute kasi ang ginagawa mo lang is to make them feel wrong about their belief and you are just presenting Christianity as a permissible alternative. Sa ganang akin naman pareho namang tama ‘yan -- nagkakaproblema kung paghihiwalayin mo kasi kailangan mo talaga yan along with negative apologetics. Ang virtue at piety kailangan mo pareho sa positive at negative apologetics; ang positive apologetics naman is a method of rational engagement tulad ng negative apologetics. So while ang negative at positive are the two wings of the angel that you are, ang virtues naman ay ang feathers.
Moreover, ang isa sa mga objections against negative apologetics is that it makes a case lang that Christianity is permissible dahil ang negative apologetics daw does not reach yung proper foundation of Christian knowledge. We recognize this argument as permissible din kaso hindi natin sinasabi na adequate ang negative apologetics convince a person. Nor are we saying that positive apologetics is adequate din. Ultimately, the conviction to believe the truth claims ng ating pananampalataya ay work ng banal na Espiritu. It is to His bidding. Kaya dito we are proposing that the two wings by which a rational engagement in apologetics are the wings of positive and negative apologetics.
Ang di ko lang talaga maintindihan ay kung ano ang biblical foundation nung nagsasabi na pabayaan na lang ang mga objectors at doubters kasi trabaho naman daw ng Holy Spirit yan. That proposal would not sit well I assume at least to the apostle Paul na sa Acts 18: 4 tuwing Sabbath “reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks.” The word “reason” there is the word dielegeto na ang root word ay dialegomai at maririnig ninyo yung word na dialogue doon. Dielegeto, dialegomai – diyan galing ang word na dialogue. He didn't leave them alone -- in fact yung nature pa ng pakikipag dayalogo niya ay mangumbinsi, "trying to persuade Jews and Greeks." Leave them alone? I don't think so.
A good case for negative apologetics can be built from 2 Corinthians 10:5 kung saan ang language is very vivid, “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” The Greek word that Paul used here which was translated in many variations like “demolish”, “destroy,” “tear down,” “cast down” etc is actually a very graphic word in the original language and would probably come close to the destruction of physical structures like the Twin Towers in New York when both fell down. It was demolished. The word is used for destroying structures like barns and houses in the Greek. That is what we are told to do to ideas that oppose “speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God.” When you refute an objection, the admonition in 2 Corinthians is to do a job: a demolition job.
Contrary to many opinions ngayon lalo pa ng maraming believers, refutation is actually a biblical practice. Case in point yung good word na binigay ng book of Acts sa ginawa ni Apollos sa Acts 18:28 that says, “for he [Apollos] powerfully refuted the Jews in public, demonstrating by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.” While the Greek word for “refute” occurs only once in the New Testament, yet we can see its interrelation with our key verse kanina for the ministry of apologetics sa 2 Corintihans 10:5.
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* Luke Nix, "The Difference Between What a View Asserts and Implies," in CrossExamined.org (website); available at https://crossexamined.org/difference-view-asserts-implies/
† Michael Sudduth, “Reformed epistemology and Christian apologetics.” Religious Studies 39, 299-321 (2003)
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