Holiness and Apologetics

From Quora

Atheism: If Jesus’s existence is claimed to be a fact and so are his supposed miracles, why do you, as an atheist, still choose not to believe in him? XXXXXX still struck speechless by a starlit sky

Votes by [names edited out]

If Mohammed’s existence is a fact and so are his teachings, why do you, as a Christian still choose not to believe in him?
If Moses’ existence is a fact and so are his miracles, why do you, as a Christian still choose not to believe in him?
If Buddha’s existence is a fact and so are his teachings, why do you, as a Christian still choose not to believe in him?

Sometimes I see arguments for Christianity that make me sigh (sometimes I see some that make me shudder). The one above simply makes me sigh. Back in the 1960’s, some psychobabble questions popped up against Christianity, for instance, have you ever been told:

Christianity is just a crutch to help you face the lack of meaning in the universe.

[To which the obvious answer is] Atheism is just a crutch to keep you from having to face Christ.

I can understand from where the arguments come. They come from the desire of many of us to communicate the Gospel to those who need it. But, the reality is that most verbal apologetics, even from the times of the Bible, were handled by trained people. For instance, Saint Paul was trained by Gamaliel, a rabbi who is still honored by Jews to this day. Justin the Martyr was a philosopher. John Chrysostom was well trained in rhetoric, etc. The reason for this is that verbal fencing is hard to correctly carry out, whereas verbal missteps are easy to make.

Much of the witness of the Early Church came not from its verbal arguments, but from its lifestyle, its actions, its miracles, its living reality. One needs no extensive formal training to be saintly. The training to be saintly is in the hands of the Church. Prayer, fasting, the Divine Liturgy, the sacraments, synergy, etc., can all be part of the life of any believer, with no need of forma university training. And it is the saintly life of the Church that gives meaning to the Church’s verbal witness.

Notice that when the Church is most sinful (the pedophile scandals of a few years ago) that the Church’s arguments are little heard. Notice that when the Church demonstrates saintly qualities (Mother Theresa, Pope Francis, Saint Seraphim of Sarov, Saint Tikhon) that her arguments are most heard and considered. When the Church faithful are saintly, the Church’s apologists are successful. When the Church faithful are hellish, the Church is viewed with disdain.

So, to many who want to argue for Christianity, I would suggest the following. Work on holiness, rather than on your apologetic technique. Know some apologetics. But, be aware that you will draw more people to Christ if your holiness supports your apologetic.