DEBATE

Debate is the stuff of the faith of Christianity; it is carried on by those who are His with those who suppose themselves to be His; by those who seek, by outward manifestation of religious observance, who yet deny the efficacy and the Person of Jesus Christ, the sacrifice for His people He made upon the cross, the fact of His deity, the triune nature of the three Persons who share equally the full essence of the One God.

Our Lord Himself debated with those who thought otherwise – the religious leaders of His day; the apostle Paul and the other apostles likewise debated with these leaders of a false religion, and even with the philosophers of the day.

In saying debate is the stuff of Christianity, we assume there are those who hold to other positions than theistic Trinitarianism, and that we argue from the very words of Scripture to substantiate the truth of our claims.

There are those who have made a religion out of disbelief, who model themselves as no followers of any god, let alone the one true God, and to these we may address the defense for the faith in other terms, yet notwithstanding, based upon and sanctified by the truth inherent in Scripture and by the Holy Spirit; it is not these that we speak of here, however.

We speak of those who think they serve the One True God, yet deny His plan of salvation for lost sinners whom He calls to Himself.

To these, we make our defense – our reasoned response – for the hope that is in us, the very One who gave Himself that we might live, and though they may have similar theologies which are, in truth, when exposed to the light of the Scripture under the scrutiny of the Spirit of God, seen to be none other than the same philosophies of men against which we are warned not to submit, not for a moment, to their plausible arguments based on the elemental things of this world, we see this common thread among them all: God must act according to these humanistic philosophies, or they will not consider Him to be worthy of themselves.

It is against just such arrogance of men, who would sit in judgment of the very God who created and gives them to have each fragment of each moment of their lives, that we assert His truth, not for purposes of “winning the argument,” but that He may have mercy upon them, and that they may come to the knowledge of His truth and so be saved.

We find also this common thread among these false representations of Christianity: unity at the cost of truth; a multiplicity of man’s philosophies which all can come under the umbrella of – at the best, if they so wish; at the worst, with all being saved, so that the wrath of God poured out on our blessed Lord Jesus Christ for the sins of those He saves is reduced to nothing at all.

We therefore debate, not to win the debate, but to proclaim the glory of God in His grace in Jesus Christ, and this can only be done at the cost of self and the humility which is of His Spirit, worshipfully, thankfully, to our God, and seeking to not misrepresent those we oppose, as they often do us.

Debate for the sake of debate is no more an apologetic for the faith than winning an argument over whether and apple is an onion, and makes as little sense.

We debate for the sake of those souls our Lord died to make His own, and to His glory alone – any other reason is pride.

To God's glory alone - Bill Hier