Episode 16: This rewired my brain; Apologetics & Linguistic Theft

This week on Not Gullible; Apologetics is for everyone and I'm sharing how much it has changed the way I think and the way I engage in conversations with people from a different worldview. Also, what exactly is linguistic theft and how has it impacted our culture. All of that and more in this episode! 

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Transcript

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Welcome to Not Gullible. I'm your host, Vanessa Hunt, and each week we'll be discussing faith, news, and the stories that matter, all from a biblical worldview. Hey friends, I hope you had a great week. I am traveling this week, and so I'm so excited to be bringing you another Evergreen episode, which I do from time to time, and I pick a certain topic that I hope will be encouraging to you and really help to give you some insight into how to navigate the culture from a biblical worldview. Today we're going to be talking about apologetics and a couple other things that I'm really passionate about. And I hope that you will just find some uh new insights and encouragement as you engage with the culture and with people in your own lives. When my husband and I were newlyweds, we were invited to the home of the retired former pastor of our church. He and his wife were in their early 70s and had decided to begin hosting a monthly gathering of young couples. They so graciously embraced all of us and shared so much wisdom and guidance as we were in the critical early years of marriage. One of the most important tools we learned from them is to ask clarifying questions when you are having a dialogue or disagreement. That's where I first heard the phrase, so what I hear you saying is Pastor Dawn explained that this served two purposes. It helped you to make sure you weren't misunderstanding or misrepresenting the other person's position. And it also helped to buy you some time as you processed the information and formulated a response. In the heat of a disagreement, having the chance to calm things down always helps too. What I didn't realize at the time was that this was my very first entry-level introduction to apologetics. And while I appreciated learning this technique, I never translated it into having conversations with people who are coming from a different religion or worldview. It's only been in the last few years, as I've grown in my apologetics training, that I've come to understand just how vital this tool really is. Because one of the things that tends to happen to those of us coming from a historic Christian or conservative perspective is that we often find ourselves getting backed into a corner. This isn't surprising considering how much the culture is at war with the biblical worldview. We can get easily distracted by straw man arguments and find ourselves going down all kinds of rabbit holes to the point that we feel twisted up in knots and unable to clearly explain our position. This is why questions are your best friend when it comes to dialogue. Apologetics simply means making a systematic, rational defense of a belief system. And recently it dawned on me that studying apologetics actually rewired my brain when it came to how I engage in discussion with others. My husband and I are outpost directors for a ministry called Stand to Reason, which we first discovered about six years ago. STR is an apologetics-based organization that provides incredible resources for Christians who are seeking to follow the admonition in 1 Peter 3:15, which says, But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and respect. After going through training and interviews, we started an outpost, or basically it's a class, for anyone who lives local to us and is interested in learning how to use apologetics in their everyday life. We cover a wide range of topics using STR curriculum, and there is always lively discussion. At the helm of Stand to Reason is Greg Kokel, who not only hosts two podcasts, but has also written books which honestly should be on every Christian's bookshelves. It's in his book, Tactics, that I learned the importance of asking the question, what do you mean by that? This one question should become second nature to every Christian and is probably the most important tool you have available when it comes to having a conversation with someone from a different worldview. For example, if they were to make the claim that love is love, you could and should reply, what do you mean by that? Getting them to explain their position more clearly does three things. Number one, it shows that you are genuinely interested in understanding where they are coming from. Remember, the goal isn't to win an argument, it's to point people to Christ. Number two, it opens up a path for the other person to have to think more deeply about the inevitable conclusion of their worldview. So if love is love, does that mean that anyone can love anyone or anything and that we should accept that? Questions bring clarification and help someone to get past a surface level slogan or saying. Number three, getting someone to explain their position more clearly keeps you from being on the defensive, and it gives you time to think through the best way to navigate that conversation. The importance of asking someone to clarify their positions or explain the rationale of their worldview is even more critical now that we have so many people changing the meanings of words. And that leads us to the next tool you should have in your toolbox so you are prepared to engage in dialogue. And that is understanding the meaning of linguistic theft. Linguistic theft is the intentional hijacking, redefining, or altering of words to advance a specific ideology, agenda, or propaganda. And it usually weakens or totally disregards the original, more commonly understood meaning of a word or phrase. I really noticed this ramping up in 2020, particularly when it came to the word justice. It became clear that there were those who defined justice in a very specific way, and usually through the critical theory lens, which categorizes society into either the oppressor or the oppressed. This means that what they thought of as justice was very different than how I had always understood it. It also meant that as Christians, we needed to be really clear about the distinction between social justice and biblical justice, because those are not the same things. Those of us with a biblical worldview know that only God gets to define the meaning of love or unity or justice. And when culture tries to steal and repurpose those words, our job is to bravely and graciously point them back to the truth. The same principle applies to other hijacked words like tolerance, equality, inclusion, and even words like woman or man or science. When those terms no longer mean what they've always historically meant, then confusion sets in, which is the goal of the enemy who is counting on that confusion. But questions help us to bring clarity. So let's walk through another example of how this might play out in your everyday life. Say a coworker accuses you of being intolerant because you believe marriage is only between one man and one woman. Instead of jumping right into being defensive, you could reply with, what do you mean by that? The coworker then says that tolerance is accepting everyone's choices and never saying that those choices are wrong. You could then reply with, that's interesting. So by that definition, then you're actually being intolerant of my beliefs right now, aren't you? The conversation probably won't end up with you being in agreement with each other, but hopefully it will end with your coworker thinking more deeply about their own worldview. This is why these tools are so important. As I said earlier, apologetics isn't about winning the argument or sounding smarter than anyone else. It's about removing barriers so the gospel can be heard clearly. As Greg Coquel says, we want to quote, put a pebble in their shoe. It's something that makes them just a little bit uncomfortable and hopefully moves them further towards examining their worldview. If you find that you get overwhelmed and panicky when you encounter these situations, just remember that you don't need a degree in philosophy to navigate them. You just need to know how to ask a few questions, have a humble heart, and rely on the Holy Spirit to guide you through them. And I really encourage you to start putting these tools into practice in easier situations to help you grow in your confidence. You can do this around the dinner table with your family, in conversations in the car with your kids and their friends, or even just as you hear various claims made online and you think through how would I respond if I was in that scenario? The more you practice, the more natural it becomes. Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. Our world is very loud right now, but we don't have to let it make us anxious or fearful about having conversations with those coming from a different worldview. Instead, let's be women who cut through the noise with courage and grace so that we can contend for the truth and for the hope that is only found in Christ. And to subscribe or follow on whichever platform that you like to listen to your podcasts. And if you could share it with those in your community, that would be such an extra bonus. I know I say it all the time, but it really does mean so much. And um, it really only takes a couple of minutes to do that. So, like I said, if you've been enjoying it, I would love for you to share it. And I hope you have a wonderful weekend and that you head into the next week with these new tools in your toolbox for how to confidently, courageously, graciously, and truthfully engage in dialogue with those who are coming from a different worldview.