Debating and Defending

This week Bill Nye and Ken Hamm had a very public debate over the issue of Evolution vs Creation. Although I would personally have an opinion and feel strongly on the subject, I do not agree with the concept of debating the issue in front of people like this. Neither side came to listen to the other, nor did anyone expect to hear anything that would really make people reconsider. No, the point was to try and destroy or humiliate the other side.

Can there be a correct answer to the argument? Is there really a way to convince people through this type of showmanship? Honestly, I don't know. There was once a time I would have supported and defended this type of public debate. However, the longer I look into it, the more I realize that these debates are rarely about convincing people so much as they are about proving that one is the superior intellectual, the smarter or wittier orator. While skilled oration is all well and good, we as Christians are not supposed try to stroke our own egos by humiliating our opponents. We are called to love them, not destroy them. We are to be examples of love, not wit. As much as I value reasoning myself, that is not our main calling; instead we are to lead by example, like Christ Himself did.

We are called to defend our faith, not assault everyone in earshot. We are to love, not only in word or concept, but in deed and interaction. Our calling to make disciples of all people does not mean we need to meet their intellectual needs first. In fact, though it may be ancillary, it is not a primary concern. We are to come to God, not because we think that He created the world in 7 days, but because we realize our fallen and sinful state before God. That is our concern. God's Holiness and our rebellion. We are called to lead people to repentance, not to some scientific epiphany. Even if everyone was convinced that Ken Hamm was correct and they became Creationists, that would not make them inherently saved. We come to God because He is worthy, and we need Him. We are fallen before Him and we need His Grace. That is our calling, our mission. Our scientific beliefs fall in a distant second at best to this primary goal. That is why I would not support Ken Hamm's debate; not because I disagree with his Creationist view, but because that has become so very important to him. Our first concern should always be the condition of men's souls, not their intellectual bias.