Tools of Integrated Apologetics Course 1.7.5
Fantasies, Legends, and Heroes
What You Know May Not Be So and How To Tell The Difference
By Bob Passantino
Perhaps the most important tool cult apologists possess is the ability to think critically. Without that ability, we would be overwhelmed by the mass of confusing religious ideas swirling through the worlds of the cults and the occult. If I were speaking before any other professional audience, say of lawyers or doctors, or maybe even of theology professors, I would never attempt a test of critical thinking ability. But since all of you think critically in the course of your ministries, I am sure you will be able to pass my test.
There is a room with no windows and only one door. It is completely empty except for a $100 bill lying on the floor. A leprechaun, an honest lawyer and a dishonest lawyer are ushered into the room. The door is sealed. The money disappears. Now, use your critical thinking apparatus. Which one of the individuals took the money? Think very carefully and I’ll give you the answer in a few minutes. Since you are all good critical thinkers you should all come to the right answer. After all, we have patterned ourselves after the great apologist, the Apostle Paul, who declared to Festus, "I am not [crazy]…but speak the words of truth and reason."
Why is critical thinking so important in cult apologetics? It is because, as Scripture reminds us, "we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places." We are fighting a spiritual battle with dimensions far beyond what we can test empirically, or with our five senses. Our physical strength or dexterity is not nearly as important as our mental and spiritual strength. Thinking critically is part of our defense against the serpent’s deceit and craftiness, which Paul says can corrupt us from the simplicity that is in Christ.
As cult apologists we have a responsibility, an obligation, to equip ourselves to confront the real world with the power of truth. Second Corinthians 10:3-5 warns us, "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ."
Let’s go back to our critical thinking test. Whom do you think took the money? The leprechaun, the honest lawyer, or the dishonest lawyer? Of course, it could only have been the dishonest lawyer. Both the leprechaun and the honest lawyer are figments of the imagination, fantasies. (You should hear the applause when lawyers hear the story!) And the subject of fantasies is one of three parts to my message today. Fantasies, Legends, and Heroes
I have retitled my talk Fantasies, Legends, and Heroes: What You Know May Not Be So, and How to Tell the Difference because I want to emphasize that cult apologetics is as vulnerable to mistakes, inadequacies, frauds and stories as any other field of study. Certainly our goal is both to "rightly divide the word of truth" and "test all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil." But the road to reaching our goal is full of potholes, cracks and detours, any of which can sidetrack us from our goal. Most of these problems can be divided into two major categories for which I have made my own labels. First, fantasies are the logical fallacies, wrong assumptions, misunderstandings and other delusions we often labour under, mistakenly thinking we are practicing apologetics. Second, legends are the personal experience stories we too often substitute for comprehensive research, viable evidence and critical evaluation. Finally, cult apologists can become "heroes" to those they help if they demonstrate their trustworthiness and integrity by their research, evidence and critical evaluation. We can tell the difference between fantasies and legends on the one hand, and "heroes" on the other, by being equipped for responsible apologetics research, some of which I will survey here.
What Is at Stake?
Cult apologetics is not a game. It is a very serious calling and ministry predicated on the ability of cult apologists to help those harmed by the cults and the occult. Second Timothy 2:24-26 tells us that "a servant of the Lord must not quarrel, but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will." At stake are the lives, well-being and souls of those who have been harmed by the cults and the occult.
Second, at stake is our credibility within the Church as Christians who can be trusted to educate and warn about cultism and occultism. Titus 1:9 lists as one of the qualifications and duties of church leaders that they hold "fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and convict those who contradict."
Third, at stake is our credibility outside the Church as people who tell the truth, even if non-believers don’t always respond to the truth. I had an agnostic friend and we used to spend hours talking about anthropology, his field of study, and Christianity. Despite the arguments and evidence that I gave him for the truth of Christianity, he didn’t become a Christian. However, he respected me as someone who had integrity. When his sister, who was a Christian, became confused because of college classes antagonistic to Christianity, he asked me to talk to her, to, as he put it, "straighten her out so she doesn’t lose her faith because of what ignorant philosophy professors say."
Responsible apologetics is one way of speaking to the world. Peter says we are to have "our conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against [us] as evildoers, they may, by [our] good works which they observe, glorify God." Fourth, at stake is our personal integrity as representatives of Christ’s Body. Even if no other Christian knew how we helped someone who was a cult victim, even if no one in the world saw our efforts on behalf of the Gospel, we have an obligation before God to act as though we were His representatives to do His will, "in all things showing [ourselves] to be a pattern of good works; in doctrine showing integrity, reverence, incorruptibility, sound speech that cannot be condemned, that one who is an opponent may be ashamed, having nothing evil to say of [us]."
Why Is It Important?
First, the Bible tells us it is the truth (embodied in Christ) that sets us free, and so the best help we can give those harmed by the cults and the occult is truth. I’m sure each of us could think of many cultists who have gone from one cult to another, often through several different cults, searching for truth, but never finding it until they encountered the truth which is in Christ Jesus. We can’t give anything more important than truth to those who are seeking. That is why we are in cult apologetics. That is why we care enough to come to a conference like this. We want to help people who are trapped by the cults and the occult.
Second, the Bible gives us standards for those who seek leadership or teaching positions in the Body of Christ. If we attempt to influence or persuade someone else about the Gospel and Christian living, then we are teaching and leading, and we need to meet Biblical standards. Paul gives us a good summary of those standards: …if a man is blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of dissipation or insubordination….blameless, as a steward of God, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but hospitable, a lover of what is good, sober-minded, just, holy, self-controlled, holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and convict those who contradict.
Third, responsible cult apologetics is important because the Bible commands us to be without reproach even from the heathen, a testimony to the truthfulness and life-transforming power of the Gospel. Peter reminds us, "as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct."
Fourth, responsible cult apologetics is an indication of the integrity we have as individual Christians before our Lord and Saviour. Personal holiness, made possible by the transforming life of the Holy Spirit within us, and evidenced even in our research and apologetics, reflects our commitment to God. Responsible research and apologetics come from a life characterized by the fruit of the Spirit. There is much at stake in responsible cult apologetics research, and much to be gained from ministering in truth, both for individuals and the Body of Christ. If we are aware of the pitfalls, and we are committed to responsible ministry, we will fulfill the calling God has given us. Today we will survey the problems of cult apologetics research and the principles of responsible research. With a good introduction, we will have a good foundation by which we can test our work and its correspondence to Biblical truth.
Structure of This Talk:
My message is divided into three parts, "Fantasies," "Legends," and "Heroes." Within the first two sections we shall survey some of the most prevalent problems in apologetics research, and in the third section we shall survey the principles of good research. Fantasies refers to mistakes in thinking and to judgment that does not provide a sound system of discernment. I shall first discuss why people accept fantasies and lies, and second, some of the kinds of logical fallacies for which we fall or which we even sometimes use unwittingly.
Here’s an example. How many of you have thought about why crime, especially violent crime, increases during a full moon? Of course we reject the superstitious explanation that the full moon is the time of werewolves and vampires, but what reasonable explanations can we come up with? Think about it for a minute.
Here’s the fantasy. Careful, multiple statistical studies have shown that there is no significant increase in violent crime during full moons. We don’t have to postulate satanic or witchcraft calendars, extra light at night, or other reasonable explanations. There is actually nothing to explain. Careful research avoids the trap of fantasy.
Legends are the stories of what I call "novel people." That is, people and stories that tend to substitute personal experiences, delusions, guesses, fictions, and other "stories" for solid, evidential research. Here’s an example of a legend. How many of you have heard that Darwin repudiated evolution on his deathbed and embraced the Gospel? What an argument against evolution! If the father of evolution finally gave it up, then it must not be true, right? Wrong. First of all, Darwin could have given it up because he was senile, because he was hedging his bets at the end of his life and wanted eternal "fire insurance," or because he was given some insidious mind-altering drug. His repudiation doesn’t say anything about the truthfulness or falsity of evolution. Second, the story itself is a legend. While Darwin appeared to be somewhat religious and referred to the Bible in conversation and correspondence, there is no verified evidence that he rejected his ideas concerning the origin of species, the theory of evolution.
When I use the term heroes, I am not referring to the somewhat larger-than-life egos some of us grow from our much learning. Instead, I am referring to the good, old-fashioned hero of the TV western, the man with the white hat who saves people from certain death and vanquishes the enemy from the land. Cult apologetics heroes help victims of the cults and combat evil by (1) thinking critically; (2) preparing research adequately; and (3) conducting responsible research and evaluation. In the last section of this talk I shall discuss the fundamentals of research, the legitimate role of personal experience, field research, libraries, networking, interviewing, testing and reporting.(This article is used with permission)
Fantasies, Legends, and Heroes
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