Hence the Debate

I have a difference of opinion with a fellow church goer about whether or not the Bible encourages us to participate in debates with non-believers or with cult members. I don't personally feel that it's biblically warranted. I try to avoid debates with non-believers and most especially with cult members.

I believe that whether one wins or loses a debate tends often to depend on the skill level of the debater, and not necessarily what the evidence says. In 1st Corinthians 1:18-25 Paul states;

18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written: “ I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.”"20 Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. 22 For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; 23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men."

You can see that Paul warns against the "wisdom" of the world and that he says God is pleased when men simply preach the "foolishness" of Christ crucified. Paul leaves it up to the Holy Spirit to convict people's hearts of the truth. The first part of the next chapter of 1st Corinthians is all about that:

"1 And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. 2 For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 3 I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. 4 And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God."In 2 Tim 2:14-16 Paul instructed Timothy to; "14 Remind them of these things, charging them before the Lord not to strive about words to no profit, to the ruin of the hearers. 15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 16 But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness."

My opinion is that in the case of debating with non-believers or with cult members, debating descends into a fleshly exercise in words and worldly communication. If you read chapters 17 and 18 of Acts, it says in a couple of places that Paul "reasoned" from the Scriptures and that he "reasoned" with the Jews. That doesn't sound like debating to me. It sounds more like a thoughtful, reasoning presentation of the facts from the Scriptures. I can say that with a fair amount of confidence in light of the scriptures I've presented above.

Don't get me wrong, I think debate can have a positive place in the life of a Christian, but in my only personal experience debating with a cult member the result was not positive. I was having (what I thought was) a fruitful discussion with the man and then he began to play with the meaning of the words of Scripture when I gave them to him. He tended to want to isolate a particular word of Scripture and say that it meant something entirely other than what it meant. Granted, a good Greek lexicon at that point would have been handy, but his changing the meaning of that word changed the discussion into a debate briefly. I began to get a sensation that I needed to "win" the debate.This was my flesh in action. It became apparent when those feelings were aroused, that it was time to let it drop. To do anything further would have been to try to force the Word of God on him, and it's worth more than that.

I'm not into gambling, but I bet that if you asked the Apostle Paul whether one should debate unbelievers and cult followers, that he would simply answer by saying, "Give them the Gospel of Jesus." That's just a personal speculation obviously, but what Paul said below isn't.

"So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." Romans 10:17