Sometimes Christian apologists say good things

This is my reply to a post by Christian apologist Jonathan McLatchie, entitled

When the Head Meets the Heart: The Art of Biblical Integrity for the Christian Intellectual

March 11, 2016

Do you really believe what you say and think you believe, and how can you know? The answer may at first brush appear obvious — “of course I believe what I say and think I do,” you might say. If you didn’t, after all, why would you be spending so much time engaged in the intellectual defense of it? This raises an interesting question: Can you believe that you believe something which you do not in fact believe in your heart? Is it possible that we deceive ourselves about what our own beliefs are?

So many people in our modern evangelical culture assent to a set of propositional truths about God but in their hearts are practical atheists.

I could not agree more.  By their works, most apologists of today appear to believe Christianity is little more than a fun game of intellectual jousting.  James Patrick Holding is the most extreme example, given his 100% apathy toward the bible being the inspired word of God, and yet despite this, manages to be published by otherwise conservative evangelical outfits like Christian Research Institute, and has, at least in the past, obtained accolades for some of his books by conservative evangelicals like Dan Wallace, Gary Habermas and Craig Blomberg.  Mitigating these accolades is the undeniable fact that Haberbas is also willing to endorse resurrection apologetics books that are absurdly weak and presumptuous and little more than a repeat of what Habermas and other scholars have argued.

snip

One danger, especially for those involved in the intellectual defense of the faith (i.e. apologists), is that one’s Christianity becomes reduced to merely an intellectual belief, one that has little or no bearing on the way one lives.

I assume that is the cast for most apologists who practically live online with ceaseless apologetics blogging, but who clearly don't want anybody to know what their personal life is like, such as the imposters over at Triablogue, particularly Steve Hays and Jason Engwer.

What sets real Christians apart from any other person of any religious affiliation is that we have a genuine relationship with the God of the Universe. That is something truly phenomenal which we should never take for granted.

What is there that separates us and sets us apart from, say, the Jehovah’s witnesses or the Mormons? Is it merely a difference in theological belief? If the only thing that makes you different from members belonging to those groups is a difference in doctrinal content, then you have to answer the question “In that case, do you believe that you are saved by your doctrine?” The Bible, however, makes it clear that we are not saved by our doctrine. As James 2:19 says, “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!” If your doctrine is the only distinguishing factor, then you are in effect no different from a Jehovah’s witness or a Mormon and you have much reason to be afraid. You may have the correct doctrinal content and you may even be able to articulate and defend your beliefs with clarity and precision. But at the end of the day, before God, it will really do you no good. To quote Thomas Watson again, he writes in The Doctrine of Repentance,

"Some bless themselves that they have a stock of knowledge, but what is knowledge good for without repentance? It is better to mortify one sin than to understand all mysteries. Impure speculatists do but resemble Satan transformed into an angel of light. Learning and a bad heart is like a fair face with a cancer in the breast. Knowledge without repentance will be but a torch to light men to hell."

What a stinging indictment of James Patrick Holding, a closet homosexual "apologist" who has never admitted wrongfully defaming or libeling anybody in his 20+ year career of doing little more than talking shit to any Christian or skeptic that happened to disagree with him.

Think about what beliefs you hold that are not reflected by the manner in which you live out your life! You believe that apart from the empowering grace of God you can do nothing in and of yourself. You are doctrinally correct, but the measure of your belief in this proposition is reflected by your prayer life — what does your prayer life say about whether you really believe this in your heart?

 Judging by his works, I'd say James Patrick Holding never prays, but is willing to go through the motions and look like he believes that crap when he thinks giving such false appearance will put him on better terms with Christians near him.   The same for Steve Hays and Jason Engwer.  Engwer clearly doesn't want his personal life to be investigated, and Hays is a 5-Point Calvinist.  When he refuses to pray as he should, this is because God predestined him to so refrain.  So he couldn't avoid it.

You believe that God’s judgment for sin is an eternity separated from God in Hell — again, you are doctrinally correct, but the measure of your belief lies in your zeal for evangelism, intercessory prayer, and seeing soul’s saved. You believe that the Bible is God’s inspired revelation to mankind — but how often do you study and meditate upon it?

 Actually, James Patrick Holding doesn't even care whether the bible is the inspired word of God, and yet he wants his followers to think him rational for dedicating his life to promoting the inerrancy of a book whose divine authorship he is so 100% apathetic about.

You believe that God is sovereign, but are you content in all circumstances as Paul was (Philippians 4:11)?

Clearly most apologists aren't, such as J. Warner Wallace, whose ceaseless promotion of his "forensic faith" gimmicks makes you think Wallace didn't believe God was capable of doing better in the world until Wallace published "Cold Case Christianity".