Question the Question
Often in apologetics the best response is, “That’s not the right question.” For example, instead of, “Why can’t the Gospel writers get their stories straight?”, it is much more fruitful to ask, “What does the presence of discrepancies that are not contradictions tell us about the reliability of the witnesses?” In a court of law or in historical research, that is exactly what you are looking for: it is one sign of reliable testimony. If witnesses in court say exactly the same thing, you suspect them of colluding to fix their testimony. If historical documents do it, you suspect that you really have only one source, not many.
Too often we let the Enemy dictate the terrain of the battle and the rules of engagement when there is no reason for us to do so. Sometimes we have to meet people where they are, but often rephrasing the question can be the first step toward getting better answers.
Donald T. Williams is Professor Emeritus of Toccoa Falls College. He stays permanently camped out on the borders between serious scholarship and pastoral ministry, between theology and literature, and between Narnia and Middle-Earth. He is the author of fourteen books, including Answers from Aslan: The Enduring Apologetics of C. S. Lewis (DeWard, 2023). He is a contributing editor of Touchstone.
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more on apologetics from the online archives
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31.4—July/August 2018
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