By RAYMOND DE SOUZA, KM
Some of the faithful Wanderer readers have asked me to present articles more specifically destined to train new apologists in the mission to defend the faith. A kind of training course, as it were. I am happy to see that these articles in The Wanderer have encouraged some or many to take up the banner of apologetics and join us in the fray.
Therefore, to meet their request, this week I start a new series on the Raiders of the Lost Art — the art of putting logic at the service of the faith.
So we begin by defining the word: Apologetics is the art of presenting the truths of the faith in a logical and well-reasoned manner. The concept of “apologetics” is taken from the First Epistle of St. Peter (3:1):
“Sanctify always the Lord Jesus Christ in your hearts being ready always to satisfy everyone that asks you a reason [or defense, in other translations] of that hope that is in you. But with modesty and fear, having a good conscience; that whereas they may be ashamed who falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ.”
Thus, “apologetics” is taken from the Greek word “apologia” to mean “reason” or “defense.”
From St. Peter’s teaching we can distinguish four basic elements in apologetics:
Sanctify the Lord Jesus Christ in our hearts — to live in His presence — to do everything out of love for Him.
Satisfy everyone with a reason — that presupposes that you must know the reason, you must know how to present the reason, and you must know how to think with clarity.
Do so with modesty and fear, having a good conscience — that presupposes a good mental balance, sanity, clear sense of good and evil, right and wrong, truth and error, order and disorder.
Have a good conversation in Christ: This presupposes knowledge of Christ’s ways of thinking — His mind and the ability to converse with others in His presence.
It’s a whole program in itself!
It all boils down to the evangelical simplicity and clarity: “Yes, yes. No, no.” “He who is not with me is against me.” “He who does not gather together with me, scatters abroad.” “Go and preach to all nations, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. He who believes and is baptized, will be saved. He who does not believe, will be condemned.”
Consequently, unity in the truth is a fundamental prerequisite of every good Christian mind, as St. Paul points out to us: “Now I beseech you brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, that there be no schisms among you; that you be perfect in the same mind and the same judgment” (1 Cor. 1:10).
Thus, Catholic apologetics excludes the concept of pluralism of religion, as if it did not matter what you believe, as long as you are nice to other people. St. Paul emphasizes the importance of having “One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism” (Eph. 4:5). In other words, to have and keep unity in the truth. Go and evangelize, He said, not go and ecumenize. Ecumenical dialogue is only a means to an end, which is the conversion of all men to Jesus Christ in the Church founded by Him.
Let us hear Pope John Paul II, in his 1981 allocution to the Spanish youth: “Learn to think, speak, and act in accordance with the evangelical simplicity and clarity: yes, yes; no, no. Learn to call white, white; and black, black. To call evil, evil, and good, good; to call sin, sin and not to call it ‘progress’ or ‘liberation; even if fashion and propaganda are opposed to it.”
Therefore, we are called to know the mind of Christ, to think in accordance with the mind of Christ, to act as Christ would expect us to act. To do this, from the purely natural point of view, we must endeavor to learn His thoughts and His ways, that is, to ensure that we perceive reality as it is, not as we would like it to be; that we distinguish truth from error with the utmost clarity, and choose good instead of evil with firmness.
Truth And Certitude
During His Passion our Lord told Pilate that He had come into the world to “give testimony to the truth” (John 18:37). Pilate seems to have been what we call a skeptic — a person who doubts that we can ever know the truth; for he asked our Savior: “What is truth?” as if to say: “I’ve never met anyone who knew what truth is: and I don’t think that you do either.” He did not wait to hear the answer.
There are many Pilates in the world today. So we have to answer his question for them. We have to be able to tell them what truth is, and prove that we know it. More still, we have to show them by our example not that we possess the truth, but that It possesses us: We serve It.
What Is Truth?
If you think that there is a place called Mt. Rushmore, your thought is true, because Mt. Rushmore does really exist. If, on the contrary, you think that there is no such mountain, your thought is not true. Why? Simply because it does not square with reality. It does not agree with what reality actually is. Because if there is no Mt. Rushmore, no amount of belief in the mind of one who affirms its existence will ever make it exist. Conversely, if there is a Mt. Rushmore, no amount of disbelief in the mind of one who denies its existence will ever make it pop out of existence. As simple as that.
Likewise, if you think that a man is not a donkey — even though some degree of confusion may be found in certain liberal political circles, but that is beside the point — your thought is again true, because a man is not, in fact, a donkey. However, if you sincerely believe that a man is a donkey, then you are sincerely wrong. Or nuts. And so on, and so forth.
What is Truth, then? It is simply the agreement of our mind with reality. Please remember this simple definition: Truth is the agreement of our mind with reality.
If our ideas agree with reality, they are true. If they do not agree with reality, they are false. Reality calls the shots, it is the guide, not our fancies, preferences, or whims.
How do we get to know the truth? By four different ways:
By our personal experience;
By reasoning;
By merely understanding a truth;
By accepting the truth on the authority of another.
In the next article, we will start taking these concepts one by one.
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(Raymond de Souza is an EWTN program host; regional coordinator for Portuguese-speaking countries for Human Life International [HLI]; president of the Sacred Heart Institute, and a member of the Sovereign, Military, and Hospitaller Order of the Knights of Malta. His website is: www.RaymonddeSouza.com.)
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