God's Love Scene

I just listened to Frank Turek interviewing J. Warner Wallace on his book, God's Crime Scene (Colorado Springs, Colorado: David C. Cook, 2015). Near the end of the program, Wallace made a comment about how Christian romantic fiction books outsell books on apologetics, apparently by a wide margin. Turek suggested that Wallace change the name of his book to God's Love Scene. What a sad commentary on the state of professing Christianity in our culture.

Given how much time I see women spending on romance novels, I wonder how much better this culture would be if they spent even ten percent as much time reading material on apologetics, theology, philosophy, ethics, etc. I've often mentioned things men are more likely to waste time on in other posts (sports, pornography, video games, etc.), but I haven't said as much about the problem with women and romance literature. I've long been astonished at how often I see women reading one, two, or more romance books every week or every month who probably have never read through an entire book on, say, theology, politics, or apologetics. If you haven't read my material documenting how Americans have desperately false priorities and horrible time management, please click on the Time Management label below.

Something else that came up during the interview was a comment Richard Land has made about apologetics, to the effect that evangelism in our day requires apologetics. When people neglect apologetics, that tells us something about other areas of their lives as well. How involved are they in evangelism if they're so uninterested in apologetics? To the extent that they are involved in evangelism, what's the quality of that evangelism if apologetics has so little role in it?

Make Worshiping God With Your Mind A Higher Priority

"As a result, however, I get to see how many of my Christian brothers and sisters are interested in the evidence supporting their faith. I must tell you, the interest in Christian case making is thin, at best. In a typical church, about ten percent of the congregation is usually concerned enough about 'apologetics' to attend a training session or conference. My fellow speakers and traveling case makers report the same interest wherever they go, and if you are among the few Christians who are actively studying or making the case, you know what I am talking about first-hand. Why are so few Christians willing to be Christian case makers?...if you want to be prepared to defend the truth, you’ll need to work hard and do whatever it takes to succeed. This may sound daunting, but I’m not asking you to do something you don’t already do. I bet there’s some aspect of your life where you are willing to invest time and energy for a much less important cause. How many hours a week do you spend catching up on our favorite television dramas? How much time do you spend watching sports, or reading about your favorite hobby? Few of us are so busy we have absolutely no time to spend studying what we believe about God. It’s really all a matter of priorities. Most of us are willing to spend time on the things that interest us most. Are our metaphysical beliefs about the existence of God important enough for us to invest the time necessary to become successful case makers?... If Christianity is an accurate description of reality, it ought to inspire us to commit our time and effort. It ought to cause us to do whatever necessary to become the best Christian case makers possible. The reason why few of us are willing to become case makers is simply because case making requires work. Hard work. But it’s worth it, because this kind of work is actually a form of worship. When we dedicate ourselves to understanding and defending what we believe, we are worshiping God with our minds." (J. Warner Wallace)