Apologetics 101: Truth Matters for the Christian Creative
Essential Apologetics
“Truth matters, and when we deal in a currency like imagination, we need to point people to what is true.” -Lara Samms
If you’re a Christian in a creative field like film and TV, the pressure to succumb to the prevalent worldview of secularism is strong. Apologetics is essential, not just as a defense to give to those who would question our faith, but as an encouragement to ourselves as we work and live in places of increasing hostility to historic Christianity. Truth matters, and when we deal in a currency like imagination, we need to point people to what is true.
Christians often cite 1 Peter 3:15 as the go-to apologetics verse. Peter uses the Greek word apologia here, which means to give a defense, and in the surrounding verses encourages the believer that, though suffering is sure to come for the sake of Christ, we can be emboldened to give a reason for our faith that has basis in reality. He also reiterates the gospel, that Christ, the only Righteous One, died for us, the unrighteous, and that He rose again, and so will we. In this we must remind ourselves that people are not projects and we cannot save anyone (only Christ can), but we can engage in thoughtful, loving, and sometimes provocative dialogue.
To give a defense of faith is to break down the stigma surrounding belief as blind. In the King James Version, Hebrews 11:1 talks of faith as the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. By this definition, faith cannot be blind. We look towards substance, not the intangible; evidence, not the unknown. And it is here where we must define truth, and the truth is that which corresponds to reality. In other words, an objective truth is true regardless of whether someone accepts it or not. As apologist Frank Turek (I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist) often says about truth, it is something true for all people at all times in all places.
Truth
“Truth, it is something true for all people at all times in all places.” -Frank Turek
Now, in a post-truth culture, one may accept a thing as true or not and may decide if a truth claim is indeed the truth for him- or herself. In his book Saving Truth, Abdu Murray examines the transition from a general understanding of what truth means, to the postmodernism of the 1970s, to Oxford Dictionaries’ choosing of “post-truth” as their Word of the Year in 2016. Murray notes Oxford’s definition of post-truth as “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion that appeals to emotion and personal belief.” Plainly put, Murray says postmodernism is an attempt to denounce any objective truth, and post-truth is an acknowledgement of truth, but that truth is based on personal preferences (i.e. there are no objective truths, only subjective ones).
As Christian content-creators, we have immense responsibility as we perpetuate culture through pop art. So how do we stay relevant with what is popular without compromising our beliefs? How do we be in the world but not of it? It is not easy--none of this is. God will call people to specific places (perhaps to an industry as much as to a country) and we will inevitably run into opposition from the enemy wherever we are. J. Warner Wallace (Cold-Case Christianity) published a fantastic blog post about this very idea. In his career as a cold-case detective turned apologist, he has been placed in very difficult circumstances not friendly to the Christian worldview, much like those of us living and working in the entertainment industry. He advises that to be in the world is about location, and we sometimes need to accept where the Lord has us (I think of Joseph in Egypt), but we should be careful not to make our location our source of information or behavior.
We Shape Worldviews
“It matters for professional creatives to understand the nature of truth because in using our imagination to tell stories. . . we shape worldviews.” -Lara Samms
No one will deny the power of the media to influence thought, therefore behavior, and ultimately worldviews. Historic Christianity holds to absolute truth, the source of which is of course God. It matters for professional creatives to understand the nature of truth because in using our imagination to tell stories--a book, a song, a social media post, television, or film--we shape worldviews. That makes us teachers of sorts, and perhaps we should heed scripture’s warnings to teachers (e.g. James 3:1). As storytellers, we have the responsibility if not the position. May we always endeavor to turn our eyes upon Jesus and encourage others to do the same, for He says He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6).