Blog/Apologetics: Being an Apologist Isn’t What You Think It Is…

In my travels through the Christian community on social media, I’ve noticed a trend. Apologetics seem to be on the rise, especially in the polemics field, amongst millennials and Gen Z. More people are becoming interested in it and are wanting to start their own YouTube channels and social media accounts to do apologetics on.

However, while it’s a good thing that more people want to do apologetics and are becoming interested in it, many of them seem to be going into it blind to what the reality is. It appears that many of them see big names such as Frank Turek, Wes Huff, David Wood, GodLogic, and others and believe that apologetics is glamorous, that it will bring them internet fame and fortune and – bonus – it’s all being done in the name of Jesus. But if you strip away the glamour, what you find is much harder.

Everyone should be an apologist to the extent that they can give a reasoned defense of the faith, but apologists aren’t just people who defend the faith from outsiders. Apologists are the guard dogs of the church. We are the ones who start barking when the wolves are near, but more often than not, the wolves are already in the church. Because of that, apologetics becomes one of the most stressful jobs in the church because you will have to call out false teachers, teachers who often have a large following and are beloved by many. Calling them out almost totally guarantees that you will get backlash from fellow Christians.

While that doesn’t sound too bad, getting backlash from other Christians can often hit harder than getting backlash from people outside the church because it makes you realize how truly dysfunctional the church is. Sure, some people can recognize a wolf, but many in the church won’t and may try to shut you down. You suddenly find yourself getting slammed with a similar type of vitriol that you would expect to find outside the church by the very people who say you’re their brothers and sisters in Christ. That type of thing just hits different.

That also leads me to my second point. If you want to become an apologist, prepare to be hated. Depending on what topic you specialize in, your comments section might be better or worse when it comes to trolls, but you will still get them, and you will need to grow a thick skin.

Third, know that if you’re going into apologetics for fame and money, then you’re not only not doing it for a good purpose (and thus, shouldn’t be an apologist at all), but you’re also going to be sorely disappointed. While apologetics is getting more popular, you likely will not have a huge channel following and probably won’t be making a ton of money from it.

Until next time,

M.J.