{"id":963,"date":"2023-03-14T08:09:31","date_gmt":"2023-03-14T14:09:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rocksolidapologia.com\/?p=963"},"modified":"2023-03-14T08:09:31","modified_gmt":"2023-03-14T14:09:31","slug":"why-use-satire-in-apologetics-updated-and-expanded","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rocksolidapologia.com\/?p=963","title":{"rendered":"Why Use Satire in Apologetics? Updated and Expanded!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Rock Solid Apologia <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Welcome (or welcome back) to the world\u2019s one and only apologetics satire site! Now, you may hear \u201capologetics satire\u201d and think that is an oxymoron. How in the world does this Will fellow think he can combine apologetics with satire?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well as editor-in-chief, I wanted to give a brief overview of why I use satire and comedy in apologetics. It is a somewhat novel approach and I think my long-suffering audience deserves to know why I take the approach I do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Christians, God has blessed us with lots of fantastic apologists. Men like J. Warner Wallace (Cold Case Christianity) Sean McDowell, John Lennox, Greg Koukl (Stand to Reason) David Wood (Acts 17 Apologetics) and James White (Alpha and Omega Ministries) to name a few, have done a fantastic job of defending our Christian faith intellectually. The idea of me trying to do their job better is more comedic than this website. I am not interested in competing, I think they will do a better job at intellectually defending the faith than I will. I want folks with questions to go to them first. I am using satire and humor to complement the work they do, not compete with it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On a personal level, I think I can glorify God better through humor and satire than I can through the more traditional approach. God\u2019s given me a gift to write and publish jokes on the internet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As far as I know the tagline for Rock Solid Apologia \u201cWorld\u2019s one and only apologetics satire site\u201d is more than just a catchy saying. It\u2019s true! I think the need for humor in the defense of the truth is huge. Christians are leading in the intellectual field, but secularists and non – Christians are destroying us in satire and humor. Atheists like Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams have used their incredible humor to go after Christianity. I want Rock Solid Apologia to provide genuinely funny content that defends Christianity and exceeds secular humor. I don\u2019t know about you, but I think Jesus had a much better sense of humor than Terry Pratchett.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It turns out that satire in apologetics is nothing new! Elijah made some unloving jokes on Mount Carmel. Martin Luther wasn\u2019t exactly known for being \u201crestrained\u201d in his use of humor. Charles Haddon Spurgeon, G.K. Chesterton, and C.S. Lewis are all relatively modern examples of the relatively unheard-of phenomenon known as funny Christians. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think 1st<\/sup> Peter 3:16\u2019s command to treat folks with gentleness and respect while doing apologetics is unequivocal. I don\u2019t think the Christian is given much wiggle room on that. I wonder if 1st<\/sup> Peter 3:16 commands us to treat ideologies with gentleness and respect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It doesn\u2019t seem like God has a high view of opposing Gods. I have never gotten the feeling from the scriptures that God has a healthy respect for idolatry. God doesn\u2019t have many gentle words for Baal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Romans 12:9 tells us to abhor evil. If all other worldviews lead people away from Jesus, they are fundamentally fallen and use a harsher word, evil. Now, it is also the teaching of scripture that mankind is evil. As a satirist, my job is to imitate the all-time master of humor in apologetics. Jesus didn\u2019t treat bad ideas with reverence, but he treated people respectfully. When I make jokes, I am joking about fallen worldviews that lead people away from Christ. I try not to make personal jokes about people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am not saying I hit the target every time, but when I use satire, I am using it on a worldview, not a person. I try to use people as catalysts for my satire, not as objects. I hope folks can appreciate that distinction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I hope that gives you a better understanding of what I am doing and why I believe it\u2019s a good idea. I am always open to feedback or criticism; you can contact me through our contact page. I am always happy to hear from anyone who is willing to put up with the jokes on the world\u2019s one and only apologetics satire site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Will England<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rock Solid Apologia Welcome (or welcome back) to the world\u2019s one and only apologetics satire site! Now, you may hear \u201capologetics satire\u201d and think that is an oxymoron. How in the world does this Will fellow think he can combine apologetics with satire? Well as editor-in-chief, I wanted to give a brief overview of why […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":229,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rock-solid-apologia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rocksolidapologia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rocksolidapologia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rocksolidapologia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rocksolidapologia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rocksolidapologia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=963"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/rocksolidapologia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/963\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":964,"href":"https:\/\/rocksolidapologia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/963\/revisions\/964"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rocksolidapologia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rocksolidapologia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rocksolidapologia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rocksolidapologia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}