Jose Molina (words in blue) asked:
Dave, can I ask you a question? How are you able to do what you do?
By God’s grace! “God is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13). I love this work, because God put that desire in me. This is what I am here on this earth to do. Everyone has a vocation. They just have to be willing to discover it and to pursue it for the sake of the Kingdom.
I’m Catholic and I love Jesus, the Bible, and the Church very much, but I cannot imagine doing apologetics or being a theologian. It seems like a tedious, nuanced, and perhaps frustrating vocation.
Sometimes, but most of the time it is very enjoyable. I have the freedom to pursue whatever motivates me at the time, and to follow my theological interests. There always seems to be something at any given time: doors or opportunities to do more apologetics. I simply walk through them. It’s not like being a professor who has to do certain things, give lectures that maybe bore him, or write a paper he doesn’t feel like doing. I do have that luxury, though, of course, I get relatively little remuneration.
You must peruse obscure books and chase ideas and beliefs down rabbit holes
Naw, I enjoy it. It’s fun, because, like I said, I do whatever interests me at the time. If I am challenged, I get extremely motivated, because I love challenges.
and what do you get for all your hard work? You get people leveling insults like the following: [several examples given from my sidebar]
Every job has its frustrations. I’m sure all of you who have a boss looking over your shoulder, or boring work you don’t enjoy, or weird co-workers, or who haven’t been promoted or appreciated at work as they should be, or who are struggling with running your own business, have more frustrations than I do.
Opposition proves that I am hitting nerves and that I must be saying something that is effectively getting out my message. This is always the case (excepting those times when we really do screw up and cause people to get angry through our own fault).
Virtually all the insults come from anti-Catholics. That’s par for the course. They act that way with almost anyone who opposes (or exposes) their falsehoods about the Church or about people (personal attacks), and their false theology. I’m delighted about that, because it strongly indicates that I am doing something right.
Jesus told us we would have opposition, and would be hated (and to even rejoice when we are persecuted). The sad, tragic thing is that it so often comes from fellow Christians. This is how Satan divides the Body of Christ and conquers. I receive far less insults and ad hominem nonsense and slanderous bilge from atheists than I do from anti-Catholic Protestants.
I get a lot “back” from my work. I know I am helping people, because they are nice and considerate enough to let me know that. That’s very rewarding and fulfilling because it is what I am trying to accomplish. It makes you feel good, and makes all the trials worth it. This is a “service” profession. I know that I am doing what I am supposed to be doing, under God.
There’s nothing like being right in the center of God’s will. That’s how life is supposed to work, and we aren’t happy if we step outside of that “circle.” I get to do what I enjoy doing (writing, dialoguing, research, sharing the gospel and the fullness of Catholic truth). I even get paid for it (something, anyway; I can always use more).
The personal attacks are more than made up for by kind folks like you and many others, who have encouraged me and said that they appreciate my labors. That’s enough for me. I know what is behind the personal attacks, so they are ultimately of little concern.
Sometimes I get upset, because I am a human being and hate to be lied about and misunderstood, like anyone else, but mostly I consider them almost a joke; a source of humor. When I read the stuff I posted on my sidebar, I bust a gut laughing, it is so funny to me. My wife, of course, plays a crucial role in helping me deal with that junk, too, as I noted in my post about my 20th anniversary. I couldn’t have done this without her. Everyone needs to have that encouragement on the human level.
Everything is in God’s Providence. We must rest in that, whether it is good or bad from our perspective. I think it is fairly obvious in retrospect that He was testing me to see how much I really was committed to my calling. This is how life and the Christian walk are. If I pass whatever tests God has for me now, maybe it will be better in the future. Maybe not, too. I (like most of us) will probably have to endure many more trials before the end of my earthly sojourn. I want to accept whatever God has planned for me in the future. We all need to follow the light that He has revealed to us.
All in all, then, I am very happy doing this work. I love to get to my computer and do some more writing and sharing. I always loved ideas, long before I was ever serious about Christianity, and have an insatiable intellectual and theological (even historical) curiosity, so God used those desires (which were ultimately from Him, anyway) to lead me to the field of apologetics. Thanks for asking and for your encouragement! I appreciate it very much.
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(originally 10-4-04)
Photo credit: with fellow apologist Jimmy Akin in my home: 2004.
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