{"id":980,"date":"2011-08-01T03:01:17","date_gmt":"2011-08-01T07:01:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/community\/exploringourmatrix\/?p=967"},"modified":"2011-08-01T03:01:17","modified_gmt":"2011-08-01T07:01:17","slug":"always-be-prepared-to-make-up-an-answer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/08\/always-be-prepared-to-make-up-an-answer.html","title":{"rendered":"Always Be Prepared To Make Up An Answer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I remember from my younger days in a conservative Christian context the importance we placed on 1 Peter 3:15: \u201cAlways be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.\u201d<\/p>\n

We didn\u2019t often continue into the sentence that follows, \u201cBut do this with gentleness and respect\u2026\u201d But that isn\u2019t what I want to focus on here.<\/p>\n

I know from my own experience that I did not in fact consistently understand that verse to be commanding that I \u201cbe prepared\u201d in the more natural, Boy Scouts sense, i.e. of learning the things necessary so as to be able to give a genuinely relevant and meaningful answer. To the extent that I did \u201cprepare,\u201d it was largely answers taken over from apologists and young-earth creationists. That was learning rote \u201canswers,\u201d allegedly right answers, and thus not really \u201clearning\u201d at all.<\/p>\n

To be prepared to give an answer ought to mean that you have investigated a matter and are now as a result\u00a0prepared<\/em> to give an answer<\/em> and not merely a response<\/em>.<\/p>\n

More often than not, I understood this verse in terms of being ready to make up an answer on the spot, to try to avoid having an opponent of my faith get the last word, or seem to have won a debate.<\/p>\n

With hindsight, it is easy to see that such an approach had nothing to do with either being prepared or giving an answer.<\/p>\n

Of course, the saying in Matthew 10:19<\/a> = Luke 12:11<\/a> also influences such thinking among conservative Christians. Those verses emphasize not worrying about how to defend oneself when arrested, because the Spirit will take care of that when the time comes. But to extrapolate from a reassurance for those going through a crisis situation, and to turn it into a general principle letting you off the hook for not taking the time to learn about things you claim are important, seems not only unjustified, but deeply problematic and foolish.<\/p>\n

Can you relate to this? If you have spent some time in a conservative Christian context, did you understand this verse to be about standing up for your faith in the moment it was challenged, rather than inviting you to actually prepare<\/em> for such instances by becoming better informed through rigorous education? If this approach to the verse turns out to be widespread, why do you think that might be? Is it perhaps because being defensive in the moment is less challenging to one\u2019s worldview than the experience of becoming genuinely familiar with important topics \u2013 and the views of others and the rationale and evidence for them \u2013 is likely to be?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I remember from my younger days in a conservative Christian context the importance we placed on 1 Peter 3:15: \u201cAlways be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.\u201d We didn\u2019t often continue into the sentence that follows, \u201cBut do this with gentleness […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,131,139],"tags":[211,712,1846,2148],"class_list":["post-980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible","category-christianity-religion","category-fundamentalism-religion","tag-1-peter-315","tag-apologetics","tag-christianity-religion","tag-conservative"],"yoast_head":"\nAlways Be Prepared To Make Up An Answer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I remember from my younger days in a conservative Christian context the importance we placed on 1 Peter 3:15: "Always be prepared to give an answer to\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/08\/always-be-prepared-to-make-up-an-answer.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Always Be Prepared To Make Up An Answer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I remember from my younger days in a conservative Christian context the importance we placed on 1 Peter 3:15: "Always be prepared to give an answer to\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/08\/always-be-prepared-to-make-up-an-answer.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. 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