Almost 30 years ago, Neil Postman warned us that “sound-bite politics” was destroying our ability to understand and discuss serious social issues. The American media, he observed, has shaped our thinking so as to ensure that short, fat, or unpleasant-looking people would never again get elected president. Much less long-winded, boring people.
From Answers.com:
SOUND-BITE: n. A short, striking, quotable statement well suited to a television news program.
From Wikipedia:
News media in particular cherish soundbites. Reporters agree that the best news footage contains at least one soundbite. Politicians in turn have learned (along with their speechwriters) to put greater effort into delivering the perfect soundbite.
Some would say that soundbites cater to human weakness, they are a symptom of our inability to analyze, think deeply, and dissect complex issues. Soundbites allow us to trim oaks into toothpicks and shrink seas into shot-glasses. Soundbites produce ADD citizens, an audience of MTVers who require flesh, flash bombs, and quick-edits to hold their attention. Like them or not, soundbites have shaped how Americans think and are here to stay.
Sure, soundbites cater to human weakness. Yet speaking in the language of our culture is essential to Christian apologetics. So why not use them to our advantage?
I know, I know. Massive subjects like the existence of God, the nature of evil, and objective truth, require more than trite sayings and witty one-liners. I mean, you can’t condense the authority of Scripture down to a punch line (unless you think, “God said it, I believe it, That settles it,” really ends the argument). Nevertheless, clichéd religious rebuttals all over the place.
- All religions lead to God
- Jesus was just one of many prophets
- As long as a person is sincere, it doesn’t matter what they believe
- Science and religion contradict each other
- Archeology has disproved the Bible
- The Bible is just one of many holy books
- Truth is relative
Short. Striking. Quotable. And totally misleading.
So perhaps we should fight fire with fire. I got the idea when I overheard two men — a Christian and a skeptic — debating religion.
SKEPTIC: Do you think I’m going to hell?
CHRISTIAN: Only if you’re as bad as I am.
Brilliant!
So I recently got the chance to try out some soundbite apologetics. A co-worker flippantly said, “I don’t believe in God and I think people who do are idiots.” Being that I did not have time to adequately probe his misconceptions, philosophical leanings, personal biases, or the dysfunctional history that could have produced such hostility, I resorted to zingers:
So you believe your life is a cosmic mistake and there’s no real meaning to your existence. What’s keeping you from killing yourself?
Dude, you should have seen the look on his face. Okay, so it was kinda nasty. But it was short, striking, quotable, and apparently got the point across.
No, I’m not giving up on contemplation, research, and theological study. I’m just sharpening a few barbs for Generation Next.
So what about you? Do you have some apologetic soundbites? If so, I’d love to hear them…
Soundbites are the reassurances that we give others, while knowing them to be inadequate ourselves. It is cleverness hiding behind itself. It is the soliloquy of vanity’s narcissism. Who cares?
Love the reply! It was pithy but as an apologist I do get tired at times of using sound, rational, scientific and historical evidence for the Christian only to have an atheist or skeptic blow away everything I’ve just said with a quick, emotional retort and think that settles it. Sort of the reverse of the “The Bible says, I believe it, that settles it.”
But, we do have to be cautious. 1 Peter 3:15,16 says to give a reason for the hope that is within us but do so with “gentleness and respect”. Problem is, we don’t no respect! But, there is a way to give a defense without being offensive. I have mantra for dealing with these kind of retorts.
First, stick to what you know. Don’t let them get you off task and into waters you know nothing about. You erase any doubt about your ignorance when you do that. Nothing wrong with saying, “Let me find the answer to that question and get back to you.”
Second, stick to what is true. Obviously every person who believes in the Bible is NOT an idiot. C. S. Lewis was a pretty sharp guy. Not to mention current Christian apologists such as William Lane Craig, J. P. Moreland, Mike Licona, or Ravi Zacharias. So such outrageous statements may be sound bites, but their not true. I always ask, “On what basis have you drawn that conclusion?” In other words, back up your statement with true fact.
And third, if those first two don’t work I just “stick it to them” and go on the offensive much like your statement above. The trick is to do that with gentleness and respect. But, the truth of the matter is we have truth and facts on our side and we just have to get that truth apart and make them see the facts are real. Problem is, they DON’T listen! But, they expect us to listen.
Good post!
This isn’t a soundbite exactly, but I was having a conversation with a family member who is an atheist. He had started the conversation by bringing up the idea that we are all just made from particles that were already in existence, as though we’re microscopic bits of long dead cats, fish, racoons, whatever, combined together. During the conversation, he kept saying things like, “You decide to…” I finally said, “What is this ‘you’? You keep saying ‘you.’ According to you, we’re all just bits of stuff. Tell me what makes the ‘you’ part?” Of course he had no answer.
I’m skeptical of skepticism.
Truth is relative to me, so you are always wrong.
Why do atheists insist on bringing God into the equation?
You can test the theories of gravity with rock, relativity with a flashlight, thermodynamics with a match. How can you test the theory of evolution by natural selection?
Jesus was one of many prophets, so why don’t you pay attention to what he said?
All religions lead to gods.
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There is nothing offensive or quarrelsome about answering lies with the truth. The pithier, the better.
Soundbites really piss me off, but I have to admit some of these are funny–in an annoying kind of way. They’re like aphorisms. I hate aphorisms. How can the complexity of the world be broken down in this way? Pithy? Ha! Pithy sounds like dried out fruit. p.s. I’m writing this with a smile on my face, I swear.
Aphorisms are the least worst way to lie about the truth.
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You asked for that one.
For the sake of your own psychological well being, you need to join AA, or Aphorisms Anonymous. Here’s an example of how well it works: Aphorisms Anonymous