This Jimmy Akin debate is a first. I never debated a Roman Catholic apologist before. In fact, I didn’t know there *were* Roman Catholic Apologists! I did know there used to be lots of them who were intent on defending the Catholic tradition against Protestants. And as it turns out, there are still some of them around. There is an interesting organization in San Diego that sponsors their work, called “Catholic Answers.”

Jimmy Akin Debate: A Catholic Apologist

I was invited to go out there to debate one of their speakers, Jimmy Akin — not about the superiority of Catholicism over Protestantism (about which I don’t have much of an opinion, as someone who is neither) but about the reliability of the NT Gospels.

The reliability of the Gospels? Isn’t this a Protestant evangelical passion? Yup, and of some Catholics too apparently (though before this I had never met one for whom it was). At least for Jimmy Akin.

So we had a debate. I decided to take a slightly different tone in this one and soften the polemical edge a bit. I’m not sure if that was a good idea or not, but Jimmy (whom I didn’t know before) is a nice guy. And oh boy do we disagree on the issues. But I didn’t see much point in going for the jugular and he’s not the kind of guy who would go for mine.

As I did when I was an evangelical, Jimmy has an argument for everything. So, the best thing is, simply to look/listen at both views and judge for yourself. Here’s the video of the debate:

https://vimeo.com/693766702/5836c55116