I've been thinking lately about a lot of debates between protestants and Catholics and between Calvinists and non-Calvinists. It seems to me that pretty much everything that can be said on these subjects has already been said. It's rare that anybody has anything new to add to these discussions that have been going on for centuries.
So, what's the point in having debates on these subjects anymore? It seems like the debates are going to come down to who is better read on the subject or who has more skill as a debater, neither of which can really tell you who is right.
If somebody wants to find out which side is right, all the information that's relevant to the question is already out there. They just have to go look for it. New debates only rehash argument that have already been made. If you're already familiar with the subject, it's like they're just reading a script. You already know what the arguments are, and you're rarely surprised.
For people who are not familiar with a subject, adding more debates just increases the volume of material they have to weed through to familiarize themselves with the information that's available.
Sometimes, I wish there were fewer books and fewer debates. I wish that as a species, we were more efficient with our words. We could provide the world with the same amount of information in far fewer words. Most of it is just repetition. People are just saying the same things in different words. It's all already been said. If we had just a few books and debates, and they were very well done, it would be easier to learn about any subject. Sometimes you have to weed through a lot of material to find a nugget of good information either because you've already heard it all or because most of it is fluff. It can be time-consuming.
This is just something I've been thinking about lately. I'm not sure I would really want to get rid of debates. I enjoy having them sometimes, even though it can feel like I'm reading a script. Debates are entertaining in the same way MMA is entertaining. Maybe they can still be useful by exposing people to subjects or points they aren't familiar with yet and maybe wouldn't have ever bothered to look into except for having been exposed to the debate. So I suppose they can still serve a purpose.
I think people might put too much emphasis on them, though. I used to think debates were important because "the first to present his case seems right until another comes forward to question him." Debates were a way of subjecting a person's point of view to scrutiny and seeing how it held up. I think that is still the case when it comes to novel arguments, but there are very few novel arguments anymore when it comes to protestant vs. Catholic and Calvinist vs. non-Calvinist. Now, I think debates are mostly entertainment. A lot of the internet chatter that comes after a debate often center more around personalities than arguments. It's kind of like how the ancient Greeks used to tell the same stories in their plays over and over again each year, and the novelty was more in the presentation than in the substance.
For people who are new to a subject, debates can be starting places, but nobody should completely change their mind about a topic because of how a debate turned out. They should use what they learned in the debate as a starting place to study the subject more thoroughly. Debates, by their very nature as short interactions, are not thorough enough to base your views on. People do, though.
Debating can be useful to the participants. Participating in a debate can force you to study in a way you might not otherwise. It can force you to think more carefully. So, I guess there's value to debate beyond trying to find out who's right. Debating is a good mental exercise.
One other benefit I just thought of is that debate can keep us from living in a bubble. Catholics, protestants, Calvinists, and non-Calvinists shouldn't isolate from each other because we're all Christians. Debating is a way for us to come together every now and then and engage with each other. That way hopefully we don't take whatever we are accustomed to for granted. It forces us to consider views other than our own. When you live in a bubble, you tend to have cartoonish and inaccurate assumptions about others who believe differently than you. If you're honest and fair-minded, debates can disabuse you of those inaccuracies.
But aren't there enough of them already? Can't we just go read/watch the ones that have already been done? Does anybody have anything new to say?
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