Professional Christian Apologists Should Avoid Having Formal Discussions With Amateur (or Self-Proclaimed) Catholic Apologists

I remembered watching a couple of old discussions conducted by professional Roman Catholic apologists such as Mitch Pacwa SJ and Dr. Taylor Marshall (the owner of the video above). I have seen through the debates between Evangelical vs. Roman Catholic in the John Ankerburg show or those conducted by Dr. James R. White of the Alpha and Omega Ministries (AOM). But there's a specific group of people that should be brought up namely amateur (or self-proclaimed) Catholic apologists. 

What's with dealing with amateur or self-proclaimed Catholic apologists? Unlike their fellow Roman Catholic apologists that I have mentioned or others who have had a formal debate with Dr. White, these people are merely self-proclaimed. You can check their background and you may find that they don't have any real training in how to be an effective apologist. They may have simply made themselves as apologists without any real training.

You can observe the big difference between the self-proclaimed Catholic apologists vs. the well-trained, professional Catholic apologists. Many professional apologists may be on the losing side but he always remains calm in every argument that they try to defend. He doesn't resolve to name-calling and he sticks on topic. But what do these amateur Catholic apologists do? Instead of staying calm like those apologists they look up and admire, they resolve to the dirty tactics or don't follow Dr. Marshall's guidelines on how to be an effective apologist. Instead, they resolve to the use of Ad Hominems and character assassination. Instead of defending their faith, they're only showing their rotten fruit way more than the professional Catholic apologists.

They do have a lack of research. Here's a list of stuff that prove that many of these amateur or self-proclaimed Catholic apologists have no idea of what they're talking about:

• Some have claimed that Dr. Billy Graham is the founder of the Born Again Christian movement. They even deny that Dr. Graham has already been in cahoots in Rome for a very long time.
• Some of them think easily confuse quack pastors who teach crazy stuff with the born again Christians.
• Some of them even think that the Evangelical worship services are all a concert and not a worship service.
• Some of them even deny that many quack burn again "Christian" pastors are affiliated with the Vatican.

That's just a very short list of stuff that they tend to get wrong. The problem with debating with them is that there's no real clear answer in the end. They don't want formality but only insisting that they would be heard. Worse, they're prone to throwing unprofessional behavior in what should be a professional discussion.

This is all about selecting with whom to discuss. Is the person known for being professional or not? Is that person courteous and polite with his opponents or not? Is that person sticking on the topic or is he always deviating from the topic in order to win? Those are really some questions to ask before engaging in any formal discussion as to avoid mishaps.