Transcript Tactics in Christian Apologetics (Part II)

Tactics in Christian
Apologetics (Part III):
The following four tactics are adapted
from Gregory Koukl, Stand to Reason
Ministries, 1-800-2-Reason; www.str.org
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Tactics in Christian Apologetics:
 The
Columbo Tactic
 The
Suicide Tactic
 The
“Take the Roof Off” Tactic
 The
Steamroller Tactic
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The Columbo Tactic:
* If you hit a roadblock, ask a
good question:
Offensive tactic used in a disarming
way with carefully selected
questions to productively advance
the conversation.
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The Columbo Tactic:
Ask a Good Question!
Three basic ways to use the Columbo tactic to
both gain information & stay out of the hot seat,
reverse the burden of proof, and indirectly exploit
a weakness or flaw in someone’s view:
Ask the following 3 questions…
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The Columbo Tactic:
Ask a Good Question!
What do you mean by that?
- This is a clarification question.
- It tells you what he or she thinks, so you don’t misunderstand or
misrepresent him or her.
- Keeps you out of the hot seat.
- Gives you more thinking time.
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The Columbo Tactic:
Reverse the Burden of Proof !
Now, how did you come to that
conclusion or …what are your
reasons for saying that?
- This question assumes the person has come to a conclusion.
- While the first question helps you to learn what he or she thinks,
this second question helps you to learn how he or she thinks,
giving you valuable information on how to question further.
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The Columbo Tactic:
Indirectly Exploit a Weakness or Flaw!
Have you ever considered…
- This is an offensive question, yet not in an offensive way.
- It offers an alternative view that gently challenges his beliefs,
exploiting a point of weakness you uncovered in his answers to
your first two questions.
- It requires you have an option you can explain clearly that gives
him reason to abandon his view for a better answer.
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The Columbo Tactic:
Indirectly Exploit a Weakness or Flaw!
Have you ever considered…
- You can use a number of phrases to introduce your question to
soften your approach:
*
*
*
*
*
*
“I am just curious…”
“Help me out because I’m trying to understand you on this…”
“I’m a little confused on something…”
“Maybe you can clear something up for me…”
“Something about this thing bothers me…”
“Maybe I’m still missing something…”
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The Columbo Tactic:
REVIEW OF COLUMBO QUESTIONS:
1. What did you mean by that?
2. Now, how did you come to that
conclusion or what are your
reasons for saying that?
3. Have you ever considered…
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The SUICIDE Tactic:
The suicide tactic makes capital
of the tendency of many
arguments to self destruct when
given the opportunity:
- They express contradictory concepts.
- Self-refuting arguments.
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The SUICIDE Tactic:
•
“There are no absolutes!” Are you sure about
that?
•
“There is no truth.” Is that statement true?
•
“Don’t take anyone’s advice on that issue.”
Is that your advice to me?
•
“Who are you to say?” Who are you to ask the
question?
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The SUICIDE Tactic:
•
“It’s wrong to try to change other people’s religious beliefs!” If
you think this is wrong, why are trying to change my
religious beliefs about evangelism & missions?
•
“All religions are true.” If all religions are true, then
Christianity is true. But part of the truth of Christianity is
that all other religions, taken as a whole, are false. Either
Christianity is true and others are false, or others are true
and Christianity is false. Either way, all religions can’t be
true.
•
“I don’t believe anything unless it can be proven scientifically.”
Oh? What scientific experiment or proof taught you that
only science can teach you truth?
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The SUICIDE Tactic:
•
“You can only know truth through
experience.” Oh? What experience
taught you that you could only know
truth through experience?
•
“I’ll give you three good reasons you
can’t use logic to find truth.” So you
want to use logic to disprove logic.
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Taking the Roof Off Tactic:
•
This is a simple technique used with great
skill by Dr. Francis A. Schaeffer:
(1) Adopt the other person’s viewpoint for
the sake of argument.
(2) Press the person to the logical conclusion
of his or her view. This is way of seeing
whether he or she can really live in the kind
of world he or she is affirming.
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Taking the Roof Off Tactic:
In essence, you are taking his or her moral
or intellectual rules and applying them
consistently to show that are inadequate or
absurd. Can he or she live with the moral
consequences of his or her beliefs?
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Taking the Roof Off Tactic:
•
This tactic is also known as reductio ad
absurdum (or simply reductio), or reducing
the argument to its absurd conclusion or
consequence.
•
All you do is take his or her view seriously,
reflect it back to him unambiguouslytaking the spin off, as it were-showing him
where it really leads.
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Taking the Roof Off Tactic:
•
Warning when you use this approach:
1. Sometimes we remove a person’s false sense of security and convince him of
the nihilism inherent in his beliefs…if we do not have the time to replace his
beliefs with the God of the Bible, we may end up leaving him or her in a worse
state than when we found him:
“This is what we mean by taking the roof off. But we cannot ever think this to be
easy. The hardest thing of all is that when we have exposed modern man to his
tension, he still may not be willing for the true solution. Consequently, we may
seem to leave him in a worse state than he was in before. But this is the same as
the evangelism of the past. Whenever the evangelist preached the reality of hell,
men who did not believe were more miserable after hearing his preaching than if
they never heard him. We are in the same position. We confront men with reality;
we remove their protection and their escapes; we allow the avalanches to fall. If
they do not become Christians, they are indeed in a worse state than before we
spoke to them.”
Francis A. Schaeffer, The God Who Is There, in The Complete Works of Francis A.
Schaeffer (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway, 1982), 1: 140.
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Steamroller Tactic:
•
The steamroller is not a technique you
use; it is one you defend against. It is
insincere people who bombard you
with questions and possibly insults.
•
Three ways to deal with a steamroller
in process:
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Steamroller Tactic:
Defense # 1: Stop him or her graciously but
firmly, then referee the argument:
1. Stop the intrusion…use a little body language.
For example:
a.
b.
c.
Hold up your hand briefly & say, “I am not
quite finished yet.”
“Wait a minute, let me finish.”
“You have asked a good question and you
deserve a good answer. Are you interested
in what I have to say?”
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Steamroller Tactic:
Defense # 1: Stop him or her graciously but firmly, then referee
the argument:
2. Negotiate an agreement. For example:
a.
b.
c.
Say, “Is it okay with you if I take a few moments to answer
your concerns before you ask another question?”
“I know it’s easier to ask the hard questions than to listen
to the hard answers. But I need a moment to explain
myself. Is that okay?”
Don’t let him or her ask you more than ONE question
before you stop him or her and get a chance to give
adequate answers.“Say, let me respond to your first
challenge. When I’m done you can jump in again. Is that
okay?”
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Steamroller Tactic:
Defense # 2: Shame Him:
1. If he or she has broken the agreement you made in how to discuss
the argument, then you will need to be more aggressive. For
example, if he or she continues to interrupt ask…
a.
b.
c.
“Oh, did you want me to stop talking now so you could
talk? Or did you want to take turns and have a
conversation?”
“Are you genuinely interested in an answer to my question
or do you just want to make a point by asking questions
without listening to my response? I’ll stop and listen if all
you want is an audience.”
The point here: “You and I had an agreement and now
you’re breaking that. What’s it going to be?”
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Steamroller Tactic:
Defense # 3: Leave the Person:
1. If he or she won’t let you answer, listen
politely until he or she is finished, then drop
it. Let him or her have the satisfaction of
having the last word, then walk away.
Jesus said,
“Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do
not throw your pearls before swine.”
Matthew 7:6
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Conclusion: Practice Makes Perfect:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Know your Bible so that you can give an accurate
answer.
Actively share with others…experimentation with
tactics is often the proving ground.
Push yourself beyond your comfort zone.
Examine your intimacy/fellowship with the Lord
before and during the exchange.
Be prayerful.
Evaluate or replay the exchange in order sharpen
your skills of argumentation…keep notes.
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