Tactics in Christian Apologetics (Part III):

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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 someones 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
  dont 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 Im trying to
  understand you on this
• Im a little confused on something
• Maybe you can clear something up for me
• Something about this thing bothers me
• Maybe Im 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?
• Dont take anyones 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

• Its wrong to try to change other peoples
  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 cant be true.
• I dont 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?
• Ill give you three good reasons you cant 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 persons 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 unambiguously-taking 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 persons false sense
  of security and convince him of the nihilism
  inherent in his beliefsif 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 intrusionuse a little body
  language. For example
• a. Hold up your hand briefly say, I am not
  quite finished yet.
• b. Wait a minute, let me finish.
• c. 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. Say, Is it okay with you if I take a few
  moments to answer your concerns before you ask
  another question?
• b. I know its easier to ask the hard
  questions than to listen to the hard answers.
  But I need a moment to explain myself. Is
  that okay?
• c. Dont 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 Im 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. Oh, did you want me to stop talking now so
  you could talk? Or did you want to take turns
  and have a conversation?
• b. 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? Ill stop and listen
  if all you want is an audience.
• c. The point here You and I had an
  agreement and now youre breaking that.
  Whats it going to be?

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Steamroller Tactic

• Defense 3 Leave the Person
• 1. If he or she wont 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 76

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Conclusion Practice Makes Perfect

1. Know your Bible so that you can give an accurate
   answer.
2. Actively share with othersexperimentation with
   tactics is often the proving ground.
3. Push yourself beyond your comfort zone.
4. Examine your intimacy/fellowship with the Lord
   before and during the exchange.
5. Be prayerful.
6. Evaluate or replay the exchange in order sharpen
   your skills of argumentationkeep notes.