I loved Jean’s post on the tongue-tied Christian who struggles with the snappy response to evangelistic opportunities that open up in conversations. I guess I recognized myself in the mirror.
By providence, I’d just begun reading a book on evangelism and apologetics by Greg Koukl called Tactics: A Game Plan for Discussing your Christian Convictions.
Although he talks about “controlling conversations” in a way I’m not quite comfortable with, so far, there’s stacks that’s helpful.
In particular, instead of trying so hard to think of the witty reply, I think Koukl would agree with Jean’s advice to ask questions. He introduces his ‘Columbo’ tactic—something to use when you’re given an opening, but you don’t know what to say (and maybe even if you do).
The Columbo tactic is to ask questions. It’s named after the old TV detective. (At 40, I can only just remember the show, so unless I’ve missed a lot of recent repeats, Koukl is not addressing the younger generation with his nicknames!) Columbo would show up at the crime scene in his rumpled trench coat, looking disorganized. But his trademark move was to ask a witness or a suspect, “Do you mind if I ask you a question?” He’d pop off an easy one and, looking satisfied with the reply, he would turn to leave, stop mid-stride as if something else had occurred to him, and, raising a finger, he’d say, “Just one more thing”. And on the questions would go, getting under their guard, gathering valuable information, exposing evidentiary inconsistency, and so on.
Why are questions so powerful? Koukl says:
- A question takes pressure off you, and it puts the ball back in the other person’s court. (It can stop you jumping straight into preaching mode.)
- Questions (in a relaxed and friendly tone) are an invitation to thoughtful dialogue. They certainly show interest in the other person.
- Questions can have several purposes—all of which can productively advance the conversation. For example, they can be used to
- gather information (e.g. “What do you mean by that?”). This can stop you jumping to conclusions, and it helps you understand the other person.
- reverse the burden of proof (e.g. “How did you come to your conclusion?”)—that is, they cause the other person to give reasons for their own views.
- lead the conversation in a specific direction—that is, asking a question might help expose the other person’s flawed argument or explain your own view, which you wish to advance.
In the last case, you do need a sense of where you want the conversation to go. But in the first two cases, you do not need to have already worked out the knock-down evangelistic comment or apologetic answer in advance!
Here’s one of Koukl’s examples. The assertion is
Who are we to say Christianity is better than any other religion? I think the essence of Jesus’ teaching is love, the same as all religions. It’s not our job to tell other people how to live or believe. (p. 42)
Here’s a possible reply (I don’t think he would mean to ask all these question in one single barrage!):
How much have you studied other religions to compare the details and find a common theme? Why would the similarities be more important than the differences? I’m curious, what do you think Jesus’ own attitude was on this question? Did he think all religions were basically equal? Isn’t telling people to love one another just another example of telling them how they should live and believe? (p. 44)
Certainly Jesus used questions a lot:
Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? (Luke 5:23)
He answered, “I will also ask you something; now you tell me: was the baptism of John from heaven or of human origin?” (Luke 20:3-4)
“Show me a silver coin: whose image and inscription is on it?” (Luke 20:24)
Then Jesus said to them, “How is it that they say the Christ is to be the son of David? After all, in the book of Psalms, David himself says, ‘The Lord said to my lord, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet”’. David therefore calls the Christ ‘Lord’; so how can he also be David’s son?” (Luke 20:41-44)
(All quotes from The Essential Jesus)
See also Jesus’ use of questions from Luke 10:25 and following: he answered the man’s initial question about inheriting eternal life with a question, which checked the man’s understanding (v. 26). This told him that the man actually already knew the answer: it was to keep the two great commands to love, written in the Law!
Then comes another round! When the man asked a follow-up question to justify himself, Jesus replied with his famous parable of the Good Samaritan, but he concluded with a question!
“Now which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbour to the man who was ambushed by robbers?” (Luke 10:36, TEJ)
Checkmate! Now go and do likewise.
Koukl says that his goal with the questions and other tactics is never to convert anyone. He knows that that’s the work of God’s Spirit through the power of the gospel:
My aim is never to win someone to Christ. […] All I want to do is put a stone in someone’s shoe. I want to give him something worth thinking about, something he can’t ignore because it continues to poke at him in a good way. (p. 38)
He uses the analogy of baseball where often the batter’s aim is not to win the game singlehandedly, but just to get a hit—perhaps to get on base and into a scoring position himself, or even to get another batter home, even if he never gets to first. It’s rarely about hitting a home run. (After all, some plant, others water, and not every one gets to reap the harvest!)
Koukl’s book is not the first to show the importance of questions. I haven’t finished it all yet. But I reckon that if you remember his warning that tactics like the Columbo questions are not just clever debating tricks,1 then his book will be worth reading.
1 In his book, Koukl occasionally sounds like he forgets his own warning.
