Guest Author - LeeAnn Bonds
At times, expressing to another person the truth about how God has transformed your life can be exceedingly difficult. Even if you don’t get all tongue-tied, or suddenly find yourself unable to remember the most basic facts about your faith, you might be unprepared to face opposition from the person with whom you’re trying to share. I’ve just read a great book: Tactics, a Game Plan for Discussing your Christian Convictions, by Gregory Koukl, that is already helping me to talk about my beliefs with more confidence and friendliness.
The author holds master’s degrees in apologetics and philosophy, but writes in a fresh, down-to-earth manner. He encourages Christians to represent Christ in a winsome manner, being shrewd as snakes but innocent as doves. Apologetics doesn’t need to entail conflict, he says, but diplomacy.
Koukl has organized the book into two parts. In part one, The Game Plan, he outlines his Ambassador Model of apologetics, built on friendly curiosity and relaxed diplomacy instead of confrontation. He explains the three skills we need to be ambassadors for Christ in the 21st century; knowledge, wisdom, and character. He also develops a basic method for guiding a conversation, called the Columbo Tactic. All of his tactics have memorable names, to help you remember them when you might need to use one.
Part Two of the book focuses on finding the flaws in opposing views and arguments, and teaches how to point them out and counter them. He explains how to spot views that self-destruct-—they contradict themselves or are nonsensical when analyzed. He shows how to recognize arguments that become absurd when carried to their logical conclusion. And he gives welcome advice on how to deal with a Steamroller, an “overconfident, overbearing, and often overwhelming interrupter.” He even helps you determine when it might be best to walk away from a deteriorating conversation.
Tactics includes examples from actual conversations throughout, which makes it easy to see how to put the different methods to work in the real world. And, the book finishes strong with eight tips for nascent ambassadors for Christ, and a motivating exhortation to find a few like-minded people with whom to study and practice. I wholeheartedly recommend the book to anyone interested in defending the faith with grace and gentleness. It’s going into my own permanent collection, highlighted and tabbed.
Note: I purchased this book with my own funds and I received no consideration for this review.
