★★★★★ 5
Cannot recommend this book enough
Greg Koukl’s "Tactics: A game plan for discussing your Christian convictions" is an excellent tool for anyone engaged in everyday conversations with unbelievers. With a mountain of attacks coming at Christians today, it can easily become overwhelming or even defeating for someone who wants to communicate his or her faith. What Koukl sets out to do in this book is to empower his readers to not only not be afraid, but be confident in what they believe, without feeling like the worlds questions are on their shoulders. The first half of this work deals with the game plan. In every day conversations, there are often a lot of claims about the Christian faith that are unfounded, so Koukl’s tactic is primarily a shifting in the burden of proof. He uses the show Columbo as his primary example, as the main character acts like a bumbling fool, but is really a brilliant detective. He will act like a fool to put off his suspect, but then asks incriminating questions to get his suspect to confess. In the same way, when a Christian is given a claim against his or her faith, they do not need to bear the weight of the claim, but can ask for more information and then allow them to defend their conclusions. It is not confrontational and helps the conversation gain some clarity. More often than not, in those moments, the baseless claims are exposed for what they really are, and the Christian is able to deal with the weightier matters of God and the individual.
The second half of his book deals with the practicalities of how this tactic can play out. It is no longer an issue of steering the conversation, but of having the practical thinking skills to be a knowledgeable ambassador. A lot of these principles take practice and immersion for it to become a habitual thing, but that’s the first thing that Koukl encourages his readers to do: Try. You will never be able to become proficient at this if you are not entering into conversation with others. The first thing that he encourages us to look out for in this section is the self-refuting questions or objections, which he calls “suicide.” These are views that are inherently contradictory. He said, “When statements fail to meet their own criteria of validity, they are self-refuting.” The concept of truth as universally relative is a good example of this, since it is making the objective truth claim that all truth is subjectively relative. So, it commits suicide by its own assertions. The following chapter shows not only the logical inconsistencies with self-refuting claims, but also the fact that it cannot play out in reality. No one can live (at least consistently) with a worldview that is inherently contradictory. When someone tells you that you cannot judge or that you should not try and change the beliefs of other people, they are in fact doing the very thing that they claim is wrong.
One aspect that I particularly enjoyed was his chapter on taking the roof off. This was a deliberate exposition on Francis Schaeffer’s use of reductio ad absurdum. “Whenever someone tries to deny the truth, reality ultimately betrays them.” When a person holds to a false worldview, oftentimes the reductio can help take them to the logical ends of their view. For instance, if someone holds to monism, where all is one and differences are an illusion, then the internal human drive for justice is equally an illusion, and thus a man loving his wife and family has no moral difference in the universe than a man walking into a kindergarten classroom and shooting everyone in sight. Most do not want to deal with the reality of what their worldview allows.
But sometimes people, regardless of whether they are proven wrong, will not let you get a word in. His chapter on the steamroller is particularly helpful here. The Christian wants to be the most loving that he or she can possibly be in a conversation, and the steamroller personality will use that to their advantage, as they control the conversation and avoid dealing with their own claims. So, Koukl has the Christian simply stop the conversation, shame the person for being so overbearing, and if that does not work, simply leave. It does not good to try and have a conversation with someone who is not willing to have a conversation.
The three things that he ultimately wants his readers to develop are Character, knowledge, and wisdom. With these three combined, the ambassador has enough in his or her arsenal to fight for the hearts and minds of the people he or she engages. Without knowledge, the Christian is ignorant, without wisdom, he or she is without direction in the conversation, and without character, the Christian runs the risk of being a jerk. Koukl said, “My goal… is to find clever ways to exploit someone’s bad thinking for the purpose of guiding her to truth, yet remaining as gracious and charitable at the same time. My aim is to manage not manipulate; to control, not coerce; to finesse, not fight.” He wants the reader to be the best Christian that the non-Christian has ever met. When the focus is on truth and compassion for the other person, it becomes more a matter of putting a stone in their shoe, to make them think, than a series of manipulating maneuvers to get them to convert. This makes room for friendships to develop, rather than confrontations that create an us/them mentality, and, God willing, these encounters will eventually be the means that God uses to save them.
While this book is not a how to guide, it does offer some quality introductions to apologetic arguments and a great framework for discussing Christian convictions with those who do not hold to their worldview. Many who are new to apologetics will find a goldmine in this book, and those who are well versed will find an equal amount of value, since he gives a framework for discussion that is winsome and gets to the root of the issues to let the gospel shine. I reference this book often, since this model is the way I try to do apologetics with both Christians and non-Christians.
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Reviewed in the United States on May 3, 2014
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