Columbo Tactic. Step 1: Clarify - What do you mean by that? Step 2: Gather info - Now, how do you come to that conclusion?

Session 4

Columbo Tactic Step 1: Clarify - What do you mean by that? Step 2: Gather info - Now, how do you come to that conclusion? Step 3: Lead the way Have you considered? Softer approach - Can you help me understand?

Session 1

How did our Atheist friend describe the command to sacrifice Isaac? Dawkins: Divine Child Abuse Christopher Hitchens: The statement was too profane to repeat.

Abraham s Story: Genesis 12 & 22 Go...from Ur (trust / faith) based on PROMISE GO...to mount of sacrifice

The firmness of faith of Abraham, the father of Israel, was being tested, and this moment would shape the thinking and identity of subsequent generations of Israelites. E. A. Speiser, quoted by Paul Copan

Genesis 22: Under the Microscope 1. This is a test...sacrifice never intended (22:1) 2. Please I feel your pain 3. A reminder of covenant promise (22:2) 4. Moriah God will provide

Abraham & Isaac After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, Abraham! And he said, Here I am. 2 He said, Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you. 3 So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. Genesis 22:1-3 (ESV)

Genesis 22: Under the Microscope 1. This is a test...sacrifice never intended (22:1) 2. Please I feel your pain 3. A reminder of covenant promise (22:2) 4. Moriah God will provide

Abraham & Isaac By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, 18 of whom it was said, Through Isaac shall your offspring be named. 19 He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back. Hebrews 11:17-19 (ESV)

And whatever town or village you enter, find out who is worthy in it and stay there until you depart. 12 As you enter the house, greet it. 13 And if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it, but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. 14 And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town. 15 Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town. Matthew 10:11-15 (ESV)

Session 2

Biblical Value of Women So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:27 (NIV) For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. Genesis 2:24 (NASB)

Biblical Value of Women An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels. Proverbs 31:10 (ESV) He executes justice for the fatherless and the WIDOW... Deuteronomy 10:18 (ESV)

Descriptive vs. Prescriptive

Biblical Value of Women Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the LORD your God gives you. Exodus 20:12 (NASB) Every one of you shall reverence his mother and his father... Leviticus 19:3 (NASB)

Ancient Near East Culture & the Mosaic Law The Mosaic Law: Was not mature Was a substantial improvement on the laws of the surrounding nations Acted as a redemptive measure A gracious gift temporarily given to national Israel that bridged God s ideal and the realities of ancient near eastern life and human hard-heartedness

Session 3

Israel s Foreign Policy When the LORD your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and mightier than you, 2 and when the LORD your God gives them over to you, and you defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. You shall make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them. Deuteronomy 7:1-2 (ESV)

Incest Israel s Foreign Policy Adultery Homosexuality Beastiality Child Sacrifice

Timeline: Amorite Judgment 2100 BC to 1800 BC still premature: Then the fourth generation [after 400 years of Egyptian captivity] they will return here [the Promised Land], for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete. Genesis 15:16 (NASB)

3500 BC: Timeline: Amorite Judgment So he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants He shall be to his brothers. Genesis 9:25 (NASB)

I will send my terror before you and will throw into confusion all the people against whom you shall come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. 28 And I will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites from before you. 29 I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the wild beasts multiply against you. 30 Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and possess the land. Exodus 23:27-30 (ESV)

Rahab, a Prostitute... finds salvation, for annihilation assumes only those who are hardened of heart, rebellious against the law of God written upon their hearts.

For humanity, anger is often the desire for retaliation. For God, and humanity, righteous anger is a motion of the soul rousing itself to curb sin.

A Church Father, Lactantius (last half of the third century AD), wrote: He who loves the good by this very fact hates the evil: and he who does not hate evil, does not love the good; because the love of goodness issues directly out of the hatred of evil, and the hatred of evil issues directly out of the love of goodness. No one can love life without abhorring death; and no one can have an appetency for light without an antipathy to darkness.

God s anger and wrath are his legitimate expressions of his abhorrence of all that is sinful, wrong, unjust, and against his very nature and being. God did not flare up with an impetuosity against the Canaanites, but gave them centuries and millennia to get the point and right the wrong. In the end, he had to act or he would not be holy, just, righteous, and fair. Walt Kaiser, The Promise-plan of God

Tactic s Flaws, Facts, and Illogical Challenges

Views That Self-Destruct Law of non-contradiction: Commonsense notion that contradictory statements cannot both be true at the same time. All self-destructing views, Suicidal, either express or entail contradictions.

Formal Suicide Typically straight forward unless implicit and embedded into the larger idea. How to Identify: 1. Pay attention to basic idea, premise, claim, etc. 2. Consider if the claim applies to itself. There is not absolute truth?

Practical Suicide Claims that simply can not work in real-life application. There is no logical contradiction, strictly speaking, just a practical one. It s wrong to say people are wrong.

Moral Relativist Are especially vulnerable to Practical Suicide. Believe there is not objective morality.

Moral Relativist Are especially vulnerable to Practical Suicide. Believe there is not objective morality. If true and taken to it s logical conclusion: Hitler and Mother Theresa are no different.

Moral Relativism Are especially vulnerable to Practical Suicide. Believe there is not objective morality. If true and taken to it s logical conclusion: Hitler and Mother Theresa are no different. You shouldn t force your morality on other people.

Taking the Roof Off AKA reductio ad absurdum or simply reductio Simply means reducing a point to its absurd conclusion or consequence. Francis Schaeffer Regardless of man s system, he has to live in God s world. Bottom-line: Reality doesn t change.

Roof Removal, Step-By-Step 1. Ask yourself what persons claim is Columbo. 2. Mentally take the claim for a test drive. Ask: If I follow this principle consistently, what implication will it have on other issues? 3. If you find a problem, point it out.

They are born that way! Basic argument: What is natural is moral Homosexuality is natural (the claim goes) Homosexuality is moral

They are born that way! Basic argument: What is natural is moral Homosexuality is natural (the claim goes) Homosexuality is moral What if we discover a gay bashing gene?

Basic argument: They are born that way! What is natural is moral Homosexuality is natural (the claim goes) Homosexuality is moral What if we discover a gay bashing gene? Animal s do it too! Animals also kill and eat each other, should we do that as well?

Claim: Climate Control Christians who moralize homosexuality, are promoting a climate of hate.

Claim: Climate Control Christians who moralize homosexuality, are promoting a climate of hate. If true, Alcoholics Anonymous would be responsible for every drunk that gets beat up in an alley.

Climate Control If moralizing causes hate, and hate leads to violence then are those who demonize Christians for condemning homosexuality also guilty of hate-mongering?

Defining characteristics: Interrupt often The Steam Roller Pile on additional challenges as you try to answer the previous challenge Change direction Never really listen to you Most are insincere and want to win via intimidation.

How can you deal with it? 1. Calmly stop them. I m not quit finished yet. 2. Shame them. Can I ask you a favor? Could I have a few moments to develop my point? 3. Leave them. Walk away. 4. One exception: When other people are around, the person the Holy Spirit is working with may be in the crowd.

You only need two things: Just the Fact s Ma am 1. Awareness that many challenges to Christianity are based on bad information. 2. You need to know the facts.

Two-Step Process 1. Ask, what is the claim? Columbo steps 1 & 2 Take detailed notes, ask follow-up questions. 2. Ask, Is the claim factually accurate? Do some research.

Precision is important Delivering the Facts When citing facts in your defense, precise numbers allow more persuasion than general figures.

Remember Nabeel & David?

Nabeel Video

1. Be ready. 8 Quick Tips

1. Be ready. 8 Quick Tips 2. Keep it simple. Just dropping stones in shoes.

8 Quick Tips 1. Be ready. 2. Keep it simple. Just dropping stones in shoes. 3. Avoid spiritual language and religious pretense.

1. Be ready. 8 Quick Tips 2. Keep it simple. Just dropping stones in shoes. 3. Avoid spiritual language and religious pretense. 4. Focus on the truth of Christianity, not merely its personal benefits. 5. Give reasons. 6. Stay calm.

Session 4

Anti-Kidnapping Whoever steals a man and sells him, and anyone found in possession of him, shall be put to death. Exodus 21:16 (ESV) If a man is found stealing one of his brothers of the people of Israel, and if he treats him as a slave or sells him, then that thief shall die. So you shall purge the evil from your midst. Deuteronomy 24:7 (ESV)

Anti-Slave Return You shall not give up to his master a slave who has escaped from his master to you. 16 He shall dwell with you, in your midst, in the place that he shall choose within one of your towns, wherever it suits him. You shall not wrong him. Deuteronomy 23:15-16 (ESV)

Anti-Harm When a man strikes his slave, male or female, with a rod and the slave dies under his hand, he shall be avenged. Exodus 21:20 (ESV) When a man strikes the eye of his slave, male or female, and destroys it, he shall let the slave go free because of his eye. 27 If he knocks out the tooth of his slave, male or female, he shall let the slave go free because of his tooth. Exodus 21:26-27 (ESV)

The Christian Manifesto There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:28 (ESV)

Session 4