WHI-1123 | Taking Every Thought Captive
How are we to raise up the next generation of Christians to think seriously about the Christian faith if they have never been taught how to think in the first place? How are we to keep our kids in the faith if they are constantly propagandized by the messages they encounter in college or via television advertisements? The apostle Paul calls us to “take every thought captive, to the obedience of Christ,” but how are we actually to accomplish this task? Joining me to discuss this important issue are Christopher Perrin, Aaron Larson, and Joelle Hodge, contributors to The Art of Argument (Classical Academic Press, 2010).
Perrin, Larson, and Hodge
Michael Horton
Shane Rosenthal
PDF Document
Matthew Smith
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Larson and Hodge
Shelly Johnson
Greg Koukl
WHI-238
WHI-1050-1051
October 14th, 2012 at 3:53 am
The discussion is a critical one, and I enjoyed it. I particularly thought the introduction was apt:
“If we’re really in love with the truth, then when we’re engaged in an argument (in the original sense of that word) we’re seeking to make things clear, and we’re trying to sharpen one another, and we’re open to coming to a different position than what we started with because we want to love the truth. So arguments are helpful to two people who start with differing views – if they both love truth. They’ll both rejoice in the end, even if one has to yield.”
Ever since I was introduced to “Stand To Reason” with Greg Koukl, I’ve been enjoying its broadcast weekly. It and the White Horse Inn have been a good source of keeping up with the issues currently facing Christianity.
But I’ve lately become painfully aware of what I fear is a weakness in Evangelical Christianity’s interface with the world. This is an “email” and, as such, I’ve already gone past the modern version of “succinct”, so I’ll try to sum up with what should be the whole content of my missive — and a likely subject for a book-length conversation:
The weakness in current apologetics — Koukl’s approach — is that it is counter to the introduction to today’s White Horse Inn program (the part I quoted). That is, apologetics has become (even by Koukl’s own description) “…the art of persuasion”. As such, it isn’t so much seeking the truth as it is defending the current state of belief — and that, by using any means to persuade.
It’s a sticky wicket, but engaging with someone who believes differently should always contain some element of the humility that they, not I, might be right.
October 14th, 2012 at 5:04 am
The link, “WHI discussion Group Questions”, does not work. Not sure if you were aware of it. Thank you.
October 15th, 2012 at 7:55 am
Larry -
Our “supplier” of discussion questions hasn’t uploaded them yet. Sorry for the inconvience. We will post them as soon as we can.
Mark Vander Pol
Webmaster, WHI