BreakPoint This Week |
  BreakPoint This Week: Meet the Truth John Stonestreet and Eric Metaxas interview Dr. Joseph Loconte: Communicating the Faith means realizing that Truth isn't a set of facts. It is a Person. Listen Now | DownloadHow do you speak Truth into a dark culture winsomely? With issues like marriage, the sanctity of life and religious liberties so vital to address, we must speak. But speak wisely. During this week's broadcast, John Stonestreet and Eric Metaxas welcome author and scholar, Dr. Joseph Loconte to discuss strategies to better communicate the Christian worldview. It's easy to speak. Just open your mouth and form the words. It's another thing entirely, though, to communicate effectively. That takes some wisdom. Fortunately, the Bible offers us some godly wisdom on the subject, and that's our focus today. 
Dr. Joe Loconte, author of "The Searchers"
"What we say is important," explains John Stonestreet. "But how we say it is just as important." These days, Christians who try to communicate our Faith's message seem to make one of two critical mistakes. Many of us will dive into evangelism or apologetics with the kind of cavalier attitude that says, "I'm in this to win the debate." We hope to dazzle skeptics and seekers alike with facts and arguments designed to overwhelm their defenses and force them to a decision. But this approach suffers from a serious grace deficiency, and often drives people away more effectively than it communicates the our message. The Truth, while powerful, is of little use when spoken without seasoning. (Colossians 4:6) When we fixate on the mere facts of Christianity, we also risk portraying faith as mere intellectual assent, as if the Gospel were the Law the Gravity. Along with the head understanding, explains Eric Metaxas, we need a heart understanding, or what C. S. Lewis called "moral imagination." But others among us make the mistake of "seasoning" the Truth right out of our appeal. When we treat the world so gently that we lose focus on the actual theology we hoped to communicate, we have failed. There will come times when we must stand on the trustworthiness and tenets of our Faith, and this will inevitably offend many people. The key, says John Stonestreet, is to ensure that it is Christianity, not us, which offends. "We have this idea that we can divorce Truth from the way we express Truth," says Eric. "But that is not a Biblical or Christian idea of Truth." As Dr. Joe Loconte, author of "The Seekers: The Quest for Faith in the Valley of Doubt," argues, there is a third option for communicating the Faith. That option is rooted in the doctrine of the incarnation, and the uniquely Christian conviction that Truth, rather than a set of facts, is a Person. Ultimately, he says, the key to reaching our world with the Good News of salvation and convincing them of the entire Christian Worldview lies in the person of Jesus Christ, who not only spoke the Truth, but lived it for the world to witness. We're glad that you've joined us for this latest edition of BreakPoint This Week. Once you've caught the interview, be sure to pick up your copy of Dr. Loconte's book from the Colson Center Store. Learn More...The Searchers: The Quest for Faith in the Valley of Doubt Jesus Hates Dead Religion |
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Thanks for the comment. I think the point wasn't that we are too intellectual (I certainly would argue a huge neglect of the mind on the part of Christians today), but reliant on words and argument (many poorly thought out) while also neglecting the need to communicate well. Communication is most effective when the verbal is joined with that which captures the imagination (i.e. story or acts of grace).
You are correct, and we never meant to imply otherwise, that there is deep lack of awareness of worldview. I would just argue that worldview needs to be more than understood and regurgitated. It needs to be embodied and implemented!
Thank you again for yet another insightful broadcast. I think you touched base on a side of Christianity I generally do not approach in terms of art and culture. Also, your discussion on non-direct evangelism (life of love vs. the need for direct dialogue) was very insightful. It is certainly a reminder that one way or another, the Holy Spirit will convict those that He convicts, not by how we behave.
However, I feel like I may have missed something... Early on in the broadcast, I believe it was Mr. Stonestreet that brought up that too often Christians make evangelism or arguments for Christianity in a far too rational way. I wonder where this idea came from. I can imagine that the three of you would struggle with being too rational because you are among the top Christian intellectuals of our day (as Mr. Colson was).
On my side, being a college student, I just don't see it. For Christians my age, Christianity is purely an experience - it's all emotion and feeling - the culture and art that you mentioned. Yet, I think my generation is uniquely unaware of worldview. They have the culture and love part down pat, but have no understanding of the logical side.
When Mr. Loconte brought up the student that used CS Lewis’ lunatic vs. liar vs. truth, I was even more confused – my confusion is that when Breakpoint is all about rational understanding of one’s worldview and the surveys that show that Christian evangelicals are unaware of what their Bible teaches (plus the general inability of my generation to logically defend Christianity on the college campus), the three of you feel that Christians are too logical in their arguments. Did I misinterpret the word intellectual? I can see how having the imagination as well as the logical are two vital halves, but I personally see Christians as winning on the imagination, but generally failing with the intellectual.