The Essence of Apologetics

In Part 3 of this series, Dr Guinness considers how to communicate effectively in apologetics.

A few notes and quotes from the talk:

Four parts of cross-cultural communication:

Identification
Persuasion
Translation
Justification

Some methodology is unavoidable

Two questions to ask:

is it right (ie. is it Biblical)?
is it second nature (ie. lacking in self-consciousness)?

Finding out where a person is:

1. Listen to people as individuals
2. Learn the language of their worldview and lifeworld
3. Know how unbelieving minds work 

Aspects of unbelief:

Part-inversion
Part-suppression
Part-exploitation
Part-tension
Part-deception

"Man's love of truth is such that when he loves something which is not the truth, he pretends to himself that what he loves is the truth. And because he hates to be proved wrong, he will not allow himself to be convinced that he is deceiving himself. So he hates the real truth for what he takes to be, in his heart, the truth in its place." - Confessions Book X, Augustine

"Man is a thought adventurer. He has thought his way down through the ages. Which brings us to the real dilemma of man and his long adventure. He is a liar – a liar to himself. And once he's told himself a lie, round and round he goes after his favourite lie, as if it was a bit of phosphorous on the end of his nose.... But man, the longer he follows his lie, becomes all the surer he's seen a light." - D.H. Lawrence