Thoughts on Persuasion

I have been thinking a lot recently about Persuasion in our Faith.

I have to reference a podcast I listened to from Apologetics.com on this topic
But I have been thinking a lot on the topic from reading Speaking to Teenagers, oddly enough.
The same ideas about persuasion are followed in both instances, going back to the Greek philosopher Aristotle's ideas of Ethos, Pathos, and Logos. I have been trained on this a lot recently in my Communications and Philosophy classes that I took this quarter at Ohio University.

A very brief overview of these three things is explained well here:

Ethos (Credibility), or ethical appeal, means convincing by the character of the author.

Pathos (Emotional) means persuading by appealing to the reader's emotions.

Logos (Logical) means persuading by the use of reasoning.

One thing that is difficult for intellectual Christians, like myself, is finding the balance between showing love and doing real evangelism verses studying theology and talking about it. We can get so caught up in learning and studying theology, for a number of reasons: Ranging from us wanting to know the Lord better to wanting to be able to make a strong argument for our faith, or desiring the knowledge in hopes of receiving a Doctorate degree. Let's focus on using this knowledge to help us make a strong case for our faith.
Studying theology to win intellectual arguments can be a great thing, but it can also be dangerous and a waste of time. Knowing knock-out winning arguments is not true evangelism. God can and will use these on His own time but in our own prideful ways these arguments can be in vain.


1 Cor. 13: 13
So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
My rant :
Showing Christ's Genuine Love in your life, is the best way to persuade other's for Christ. Yes, having knowledge about theology can help and I am not saying that you are completely wasting your time by studying theology and "always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope" (1 peter 3 :15) . There is a balance.
Studying theology and knowing these knock-out arguments becomes dangerous when we put them above love and above Christ working through us. It is a problem when we put more trust in ourselves, our arguments in this theology rather than truly loving our friends (and enemies) - or anyone we are explaining this theology to- and depending on Christ and his love.

I am still thinking about this idea of persuasion in our faith. Love and reason.

Favorite Apologetic/theology websites of late

http://www.alwaysbeready.com/ -This is a neat "field guide" that might help you get information about other faiths and cults. It also could help you share your Christian faith better to people you know who believe in another world view.

Everystudent.com

This one is one of my favorites. It is geared toward High school and college-aged students. There is infomation from topics ranging from 'Who is Jesus' to college life issues and life questions.

Godsaidmansaid.com

This site is highly recognized for tackling all kinds of hot issues in both the political and scientific realms. The site originally was created for the historical and scientifically minded and those who challenged the evidence of Christ's existence and Christ's life. Today the site is easy to understand for people of all education levels and branched out to tackle many more
issues including social issues of divorce and homosexuality.

Ex-atheist.com

You might be able to figure out what this site is about judging by the title. "Debate, argument, and apologetics contending earnestly for the faith." It was created by an ex-atheist turned Christian and others helping him!!! There are some pretty good knock-out arguments in here!

Godandscience.org

This site is also an excellent site to send your atheistic friends and friends who say "I want to believe but there just is not enough or any evidence..." Because the truth is there is tons of
evidence proving God's existence. They are just not looking for it, they may not want to believe it, and/or they have been hidden from the truth. Today's media and society do not
want us to beieve in just one way solutions, but this is the only way- The Word of God is the absolute truth.

Answersingenesis.org
This site is fulled with tons of answers to crazy questions ranging from UFOs to Creation to Abortion to Moral Issues to Mutations and more !!!

Probe.org
This one is one of my favorites! So many resources can be found from this site. Not just apologetic truths but so much! There are articles from tons of professors and experts about how our faith relates to our culture, science, politics, sexuality. This site also helps explore different
world religions, cults, theology, philosophy, and even psychology. It probes both historical things along with current day issues.A must go to site for any intellectual mind.

Monergism.com

This site I highly recommend for you Bible stomppers who really love and appreciate theology and always want to be right about how the Word is viewed and understood. This site is
excellent resource for someone researching theology and want to know
what the Word of God says and all sides of the issue!

Veritas.org

Veritas means Truth. The Veritas Forum is an opportunity for entire university communities to explore and discuss life’s hardest questions. The Veritas Forum is an effort to engage Universities in its most fundamental purpose: the pursuit of knowledge. The Veritas website offers years and years worth of free material in helping you and deal with those most difficult questions. Evidence for the answers of these questions comes from both Scripture and the pursuit of knowledge.

http://www.gotquestions.org/
This website I have found interesting. Some issues it is great, but on other issues i have found this website biased and/or lacking to in the way they answer certain questions.

I do have a shout-out for my friends in my apartment desiringgod.org - Anything reformed and John Piper related is usually a good choice.

The Bridge

Jesus is the propitiation for our sins.

This is such a beautiful illustration. I've always heard the story but seeing it in video form is intense.

Technology and teenagers (part 1)

Many teens spend 30 hours a week on 'screen time' during high school
Generation Y and younger, are around media and screens (TV, computer, phones, etc) much more than any other generation.
There are a lot of reasons for this
and there is a lot to say about this. Today I am not going to mention a lot of commentary, because I am on my way to FL for vacation, but I want to post and supply you with articles and resources relating to this. I will post more information about this later.


For parents - guide to help parents understand internet

Recommended reading - Youth Culture 101, Walt Mueller

A lot of research related to the Internet and Youth.

Have a great day,
Alex