Last week, Easter 2008, our church was privileged to have one of the world's most articulate apologists, Greg Koukl, speak at our church's Easter Convention. I find Greg to be one of the clearest Christian thinkers in the world today. But not only is Greg super-smart, he is super-nice. He encourages this mix in all followers of Christ. His three key words for his ministry organisation, Stand To Reason, are: Knowledge, Wisdom, and Character. And Greg embodies these three key words.Greg did a brilliant presentation on clear-critical thinking. One of his first points was to encourage people to distinguish between what is genuine argument and what is non-argument (opinion, feelings, preferences, and ridicule). We posted a deliberately short clip of Greg discussing the issue of ridicule against Christianity. He made the point that ridicule is not an argument. He went on to cite a recent "debate" between Christopher Hitchens and Jay Richards in which Hitchens interrupted Richards opening remarks by asking him whether he believed in the Virgin Birth and Resurrection of Christ. Richards acknowledged that he did. Hitchens then ridiculed Richards for holding these beliefs and then stated- "I rest my case!"
Ironically, the clip of Greg making this point that ridicule is not an argument has been ridiculed repeatedly on YouTube. You might want to have a look at the clip and also be on guard against using ridicule and be alert to when it is used as a disguised argument against your beliefs.
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