Tag Archives: Influence

Mentoring

The importance of being the first to frame issues for your children

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Dan’s post at The Bumbling Genius on the importance of parents talking to their children FIRST about controversial issues related to Christianity is a must-read. The post drew 100 comments, so far. The post is here.

Excerpt:

The common assertion that “Christians are narrow-minded, or anti-science” is a logical fallacy called”Poisoning the Well”. Well poisoning is a preempted ad hominem attack that attempts to pre-program, or especially in this case to embed into society’s thinking a predisposition against a particular point of view.

My first exposure to the effectiveness of this tactic-from the outside looking in-occurred during discussions in my home with Jehovah’s Witnesses. It was here that I began to appreciate the persuasive power of this logical fallacy, and to develop a similar technique in teaching my own children in ways to help insulate them against this kind of mind poisoning by doing a little pre-poisoning of the well of their thinking myself. I hope to accomplish this by being the first to present the messages of our culture except that I do so under the microscope of scripture, logic, and objective truth. In this way I am the one setting the table, so to speak, for the future discussions my children will encounter involving their worldview.

Not unlike the tactics used by the JW’s and anti-Christ cultural apologist, as I teach my children I employ the key concept of “firsts.” For example: when an institution or media is the first to present a cultural issue, and also the first to present my response in a “closed-minded”, “Christian” caricatured stereotype, followed by their a pithy, high-browed, and cognitive dissonant response to that stereotype, then my children’s Well becomes poisoned against my teaching. Everything I as parent subsequently espouse may then be seen through the lens of that stereotype. On the other hand, if I am the first to present the tenets of those opposing worldviews along with a logical and realistic explanation as to why they are flawed, then I will have achieved the objective of firsts.

This is something Christian parents really need to think about. You want to inoculate your children against pressure from teachers and peers by discussing issues long before they are introduced in the classroom or the playground. And you should be on guard against other sources of sin and lies, too.

Podcasts

Brian Auten interviews William Lane Craig

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The interview is here on Brian’s excellent site, Apologetics 315.

The MP3 file is here. (29 minutes)

Topics:

  • The Reasonable Faith Chapters program: why?
  • Brian’s new Reasonable Faith chapter in Belfast, Ireland
  • WLC’s new book “On Guard” for beginning Christians (coming out in March!)
  • WLC’s upcoming debate with physicist Victor Stenger on March 1, 2010
  • WLC’s upcoming debate with philosopher Michael Tooley, later on in March
  • How did WLC become a Christian?
  • Which books and scholars influenced WLC the most?
  • What is the focus of WLC’s current research
  • What books should a beginning Christian read to start defending their faith?
  • What books should an intermediate Christian read to start defending their faith?
  • What degrees can a Christian do to be accredited in apologetics?
  • The importance of having a mentor to help direct your studies
  • What dicipline is an essential jumping-off for Christian scholars?
  • Whice argument for Christianity is the most effective?
  • What should a person study to develop their personal character?
  • What skills are necessary for study, and how do you develop them?
  • Which scholars does WLC admire as role models?
  • How can a person develop to improve their public speaking skills?
  • What does WLC do to prepare for this debates?
  • How does apologetics connect with the concept of “spiritual warfare”?
  • How can you use apologetics to help the development of your children?
  • How important is your marriage compared to your studies?
  • What is the ultimate goal of the apologetic enterprise?
  • Does God have a specific or a general will for each individual?
  • What legacy does WLC hope to leave behind?

Brian did a good job on this interview. He’s a very nice person, too.

In fact, he’s so nice that he managed to persuade Biola University to offer a 10% discount on William Lane Craig’s Philosophy of Religion DVD set. It’s big and expensive ($135!), but you only need to buy it once, and Brian recommends it. I think that this set is a lot better than the Kalam Cosmological Argument set that is also available.

Here is Bill’s previous debate with Victor Stenger, and here is his previous debate with Michael Tooley.

Videos

How unions lobby Democrats to prevent competition and raise consumer prices

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This video from Reason.tv that ECM found at Big Government explains how unions destroy competition by using political contributions to Democrats. Competition is achieved when consumers like you and me have choices in the marketplace. Without choices, one company (or the government) has a monopoly, and can deliver low quality for a high price – and there is nothing you can do about it.

Here’s the video:

And here’s the blurb:

You may have heard the UPS is in quite the political fight with FEDEX. Though both are package-delivery companies, they’re governed by totally different federal labor rules. As a result, UPS’s workforce is much more heavily unionized than FEDEX’s-and more than twice as expensive.

So now UPS is trying to get FEDEX reclassified under federal law as a way of screwing a competitor.

Unions are major, major donors to the Democrat party, and they want to make sure that you have no choice at all about how you spend your money. And that includes government-run education!

And of course, removing competition is only one thing unions do to raise consumer prices – they also advocate for tariffs, which also makes you and I pay more for consumer goods. Unions are against consumer rights.