Stand to Reason

Christianity Worth Thinking About

Stand to Reason  is based on the conviction that Christianity and Christian values, if properly understood and properly articulated, can "stand to reason" in the public square. The truth is on our side, but whether that truth will make a difference depends on whether or not Christians are equipped to give an answer.

There's a desperate need to train followers of Jesus Christ to explain and defend Christian beliefs and values to people who don't understand our language and who don't accept our source of authority. That need is especially acute for two groups: an emerging postmodern generation that has lost confidence that any claims to truth are legitimate, and an increasingly relativistic church grounded more on personal experience than in biblical truth.

How to Think & Speak

Stand to Reason was founded by Greg Koukl in 1993 to train Christians to think more clearly about their faith and to make an even-handed, incisive, yet gracious defense of classical Christianity and classical Christian values. STR is a place to get educated. Here, you won't just get your questions answered; you'll be taught how to think.

Paul says we are ambassadors for Christ (2 Corinthians 5:20). An ambassador is someone who represents the desires of his king in a foreign land.

But Paul adds something vital: "We are ambassadors for Christ as though God were entreating through us." Wherever we Christians go, everything we do or say should be "as though God were entreating through us." It's a sobering thought.

To help equip Christians to fulfill Paul's admonition to be ambassadors for Christ, Stand to Reason focuses on the development of three qualities it sees as essential: knowledge, wisdom, and character. First, an ambassador must have some basic knowledge. Minimally, he must know the character, mind, and purposes of his King. Second, this knowledge must be deployed in a skillful way. An element of wisdom is needed to engage in the sort of tactical and artful diplomacy that will make his message persuasive. Third is character. Because an ambassador brings himself along in everything he does, his personal maturity and individual virtue, or lack thereof, can make or break the message.

Training & Resources

Stand to Reason provides training in a number of ways to equip Christian ambassadors, including radio broadcasts and podcasts, website content, books, and speaking engagements.

In a weekly broadcast, Greg Koukl interacts with callers, both Christian and non-Christian, on issues relating to ethics, values, and religion from a Christian worldview. In addition, his teaching has been featured on Focus on the Family radio; he's been interviewed for CBN and the BBC; he's debated atheist Michael Shermer on Hugh Hewitt's national radio show; and he engaged in an hour-long, nationally televised debate with Deepak Chopra on Lee Strobel's Faith Under Fire.

Greg has also written several books, including Tactics—A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions; Relativism: Feet Firmly Planted in Mid-Air (with Francis J. Beckwith); and Precious Unborn Human Persons.

He is also one of four STR speakers who provide training in person; the other three are Brett Kunkle, Alan Shlemon, and newcomer J. Warner Wallace (who is featured in this issue of Salvo).

STR's website (www.str.org) has over a thousand pages of free training content, as well as a store where STR's resources are sold. The site features two bi-monthly training pieces—Solid Ground and Mentoring Letter—in which Greg fleshes out issues facing Christian ambassadors. STR also reaches out to students with youth conferences and its special student website, STR Place.

Stand to Reason stands on the front lines, defending faith and equipping others to do the same, on vital issues today. •

From Salvo 24 (Spring 2013)
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