Monday, August 29, 2011

Apologist Interview: Brian Auten

Today's interview is with Brian Auten, interviewed by the blogger WinteryKnight about topics and ideas in apologetics. WinteryKnight's blog focuses on worldview, marriage and chastity, politics, and apologetics.

Questions for WK:
• Why not use your real name?
• What's the focus on WinteryKnight.com?
• What's your goal in interviewing Brian?

Questions for Brian:
• How did you come to be in Northern Ireland?
• How did you get interested in apologetics?
• What would you do with unlimited funding to propagate apologetics resources?
• What arguments are the most persuasive for you?
• What arguments should we use with others?
• Do we need a million "one dollar" apologists, or one "million-dollar" apologist?
• How important do you think it is for apologists to focus on scientific evidences?
• How can the lay person get up to speed on these evidences?
• What's the best way to make the case for the resurrection?
• Use a sledgehammer approach, or a velvet glove approach?
• What about psychological reasons for rejecting the arguments ?
• How does apologetics benefit Christians?
• What about dealing with fear when speaking with people?
• What are the unique resources on the blog?

Full Interview MP3 Audio here (55 min)

Thanks to WK for doing the interview!
Enjoy.

11 comments :

Dante said...

Looking forward to this interview!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for posting Brian!

Linked on Wintery Knight:
http://winteryknight.wordpress.com/2011/08/29/brian-auten-of-apologetics-315-interviewed-by-the-wintery-knight/

Billy Squibs said...

I was just thinking the other day that an interview with Brian was overdue. I'll look forward to listening to this.

Jared said...

Haha. At first I though "What?! He's interviewing himself??" I think David Berlinski did something like that once.

Then I saw that someone else is conducting the interview with Brian. Whew! :)

A is for Atheist said...

I find it interesting that "Wintery Knight" names himself as such as a "defender of the faith"--yet he blocks people such as myself who challenge his arguments. Not much of a defender I would say.....

Peter said...

I used to follow WinteryKnight's interesting blog but whenever I commented something challenging WinteryKnight's view my comment was not published. His blog seemed to be a bit too one sided and there was no dialogue, and I moved on.

Anonymous said...

It's rather wrong headed to force your ideas on to someone elses personal idea space. I put a manger on my lawn during Christmas, must I also put up the symbols of other religions to be fair? Anyone who uses youtube or reads comments made on news stories on the net can see that rather than intellectual discourse, unchecked discourse turns to chaos.

If you were writing a paper on the Holocaust, would you include crackpot theories about those who say it never happened? If you were presenting a paper on the moon landing, you wouldn't take time to go through the theories of crackpots who say it was a governemnt hoax, would you?

And, if I was a Christian presenting the message of the Gospel, I would not dilute the light with the darkness and madness of atheist thought. Would Dawkins seriously entertain creationist ideas? Would Hitchens give serious air time to presenting positive Christian apologetics?

Peter, I get the feeling that you and "A" spend a lot of time under bridges and have a distinct taste for goat. Try curried next time, its not so bad ;)

A is for Atheist said...

Royal Canadian--If someone is making a claim, they should be willing to defend that claim--unless of course that claim is so weak that it cannot be defended.

If the Christian position was as strong as Christians claim it to be, they would have no problem defending it--but they do. I regularly have Christians attack me on my blog--as opposed to presenting counter arguments against my posts--because either they have no idea how to construct a counter argument, or their claims are indefensible.

I allow all comments except those that are defamatory and clearly ad hominem. In the past, I have debated scholars, and I literally had one throw a book at me, he was so upset that I would not let him get away with his pathetic attempts at defending his faith. I do the same online--although online I do not have to worry about books being thrown at me. Whew!

Peter said...

royalcanadian2011,

Nothing makes your opinions more relevant than poor insults like that I "spend a lot of time under bridges and have a distinct taste for goat". ;)

Unfortunately you are ignorant of my comments on WinteryKnight's blog about Israel-Palestinian conflict so your comparison with "crackpot theories" has two logical fallacies. This also makes your attempted insult of "darkness and madness of atheist thought" somewhat ironic.

If you had actually read and understood what I wrote before, you would realize that I did not demand him to publish my comment. It is his blog, he gets to decide which comment to publish. Just like it is my right to move on when I feel Christian web site doesn't follow 1 Peter 3:15.

MaryLou said...

I thoroughly enjoyed hearing Brian and Wintery share their beliefs, their experiences in ministry and their love of the Lord. Thank you, gentlemen, for the discussion.

8violets said...

Loved it!

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