Can a Donkey Teach You to Explain Your Faith?

By Rod Anderson, CP Cartoonist Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Christians have lost the art of persuasion and they need to get it back, Christian author Os Guinness argues in his new book, Fool's Talk: Recovering the Art of Christian Persuasion.

Balaam's ass is the patron saint of apologetics, Guinness likes to say, because the story from Numbers 22 illustrates that the key to being a good apologist is obedience to God.

In the story, Balaam is a prophet being disobedient to God. Several times, his donkey tries to turn him around, to put him on the correct path, but he is still resistant. Balaam only corrected himself when, in verse 28, "the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey," and the donkey talked to him.

"The Lord used a dumb donkey to speak when the prophet was resistant to it. You can see there something that's very humble, somewhat ridiculous, and the Lord is able to use him," Guinness said in an April 24 interview with The Christian Post. "Many of us don't have the answers to all the questions, but are we prepared to be used by the Lord? That is the key."