When a cherished view is at stake, it’s not unusual for people to raise empty protests—objections that sound worthwhile but simply can’t be defended once examined. Narrating the debate often exposes a lack of substance behind the bluster.

This is why your second Columbo question, “How did you come to that conclusion?” is so powerful. It helps you handle outlandish speculations and bizarre alternate explanations by placing the burden of proof where it belongs—on the shoulders of the one making the claim.

There are three questions you should always ask whenever someone offers an alternate explanation: Is it possible? Is it plausible? Is it probable?

Caught off guard, some will admit they don’t have any reasons for their view, which is a remarkable confession. This frank admission always prompts another question from me: “Why would you believe something you have no reason to think is true?”6 Notice that this is just a variation of our second Columbo question.

How do you reverse the burden of proof when the other person is making the claim? You do it Columbo style—with a question. Here it is: “How did you come to that conclusion?”

The natural impulse for more aggressive Christians is to take up a challenge and attempt to prove the other person wrong. Don’t do it. If you try, you’re just giving him a free ride.

Would you like a model question that will help you get going? Here’s the one I use: “What do you mean by that?”

The key to the Columbo tactic is to go on the offensive in an inoffensive way with carefully selected questions that advance the conversation. Never make a statement, at least at first, when a question will do the job.

I encourage you to consider the strategy I use when God opens a door of opportunity for me. I pray quickly for wisdom, then ask myself, What one thing can I say in this circumstance, what one question can I ask, what single idea can I offer that will get the other person thinking? Then I simply try to put a stone in the person’s shoe.