A Theological Examination of Detective Colombo Compared to James Bond 007

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given the choice, would most Christians want to be like James Bond 007, or Detective Colombo?

a theological comparison between James Bond and Detective Colombo has been long overdue, especially when comparing them as models for Christian mission...

October, 2005

It's my dream that Christians will increasingly get involved in their communities so that collectively we can make a difference in our society. While many Christians have sat back over the past two or three decades waiting for, what Trevor Chandler calls, 'the Rapture Bus', the secular-humanists, the radical greens, the moral-relativists, and the New Age religionists have all contributed to the way our societies view the world. For those of us who have realised that the Rapture Bus might be running late (very late, in fact- about as late as it could get) we have dared to venture beyond the Rapture Bus Stop and discovered a world madly reshaping itself almost entirely without the influence of caring Christians.

This has overawed some Christians, who have felt that the world is just too scary and hostile, or that people are just no longer interested in the Christian message. This has prevented many Christians from even getting to "first-base" when it comes to sharing their faith and the Good News of Jesus Christ. In fact, the task now of fulfilling the Great Commission seems such a pipe-dream to some Christians that they are labelling it Mission-Impossible. At the risk of mixing metaphors, I want to show why you don't have to be James Bond 007 to undertake this Great Commission- and in fact, its better to be like Detective Colombo instead!

Have you ever been put on the spot about your Christianity? Have you started sharing your faith in Christ with someone only to have it become an argument and strain a friendship? Have you come away from a time with people when it was opportune to talk about spiritual things from a Christian's perspective yet you clammed up? I have.

People today are heavily influenced by the thinking of radical secularists and New Agers who have made truth and morality relative (that is, not absolute, but subjectively up to individuals to decide what is true or false, or right or wrong). When we share a message which we have discovered, not invented, it stands in stark contrast to what most people have accepted as their version of reality. We are tempted to think that when trying to engage people apologetically or evangelistically that we have to be some type of Christian "007" (expert at everything, highly trained, able to do the miraculous on-demand) simply to get to on first base. But, this thinking only serves to keep Christians believing that the task is just too hard. Rather than trying to be like James Bond, I think we need to be more like Colombo! Let me explain why...

1. Detective Colombo was not a secret agent.

2. Detective Colombo was not expert at everything.

3. Detective Colombo knew how to disarm his opponent with conversation.

4. Detective Colombo was not suave.

While we tend to make James Bond the hero, even though he nearly always ended up killing, destroying, deceiving, and committing fornication and walking off into the sunset still alone and lonely, we tend to downplay just how clever and successful Detective Colombo was!

If we approach the task of evangelism and the Great Commission with the attitude of James Bond, we will think that we have to always try and hit a home run by having all the answers and ensuring that people are immediately won to Christ because of these answers. But this is a cruel and false belief. Rather than trying to hit a home run in the opening minutes of a case, or even trying to get to first base, Colombo simply battered up and got into the game. And that's exactly why he used to solve one mystery a week and James Bond could only one a year. For us to have any hope of fulfilling the Great Commission we need Christians not so much worried about hitting a home-run or even getting to first-base, but simply getting into the game of being a witness.

Think about Colombo and how he differed from 007. He was happily married (always referring to his wife , even though we never saw her). He had bed-hair. His clothes looked slept in. He had a notepad but nearly always had to borrow a pencil (usually from the murderer). He drove an old beat-up car. In short, he was disarming. He didn't threaten anyone. Secondly, he rarely accused or lectured anyone. Instead, he asked a lot of questions.

One of the world's leading apologists is Greg Koukle. He runs a ministry called Stand To Reason. He believes that more Christians should be like Detective Colombo. Rather than adopting a confrontational, in-your-face, I-win - you-lose, approach to sharing our faith, he says that we need to win the person before we win the argument.

The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life,
And he who wins souls is wise.
Prov. 11:30

Proverbs 11:30 is often used to promote evangelism as a wise task. But when it was written, it wasn't evangelism that the writer had in mind. The Hebrew use of the word "soul" meant, the whole person. He was in essence saying that it was a wise thing to win over people (not just their 'souls'). All too often Christians have merely been concerned with winning "souls" (in the non-Hebrew sense) to Christ, rather than winning "people". This involves listening to them, understanding them, and caring for them. James Bond doesn't seem to excel in these qualities! But Colombo did. By the end of each episode, he's so befriended the murderer that the murderer is almost glad to confess to his new Detective friend the crime he has committed!

What Greg Koukle says we can learn from Colombo is that this befriending and winning was simply achieved by Colombo asking questions. He approached the crime scene without any judgmentalism. After meeting the murderer he fossics for his notepad and a pencil through his overcoat. He usually had to scrounge a pencil off the murderer and by now had convinced the murderer that he was no threat to him getting away with the crime. As he walked away from the crime scene he would stop, furrow his hand into his brow then turn to the murderer and say- "I've just got a question." The murderer would then give some reasonable (but wrong) answer, to which Colombo would say -"Of course!" He would pause for a few seconds then ask a follow-up question. This process would continue until the inconsistencies in the murderer's story are exposed and the truth is revealed.

WHAT DO YOU MEAN?

Universities can be hostile places for Christians. Many a student has been introduced to university life with a professor stating in the lecture-hall, "Christianity is without credibility, and the Bible is not to be believed!" If ever a Christian student had the courage to challenge such statements, he would often be dealt with contemptuously by the professor with an invitation to tell the class why Christianity has any credibility or the Bible has any basis for truth. What Greg Koukle suggests is that Christians are better off responding like Colombo (rather than James Bond!). He suggests that the student responds thus, "Professor, I haven't stated what I believe, but I would like to know what you mean when you say that Christianity has no credibility and the Bible cannot be believed. Could you please answer my question?" By doing this, the onus is put back on the professor to defend his outrageous claim, and the Christian assumes the role of Colombo.

HOW DID YOU COME TO THAT CONCLUSION?

Someone might say to you "Science has proved that the Bible is wrong!" Employing the first Colombo question we would ask them- "What do you mean?" They might say "Charles Darwin proved that life could start from nothing- therefore we no longer need a 'god' to explain these things." The follow-up Colombo question is "How did you come to that conclusion?" Because Darwin did not prove that life could start from nothing, it will be interesting to hear their response and hopefully expose the inconsistencies in their thinking. This then leads to the third important Colombo question-

BUT IF...?

The third type of Colombo question questions their conclusions. This is where you can expose self-defeating logic. For example, here are several extremely obvious self-defeating statements-

There are no sentences with more than three words in them.

I cannot read, write or speak one word of English.

All religions are equally true.

Jesus never lied but he wasn't who he claimed to be.

When we realise the power of asking questions we can see that Christ did this often. If we can learn to ask questions rather than make confrontational statements we may find that we can take the heat out of a potentially hostile exchange. When confronted with someone who knows more than us, a simple-"That's interesting. Let me think about that and get back to you when I'm ready." can also be wisdom in action.

By recognising that evangelism is a process that can sometimes take time, and that we don't have to be Christianised James Bonds with an answer for every question and problem can be quite liberating. Even the youngest Christians can use the Colombo questions to talk with others about their faith in Christ. But a word of warning- asking questions can be used to belittle people. The goal is not to belittle, or even to win an argument, but to win a person, then, to win them to Christ. So you don't have to hit a home-run, or even get to first-base, just batter-up and get into the game! It just means you have to be like Colombo, not James Bond!

Andrew Corbett, October 2005

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