Wordplay
It’s easy to get distracted by words.
When I talk with someone, sometimes I miss both the heart of the issue and the heart of the person.
It’s easy to succumb to someone’s verbal defense; however, something I have difficulty remembering is clever and articulate words may merely be a smokescreen. People may argue for what they don’t believe (or don’t realize they don’t believe), and they may do so confidently.
“[Jesus] doesn’t answer the question because that’s not the question. Those are the words. The real question was the questioner. Jesus has this incredible way of not being distracted by words. He answered the questioner. And if we can do that too, we do his work. That’s the only way we can do his work, by talking to the real person inside, not the mask and the tongue and the words that the person manipulates.” – Peter Kreeft p. 91 Two Tasks of the Christian Scholar
“Everyone answers truthfully in their own mind” – Dr. Thom Wolf