By: Steve Schramm
Biblical Apologetics is wholly grounded in presuppositional methodology—the position which places the Scriptures in context as the highest authority. But practically speaking, there is another element to apologetics that is extremely important. So important, in fact, that we see Jesus Himself using it constantly throughout the New Testament: Asking powerful, pointed questions.
Most of your time doing apologetics should actually be spent listening!
This may sound counterintuitive, but I think it will make sense as we explore this further.
In this great age of ideas we are living in, it can be hard to know what anyone really believes about the world. In an extremely eye-opening study, the Barna Research Group made some staggering discoveries about what practicing Christians believe.
Here are just a few of the highlights they point out:
- 61% agree with ideas rooted in New Spirituality.
- 54% resonate with postmodernist views.
- 36% accept ideas associated with Marxism.
- 29% believe ideas based on secularism.
That fact is that just because you go to church with somebody or because they claim to be a follower of Christ, does not mean you know everything—or anything—about their spiritual life. The person sitting next to you at church may not really be who you think they are.
They may hold some interesting views about the world that you would not agree with–even views that could be detrimental to their faith. Now, I am not asking you to become the judge over their salvation. There is one Judge–God the Father. But something we can and should start doing is to foster a culture of critical thinking.
Don’t misunderstand me here: I am not advocating that we start doubting and questioning our faith. Rather, we need to embrace the fact that Christianity is reasonable and learn to ask questions when navigating around competing worldviews.
Whether we are in conversations with outright atheists, someone who is open to belief but just not there yet, or even a fellow brother or sister in Christ, I believe we can make more headway by simply asking questions and listening to what others have to say.
Christians do not always bear the burden of proof. Rather, we share the burden of proof. Some may try to claim otherwise, but don’t let them! The position that “God exists” is, of course, an affirmative claim. But unless your challenger has infinite knowledge, something I highly doubt, the position that “God doesn’t exist” is an affirmative claim as well. And, we have every right to ask these challengers questions of our own to get down to the bottom of what they believe so that we can give the best and most reasoned answers possible.
Here are three reasons why I believe questions are helpful and can lead to more productive, fruitful conversations with unbelievers:
Reason #1: Questions Reveal
Have you ever been talking with someone, and after about 10 minutes or so you realized that you have no earthly idea what they are talking about? Engagements of a religious and spiritual nature usually begin this way. Claims are put in play about what each side believes to be true, and it seems like everyone might as well be talking to a brick wall. The problem here is that the basis for the conversation has not truly been established.
If you are going to get involved in a “back and forth” online about homosexuality, for instance, that is a terrible starting place to make any headway. In fact, that conversation is likely to go absolutely nowhere. Why? There are many things that individuals from either side of that argument see differently about the world, and neither side will come to a consensus about homosexuality before getting past those other obstacles.
So, here is where a question would be helpful. Maybe something like, “How did you come to the conclusion that homosexuality makes sense?”
Something very interesting is happening here. For one thing, you do not even need the Bible to know that homosexuality is against nature. So this is an opportunity to help a person see that any argument for homosexuality is fundamentally flawed. In turn, this makes it less surprising to find out that the Bible is not in alignment with it either. Remember—the Bible gives an accurate picture of the way the world actually is.
I’m not saying don’t use the Bible—but what I am saying is that the person is likely to crumble their own defense right here (more on that in a bit) because there is no benefit at all to society for homosexuality to be celebrated as the law of the land.
Also, you are about to find out what other things about the world this person believes that would cause them to see homosexuality the way that they do. This will help you to correct basic misunderstandings about their worldview that could possibly change their perspective on a variety of issues—not just homosexuality.
Reason #2: Questions Reduce
Remember—everybody has a worldview. A person’s worldview will affect everything they know about the world. Imagine an image filter. When you take a picture and then run it through one of those fancy filters before posting on social media, you are fundamentally changing something about that image. Behind the scenes, the software is adjusting many values (tint, contrast, etc.) to change everything about the way your image displays.
A worldview does the same thing. It is the filter through which you see the world, and ideas that come in are the values that are changed and adjusted. The only difference is that externally, this process is seen in reverse. Someone can look at you and tell what values have been individually adjusted by your worldview, but often times it is hard to see your worldview at its core. This is a great reason to start asking questions.
Even general and obvious questions such as, “What is your worldview?” will help. This, in my opinion, is more helpful than a question such as “What is your religious affiliation?” because many people do not believe their worldview is a religion (although it likely is). For instance, a secular humanist and a materialistic naturalist are going to share some very common values and ideas, but there are a few things they see fundamentally different from one another. If you engage one as if they are the other you will get nowhere in the conversation.
If they are not open to answering such a general question, you have an opportunity. It is probably because (1) they don’t know yet what their worldview is or (2) they do know, they just don’t know the name for it. In either case, asking a few smaller questions—perhaps about their beliefs on origins, the afterlife, moral values, etc.—will help you to understand what their worldview is. From there, you will be able to address what they believe and answer their questions in the context of the Christian worldview.
Reason #3: Questions Refute
Satan has so drastically blinded the minds of men that most common belief systems will not even hold up to their own standard. Consider the extremely common belief that there is no truth. This is easily refutable by pointing out to the claimant that the phrase “there is no truth” is a truth claim! If it’s true that there is no truth, then there is truth. The claim falls down flat. Most worldviews easily fall to much the same level of absurdity.
When you start really asking questions and mining to the bottom of what people believe, you will find that our country has literally educated us into stupidity and philosophical bankruptcy. For instance, many will tell you that all they can trust is their personal experience. But we all know that you cannot believe in or trust something without an external force against which to validate it.
A simple illustration might help: I work in Information Technology (IT). When we sign in to our computers in the morning, our login credentials are validated against something called a Domain Controller. If the username and/or password is typed in wrong, making it invalid, access is denied! Because of the external source of “ultimate truth” (there is no higher authority on a network than a Domain Controller) each individual workstation is able to validate its experience. Otherwise, anyone could log in with any username and password they wanted to, exposing the system to malware and viruses.
That means this person only believes in what he has experienced, and to validate that all truth comes from his experience, all he can rely on is his experience! Do you see the problem? He has no external source of Truth to form a basis for what he should believe or how he should act.
The point here is that when you get to the bottom of someone’s argument, you may find that they have self-refuted, and your work is done! Of course, this would be a great time to share the gospel and introduce them to the only truly coherent worldview—Christianity. Next time you find yourself in an engagement with someone, try to steer the conversation by asking questions. You may be surprised at how different it turns out.
