Pointers for Defending the Faith, Part 1

In this series, I plan to quickly address (and seriously, I mean quickly!) what I have found to be helpful pointers in apologetics. Now, by this I do not mean “helpful” in terms of arguments. I’m focusing on strategy, on making a persuasive case for Christ. This is essentially a “hit and run” series, I’ll make my points quickly, and leave you to your business. Here’s something to keep in mind regarding the average non-Christian:

1) Most contemporary non-Christians do not know the story of Scripture well. So, before we can “defend” our position on Christianity, we need to make sure they understanding what we’re talking about. Now, the sad thing is that most America evangelical Christians don’t understand the Bible (and various polls have demonstrated this). Now, this is not to say they don’t “get” Jesus. They do, but often not well enough to deal with tough objections to the faith. After all, Jesus isn’t the only person teaching us in Scripture. There’s Paul, John, Peter, James, Moses, David, Solomon, Isaiah, and on and on…

So, be prepared to do some explaining. The non-Christian may be hostile to something that’s not taught in Scripture. Help them out. This should lead to a strong sense of responsibility to the person you’re speaking to (since apparently God has placed them in your path), and a great amount of patience. After all, for most of us, there was a time when we didn’t “get” it either.

One point down, four to go…

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