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14. How then can we argue?

Here are a few things we have to keep in mind as we seek to know how we should argue with unbelievers:

1. There are no such things as brute facts. Facts always come pre-interpreted, or theory-laden.

2. We are not arguing about a set of beliefs, but about an entire worldview.

3. The unbelievers are not seeking God. As enemies of God, they are running away from Him.

4. Unbelievers are - like us - created in God’s own image.

5. They are spiritually dead and unless God grants them repentance, they will remain spiritually dead.

6. You are not trying to convince or persuade anyone. Your job is to answer, not to persuade. It is God’s job to persuade.

7. We are not arguing about a generalized god but about a very specific worldview, namely Biblical Christianity.

Bearing all this in mind, we should firstly proceed to answer unbelievers in an indirect way, by revealing to them how their presuppositions destroy their own arguments. That is, we take their presuppositions and show how, if their presuppositions were true, they wouldn’t be able to make sense of anything, let alone the point they are currently trying to argue. Or to put it in still another way: We must show them that if their presuppositions indeed were true, they wouldn’t be able to know anything, including whether Christianity is wrong or not!

Then, secondly, we should answer unbelievers from our Christian presuppositions and show them how the Bible can make sense of our belief and of their disbelief as well. It must become evident that it is only when using Christian presuppositions that you are able in theory to know anything at all.

You might be asking: How in the world can this be done? Look again at Acts 17 and see the way Paul did it. (See page 12)