Apologetics: One-on-One Using Meet The Skeptic

One of the most encouraging responses I’ve received about Meet The Skeptic came from a young woman who sent me a Q&A tract she had made from the 4-category model in the book.

She had taken the key components from the 4 worldviews (moral, spiritual, scientific, and biblical) and customized them into a multiple-choice question handout to give to anyone she met in her daily transit. It wasn’t until I responded to a couple of her questions that I learned that she lived in the Netherlands!  She relayed the responses by people she approached in a store and on a tram with the questionnaire. (One would have nothing to do with it, the other grabbed it smiling and headed into her tram.)

How many of us have the guts or the conviction to do this? Making ourselves available to God is 90% of evangelism. And yes, we are a sharper instrument if we are informed but being willing to share our convictions, not merely our opinions, can carry as much weight as a deft response. Authenticity is an apologetic.

Meet The Skeptic encourages engaging a person’s worldview before answering their objections; finding out what idea(s) is behind the objection in the first place. Answering an objection often just leads to a followup objection. Getting to the Root Ideas (presuppositions) helps us learn how they see the world.

So the next time you’re hesitant about reaching out to your skeptical neighbor or an unknown acquaintance in your daily routine, remember our Dutch friend who is sharing the truth regardless of the response (Ezek. 2:5; 3:11, 27).