Part One: Why Putting the Burden of Proof on Skeptics Achieves More Successful Apologetics

Too often in discussions with non-Christians, we find ourselves pushed into a corner, with our arms folded, defending what we believe. But it shouldn’t be this way. We have God’s truth. Unbelievers should be the ones who defend what they believe—not us.

I believe the most effective way to achieve this is by putting the burden of proof on the skeptic; that is, go on the offensive during religious and ethical discussions. We do this by challenging skeptics to defend what they believe and provide legitimate evidence to support it. The idea of this apologetic tactic is to help unbelievers recognize their erroneous assumptions and face the logical conclusions.

Francis Schaeffer explained this tactic in his book The God Who Is There:

In reality no one can live logically according to his own non-Christian presuppositions. . . .  Regardless of a man’s system, he has to live in God’s world. If he were consistent to his non-Christian presuppositions he would be separated from the real universe. . . .

We ought not first try to move a man away from what he should deduce from his position but toward it. . .  .We try to move him in the natural direction in which his presuppositions would take him. We are then pushing him towards the place where he ought to be, had he not stopped short. (126-127)

Most skeptics of Christianity are merely parroting what they hear in popular culture: secular high schools and colleges, magazines, television documentaries, and the entertainment industry. Seldom do they have any objective evidence to justify their beliefs or wonder if their criticisms of Christianity are even legitimate. Most non-Christians just assume that what they learn through popular culture is reliable.

Putting the burden of proof on the unbeliever is a technique that can greatly increase our effectiveness in apologetics by bringing to light the unsubstantiated arguments that many non-Christians rely on in their attacks against Christianity. Once unbelievers realize for themselves that their beliefs about the Bible and the Christian worldview are erroneous—and their own worldview untenable—they may be more willing to consider the Christian perspective on the issue at hand. When this happens, we’ve won a small victory in today’s cultural war between increasingly dominant secularism and Christianity. ©

COMING UP:  This week’s blog post begins a new series. In future blogs, I will provide examples of the kinds of responses Christians can give that puts the burden of proof on skeptics and other critics—where it belongs. The examples I share will be relevant to the most common challenges and questions Christians face during apologetics or evangelistic discussions.

REMINDER:  The Christian position on the topics in this series can be read in detail in my newly released, revised and expanded edition of DEFENDING YOUR FAITH; RELIABLE ANSWERS FOR A NEW GENERATION OF SEEKERS AND SKEPTICS (Kregel Publications, 2019). I provide a short introduction on my homepage (click on “home” above), or go to my book page on Amazon and click on “Look Inside” for more information.