So imagine with me you are pulling out a map (yeah those paper things we used to use to plan our trips with), and you had a certain destination in mind. Only guess what; there are four choices on how to get there! Which would you choose? You look over each one and weigh the pro, and the cons. You look at the interesting way-points along each route thinking that might help you define the best one. Or maybe you have friends on one or the other courses that you might want to see and THAT can help make up you mind. Only it doesn’t; and you have to make the hard decision on which path to take to get you where you need to go. So How would you choose?

Now think of apologetics as that destination. And which path will you take on your trip to better understanding apologetics and the proper way to defend, and share the faith and salvation in Jesus Christ that you hold so dear? “Which path is the best?” you might ask yourself. Well friends that depends solely on you, and your leading from the Holy Spirit as He gives direction ( I Corinthians 2:13: “These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.”). But, we should also be in Gods Word to be able to better speak of those truths and share what’s in our hearts and memory as the Holy Spirit leads. So without further ado, let’s break this vacation to apologetics down!

We will first analyze four distinct ways apologetics can be articulated to an individual or audience. Then over the next four weeks we will focus on each one separately then go through examples, as well as verses, to help us better understand each of the four intricate paths to a better understanding of how to share the precious news of the Gospel and Scripture.

The first way to share scripture, or to defend it is to take the Fideism Approach. This is simply put; the idea that faith is independent of reason. Or even that those two ideas are harmful to each other. We will look better at the pros and cons of this path better in one of our next blogs.

Next is: Evidentialism, or the philosophical idea that a belief is only justified if there is evidence to support it. Now, this can be an easy one to use when it comes to the Evolution vs. Creation debate. But it can also be tricky when trying to tell someone about faith.

After this we have a big word: presuppositionalism. This is the idea, or presupposition, that all things have to be explained first through the lens of the Faith and Scripture. Again, there are strengths and weaknesses to this as well.

Lastly, and my most favorite, is the Classical, approach. This argument simply is first establishing that God is, and therefore we have a choice. Then laying each point of argument and defense at the feet of that fixed idea. This is one of my personal favorites because it requires a lot of logical reasoning and will need to be relying heavily on Scripture for its base.

So class, lets get our thinking caps on, our Bibles ready and let’s spend the next four blogs dissecting each of these arguments and see which one is best for your witnessing toolbox!