The key to making progress with unbelievers is asking questions. This has several advantages over a full frontal assault on the ideas opposing the Christian faith. First, as mentioned previously, asking questions encourages the conversation to continue, as opposed to expressing disagreement bluntly. In our increasingly secular society people are easily put off by disagreement.

Second, asking questions prevents the Christian from having to possess extensive knowledge of philosophy, science, history, and other academic fields. The truth is, the average Christian will never become conversant in these areas. Asking questions, however, removes the burden of having to know so much. It allows the Christian to place the burden of knowledge on the unbeliever who is rejecting Christianity.

The third advantage of asking questions is that it allows the unbeliever to arrive at conclusions about his worldview and belief system on his own without you telling him he is wrong. The goal is to ask the right kind of questions so he comes to see for himself that his beliefs are a problem. Self-discovery is powerful when it comes to belief systems. This is what is known as the subversive power of the gospel. To subvert something means to undermine it and overthrow it. The gospel destabilizes, disrupts, and sabotages belief systems constructed out of suppression of the truth. They key to doing this well and bringing the unbeliever closer to Christ is, to repeat, asking good questions.

Christian thinker, Os Guinness, explains this well:

Questions are always more subversive than statements. For one thing, they are indirect. Whereas it should be crystal clear what a statement is saying and where it is leading, a good question is not so obvious, and where it leads to is hidden. For another thing, questions are involving. Whereas a statement always has a “take it or leave it” quality, and we may or may not be interested in what it tells us, there is no standing back from a well-asked question. It invites us, challenges us or intrigues us to get into it and follow it to see where it leads. In short, even a simple question can be a soft form of subversion.[1]

As mentioned earlier, questions invite further conversation. This makes the encounter with the unbeliever more natural and less strained. The unbeliever does not feel like he has encountered a salesman, but a satisfied customer (to put it crassly). Instead of being awkward, the conversation feels more like a person who has been healed of a deadly disease telling another sick person where to find healing.

Imagine the unbeliever’s worldview as a wall of bricks that he has constructed around himself to keep the truth from pressing in on his heart and mind. Every brick in the wall is a different belief, experience, and opinion that he has built up to make him feel justified in rejecting the truth. By asking questions and showing that his beliefs are contradictory or irrational, you are removing these bricks one by one. The more you can cause him to doubt his own beliefs, the less protection he has in his unbelief and the fewer reasons he has to keep rejecting the truth. Therefore, no matter how far the conversation goes as long as some bricks are dislodged or removed, the encounter is a victory.

In the next post we will look at several keys to effective apologetics with unbelievers.

[1] Os Guinness, Fool’s Talk: Recovering the Art of Christian Persuasion (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2015), 53.