In order to respond to the attacks questions posed against the Christian faith, it cannot be done by an appeal to emotions. The Christian must engage in a counter attack that goes after the very foundations of the unbeliever’s positions, his presuppositions. Until his presupposition is changed, the unbeliever will never be teachable. The only way in which his presupposition is changed is through the regeneration of his soul.

The unbeliever and his attacks on God’s Word are following the ways of the fool. “The fool has said in his heart there is no God.” First Corinthians 1-2 tells us that the fool despises the preaching of the cross, refuses to know God, and cannot accept His Word. You cannot expect an unbeliever to submit to the Word of God or to build his worldview upon it. According to Matthew 7:26 the person who hears the gospel yet builds his life on a rejection of the gospel is a fool. What makes a person a fool is the rejection of God’s Word as the final authority. This foolishness is nothing short of simple rebellion. It is a rebellion against the Creator. We all know that man is born in sin (just as the Bible teaches). You do not have to teach a child to do wrong, it is a natural thing. Because of our sin nature, we have a tendency to rebel against the truth because it is our desire to do things our way. The real issue for the atheist is the problem he has with authority. He does not want to submit. Therefore, to respond to such a person you must attack his foundation which is like the house built on the sand, it cannot stand. The believer must then show the unbeliever how that it is unbelief itself that is the destructive power against all knowledge. This why it is said the God ‘makes foolish the wisdom of the world.’ The bottom line is that the rejection of the Christian faith cannot be justified and the intellectual position of the unbeliever cannot be genuinely defended in the world of thought.

Dr. Greg L. Bahnsen gives an exposition of 2 Timothy 2:23-25. He points out four basic principles from this passage: 1. The Christian must not have an arrogant attitude in dealing with unbelievers. He must be patient, courteous, and gentle. 2. Those who are challenged to defend their faith must not consent to answer in terms of foolish unbelief. (do not use neutrality). 3. The Christian must show the unbeliever that he opposes himself. His foolish presuppositions actually work against him. 4. The Christian must not just give the unbeliever additional information. The unbeliever must be shown that his thinking must be completely changed through a genuine conversion. 5. The Christian must understand that the source of success in dealing with an unbeliever is the sovereign will of God.

Basically what we have is two opposing world-views. One is a view, through his willful rebellion against God, that man is the center. The other is a view, through acceptance of God’s grace, where God is the center. Believers in Christ must never sway from the ultimate starting point of all knowledge, the Word of God. When we turn from this (even in an attempt to be neutral for the sake of argument) is a very dangerous thing. The only way to defend the faith is to do so at the core presuppostional level. Basically, you either believe or you don’t. It’s that simple.