Monday morning after visiting a shut-in I was walking home and noticed some friends at a local rum-shop. Since it was a holiday I decided to sit down, and spend some time with them (of course not drinking rum).

One of my friends who I believe knows the Lord but isn’t in church, started asking lots of Bible questions.

So for about an hour we reasoned together about Scripture

reasoning is what I call answering questions that people have with an open Bible. It’s along the lines of what the Apostle Paul did at gathering places in the book of Acts. Lots of it involves pointing out the weakness of false doctrine.

During that hour I with Scripture showed the false doctrine of beliefs like….

1. Jesus drank wine that was on the alcoholic level of strong rum
2. White man changed the words of the Bible (a view of Rastafarians)
3. Jesus didn’t rise on Sunday, but Saturday (a view of Seventh Day Adventists)
4. The black man is the people of Israel
5. And the church is only interested in your money
   

As you can see, reasoning throws lots of questions out in a short time (changing the subject) so it can be confusing.

Thankfully I’ve learned how to deal with their questions.

Clarify, and Condemn

Clarify

• This means making sure your ABSOLUTELY SURE what they are asking (it’s easy to become confused since they change the subject)
• You continually ask “is this what your saying?” Instead of trying to answer the question right away
• Clarification also involves understanding why they are asking that question (why is it important to them)
• Finally clarification means reminding them of foundational truths of doctrine they already know and understand which show the fallacy of that belief
  

Condemn

• Condemn is always done with an open copy of Scripture
• This allows the person to read the passage for themselves, I find it useful to set my Bible in front of them, so they can read it. I can then read the words upside down if needed
• Condemnation of false doctrine comes as the Holy Spirit reveals to them what the Lord is saying in that passage
• I borrow a question of Bill Faye when asking “What is God saying there?”
• Condemnation also involves handing the person your Bible and asking them to prove you wrong with Scripture
  

Clarification and Condemnation is hard at first. But with practice it can become a habit that easily answers any question, and destroys all false doctrine