“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. But avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness, and their talk will spread like gangrene” (2 Tim. 2:15–17a, ESV).

There’s a headache-inducing fallacy people sometimes use wherein they make an unsubstantiated claim and seemingly force another person to prove why their claim is wrong, as opposed to substantiating their claim with evidence. For example:

“The beginning of Genesis just borrows and changes other ancient creation accounts.”
“Jesus never claimed to be God.”
“The apostles didn’t really think Jesus rose from the dead.”
Et cetera.

If they don’t bring up any evidence to back up their claim, but then try to force you to debunk it, they’ve made what’s known as the onus probandi, the “burden of proof” fallacy. Of course, as Christians, we train to be ready to answer these questions (or, at least to be able to engage, even if we know we don’t have all the answers). But it’s also important not to give these individuals an unfair starting point—it actually does no good for either you or them to entertain their fallacious thinking.

Think about the silly question, “Can God make a square triangle?” Of course not; it’s not logical. God can’t make a square triangle, not because He’s bound by logic, but because logic is one of His attributes, in the same way that truth and justice are His attributes (cf. Prov. 3:19; Isa. 1:18; 55:8-9; 1 Cor. 14:33). Part of “rightly handling the word of truth” in the same way that Paul charged Timothy to do so involves using wisdom and being logical. Let’s see this in action with the first claim above:

“The beginning of Genesis just borrows and changes other ancient creation accounts.”
“Okay, why do you think that’s the case?”
“Well, my professor taught that in a college class, and I can’t really remember most of the examples, but I think there was something about the Epic of Gilgamesh?”
“Have you read the Epic of Gilgamesh?”
“No.”
“Have you read Genesis?”
“Well, like, the first couple of chapters.”
“So, are you certain you’ve looked at the evidence to know that what you’re saying is true?”
“I probably need to read it, I guess.”
“Would you like to read it with me and see?”

Asking people to back up their claims is always a good way to see who’s honestly interested in engaging and seeking out the truth. Many people won’t care to back up their claims - that type of person doesn’t do anything more than waste your energy as a Christian. They’re stuck on the “irreverent babble.” Make no mistake: we as Christians make ultimate truth claims about the deity of Christ, the way of salvation, the reality of life after death, and a number of additional vital spiritual matters. But we have evidence in God’s word to back up these claims. God doesn’t ask you to pick out every logical fallacy or have every aspect of debating down. He calls you to speak the truth in love (Eph. 4:15). The point is this: be thoughtful in how you interact with people. Think about what people say and try to ascertain why they say it. Your effective defense of the truth as a Christian will be greatly aided if you do so.