The Exegetical Assessment Tool (revisited).

Question: Should Believers defend the validity of the Bible to Non-Believers?  That is equivalent, in my opinion to arguing the beauty of an art exhibit with a blind person. 

You might say in response, but 1 Peter 3:15a says to:

"Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have."

Typically, Church people apply this verse in the workplace in defense of Christianity rather than to someone who approached you curious for the reason of the HOPE that you have.  The words of the passage suggest that having a prepared answer for the hope that we have is supposed to be given to those who ASK us to give a reason.

If people aren't asking you for the hope that you have, then this passage does not apply.  If they are asking, then go ahead, but realize some people's ability to see Spiritual things is limited.  I would not typically spend too much time on the validity of the Bible with a hostile non-believer who has personal issues based on bad personal experiences with religious people. If they are open minded and willing to hear, I will proceed.  And to a person who is really curious about Scriptures validity, I may visit the 24,600 manuscripts of the New Testament Scriptures.

All in all, when Non-Believers, I focus on Jesus' Offer of Eternal Life (JOEL) (i.e. passages that mention exactly how to have Eternal Life - John 3:16).  With Believers, it's better to oing into the validity of the 66 book canon of scripture as an "in house" discussion to help edify, equip and train.

Below is a presentation on the Exegetical Assessment Tool (EAT) designed For All Believers and is used as a tool to help safeguard our Bible study.  Simply put, we ought to stay as close as possible in the initial approach to Scripture to strict observations from the text (rather than interpretations) and remain exegetical (i.e. getting the meaning OUT of the text) (rather than eisegetical (i.e. inserting ones own meaning into the text)).  

The whole point of this tool is to help protect our application of Scripture.  When in doubt, stay in the Green.  Always avoid the red zone. There are times where interpretation is needed but remember to apply the Inductive Bible Study Method:

1) OBSERVATION

2) INTERPRETATION

3) APPLICATION

Happy Bible studying...