2025 Big Muddy Bash

Junior Apologetics 

Juniors Apol Questions:

∙       Who is Jesus?

∙       How does the Holy Spirit help us?

∙       How do we see God in creation?

∙       What is the fall?

∙       Why did Jesus have to die?

∙       Can a person do enough good things to get into heaven?

∙       What is grace?

∙       What is repentance?

∙       What is sin?

∙       What is the Bible?

∙       Why must Jesus be truly human and truly God?

∙       How many persons are there in God? 

Description: In Apologetics, the speaker is given two minutes to prepare a speech which defends a tenet of the Christian faith.  Apologetics should motivate students to study and articulate the core issues of their faith.

Goal: Competitors will be motivated to study, articulate, and defend the core issues of their faith in a knowledgeable, sincere, and respectful manner. The focus may or may not be evangelistic. The audience’s acceptance of the truth of the Bible should not be assumed. Content outweighs delivery: greater weight should be given to the speech content, rather than the presentation style.  

 Junior Apologetics Preparation Rules:

1. Students prepare for Apologetics through Bible study, research, and topic organization.

2. Each competitor should create a card file with Scripture, definitions, quotations, and any other material deemed to be helpful.

3. Students may work together on boxes prior to the tournament, but students may not share boxes during competition. 

 Junior Apologetics Presentation Rules:

1. At least one judge in each room will be given instructions and the envelope of topics to distribute to the student.

2. In the room, the speaker will receive three single topics from the judge, choose one, and return the other two topics before leaving the room. 

3. A two-minute preparation time begins as soon as the student receives the topic choices.

4. The speech must be the original work of the speaker.

5. During prep time, the speaker may use a Bible, access card files, and write additional notes on note cards.

6. During the speech, the speaker should use only note cards.

7. All questions/topics will be posted on the tournament site upon registration.

8. Apologetics judges should be sympathetic to the ideals of Stoa.

TO MAXIMIZE PERFORMANCE, COMPETITORS SHOULD:

• Consider a personal story, statistics, or quote to introduce your speech.

• Be sure to answer the specific question asked.

• Know what your cards say, so as not to read the entire time. This allows for making eye contact with the judge.

Speaking Time Limit: five (5) minutes. No minimum time. No student will be penalized for going over the suggested time.