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UPDATED AUG. 1, 2006 Question: Why is it so hard to witness? As Christians and as described in the Bible, part of our duty is to witness to others and spread the Word. Why is it that witnessing has become politically incorrect when this country (the U.S.) was founded on Christian beliefs? Answer: I think we've made things way too complicated when it comes to sharing our faith with others. In the most basic sense of the word, a "witness" tells what he or she knows about something--in this case, we are attesting to what God has done in our own lives through Jesus. If we talk about what we know--what He has done in our lives--it's a lot easier than just talking about abstract Biblical concepts that others might not understand. But if we talk about what He has done for us personally, that can help make (insert booming voice here) **THE WORD OF GOD** connect with people personally, in their own lives. Which is the way He intended in the first place. People can reject your views, but they can't negate your experience. If you start by telling them not just abstractly about Jesus but about what He has done from there, and develop friendships and relationships with others who don't yet know Him, it makes talking about Him a whole lot easier in the long run. I've found that "lifestyle evangelism" might be much more long-term, but being someone's friend (and in doing so, showing them the love of God) is often the most effective way to be able to get into such conversations with people you know, or are getting to know. That's not to say there won't be situations where you won't have a long-term opportunity for conversation--maybe it'll be just a conversation on the city bus, or with someone at a restaurant, or in any number of places, but in each of those cases, if you start by telling them what the Lord has done for you, how can they rebut your experience? And then as you plant these seeds in people's lives, make note of when and where you met them and pray that they would seek to know the Lord as well. Question: Did man create God because of need, or did God create man for the same sort of reason? Was God first or was our conception of Him first? Answer: According to the Bible, God initiated contact with humans when He created them--so He was first. :-) And even if He hadn't initiated contact per se, He would have to do so for us to have any concept of Him. It makes no sense that we should consider ourselves sinful and have any sort of a conscience or a sense of right or wrong in the first place unless He had given each of us a conscience and a way to discern right and wrong. Of course, "right" and "wrong" mean absolutely nothing unless there is an infinite and immovable standard against which to judge things. The only way we can ultimately discern right or wrong is if we go to the revelation of Himself that God has given to us in the Bible. Any other point of reference will fall totally short. Question: Simple question, difficult answer... All religion doctrines of all kind because everyone outside of the agnostic believes in a god of some sort. but why is there so much division? Answer: I think there are two facets of faith that are misused by believers, which does not mean that their faith is necessarily true or false, but I'll get to that in a moment. Let's say for example that I, as a Christian, am so convinced of the intellectual, historical and spiritual truth of Christianity that I will do whatever it takes to pound the truth into everyone else's heads because I know what I believe is true, so others should believe it also. Well, some people might acknowledge that the historical, intellectual and spiritual elements all add up and do indeed point to Christianity's claim to exclusive truth--but if I, as a Christian, do not show others the love that Jesus said would be the identifying characteristic of His followers (John 13:35), then it won't matter what the facts are, because people aren't going to subject themselves to a system if they perceive it to be harsh and oppressive. If I'm convinced that Christianity is true but everyone I know who claims to be a Christian is self-centered, materialistic and superficial, then it doesn't matter what my heart tells me--I'll have a hard time following through with what I believe is probably true if I don't see real-life examples of that truth in others' lives. Too many Christians, in my opinion, think it's their job to convince others of the truth of Christianity instead of letting their lives be examples of Christ's love, because that submission to Christ takes the control and focus off of them and rightly puts it on Him. Those people who claim to be Christians but whose actions defy their words are hypocrites and not real believers. But for those true believers whose lives are living examples of Christ's love stand out because Christ has changed their lives. It's a matter of what He has done in their lives, and the change He has brought about on the inside that changes the outside. What about non-Christians? Well, since all religions are different (no, we do not all worship the same God--the Gods worshipped by Christians, Muslims and Hindus, just to name a few examples, are drastically different), each person must be willing to diligently seek the truth, not just what feels good or is popular, and once they find that truth, they must pursue it with their lives and not let anything turn them away. I think the reason more people are not finding out who God really is is because they are letting their own biases or the influences of society or family persuade them more than what they know is true from what they have examined thoroughly and have found to hold up under scrutiny. I think people reject Christ and Christianity because grace takes control out of our hands and puts it in God's hands--our selfish, sinful nature (which only He can transform) makes us want to keep control--but that's not the way God intended. And of course, once you find that truth that is true to the exclusion of every other belief system--Jesus clearly stated in John 14:6 that He is the only way to get to God--you don't have to search anymore. Why would you have to keep searching for truth once you find it? I think the problem isn't that people aren't finding the truth, but that they are rejecting the truth because it isn't "popular," demands hard choices and takes their focus and ambition off of themselves and refocuses it on God. That's the whole point, and I pray that more people would pursue the truth and not stop until they get it. Question: Why is it when you talk about GOD people get defensive? Answer: God may be convicting them on things they're doing that they shouldn't be doing, or things they aren't doing but should. This is why people don't get defensive when you mention Buddha or Allah or any other belief system besides Christianity. There is no absolute standard of accountability in any other belief system. Christianity simply consists of our submission to or rebellion against God through our acceptance or rejection of Jesus' payment for our sins and His Lordship in our lives. We are either with Him or against Him, according to Revelation 3. But where there's no authority, of course people won't get defensive, because a dead god can't make the demands of them that the living God does. Question: Don't Christians, Muslims and Jews all believe in the same god? Answer: Christians believe in one God who exists in three persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Jews believe in the God of the Old Testament but most of them except Messianic Jews (those who believe that Jesus is indeed the Messiah) are still waiting for the Messiah to come to fulfill Old Testament prophecies. Muslims believe in one God and that Jesus was just a prophet, but Muhammad, as the last prophet, is the greatest one, they believe. Jews and Christians believe in the same God, but most Jews have not accepted that Jesus is the Messiah who was prophesied about in the Old Testament. So to make a long story short, Jews and Christians believe in the same God, but according to Christians, Jews have an incomplete set of beliefs since they have not accepted Jesus as Messiah (keep in mind that the earliest followers of Jesus were Jewish, but the mob led by the chief priests and teachers who had Jesus killed suppressed the truth about Jesus--check out Matthew 25-28.). Muslims do not accept Jesus as the son of God, but say that He is just a prophet--so they do not believe in the same God as Jews and Christians. For those who would say that we should just "get along" and forget about our differences, there's a difference between getting along--as we should do anyway--versus ignoring real and significant differences. Ignoring truth just because it might offend some people does not make that truth go away, nor does it support (nor should it) beliefs which do not hold up under scrutiny. Truth is objective; the way we get along with others is subjective. But if we sacrifice truth for the sake of "peace" then we will end up with neither. |
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