Whac-A-Mole: Atheism — Thursday
1 Peter 3:15-16
Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it. But do this in a gentle and respectful way. Keep your conscience clear. Then if people speak against you, they will be ashamed when they see what a good life you live because you belong to Christ. (NLT)
So far this week, we’ve primarily focused on the more subtle ways we can be evidence of Jesus in people’s lives. But you might be asking: What about someone I’ve got an established relationship with and have conversations with about Christianity versus atheism? How can I better debate them?
I don’t know about you, but religion, politics, the news, and money are the main things I bring up at family dinners and get-togethers. It just really gets a great conversation going! Just kidding—I’m not insane.
But in my opinion, you most likely won’t debate someone into Heaven. Maybe it could happen in just the perfect situation, but the pivotal point in 99% of people’s lives in regard to faith in Jesus almost certainly didn’t come about because someone crafted the most poignant argument, and they were just compelled to jump into the baptistry that same day.
When I think about today’s verse, there doesn’t seem to be much overlap between debating about religion and the words, “do this in a gentle and respectful way.” Trying to use debate as an evangelism strategy seems more like lighting a fuse that has a good chance of resulting in a full-blown argument. So what about that well-established atheist in your life who seems to want to poke and prod at your beliefs?
I believe there’s a time and place where you can have real conversation about what you believe, but it should be a conversation with mutual respect, fair burden of proof, and more personal story than anecdotal tangents. A conversation. Not a debate.
One caveat to these types of endeavors: If your faith isn’t strong enough to support scrutiny, maybe you’re not the person to handle that conversation just yet. Bear in mind, your faith not being strong isn’t a reflection of weakness in who you believe in (Jesus); you may just be in a season of growing and reinforcing your faith and understanding. And if that’s the season you’re in, trial by fire probably isn’t a great approach to religious conversation, as your pursuit of reaching your neighbor could result in immense doubt in your own beliefs.
However, Jesus can work through any earnest effort to witness to others. It’s happened to me when I was certainly not mature in my faith, so this isn’t to discourage you, but rather, it’s so you can consider this question: Where can you grow your faith so you can be better used in those situations?
Thursday’s Reflection
Apologetics is difficult! If you think you’re being led to have conversations with others about your faith, take some time to pray and ask God to help you grow in your faith, but to also speak through what you say. He will answer!
