Communicating the Relevance of the Gospel in a Changing Culture (VI)

Now Back to our regular programming:
Communicating the Gospel involves the whole person.

It's an appeal to the mind: over time

Unbelievers are not stupid. They’re intelligent. Don’t speak down to them, but discuss on a rational level. Here is the opening statement from my first email exchange with the young university student mentioned in a previous post:

First, let me say I appreciate your questions and I appreciate that you have them.  Unlike some, I would not encourage anyone who has serious questions and doubts about specific areas of Christianity to just “Set them aside and proceed on faith.”  An honest person cannot ignore legitimate concerns and say to themselves, “Well, I have serious concerns but I’m going to subscribe anyway.”  I’m not saying that all questions have to be answered, because they never will be, (and new questions/areas of interest, study or investigation will arise for the rest of our lives) but what is necessary is that legitimate objections be reconciled.

From there... how to respond.  I realize that you and I are coming from different directions, so to speak, because I am thinking from a position of certainty that God is real and that Jesus was who the Bible says he was, so my answers may, in fact will, be coloured to some extent by that position.  IOW, I see myself as looking back and interpreting things from a position of certainty.  You are looking forward and inquiring from a position of skepticism.

People might attack us on our faith. Comedian Bill Maher makes fun of Christians saying faith is belief in something for which we have no evidence. That’s the definition he chooses, but in our case it’s the wrong definition. There is a definition of faith from a Christian perspective and it’s right from Webster’s dictionary: faith is confidence or trust in a person or thing; something or someone we know exists. I have faith in my wife, for example. Does she not exist? Of course she does (unless I’ve been imagining her for the last 50 years.) 

In the same way, we know God exists. Our faith is a matter of trust in the God we know is there. We’re not just hoping He’s there. Our faith is based on the sure knowledge that God exists and He rewards those who seek Him. We can look back on His faithfulness in the past and be confident in His faithfulness for the future. We don’t need to be embarrassed to say we have faith in God.

A seeker, someone who is not yet a Christian, is not in that place. We are looking back with certainty, they are looking forward with skepticism, so we can start by presenting the evidence for the actual, historical, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, as Alpha does. Not as an argument or a weapon; just present the evidence and ask what they think. Alpha does this in its first session, "Sho id Jesus?" Then we engage in a civil and rational discussion. 

Faith and reason do not oppose each other. William Lane Craig, one of the most effective defenders of the Christian faith, has a website called Reasonable Faith. The Lord in Isaiah (1:18) says, “Come let us reason together.”   

The tag line for the Alpha’s Alberta 2013 Initiative was, “Question Everything.” I saw a comment on an atheist website, “If people really questioned everything there would be a lot more atheists.” I answered, “No - there would be a lot fewer!” In the relationships we develop, over time, we can try to get non-believers to question their belief in the non-existence of God.

We don’t need to be afraid about questioning our faith, because it is true, and truth ultimately, by definition, cannot be disproven. There may be difficulties, but because it is the truth, these difficulties can be overcome. There are answers. If anything can be disproven, then it’s not the truth. 

So it’s an appeal to the mind – the intellect.

It’s an appeal to the heart.

You’ve heard the expression that there is a God-shaped hole in every human heart. The Bible says in Ecclesiastes that God has placed eternity in people’s hearts. And St Augustine said, “You have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in You.” Ultimately, people need to experience God’s love personally and tangibly, and there’s a hunger for that. There is that hole, and people try to fill it with all sorts of things – various activities, various spiritual practices, relationships, sex, but ultimately there is only way to fill it.

It’s like a lock and a key. Your front door has a lock and there is only one key that will work in it. Same with the key to the heart. People try all sorts of keys; some may even fit in, may seem to satisfy for a while, but ultimately won’t turn. The only key able to unlock the heart is the key that was made for it - a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. 

An appeal to the conscience:

The Bible tells us that everyone has fallen short of God’s glory – of God’s standards, and deep down people really do know it. They know they’re not perfect, they just don’t realize the eternal significance of that fact.

First two chapters of Romans tell us that right and wrong are written on the human heart, whether we admit it or not. Most people secretly have a sense of God, and they know deep down that there are such things as right and wrong, even if they may not agree exactly with what is right and what is wrong.

Ultimately, once the layers are peeled away, every person's conscience is on our side. The wonderful thing about our faith – and how wonderful it is when people come to realize this, is that forgiveness… for anything… is available. Not only does God offer it, He longs to give it through Jesus Christ. There is no room for lasting guilt in the Christian life.

An appeal to the will.

The Gospel involves an invitation. No one can come to Jesus unless he draws them, but Jesus said that when he was lifted up he would draw all people to himself.

Jesus invited people, he said "Come to me. “ Not all came. Some came, some didn’t.  Same today. Some will accept the message of the Gospel, some won’t. But we present it to everyone. We invite everyone. Some will come, some won’t. The invitation is up to us. The rest is God’s business.

On Alpha we only invite guests to the first night.  We just say, "Come to supper. Come and check it out. If you enjoy it, come back."  If they don't, that's up to them. We won’t chase them.

(to be continued... next: our attitude)

Blessings,

John