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2 It took me a while to re-orient my walk with God. I needed to stop
living my life based on being smart. Friends and colleagues may differ on my
success in this area, but I have begun living my life based on what my
spirit tells me about God. I no longer discuss hypothetical topics with
unsaved friends only to entertain myself, but I actually try using those
times to witness to them instead. However, I must still meet them where they
are at as Paul did in Acts 17:23, "for while I was passing through and
examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this
inscription, 'TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.' What therefore you worship in ignorance,
this I proclaim to you." Like Paul did here, "meeting people where they are
at" often means engaging them in conversations of philosophy and basics such
as whether God exists. The challenge is to hold these conversations in such
a way that witnesses to our fellow conversationalists. As Paul showed Acts
17, it can mean engaging in apologetics as a means for sharing the gospel.
Engaging in apologetics is a fulfillment of 1 Peter 3:15, which tells us
to be "ready to give a reason for the hope that is in you." Using reason to
focus on the gospel is the only proper application of apologetics, because
it is the gospel that gives one hope, not ones ability to engage in
intellectual sparring.
If you use apologetics to prove that God exists, that God created the
world, that the Bible is God's word, and that Jesus rose from the dead, you
will not win any souls, because you are not offering your friend a
relationship with God. For example, saying that life is difficult because of
Original Sin does not tell your friend that Jesus died for our sins. Showing
evidence that Jesus rose from the dead does not tell someone that Jesus
conquered death to show that He'd conquered our sin. Showing evidence that
scripture has been faithfully preserved until modern times does not convey
the agape love God showed when He inspired the prophets to write down His
Word. Apologetics by itself does not save, and too many conversations stop
at the proofs, before the Christian has had a chance to show what any of
this has to do with the Gospel. I believe that unless your goal is to offer
a relationship with God, your witnessing will be contrary to the example set
by Paul in 1 Corinthians 2:1 - 5:
"And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of
speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I
determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him
crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much
trembling. And my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of
wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith
should not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God."
Based on this passage, I no longer seek to persuade, though I pray they
be persuaded. Now, I seek to explain. I no longer try to prove anything
about God or the accuracy of faith. Instead, I show how beginning with my
faith, I have arrived at an understanding of God and the world that is
self-consistent. I explain how this understanding will answer many or all of
the questions an intellectual or skeptic may have, given the assumption that
my faith is true. It provides me with opportunities to spread the gospel, as
I let the Holy Spirit do His work on their hearts.
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