A Very Thoughtful Tuesday Indeed

Okay, thoughtful tuesday....here we go.

First I'll start out with the basics of what today is supposed to be about...provoking thoughts of things we haven't thought about before. I had in mind what I was going to write about, but I changed my mind after a theology class I had tonight. By the way, this is the best class ever. Anyway, the pastor was talking about evangelizing. Something I don't even come close to doing enough of. In fact, I probably haven't done true evangelism since 2nd grade.

Anyhow, you know how sometimes when you evangelize people ask questions like,
"Why would a loving God send people to Hell."

"Can God create a stone so big that even He couldn't lift it?"
"How do you know for sure the Bible is true?"
...stuff like that.
Well, he talked about how we always freak out about the questions. Many times we just say it's about "faith", but the honest truth is that just isn't good enough for unbelievers (true as it is). They don't understand faith so how are we supposed to make them understand? Solution? Absolutely.

Here's what he said that I think is so easy, yet genius.

When someone asks you a question say this,
"That's a great question. Do you mind if I ask you a question first, before I answer that?"
(99% of the time they will say "sure"). Then you ask,
"If I gave you a legitimately correct answer to that question, would you give your life over to Jesus right now?"
(usually they will say "no") Then ask,
"So obviously that isn't your real question, is it? Obviously, there is something else keeping you from Jesus. I would love to answer the real question that's keeping you from Jesus."

The pastor also told us that there are 3 reason people don't accept Christ.
1. Love of sin. (John 3:19-20)
2. Pride (John 5:39-45)
3. Fear (John 9:9-23)

So once you establish with the person you are witnessing to that they question they asked is not the real question, ask them which of these 3 is keeping them from surrendering their lives to Christ. Don't ask judgmentally. Make the whole conversation very friendly. Ask with a smile on your face. Make sure they know you actually care about them, and aren't just witnessing because you need to get a star for youth group.

Lastly, don't preach. Converse (not the shoe...talking). Start by asking them questions. Let them tell you what they believe. You can know more about them, and know better how to answer their questions or fears of your beliefs. If you generally care about what they believe, they will ask about what you believe.

Well, I hope you got something out of that. I got a lot out of it and I pray to be the witness I have not been.