Sunday, October 16, 2016

The Great Commission - Great Opposition 503 - 2

Great opposition, yes. I’ve been witnessing to another friend for three years but can’t seem to get past her contention that God is a bully and that I am a bigot because I am against same-sex marriage. No comment that love the sinner and hate the sin made any impression so I dropped it in deference to our long-term friendship. That said, I still subtly witness to her.

A few years ago I was visiting a good friend who was selling at a swap meet. There were no customers around so I did nothing to detract from his selling effort. Then his partner came over and told me to get out even though I haven’t said anything other than to complement him on how well their area was organized. Once more this individual told me to get out of his area so I left bemused. My friend didn’t stand up for me at the time but came over later and apologetic. However, seemed that it was my fault his friend attacked me because I talk about being a Christian. I pointed out that I haven’t said anything but my friend said you don’t have to it just shows. I thought to myself that wow I graduated and my light was recognized by evil.

The Road Runner tactic as spelled out in " I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist" by Norman L. Geisler and Frank Turek deals with how to identify and refute self-defeating statements. One example is when someone says "There are no absolutes" respond with "Are you absolutely sure?" A helpful tactic indeed.

Again what I want to learn from this course is how to be any effective Christian apologist.

Ron adds clarity to the subject of salvation by stating that man must understand the existence and character of God, the purpose and power of the Bible and the person oh Jesus Christ, most importantly, is Jesus Christ God? Then the zinger, "What is the nature of man?" His suggestion to ask "What is your understanding" will be helpful in future witnessing following a “decision tree” of yes or no questions.

The God of the mountain is also the God of the valley. I found the reference to David going into the valley armed with only his slingshot and five smooth stones to be inspiring. Of course by this time King Saul had lost his anointing by God to the young David. The comparison between David's Brothers mocking him and the criticism coming from other Christians was interesting. In my case, my brother used to denigrate me, "how do I know that is so." As I became more versed in Evidential Apologetics he no longer does.

Like Satan, Goliath was armed to the teeth both with weapons and defensive measures. And yet David's stone found just the right spot to knock Goliath down. To wonderfully add insult to injury to Satan's minion, David used Goliath's weapon to cut off his (Goliath's) head.

I’ve long since understood that it’s not my job to convict someone, rather I share the good news and let the Holy Spirit do the convicting. As to the question of why does God allow evil to exist, Dan’s answer because “God allows us to live” most assuredly will be a conversation starter.


Very helpful is remembering Dan’s comment “When we witness in the knowledge that the holy spirit is with us, we are indeed armed!”

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