Sharing The Truths

Of Christianity

 

 

“The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried”

G.K. Chesterton

 

 

How would you respond to the following?

"I’m a good person, why do I need to accept Christ?"

"If I don’t accept Christ, am I going to hell?"

"Why would a loving God send someone to hell?"

"Aren’t all religions are basically the same?"

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There can be no greater privilege for a Christian, than being involved in the activity of changing the eternal destiny of others.  And when we considering the following verses, there is also no greater importance than helping others see that there is no "getting right with God" after this life.  The only opportunity we have is during our lifetimes. Besides showing this truth, the following verses also prove that the Bible doesn't teach reincarnation.

Hebrews 9:27 “And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment”

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2 Corinthians 5:8b "to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord."

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Consider the overwhelming evidence already presented pointing to the existence of God, and validating the Bible as being from God and being true.  Considering the equally significant truth that we will all be judged after this one life, there is then only this life, and without the possibility of reincarnation, where we can make a difference in other people’s lives and their eternal destination. And while we realize the importance of this, many of us still avoid sharing with others the message of the priceless gift of salvation which Christ offers.

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And just as there is no getting right with God after this life, once we leave this life we will never again be able to directly reach others with the amazing news of salvation through Jesus Christ’s payment for our sin on the cross.  Think about those people you enjoy investing time with in this life.  Do you love your friends and loved ones enough to share this knowledge of salvation and eternity with them?  Do you hesitate sharing these truths with others, and instead hope that someone else will share Christ’s gift of salvation?  Have you ever thought that if everyone thought this way, no one would ever share?

 

I'm reminded of a small story illustration I heard some years back that fits this apprehension very well called, That’s Not My Job

That’s Not My Job

This is a story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody.  There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it.  Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it.  Somebody got angry about that, because it was Everybody’s job.  Everybody thought Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn't do it.  It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have.

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I believe the main reason that many of us avoid sharing the truths of Christianity and the gift of salvation is because many of us don’t know how to talk with others without feeling unprepared. Many of us hesitate to share with others because we feel the person we want to share with might ask us questions we feel we won’t be able to answer.  If this describes the hesitation you have, I know how you feel.  I have been there too.  I still have slight hesitation at times, but I no longer feel the apprehension I used to because of the methods of sharing Christianity with others linked to in this section which were developed by others.  Because of these methods, I have a much greater confidence in being able to raise the important questions most people don’t usually consider.  

I believe the information in this and the other sections of this guide will give you much greater confidence, not only in your knowledge of the evidences supporting Christianity and its truths, but also in your ability to share the truths of Christianity with others.  This section of the guide covers two aspects or methods of sharing the truths of Christianity.  Both of these will increase your confidence and effectiveness in sharing the truths of Christianity with others.  As well, they will enable you to create an environment where the person you are communicating will be more open to considering what you have to say.

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The first method is taught by The Way of The Master ministry (www.wayofthemaster.com).  You've already seen this method used in the Self-Check section, where a few of the Ten Commandments were used to show how bad we really are.  It is one of the easiest and most effective techniques I have seen to bring a person to the realization that no one is perfect, and because of that the need that we all have for a Savior. 

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The second method deals with being able to respond to questions and challenges in a conversation, without causing either yourself or the person you are sharing with to feel awkward or uncomfortable.  It is called Tactics, and was developed by Greg Koukl, President of the Stand to Reason organization (www.str.org).

 

As mentioned earlier, often a challenger doesn't realize that their question or challenge has logical inconsistencies.  The Tactics method allows you to clarify questions you are asked, show the logical inconsistencies in many of the challenges you might be presented with, and allows you to guide the conversation. 

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And again, both the Way of the Mater and Tactics  methods also have the great advantage of enabling us to communicate with others without being insulting or embarrassing to the other person.

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One additional point I believe is critically important to consider at the start of this section is knowing the audience we are communicating with.  We can have the best presentation of the Gospel, and the most proven evidences for Christianity, but fail in our presentation due to not knowing how to communicate with our audience. 

 

When we don’t know the audience we are communicating with and make assumptions as to what they do or do not believe, our message will often be misunderstood.  Those who end up misunderstanding what we are trying to convey will understand a different message than what we had intended.  It is also somewhat insulting to them because we haven’t taken the time to learn how to best communicate our message with them in a way that will enable them to accurately understand our message.  The Tactics method is very helpful for this.

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A resource which covers this and will give you great insight is Ken Ham’s book, Why Won’t They Listen?, particularly Chapter 3 of the book, Communication-It’s a Problem.  I have the book and recommend it highly.  Because of Ken Ham’s dedication to getting his information out, he has provided the ability to read this valuable resource for free online.  He had done this as well with many of his other books.  What a great privilege and blessing to us!

Why Won’t They Listen? – Ken Ham’s book

https://answersingenesis.org/answers/books/why-wont-they-listen/

Link to all of Ken Ham’s online books

https://answersingenesis.org/answers/books/

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