What I Believe To Be A Blog Entry

Really an exciting weekend. Had good services both nights, best attendance we’ve had since we’ve been back – really feels like we’re starting to build back some of the momentum we’ve lost. Third week of “Man vs. God” – talked about the consequence of sin. Hardly a popular belief of Christianity, but it really generated some fantastic conversation for a couple hours after the service had ended.

There was a student that came on Saturday night that is a philosophy major. She’s just a freshman, so she’s just kind of tripping on an information overload. Honestly doesn’t know much about the subject. But some things that she heard in philosophy class got her thinking about the existence of God, so she wanted to come to church to find out what it was all about. As soon as the service was done, she ran up with her notebook and list of questions. Some good, some ridiculous. The problem with a lot of philosophical discussions about God is that they lack focus. Don’t know how often you encounter people like this, but there’s lots of college students here that are like this. They’ve got lots of arguments, but they’re not trying to prove or disprove anything. They just want to talk. Here’s some ideas for plowing through all that:

1. Get them to say what they’re after. This girl is very friendly, really enjoyable to talk to. Not argumentative at all. Too much so! I finally had to ask her, “What is your biggest problem(s) with Christianity?” Because after fifteen minutes, I had no clue.

2. Don’t try to play like you have all the answers. Because you probably don’t. Much better to be sure of what you’re sure about and admit you’ve never heard of so-and-so and his book.

3. Don’t get caught in the little details. This conversation had a tendency to lean towards, “I call it a rock. But why do I call it a rock? That’s just a label I’ve been taught. What is it really?” Who cares? Let that junk slide – if you don’t care, don’t argue about it. And if you feel the need to tell them that what they’re talking about is unimportant, that means you care. Get to the heart of the matter.

4. Don’t argue in pride. The second you raise your voice, let your emotions flare up, or flagrantly interrupt the other person, you’ve let your pride override your love for the other person. If they’re not talking with you because they want to find the truth, stop talking to them. If they are digging for truth, you yelling at them isn’t going to help.

5. Remember that you can’t prove anything. And tell them so. You really can’t. In strict philosophical terms, nothing is provable. We believe in God first because it’s the best way to make sense of our world or our lives, and then He reveals Himself to us through the work of His Son. As Tim Keller says, “I can’t prove to you that I’m a butterfly imagining that I’m a human.” (The Reason for God – tremendous book) But the evidence strongly indicates otherwise! This is a great truth to get out on the table, because it must work both ways. This student said at one point in the conversation, “How can you say you know God exists? We can’t know anything.” To which, the obvious answer is, “How can you know you can’t know anything? At most, you can say, ‘I believe that nothing is truly know-able.'” Which is the same as saying it is possible that someone could really know God exists.