Friday, August 20, 2010

Suppressing Truth

I thank the Lord for another great night of witnessing on Friday night. I pray that His glory is always the central focus through the planting of seeds and that souls would be won for Christ. The call and command of spreading the Gospel is sometimes uncomfortable, unpredictable, stressful, joyous, rewarding, fun, and so many other emotions and different situations come to mind, but in the end how I feel about it doesn't matter. What matters is that we are obedient and we are spreading the Gospel whether it is by using a gospel tract, open air preaching, typing to someone on the internet, talking one to one to a stranger, family member, or a friend. We need to realize that the proclamation of the Gospel requires words despite the famous quote that many people use which says, "Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words." Not only is that NOT biblical, there is also no documentation, records, or any evidence of St. Francis ever saying that. No evidence or record...kind of like evolution!

I have noticed that many churches emphasize inviting someone to church rather than actually evangelizing. While it is not bad to invite an unbeliever to church one has to consider if their church even includes the Gospel message in their sermon. Many churches unfortunately have alter calls without the Gospel even being preached. If that is the case then there is probably something wrong with that situation and it is producing false conversions which is so prominent in our country. We don't want to take someone to a church that is just going to make them feel better about themselves for a week. They need to be taken somewhere where they will understand their condition before God and hear the Gospel. Another mistake is that we assume that it is solely the churches (building/staff responsibility to spread the Gospel and we try to pass the ball to them.

I often pray that my thinking and prayers are eternally geared. Meaning, that I understand and comprehend that the person that is walking by me could die that very day or I may miss my chance to share the Gospel with that family member or friend that I have been praying for. Oh if I only lived everyday like it were my last. It is a feat than I honestly never know if I will be able to accomplish, but I strive to. If it were though, I would want to spend it sharing the Gospel, with my family by my side, and giving glory to God in every moment and aspect of that day as we should everyday.

With all that being said I want to share a conversation that I had recently with a guy named Travis. He was probably about my age or a little bit younger. I was making one of my rounds around the Harbor when I saw him leaving. He had long hair, a guitar on his back and his name was Taylor. I approached him. (This conversation lasted about 40-45 minutes, but I'll try to sum it up with the important points as best I can)...

Me: "Hi, did you get one of these?" (handing him a trillion dollar bill)

Taylor: "Yes, I've gotten several of these."

Me: "Oh, okay, has anyone ever talked to you about it before? It asks the trillion dollar question. What do you think happens after we die?"

Taylor: "Yeah, I've talked to a lot of people about this stuff and basically I think when we die we go in the ground and our bones dissolve along with our brains disintegrating...he gave me the science of the process)

Me: "I see, well I am a born again Christian. Do you mind if I share what I believe based on the Bible even though you may have heard this before like you said?"

Taylor: "Sure"

Me: "Has anyone ever asked you the Ten Commandments or the Good Person Test before?" (I figured they had if they handed him a Living Waters tract)

Taylor: "Yes, and morally I am a good person. I do good things. I think killing and abortion is wrong. I don't cuss or do anything that is bad. I come up here a lot and I see things that disgust me. Girls wearing shorts that are entirely too short. Guys who are hitting on two or three girls at a time, underage drinking, cussing, and other things that make me sick."(Throughout the conversation he kept proclaiming his goodness)

Me: "I gotcha. Well the reason I usually ask the 10 Commandments that you are familiar with is because they really show our condition before God. I thought I was a good person based on my morals as well. But our morality is nothing compared to God's. Breaking one of His commandments makes us guilty of them all.

Taylor: "Well, I study philosophy, history, and different religions a lot and I have a lot of problems with their being a God and especially Christianity."

Me: "Really? I enjoy studying those things as well. But please understand that not everyone who says they are a Christian or does something in the name of Christianity is one just because they say so."

Taylor: "I understand that, but honestly I can't believe in God and I don't want to because I don't understand why he would just let there be so much evil in the world."

Me: "I see what your saying, but far too often what we do is concentrate on all the evil ignoring all the goodness and grace of God. Look at you standing here and talking to me right now in good health with your guitar at this nice place. We are here right now by God's grace. There is evil in the world because man is sinful and we live in a fallen creation. Are you familiar with the Adam and Eve story?

Taylor: "Yes, but I can't accept that a loving God would just let bad things happen such as pain, suffering, and poverty. Why not just make everyone happy and healthy?

Me: "God shows His love to us through His Son, Jesus Christ. (I proceeded to share the Gospel with Him) We ask, " why this, why that, God," and completely try to shut out that He did this great thing for us and the common grace that He gives us through life."

Taylor: "I have a problem with that too because I didn't ask him to do that for me and I would hang on a cross because I love the world that much too. What people don't realize is that there are people today and all throughout history who suffered worse than Jesus. There are people who were tormented their whole lives worse than him and Jesus wasn't even here that long or suffered that long."

Me: "The reason Jesus had to die on the cross was because only the sacrifice of God, which is who Jesus is, could be sufficient for the whole world. We can look in history today and see that there are people possibly tortured, PHYSICALLY, more brutally and longer than Jesus, but the Bible also talks about Jesus suffering the wrath of God on the cross. That is something so horrible that we cannot see or comprehend what He went through on the cross.

Taylor: "I'm sorry, but there is just no way of knowing that there is a god. It is possible for a child to know something the father knows. (I'm not sure where he was going with that)

Me: "Sure there is. You have a conscience. Look at creation as it gives evidence to a masterful Creator. We have a whole book from Him!

Taylor: "There are so many contradictions in the Bible and over time we have progressive knowledge. We used to think the sun was a god and over time we realized that it wasn't. There are so many instances like that.

Me: "I agree that we have progressive knowledge. For instance, the world said that the earth is flat when indeed the Bible points to it being round. There are other instances in the Bible where science is still catching up with the truths that can be found in the Bible. Contradictions can be found in anything when something is pulled out of context and unfortunately that happens in the Bible a lot so someone can shape their own beliefs. That is why we are to study it and take it in context with itself."

Taylor: "Okay, but I can't understand why someone has to go to hell just because they are not baptized or part of a certain church or etc. My dad would let me into Heaven even though we have different paths or agree on things. I am a morally good person so I think that kind of god would just let me in.((He brought up quite a bit of Catholic theology and history (crusades) throughout the conversation))

Me: "Everyone without Jesus Christ is going to hell because we sinned against God and broke His law. A baptism or church attendance does not save. No one is innocent or good, we are all guilty. You can see that by looking at our world. We want to think that we are good, but that is not what the Bible says. We are all bent towards evil. That is why we need a redeemer. Someone who can pay our fine, which is Jesus, who is the only way. You talk about nations being wiped out in the Old Testament, but they did exactly what you are doing right now. You are proclaiming your own goodness and spitting in God's face by saying that you won't believe in Him and you don't need Him when He has shown you His glory through creation, conscience, and His Word."

He kind of skipped around, but then brought up his morals again so I asked another question.

Me: "The 10 Commandments are God's holy standard. That is where we get our morality as it is written on our hearts. Where do you get your stand of what is right and wrong?"

Taylor: "I believe a society determines what is right and wrong. Throughout time we have established better standards and morals to whatever fits that certain society."

Me: "So you are saying that it is only right to the person?"

Taylor: "No, the society."

Me: "So was the Nazi society right when they killed thousands of Jews or when terrorists bomb and crash planes in the name of Islam?"

Taylor: "Actually the Islam faith isn't brutal, it is really a religion of peace. In the Koran, which I have read, it says no where to actually kill the infidels, but to show them peace."

Me: "Then why does it say in Surah 9:5 - to kill the infidels...?"

Taylor: "Well, the Koran has contradictions just like the Bible."

Me: "The Koran does have many contradictions, but we already went over the Bible and it does not, but would you say that the Nazi's were right or wrong?"

Taylor: "I think it's wrong, but to them it is right."

Me: "Okay, so you are saying that there is no sense of absolute morality. It is solely based on a societies standard?"

Taylor: "Well, I don't believe in a supernatural moral code."

Me: "Alright, then you think child pornography is okay if a certain society says it is?"

Taylor: "No, I think it is wrong and I will speak out against it."

Me: "But if you were saying there is no standard for right and wrong outside of a society then it is "right" in a sense because that individual believes it to be."

Taylor: "I don't agree with it, but I just think there is no supernatural moral code."

Me: "So you are basically saying it is okay if someone believes it to be true and that there is no right and wrong. The Bible reveals to us God's standard of morality which is written on our hearts. Taylor, do you believe we all came from monkeys...?

Taylor: "Yes, we evolved. We can see similarities between different species. There is loads of evidence.

Me: "While there are similarities there are no transitional forms. There are huge holes in the evolutionary model. I know you are better than that and that you were uniquely created. I really don't believe you are just an animal."

Taylor: "We are all animals. If God is real then why can dolphins show affection and bears use logic like we do...(he used some other examples as well).

Me: "That has absolutely nothing to do with the existence of God besides the fact that He is creative in His creation."

Taylor: I'm sorry, I respect what your trying to do, but I just will not believe it. I just don't want to. When I was young I was told the story of Job and how God killed his children and took everything away from him."

(He knew this story very well and other theological principles in the Bible. It is unfortunate that many people like this know more about the Bible than many who proclaim to be Christians)

Taylor: That is awful and I don't understand how a loving God could do that.

Me: Don't end the story there. You didn't tell what God then did.

Taylor: Yeah, I know He gave Him more kids and stuff, but that still doesn't justify what He did just to prove a point.

Me: "I know to us it is hard to comprehend, but the fact is, is that we are the clay and He is the potter. The clay doesn't tell that potter how he wants to be made or tell the potter what to do. God's ways are His ways and they are perfect even if we can't understand. But we can see that the principle behind the story is that we go through trials and tribulations, but God is faithful. He rewarded Job for his faithfulness in the end more than before. If we focus on the emotional aspect of every instance then we lose the truth aspect and bigger picture."

Taylor: "I would rather go to hell than be in Heaven with God like that."

Me: "Taylor, I don't want that for you and you seem to not understand that hell is for eternity. It is the weeping and gnashing of teeth where the fire is never quenched and the worm never dies. Whether you believe it or not will change it."

Taylor: "Let me ask you this. What is your idea of hell?

Me: "It doesn't matter what my idea is about hell or any of this. What matters is what God's Word says which I told you. The Bible was written by more than 40 men of various occupational and cultural backgrounds, over 1,500 hundreds years in the making, throughout 3 continents, and it contains several fulfilled prophecies. It is the only truth that matters in the world and you may say you don't believe it or there is an error here or there, but it will not change the fact that it is God's Word."

Me: "Taylor, I understand that these facts I'm telling you are not going to convince you of anything. I know that, but I want you to think about what we have talked about and what if all this is true. Do you love life?"

Taylor: "Yes, I love life, but I wrote a paper in philosophy about how it would be better if we were never born because ignorance is bliss and there would be no pain and suffering. I used to study religion more, but now I am really into art. I write songs about love, the world, and other people. I really do love life though."

Taylor: "But listen, I really gotta go, but I'll let you have the last word after I say this. You are probably going to tell me that Jesus loves me so much and I would be crazy not to accept Him because of His love. But I like the way I live and I enjoy life. I'm a good person and I do good things. I won't go in a church and yell at someone because I disagree with them because I am a good person like that. I just don't want to worship a God who does the things He does in the Bible. I can't accept that."

Me: "I'm not going to tell you that Jesus loves you or to accept Him, because He doesn't need it, but the Bible does command that you repent and trust in Him. I really do care about you and I don't want to see you go to hell, seriously. I really just want you to consider what we talked about tonight. You may throw these away, but will you please take these and think about reading them?"

(I handed him 3 booklets, Save Yourself Some Pain, Why Christianity?, and Scientific Evidence Found in the Bible by Ray Comfort.

Taylor: "Yes, I'll take them"

Me: "Well, listen man. I really appreciated the conversation and you listening and dialoguing with me. I really enjoyed it and it is definitely healthy to talk about these things. Just check out that information please and have a great night because I know you love life and eternity is a long time to be wrong about all this."

And we parted ways. It never got heated or anything although he did jump to different topics when he could not respond to a certain point. The important part is that the law and Gospel was shared. I pray that the Lord unhardens his heart. He obviously knew there was a creator as he would get very emotional towards God when we discussed certain things. He brought up past experiences and more reasons why he did not like God, but Romans 1:18-19 kept ringing in my ears during the conversation. You could see him suppressing the truth when given to him of a holy, righteous, just, merciful, loving, Creator.

"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made." - Roans 1:18-20

The Bible is so true when it says that every man proclaims his own goodness. We may not all do it in the same way, but we do without the grace and redemption of Jesus Christ. The more I witness and walk with the Lord the more I am being able to apply and understand these amazing biblical truths.

All the other conversations in the night went excellent as well. However,I was let down by the many church goers who couldn't tell me how to get to Heaven or even what the Gospel is when I asked. A group of girls said that there were probably going to talk about the law and Gospel that was shared with them until 4 in the morning that night after our conversation! Even though I'm not sure if I am ever seeing conversion take place it does bring me joy to see people taking their eternal salvation and the things of God seriously whether it is a positive or negative experience to me. Please pray for everyone who got a tract and heard the Gospel!

Salvation is of the Lord, but He wants us to plant the seeds!


May God bless you and yours!

In Christ,

Joey