Atheist-Christian Debate?

2/4/14            Reggie        about 40

Not all interactions between Christians and atheists about matters of faith have to be an argument or even a debate.  I recently walked into a Starbucks looking to initiate a Gospel conversation, and to video record it if possible.   A small group looked like they were just wrapping up a meeting, so I said “I’m from a church nearby and I’m working on a video project.  I usually start with a general question about what you think happens after this life, and it’s just an open ended conversation from there. I’m wondering if you’d be willing to take part?”  “Oh, you’ve asked the wrong people – all three of us are atheists!” one of them replied.  “No problem!  I’m trying to encourage other Christians to share our faith with people from all sorts of backgrounds” They thought about it a few moments -  “I think I will!”,  one of them said, and the others said they would stick around.  While they were out feeding their parking meters, a woman sitting within earshot of us and identifying herself as a Christian called me over – “You don’t want to talk to those people.  You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into!  Why would you want to talk to them anyway?” she said, but when she finally realized she wasn’t going to talk me out of it she said “Well, I hope you’re full of the Holy Ghost, because you’re going to need it!”  “That’s exactly who I’m trusting in!” I said.  In the video, which is uncut except for switching between cameras, I talk with the more outspoken member of the group, Reggie, while his friend Frank runs one of my cameras and another friend, Eunice, looks on.  Reggie is typical of many of the atheists I have met, in that he has grown up with a church background and therefore feels he has “been there, done that” with Christianity, and believes he has progressed beyond a faith that he now sees as foolish.  He doesn’t think he has anything new to learn, so most of my lines of questions fall flat.  He speaks with a great deal of certainty, and feels that his appeals to the logic and reason of man always trump my appeals to faith and scripture.  I am, in his eyes, a fool, and if I am willing to put up with that, we can at least have a peaceful conversation.  Many church people, like the woman who warned me earlier, would say this is a conversation not worth having.  But I believe it is, resting on the promises found in 1 Corinthians 1, including this: “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”  No debate, no “wisdom and eloquence”,  will convince Reggie of the truth of the Gospel, but maybe, someday, through the power of God, the “foolishness” of the cross just might.                       VIDEO