12/7/19 Mark (to see video, click HERE)
I don’t know why the recording stopped halfway through our
conversation, but I’m kind of glad it did.
From time to time I record the gospel outreach conversations
that I initiate with random people on the street or in the marketplace, and
these are the conversations I write about.
I record them not because I expect many to watch much of it, but just to
provide some context for the aspect of the conversation I choose to comment on. My conversation with a man named Mark was
fairly unusual, and, frankly, the second half made me look like an idiot. But I am willing to be a “fool for Christ” (1
Cor. 4:10), so I forge on…
Mark had grown up in a secular, atheist household, but has
decided to return to the Catholic heritage of his grandparents. He has recently completed a year-long, adult
catechism class that seemed to have left him with more questions than answers,
and, though he embraces the cultural aspects of Catholicism, he rejects the
exclusive claims of Catholicism and Christianity.
I had been asking Mark some questions to get to know him and
challenge some of his presuppositions, but in the second half of our
conversation, which mercifully wasn’t recorded after my camera shut itself down,
Mark turned the tables and started asking me some hard questions and making
some claims of his own that I wasn’t prepared to refute.
Now I should say that another reason I record and share my
conversations is not to set myself up as some sort of evangelistic superstar,
but just to show by example that an average believer like myself can contribute
toward the proclamation of the Gospel in the hope that it might encourage other
Christians to do the same.
And I really am average, possibly below average, when it
comes to the abilities most think an evangelist should have. I really am an introvert, to the point that I
became paralyzed with fear and sick to my stomach when I first began to initiate
conversations with strangers over ten years ago. Only a lot of prayer and practice and trial
and error has helped me overcome this hurdle.
I have never been good at simple socializing or the art of small talk,
never had the “gift of gab”. I struggle
to remember names and faces, and I have a terrible long-term memory so that any
Bible verses I memorize, any theological explanations or apologetic facts are
soon forgotten without constant use or review.
So in the second half of our conversation Mark questioned my
claim that Christianity stands unique and that the Bible is of divine origin,
saying it was written some 300 years after Jesus, around the time of the
council of Nicaea. Now I have done
extensive reading on these subjects and I am convinced the New Testament was
written by the traditionally accepted authors during the first century, but I
couldn’t remember any authoritative facts on the subject, or even the names of
the authors and books I’ve read. I knew I
had encountered extremely convincing evidence, but I couldn’t cite any of it right
there on the spot.
Why am I so rusty on the facts if I regularly witness and
get into these sorts of debates? In
addition to my poor memory, it is also probably because in the end I know that
I will just be citing my favorite experts as a Christian, and skeptics will
only cite their favorite experts as atheists.
It becomes an argument of “my expert vs. yours”. I am convinced by the evidence Christian
scholars present but ultimately I trust them as brothers in Christ who know they
are held accountable to God as compared to a scholarly sceptic who denies God’s
existence from the start.
Besides, debates don’t normally win people’s hearts. Spirit-filled people do. I believe the Holy Spirit works far more
often through the faithful proclamation of Jesus than through an expert winning
an argument. I may not have a good
memory for details or the gift of gab, but even below-average people like me
can patiently listen and respectfully share the Gospel. “But we have this
treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and
not from us.” 2 Corinthians 4:7
The church has always had some great heroes of evangelism,
mightily used by God to lead revivals and carry the Gospel to foreign lands. But it has had us average Joes as well, far
more, quietly living out our faith and bearing witness as we balance our witnessing
efforts with secular jobs and family and other church responsibilities.
Let’s pray for the Lord to send more servants
to the harvest fields all around us, and consider ourselves to be among
them. If I can do it, you can too!
See our conversation HERE at https://youtu.be/ewmlQpPwmew
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