Dealing with the Unbeliver

As I have mentioned in previous posts, I partake in several on-line discussion groups often dealing with issues of Creation Vs Evolution. And in these discussions I meet quite a variety of people. And among these people are those who believe as I do. I believe firmly that God created the heavens and the earth approximately 6000 years ago in six days as the Bible describes in Genesis 1. I believe with this background in history, Jesus came to pay the penalty for man's sin 2000 years ago and that he rose from the dead. Now I want to make clear that I set my beliefs based on what the Bible says, that is, I seek that my beliefs are determined by Scripture and I seek not to look at Scripture based on what I bring to it. What I make of Scripture must be malleable to what Scripture says. That being said, while many do agree with me on the position of Scripture, there are several groups of people that I deal with in terms of how they agree or disagree with me and what I believe is behind these positions.

  The first group is those who do accept everything I believe, but actually have a greater understand of Scripture than I do. With these people, I still must check out what they say with Scripture but if it checks out I should be willing to adjust my position to be closer to what Scripture says. But if it does not check out with Scripture, I need to dismiss it. I understand that I don't have all the answers and I understand that there are others who have a deeper and closer walk with God than I do. But each of these people are fallible just as I am, so while I do need to take input from others, especially those older and wise than I, I still have a standard for which to judge everything to see if their ideas and what they have learned is legit.

  Another group is those who also accept everything I believe but are not yet at the level I am at. This is not meant to be an arrogant statement. But I have been a Christian and a missionary for 22 years and there are some people that are not at the place I have arrived yet. How I must respond to that is to build them up, encourage them, strengthen them, but at the same time, be very cautious in how to do that. I too much check what I say with Scripture. I take Jesus' warning to not lead a child astray very seriously. And the same applies to a child believer.

  But there are several groups of those who don't believe in the Bible and who have not been "born-again" that I engage with. One group includes those who think they are Christians but have never made that choice to make Jesus be the Lord and Ruler of their lives. And there are several flavors of this as well. Another group are those that do make any claim towards Christianity but are open to hear about it. The last one are primary scoffers and mockers. They not only do not make any claims towards Christianity they want nothing to do with Christianity and yet they tend to gravitate towards Christian and Creation themed groups. And I am going to address these groups.

  The first one are Christians who have not made the decision to follow Christ, but think they are. This comes in two primary flavors. The first is those who claim Christianity and have the fertile soil (Matthew 13) to where the seeds of God's Gospel can sprout and grow. These people are often very close to making that decision to follow Christ. The other flavor is a dangerous group. These are the ones who claim Christianity but actually do not want to follow Christ, or anyone else to follow Christ. We call them 'wolves in sheep's clothing' or worse 'wolves in shepherd's clothing'. Because of my standard for truth, I know how to spot these false teachers and false believers pretty quickly. When you know the truth, any fake or pretender is easy to spot because a fake or pretender cannot agree with the solid truth. It is a very common military tactic to send in double-agents, spies who pretend to be one thing when they are really plants from the enemy. The same is true with Satan. He will send spies into our midst for the purpose of deception of the believers, for intel, or for sabotage. We wary of these folks.

  There is another group that are non-believers who do not claim to be associated with Christianity but they have open ears and hearts to listen to what Christianity has to say. These are the people who Jesus said "He who has ears let him hear." But these people may or may not have fertile soil. They may hear the word and the world will just take it away (the path). They might listen for a while but when the pressure turns up they flake away (rocky soil). And then there are others who hear the word and they want to receive it but then life gets in the way and chokes it out (the thorns). To deal with these people, we must first recognize which type of soil they are. Some need plowing, some need weeding, and some need scarecrows to keep the birds away. But we must be patient and work with them and keep pressing to keep the thieves away. Some of these people we can work with like Nicodemus because they want to know the truth.

  Then we have the scoffers. They want nothing to do with Christianity and hate everything that represents Christ. But it is very interesting how these people gravitate towards people and places where the truth is heard. One reason for this is to mock and to ridicule. I do believe these many of these people are unwitting victims of Satan and his minion sent in to mock what they do not know. Many do not know what they are doing and we must take the attitude of Christ on the cross: "Father, forgive them they know not what they do." But worse are those who are aware of what they are doing. These are the ones that have been told the truth, they know it is the truth, and they still refuse to have anything to do with it. Here we must not sink to the folly of these Biblically defined fools, which is those who reject reason and truth and living by one's own standards instead of God's. Here must address a fool in accordance to his folly, that is expose it for what it is to make an example not just for the fool but for those watching lest they follow in the fool's footsteps. But we must also not waste our time with such people. We must be cautious to not toss pearls before the swine. When it is time that no one can learn from such a person including the audience, it is time to move on. Do not discuss with these scoffers alone. Only deal with them in public.

  This is a work in progress and I am still working out what is going on behind the scenes with these groups and really what is the best way to respond to said people. But we must remember that as Christians, we live in enemy territory and Satan does not let his prize possessions (the lost) go without a fight. Don't let him be the one on the offense all the time.