All the Best Questions! by Jeremy Steele

Author:Jeremy Steele [Steele, Jeremy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Fortress Press
Published: 2018-09-04T00:00:00+00:00

18

How should I talk to atheists and people who don’t believe in God?

I was thirteen and sitting in science class next to Charla. She and I went to church together sometimes and had gotten to be really good friends. One of the things she knew was that even at thirteen, I knew I wanted to be a pastor someday.

Right before class started, she asked if I was staying after school like I usually did on Thursdays. I was, and she seemed really excited. “Awesome! I am going to get J.R. to come talk to you!”

“Who is J.R.?”

“He’s an atheist who sits next to me in art. I don’t know how to answer all of his questions.”

I was just about to say that I wasn’t sure I could answer his questions either when the bell rang and our teacher started teaching. His lecture kept going a couple minutes after the bell, and I had to run to my next class without finishing the conversation with Charla.

As I walked out of my last class of the day and went into the little courtyard where we all hung out, I saw Charla waiting with another student who I figured had to be J.R. We introduced ourselves and started talking about faith. He had a lot of questions, and I had some answers, but what really started there was a friendship. I now had my first atheist friend.

Talking to an atheist friend isn’t as hard as you might think. Over the years, for whatever reason, God has given me the gift of being the person to whom people send their friends and family members who don’t believe in Jesus. If I’m completely honest, some of my favorite people to interact with are atheists, but that’s another story.

When people ask me how to talk to atheists, it’s usually because they have a genuine concern for someone they love dearly and are confused as to where they should start.

Where do you start? How do you talk about your faith without pushing the person away, fighting with them, or making your faith seem shallow?

First of all, don’t argue. This is key. I don’t know any atheist who has ever been convinced to be a Christian through a theological or philosophical argument with a friend or family member. The argument approach is fraught with all sorts of difficult issues. There are a couple reasons for this.

First among them is that atheists don’t believe in the sources of authority Christians take for granted, such as the Bible. You can quote as many Bible verses as you want and even explain the historical reliability of the ancient texts, but it won’t matter because they don’t believe in God. For them, the words in the Bible are interesting philosophy, but as far as they’re concerned, the Bible can’t be God’s Word because they don’t believe God exists.

The atheists I have met are also intensely skeptical, which is something for which I personally have a deep respect. However, unless you have the

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