A close friend described his experience sharing the Gospel with his brother as painstaking and confrontational. Although he feels led by the Holy Spirit to share Christ with his brother, he often runs into that proverbial bump in the road when a difficult question throws him for a loop or if an objection is raised about Christianity that leads to him and his brother engaging in a heated debate. He asked me for help in dealing with the subject of overcoming objections and answering difficult questions. I believe my response can be beneficial to everyone.
If you’re led to share your faith with someone and they disagree with the message of the Gospel, don’t get your feathers all ruffled up and take their disagreement personally. Many times, Christians have an emotional, prideful or angry response to an unbeliever’s rejection of the Gospel. The fact is someone disagreeing with the Gospel does not render it to be untrue. Absolutely nothing can do that! Think of it this way. There are approximately 6.9 billion people living on the planet. If 99.9% of all the people living in the world today did not believe that salvation is through Jesus Christ alone, guess what? It would STILL be true that salvation is through Jesus Christ alone. 99.9% of the world not believing that salvation is through Christ alone does not make the Gospel untrue. We have confidence that Jesus Christ is the only avenue to salvation according to the scriptures (John 14:6, Acts 4:12 & 1 Timothy 2:5).
Before Jesus sent the disciples out to share the Gospel, he told them that if anyone did not receive their message to shake the dust of their feet and move on (Matthew 10:14). Instead of taking disagreement of the gospel personally and debating, relax and follow the guidelines in 2 Tim 2:23-25 which says, “Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Opponents must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth…” If someone disagrees or rejects the Gospel here are some tips that can help:
- Arguments about Christian doctrine are not always preventable, but try to avoid them as much as possible. The fact that Christianity is not tolerant of other religions angers people and that should not surprise us. Jesus himself did not enjoy acceptance and approval while he was on earth (Isaiah 53:3, 1 Corinthians 1:18). Keeping this in mind, if you find yourself in a spirited discussion, be careful not to let the objective of the discussion transition into trying to win an argument. When you begin arguing over Christian doctrine, the discussion is centered on you and the other person and is no longer about Christ.
- Consider the volume of your voice. When you raise your voice, you give the other person incentive to raise their voice. When you lower your voice you give the other person incentive to lower their voice.
- Stop talking and listen to the other person’s point of view. Even if it’s unbiblical, it will give you insight about where they are coming from spiritually.
- Don’t compromise the word or God or take the word of God out of context. Although you have to be humble and gentle, you still have to stand your ground and tell the truth.
- Don’t take disagreement personally. Don’t accuse. Don’t disrespect. Don’t condescend. Although someone may have a belief system that does not align with Christ, you must treat them with respect. Take into account that this person is just as sincere and passionate about their belief system as you are about your faith in Christ. Again, God’s word is truth and therefore, disagreement with the word of God does not change the truth about who God is and what it means to be saved.
- Politely end the conversation if the discussion becomes very heated or looks like it has no end in sight. Here is an example of something that you could say to end an argument or debate: “We have come to point where we do not agree and cannot move forward in this discussion. I sincerely think that we should end the discussion here”. Note: This must be said with sincerity and humility. Don’t infer that you are the more mature and rational person. Don’t make statements like, “I’m going to take the high road and end this conversation” or try to get the last word.
- If your pride or arrogance got in the way, repent and ask God’s forgiveness. Additionally, you may need to apologize to the person. Be careful that you are not apologizing for Christianity.
- Add the person to your prayer list and open the door for future dialog.
- Lastly, be sure that your conversation is one where God is glorified and your speech is seasoned with salt. Even though there is disagreement, be sure that the love is Christ is always communicated.
“Why do bad things happen to good people?” “Why would a loving God send people to hell?” “Don’t all roads lead to heaven?” These are some of the most common questions and objections raised about Christianity. Knowing how to respond to these and other objections and difficult questions are very important when sharing the Gospel. If you are unable to answer questions about Christian doctrine, be honest and say that you don’t know the answer. However, let the person know that you will find the answer and get back to them. Do get back to them soon when you have the answer. If you’re sharing the Gospel at the time the question is asked, transition back into where you left off in the discussion.
We should not always assume that the motivation behind asking a question is to challenge us or trip us up. Someone may be trying to gain insight about something that they truly do not understand. Most likely, the reason a question is asked is because beliefs within Christianity are spiritual are not clearly understood and indiscernible to those who don’t know Christ. 1 Corinthians 2:14(NLT) says, “But people who aren’t spiritual can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means.” Also, inquire why the question is being asked. The basis of the question might originate from something observed about Christianity at a church, something observed about Christian denominations or something observed about Christianity in the media. For example, I have a friend who loves to watch those National Geographic and Discovery Channel documentaries about Christianity. She always asks me how they compare to actual biblical truth.
In conclusion, we proclaim the indisputable Gospel truth, not with human arrogance, but to glorify God and to lovingly share with the world that Jesus Christ is the only way. We are ministers of reconciliation and Christ’s ambassadors of the Gospel called to plant and water seeds in our words and actions with the understanding that only God can change the condition of the human heart.
I’d vetnrue that this article has saved me more time than any other.