Day Four: A Conversation with an Agnostic
2 Timothy 3:16-17
"All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."
Last night I was out to eat with an old friend of mine. Being a believer, it is rare that I am not always around fellow believers (I prefer that most days), but in this instance, last night, I wasn't. You see, my old friend is an agnostic.
By definition an agnostic is a person who holds that the existence of the ultimate cause, as God, and the essential nature of things are unknown and unknowable, or that human knowledge is limited to experience. He believes something is out there, but will not say that it is God. He believes there is something bigger than God and that God is just a small fraction of what the bigger picture is. Of course, that clashes with my belief that God is the bigger picture of this world in which we live.
Well, during this dinner I learn that he is writing a book on disproving the existence of God. I attempted to change the conversation, but to my dismay the conversation continued with stories and diagrams that were being used in his book to prove his point.
Now this man is hard-headed and straight forward on his views. He questions everything that is said. As I tried my hardest to combat what he was saying with my beliefs and, more importantly, with scripture I was continuously being tested. My biggest test was when I went to my bible to find a piece of scripture and was told that the bible was not true, but solely made by man.
How many times have you come across a non-believer and had no idea what to say to that person when they questioned your faith? I know that has happen to me on more than one occasion. Even though it shakes me to my very core that I cannot rattle off scripture like others that I know to combat what he is saying, I actually take it as a challenge. I dig deeper into the Word. I dig deeper into the research. I dig deeper into the stories to where, when I am asked again, that I am ready with the Word of God to combat what is being said against my God.
I see my friend's views. I listened closely to what he was saying, but in no way did I agree. In no way did I waiver in my faith and my beliefs. He doesn't understand how I can believe God is loving and merciful and go through the trials I have gone through. I guess you can say that through every dark cloud that has passed, is passing or will pass through my life, God has been, is and will always be the beautiful silver lining that will light up that cloud from the inside out.
I think it only fair to tell you that I dated this man. I dated this man for 3 long years of my life. At the time I was NOT a Christian and certainly was not trying to live like one. I used to agree with his open views and his questioning of everything. Now I don't see how anything that is of God can be questioned. Everything is of God so nothing really can be questioned. The Word is the truth. The Word is God. The Word is Christ. It says in John 1:1
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning."
I have interpreted it like this (the word Christ in () is pertaining to the word "Word")
"In the beginning was the Word (Christ), and the Word was with God (Christ), and the Word was God (God and Christ are one in the same). He was with God in the beginning (Christ).
John is showing us that Christ has been with God since the beginning and that they are one in the same. To me this only proves the Bible to be the Truth and not something man made.
Do you hold everything in the Bible to be true? I know I do. As it says in 2 Timothy 3:16, "All Scripture is God-breathed..." The whole book, cover to cover is God-breathed.
After having this conversation with my friend, I felt a bit disheartened. I know scripture. I know my faith and what I believe in. I didn't wavier from my faith during the entire evening, but something still was eating at me. The feeling of failure that I did not know enough to really combat his arguments with scripture. The feeling that if I had a stronger Christian with me that my friend might have been challenged more and maybe understood where we were coming from. After I sat back and thought about it, it hit me.
Satan.
Satan was inside my head having me question everything. Satan's lies are good, but they are not what controls us. We have the ability to rebuke those thoughts in the name of Christ Jesus. We have the ability to tell Satan no and to take our thoughts to the cross and lift them up to Him. We have the ability to get into the Word when we are feeling attacked and let the Lord take over out thoughts with His words.
Christianity is a relationship with our Lord and Savior. Christ died on the cross so that we may have everlasting life and be able to communicate freely with our Creator. How amazing is that? We have open access to our Lord and Savior. Open access!!
I will never stop praying for my friend. I will never stop praying that he will one day come to the cross and surrender his life to God.
My challenge for you today is this: Do you have a friend that is a non-believer? We all do. In the next couple days don't just show them God's grace and love, talk to them about your faith. That can be the hardest thing to do, but it can be the most amazing experience of your life. You never know what may click and when.
In Him and For His Glory!
P.S. I will have to say, one thing I did take away from that conversation was the concept for my book. To take my blogs that I blog everyday and make them in a book to show my journey with God and Him being at the center of my life. Not a bad thing to take away from this conversation.
"All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."
Last night I was out to eat with an old friend of mine. Being a believer, it is rare that I am not always around fellow believers (I prefer that most days), but in this instance, last night, I wasn't. You see, my old friend is an agnostic.
By definition an agnostic is a person who holds that the existence of the ultimate cause, as God, and the essential nature of things are unknown and unknowable, or that human knowledge is limited to experience. He believes something is out there, but will not say that it is God. He believes there is something bigger than God and that God is just a small fraction of what the bigger picture is. Of course, that clashes with my belief that God is the bigger picture of this world in which we live.
Well, during this dinner I learn that he is writing a book on disproving the existence of God. I attempted to change the conversation, but to my dismay the conversation continued with stories and diagrams that were being used in his book to prove his point.
Now this man is hard-headed and straight forward on his views. He questions everything that is said. As I tried my hardest to combat what he was saying with my beliefs and, more importantly, with scripture I was continuously being tested. My biggest test was when I went to my bible to find a piece of scripture and was told that the bible was not true, but solely made by man.
How many times have you come across a non-believer and had no idea what to say to that person when they questioned your faith? I know that has happen to me on more than one occasion. Even though it shakes me to my very core that I cannot rattle off scripture like others that I know to combat what he is saying, I actually take it as a challenge. I dig deeper into the Word. I dig deeper into the research. I dig deeper into the stories to where, when I am asked again, that I am ready with the Word of God to combat what is being said against my God.
I see my friend's views. I listened closely to what he was saying, but in no way did I agree. In no way did I waiver in my faith and my beliefs. He doesn't understand how I can believe God is loving and merciful and go through the trials I have gone through. I guess you can say that through every dark cloud that has passed, is passing or will pass through my life, God has been, is and will always be the beautiful silver lining that will light up that cloud from the inside out.
I think it only fair to tell you that I dated this man. I dated this man for 3 long years of my life. At the time I was NOT a Christian and certainly was not trying to live like one. I used to agree with his open views and his questioning of everything. Now I don't see how anything that is of God can be questioned. Everything is of God so nothing really can be questioned. The Word is the truth. The Word is God. The Word is Christ. It says in John 1:1
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning."
I have interpreted it like this (the word Christ in () is pertaining to the word "Word")
"In the beginning was the Word (Christ), and the Word was with God (Christ), and the Word was God (God and Christ are one in the same). He was with God in the beginning (Christ).
John is showing us that Christ has been with God since the beginning and that they are one in the same. To me this only proves the Bible to be the Truth and not something man made.
Do you hold everything in the Bible to be true? I know I do. As it says in 2 Timothy 3:16, "All Scripture is God-breathed..." The whole book, cover to cover is God-breathed.
After having this conversation with my friend, I felt a bit disheartened. I know scripture. I know my faith and what I believe in. I didn't wavier from my faith during the entire evening, but something still was eating at me. The feeling of failure that I did not know enough to really combat his arguments with scripture. The feeling that if I had a stronger Christian with me that my friend might have been challenged more and maybe understood where we were coming from. After I sat back and thought about it, it hit me.
Satan.
Satan was inside my head having me question everything. Satan's lies are good, but they are not what controls us. We have the ability to rebuke those thoughts in the name of Christ Jesus. We have the ability to tell Satan no and to take our thoughts to the cross and lift them up to Him. We have the ability to get into the Word when we are feeling attacked and let the Lord take over out thoughts with His words.
Christianity is a relationship with our Lord and Savior. Christ died on the cross so that we may have everlasting life and be able to communicate freely with our Creator. How amazing is that? We have open access to our Lord and Savior. Open access!!
I will never stop praying for my friend. I will never stop praying that he will one day come to the cross and surrender his life to God.
My challenge for you today is this: Do you have a friend that is a non-believer? We all do. In the next couple days don't just show them God's grace and love, talk to them about your faith. That can be the hardest thing to do, but it can be the most amazing experience of your life. You never know what may click and when.
In Him and For His Glory!
P.S. I will have to say, one thing I did take away from that conversation was the concept for my book. To take my blogs that I blog everyday and make them in a book to show my journey with God and Him being at the center of my life. Not a bad thing to take away from this conversation.
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