The Eureka moment came to me a few seconds ago while browsing the internet and it's so important that I spread this insight right away before I put it off - that I rushed to this blog I keep to share it with you.
Here goes.
I saw an email from a Christian site called Rhetorical Jesus. Today's subject line was "What if I asked you to talk to an atheist? Would you do it?"
It occurred to me that, being a Christian, talking to an atheist about faith is almost the same as walking barefoot across a floor full of broken glass shards or going to the dentist to have a molar pulled out. It's something we Christians hate doing, like if it's like swimming against an oncoming tide.
It then occurred to me; how would I explain to this atheist how faith works?
It then occurred to me, and I have a strong belief that this insight had to have come from the Holy Spirit Himself. No one else could have given me information this precious.
We Christians, no matter how saved we are, we too struggle with unbelief from time to time. We get hit with temptations to not believe, definitely to walk by sight and not by faith. Even pastors get hit with such temptations. They're horrible.
So in talking to an atheist, the most important thing, this is what I thought as I pondered on the way of the what, the why of the insight of this gift from the Holy Spirit to me.
It's this: When you're talking to an atheist or an agnostic, you're dealing with someone who's having a challenging difficulty, an almost irresistible urge to disbelieve everything you're discussing with him or her. And I mention this because to an atheist, you have the natural aptitude to believe in the existence of God. The atheist cannot believe that to a Christian believer, coming to believe in Jesus Christ, it's a struggle to keep staying in faith. The atheist, I used to be one myself about twenty or so years ago, believes you're either born with the ability to believe in God or you don't in a manner of whether you're born with the ability to sing or draw or whatever comes naturally.
To the atheist, that all are called to believe and be saved - is something that is too good to be true for him or her.
The atheist has the belief, once bitten twice shy.
I've been bitten by that dog before so don't waste your time trying to convince me. The atheist or agnostic is jaded, has been hurt or disappointed big time. So yeah, you're swimming against the tide.
And it's not your job to totally convert the atheist. Your job is to pry the atheist's door open enough for the Holy Spirit to come convict him. You're not assigned to convert the atheist into a believer. God has not given you that kind of power. Your job is to tag team together with the Holy Spirit.
Tell that atheist that faith is about setting aside your natural tendency to see it before you believe it.
BUT TELL THE ATHEIST THAT GOD IS ENTITLED TO EXPECT THAT YOU'LL BELIEVE HIM EVEN WITHOUT SEEING HIM OR LIVING IN THE FLESH THE REWARDS OF HIS ACTIONS. That's what faith is. If you're not willing to set aside your tendency to "Got to See it Before I believe It," it means you're not taking God nor His Word at Face Value. So you don't get to please him. He, God, insists on your setting aside your natural tendency. That's what's so hard for the atheist to get about faith.
And tell him, very certain that whatever struggle it takes to have enough faith in God is as naturally tough for you as it is for anyone else. And tell him, make sure he or she understands that unbelief is every bit as much as the struggle for you as a Christian as for anyone else. Tell the atheist, that believing in a God you cannot see with your eyes is something of a challenge as your natural tendency as everybody's natural tendency is to trust what you do so and hear with your natural senses. And that you frequently ask for more faith from God because there are times when your faith tends to wane and get discouraged. And tell the atheist that the original measure of faith you got from God sometimes doesn't cut it when you're facing the temptation to disbelieve the Bible.
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