EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is the second in a five-part series about the characteristics of unbelief
Anyone who regularly evangelizes will at some point encounter someone whose attitude toward Christ is stubborn unbelief. Jesus perfectly summarized this spiritual condition when He said to one group, “Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word.”Jesus is more than happy to grant divine understanding to those who are open to being persuaded. Some people are simply unwilling to humble themselves and consider the possibility that the Gospel is the key to understanding all of life and existence.
One of my most memorable encounters with a stubborn nonbeliever occurred last year when I met an Australian tourist. As usual, I tried to catalyze a Gospel conversation by greeting him with the good news that Jesus loves him. His response was one of the most acerbic I’ve received so far. The man said, “You’re entitled to your delusional opinions, but I’m far too intelligent to believe that stuff.” It turned out that he was an atheist who denied that there’s any such thing as supernatural power — including the idea that Jesus performed miracles. I pointed out that in order to know that God doesn’t exist, the tourist would literally need to know everything that’s knowable.
After I made this logical proposition, the Australian finally revealed the true nature of his “intellectual” resistance. He said, “I refuse to believe that God would say ‘Worship me or you’re going to Hell.'” That, of course, is a severe oversimplification of the choice God sets before us. However, the thing that struck me about the tourist’s statement was that by his own admission, he refused to believe. He didn’t say the Bible’s theology isn’t believable.
The tourist went on to make several more unsubstantiated arguments against Jesus’ deity, His miracles and the Old Testament in general. I tried to gently explain that his attacks weren’t rooted in evidence, but after 10 minutes of back and forth, he became frustrated and walked away.
Is there anything I could have done to change the final outcome of that interaction? Perhaps not, but in the future, once it became clear to me that someone was a resistant non-believer, I would say “I really didn’t come over to argue with you; I came to tell you about the amazing sacrificial love of Jesus.” Then I would kindly challenge the person to keep an open mind. The rest, as always, is between the non-believer and God.
1. John 8:43
By: Raymond Billy
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