By: Rev. Jason Hilliard – Christian

I could never believe… the inevitable words you will hear when spending any length of time debating an atheist.  Typically it comes ultimately from their refusal to own up to the fact that someone, God, has the authority and right to judge them in righteousness and truth.

In the movie Open Range, Kevin Costner’s character has a conversation with the “bad guy”.  After walking away from that conversation he and his friend (played by Robert Duvall) are discussing what the “bad guy” had told them and Costner makes the remark that if you listen to someone long enough you can usually reveal their hidden intentions.

I find this to be incredibly true when dealing with atheists, or anyone for that matter.  Just the other day I was having a discussion with an atheist who accepts the theory of evolution as fact.  We debated for about an hour.  Each argument he had about the Bible I showed him answers for.  We were chatting online so each argument for evolution, I was able to point him towards cause for doubt in those arguments.  Finally, after a long pause he says, “Regardless, I could never believe in a god who would send someone to hell…”

What it boiled down to was the fact that regardless of overwhelming evidence for God.  Regardless of his God-given conscience, he wasn’t going to believe in God.  Not through factual reasoning, but from a refusal to submit to God.  Submitting to God require an admission on our part that we are deserving of death.  It requires us to admit that we aren’t the end all be all of the world.  It means *gasp* its not all about us after all…

So how can we then reconcile this issue with the Gospel?  I would look, among many choices, to the story of Naaman in 2 Kings 5.  Naaman wasn’t healed until what?  He humbly obeyed the Word of the Lord.  At the end of the day you can argue till you pass out.  Ultimately, no matter how compelling you present your argument for the existence of God, until they humble themselves before a Holy God and repent they will not receive Him.

In your witnessing stick to the Gospel.  Paul encouraged Timothy in 2 Timothy 2, to not be involved in worldly and empty chatter or pointless arguments but to be diligent to present ourselves as workers who need not be ashamed in handling the word of truth.  You may find yourself in a place where you feel the need to debate a little, and that’s fine.  But in your preparation make a plan for you to get to the Gospel quickly.  Bring the knowledge and reality of sin and its consequences.

Keep your head up in your efforts that may seem to you to be a “failure”.  Know that when you are presenting the Gospel rightly there can be no failure.  It is a 100% success rate each and every time.  If they repent, that is an obvious success.  However, if they continue in their disbelief it is still a success.  Isaiah 55:8-11 says that God’s word will not return to Him without having accomplished that which He sent it for.  Ours is not to worry about their response as much as we are to concern ourselves with always endeavoring to rightly present the Word of God to a lost and dying world in need of the one and only true Hope we can ever know.  Jesus Christ (John 14:6).