There is something that transcends this physical material world. Every human knows it, feels it. All humanity, atheists, humanists, agnostics, and all other religions all willingly or unwillingly, knowingly or unknowingly admit that there are two elements of the human existence; purpose/meaning and belonging. These are the essential elements of human existence that will ALWAYS spark spiritual thought and lead to a gospel presentation.
Everyone knows they have a sense of purpose and meaning. This is why people decided to feed themselves and keep themselves alive instead of the alternative. This is why atheists don't commit suicide when they claim to believe life has not real meaning or purpose, yet, they still willfully choose to exist and strive for some sort of meaning and purpose everyday. Their argumentation alone proves they believe in some sort of meaning in life, if they feel a need to argue for what they believe. They prove the existence of purpose, if they feel they need to argue for their beliefs in that it gives them a sense of purpose. With this in mind, a simple question like "Why did you choose to do that?" or "Why do you want that?" can lead down the spiritual road.
There is a universal transcendent sense of belonging and community. Even those who are "loners" or deemed "anti-social" still subscribe to ideologies and beliefs of others and make those ideas their own; they in some sense satisfy their inherent need to belong. Atheists belong to atheist communities and subscribe to a set of ideals and beliefs that gives them the sense of belonging, even if they don't want to admit it. With this in mind, a simple question like "Why do you think that?" or "Where did you get that from?" can lead to spiritual conversations.
These are all questions they, anyone, can ask you as well.
When that door has been opened by you simply injecting the concept of rightness, follow-up questions are critical. Once you ask the question, you become the driver of the conversation.
If you notice, they take the bait and entertain a discussion of rightness. You start driving down a road that leads to the issue of morality, right and wrong, good, better or worse. Again, as long as the person is open for discussion, keep driving down that road with follow-up questions.
At this point, they have just used some sort of standard by which they judge things to be right or wrong, better or worse, good or evil. From there, you can go straight to the essence of the issue with first real spiritually related follow-up question:
Here they have just explicitly stated their moral standard and are officially now in a conversation about morality. From there is just a simple inquiry of exposing contradictory, illogical, irrational thought of relativism and subjective humanism. Big fancy words that basically lead them to admit that they can't say rape and killing innocent people (murder) sanctioned by governments or cultures is wrong. Because no matter their standard of right and wrong, it will always be determined by a government and culture of that time and age. Thus, the specific example is, the Holocaust which was condoned by the German people and legal under the Nazi government. This is how we know that universal transcendent morality, good, comes from outside of humanity. But all those are arguments you have to study up on. Here, we are addressing how to SPARK a conversation that would lead to a Spiritual conversation and ultimately a gospel presentation.
Follow-up Questions and Specificity are the two lanes of discussion that CAN lead down the road to a spiritual conversation. Since YOU are the driver and see every interaction with God's creation as a potential opportunity to glorify him; every conversation is Missional.
Conversations About Religion
IF and WHEN the conversation enters the specific topic of religion, it becomes a million times more easy to present the gospel. Usually after the lines of questioning above, they will often say things like:
When this question comes up, more than likely, they already have a ignorant false assumed picture of what "Christian" is. They may have gone to church when they were young. They may have other "Christian" friends or seen Christian movies; whatever, it doesn't matter. You respond semi-vague as to not validate their assumed false image of Christianity and follow up with:
How do you know they don't actually know what Christianity is? Because they don't know Christ as their Lord and Savior. They can read the Bible cover to cover, memorize a ton of verses, even win debates against other Christians but, that is nothing more than words on paper and reciting Harry Potter quotes to them. If they knew Christianity, they would know Christ, and if they knew Christ, they wouldn't be atheist.
At this point, if they took the bait on the "What is Christianity" topic, they will more than likely give some kind of explanation about doing some moral to-do-list like following the 10 Commandments, or doing good works, and claiming to follow Jesus.
And this is it. This is where God has ordained YOU the opportunity to give the gospel.
Conversation Break Down
Follow-Up Questions and Specificity drive conversation to the ultimate point and reason of discussion. Notice, the last point, #6, directly answers in the most perfect way, the very first broad topic that kicked off the whole thing, #1.
Is This Shady and Misleading?
This is in no way misleading or shady because we are simply navigating to the best answer for the premise of the conversation. And by doing so, avoiding useless, fruitless, meaningless other spin off conversations and remaining focused to achieve the best possible answer. It only feels shady and misleading to those who hate the gospel or to those who are ashamed of the gospel.
If you have any questions or comments about this article please CONTACT US, join our discussion FORUM, REPORT AN ERROR, or leave a comment below.
Everyone knows they have a sense of purpose and meaning. This is why people decided to feed themselves and keep themselves alive instead of the alternative. This is why atheists don't commit suicide when they claim to believe life has not real meaning or purpose, yet, they still willfully choose to exist and strive for some sort of meaning and purpose everyday. Their argumentation alone proves they believe in some sort of meaning in life, if they feel a need to argue for what they believe. They prove the existence of purpose, if they feel they need to argue for their beliefs in that it gives them a sense of purpose. With this in mind, a simple question like "Why did you choose to do that?" or "Why do you want that?" can lead down the spiritual road.
There is a universal transcendent sense of belonging and community. Even those who are "loners" or deemed "anti-social" still subscribe to ideologies and beliefs of others and make those ideas their own; they in some sense satisfy their inherent need to belong. Atheists belong to atheist communities and subscribe to a set of ideals and beliefs that gives them the sense of belonging, even if they don't want to admit it. With this in mind, a simple question like "Why do you think that?" or "Where did you get that from?" can lead to spiritual conversations.
- Why did you choose to do that?
- Why do you want that?
- Why do you think that?
- Where did you get that from?
These are all questions they, anyone, can ask you as well.
Atheist: "Why did you choose to do that?"
YOU: "Because it is the right thing to do."
When that door has been opened by you simply injecting the concept of rightness, follow-up questions are critical. Once you ask the question, you become the driver of the conversation.
YOU: "What, you wouldn't have chosen to do that too? Why not?
Atheist: "Because I don't think it's right" or "Because I think something else is better."
If you notice, they take the bait and entertain a discussion of rightness. You start driving down a road that leads to the issue of morality, right and wrong, good, better or worse. Again, as long as the person is open for discussion, keep driving down that road with follow-up questions.
YOU: "How is it not right?" or "What makes something else better?"
Atheist: "Because I think/believe..."
At this point, they have just used some sort of standard by which they judge things to be right or wrong, better or worse, good or evil. From there, you can go straight to the essence of the issue with first real spiritually related follow-up question:
YOU: "What makes that right/good/better?"
Atheist: "Because..."
Here they have just explicitly stated their moral standard and are officially now in a conversation about morality. From there is just a simple inquiry of exposing contradictory, illogical, irrational thought of relativism and subjective humanism. Big fancy words that basically lead them to admit that they can't say rape and killing innocent people (murder) sanctioned by governments or cultures is wrong. Because no matter their standard of right and wrong, it will always be determined by a government and culture of that time and age. Thus, the specific example is, the Holocaust which was condoned by the German people and legal under the Nazi government. This is how we know that universal transcendent morality, good, comes from outside of humanity. But all those are arguments you have to study up on. Here, we are addressing how to SPARK a conversation that would lead to a Spiritual conversation and ultimately a gospel presentation.
Follow-up Questions and Specificity are the two lanes of discussion that CAN lead down the road to a spiritual conversation. Since YOU are the driver and see every interaction with God's creation as a potential opportunity to glorify him; every conversation is Missional.
Conversations About Religion
IF and WHEN the conversation enters the specific topic of religion, it becomes a million times more easy to present the gospel. Usually after the lines of questioning above, they will often say things like:
Atheist: "Oh, your one of those Christians, aren't you?" or "Are you a Christian?" or "Are you religious?"
When this question comes up, more than likely, they already have a ignorant false assumed picture of what "Christian" is. They may have gone to church when they were young. They may have other "Christian" friends or seen Christian movies; whatever, it doesn't matter. You respond semi-vague as to not validate their assumed false image of Christianity and follow up with:
YOU: "I have faith, yes. But it's not what you think it is. What is Christianity to you?" or "Yes, I'm a Christian, but what does that mean to you?
How do you know they don't actually know what Christianity is? Because they don't know Christ as their Lord and Savior. They can read the Bible cover to cover, memorize a ton of verses, even win debates against other Christians but, that is nothing more than words on paper and reciting Harry Potter quotes to them. If they knew Christianity, they would know Christ, and if they knew Christ, they wouldn't be atheist.
At this point, if they took the bait on the "What is Christianity" topic, they will more than likely give some kind of explanation about doing some moral to-do-list like following the 10 Commandments, or doing good works, and claiming to follow Jesus.
And this is it. This is where God has ordained YOU the opportunity to give the gospel.
Conversation Break Down
- Most broad "meaning of life" question.
- Where the "meaning of life" comes from topic.
- That standard that gives "meaning" topic.
- The topic of religion.
- The topic of Christianity.
- The Gospel.
Follow-Up Questions and Specificity drive conversation to the ultimate point and reason of discussion. Notice, the last point, #6, directly answers in the most perfect way, the very first broad topic that kicked off the whole thing, #1.
Is This Shady and Misleading?
This is in no way misleading or shady because we are simply navigating to the best answer for the premise of the conversation. And by doing so, avoiding useless, fruitless, meaningless other spin off conversations and remaining focused to achieve the best possible answer. It only feels shady and misleading to those who hate the gospel or to those who are ashamed of the gospel.
If you have any questions or comments about this article please CONTACT US, join our discussion FORUM, REPORT AN ERROR, or leave a comment below.
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