Jewel
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Michael
Administrator
|  Subject: Re: How do you witness....?  Tue Oct 14, 2008 12:32 am | |
| | Jewel wrote: | How do you witness to someone when they question the validity of the scriptures????
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With unbelievers who have no Scriptural foundation and/or don't believe in the validity of Scripture, I'd start with Creation. It's how Paul addressed the Gentiles. If you look in Scripture, you'll see that Paul addressed the Jews from the Old Testament and explained how Christ fulfilled the prophecies for the Messiah. But, with the Gentiles, who had no Old Testament understanding, he appealed to them first by addressing the matter of Creation. This is exactly what he did in Acts 17 when he preached at Mars Hill.
Romans 1 tells us that man knows that God exists because He is clearly seen in creation. However, they suppress or "hold" this truth in unrighteousness. Because of their unrighteousness, they would like to not retain God in their knowledge. They don't want to deal with a holy God who holds them accountable for their deeds. So, I would appeal to them first through Creation, and then take them through the law. They can still reject what you're saying, but their conscience will bear witness that the things contained in the law are true, because God has written it on their hearts.
I would definitely take them through the "good person" test.
Just remember, our job is to be faithful witnesses of the gospel. Our job isn't to convert them. Just tell them the truth. In fact, there's a great book called "Tell the Truth" that would be very helpful. I also have a book called "How to Give Away Your Faith" by Paul Little. You are welcome to check either of them out. Just remind me.
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It's true that doctrine divides. It's also true that love unifies. The unity we have in the faith is rooted and grounded in truth and love. Remove truth (right theology and doctrine) from the mix and you have less than Biblical unity. Remove love and you have no unity. Love causes us to seek truth and share that truth with others so that we become more unified. God is truth, and as we are more acquainted with His truth, the closer we are to Him, and the closer we become to each other
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btate0121
| | Subject: Re: How do you witness....? Tue Oct 14, 2008 4:17 pm | |
| due to the lack of a "thanks" button here Thanks mike! |
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