What To Ask Skeptics?

 During my Bible study lesson the other day, a brief part of the discussion was about why some people don't believe in Divine Creation. I was thinking about how I as a believer often approach skeptics. 

Usually, if I get the chance to possibly witness to someone - or am just talking with them and the subject comes up - I will ask a variation of the question "Do you believe in God?" After that Bible study, I spent a lot of time thinking that my typical approach might be flawed.

Asking someone if they believe in God or a Divine Creation, etc., is too broad, I think. I also think it can come across as confrontational or accusatory. Maybe asking why they do or don't believe is a better way. 

Sometimes, people believe in something even if they don't believe in the God of the Bible. Over the years, I've met many people who believe in the vague "a higher power". Even before I became dedicated to my faith, I thought that was a polite copout. When I started becoming bolder about discussing my faith, I'd ask people to name that higher power. They usually gave even more vague answers by citing morals or good vs evil,  and so on. I have never been bold enough to ask if morals or good vs evil died for them.

By asking people why they do or don't believe (in whatever), I'm opening up a better route for discussion. I genuinely do want to know why. I want to know why believers believe as much as I want to know why skeptics don't believe.

Maybe asking fellow Christians the question is just as important. If someone had asked me this years ago, I would not have been able to give a plausible answer. I probably would have said it was because I was raised to believe (I was), or that I didn't know why but that I just did. That's as bad as not believing at all because it's a believe founded on nothing but nothing.

Anyway, I just wanted to bring this up in a short post. Thinking about how I personally have approached people about their faith (or lack of it), has made me think more deeply about how to have more open and honest discussions with them. I don't want to just preach at someone. First of all, I'm not qualified. All I am qualified to do at this point is share why I believe. I'm going to give others the courtesy of letting them explain their viewpoint.

Peace

--Free

Secular Certainty

 The past couple of days, I was stuck in bed not feeling well. When I wasn't knocked out from some weird fatigue, I watched documentaries.

First Peoples, The Story of Egypt, Rome: Empire Without Limit, etc. Interesting stuff. Stuff that, like always, makes older me wish that younger and more energetic me had been as interested.

As I listened to the archeologists, classicists, and other history specialists and experts discuss dates and cultures, something nagged at me. I think it was after the first couple of videos that I realized what was bothering me. These experts toss out dates and knowledge about forgone civilizations with such certainty. They have an air of "no doubt" and, for the most part, I want to trust their information. On the other hand, when Christians discuss the Bible, most people scoff at our belief in "fairytales".

So many people - some of them considered to be very intelligent and logical - will try to tear down the Judeo-Christian recounting of history. We also tell of "first peoples" and their history. We detail historic, scientific, mathematical, information from the Bible and we get laughed at.

In one of the videos, an expert talked in detail about a skeleton they found in the water somewhere. The skeleton, according to various sources, is that of a woman from around thirteen thousand plus years ago who they say is "the first American". The expert recounted - again, in detail - what that woman's diet consisted of, how she was ceremonially buried, and what her life had been like. 

I personally know people who take this kind of information as a solid fact. If you ask why, they point out the evidence of archeology, scientific dating, etc.

Now, as Christians, we tell of kings and rulers and tribes of people. We tell about specific events that occurred. I know of people who call me delusional for believing any of this. They don't trust that I am looking at a lot more evidence than they are about their beliefs. I don't know very many people who study what they believe the way serious Christians study the Bible.

The Bible talks of circumcision being performed on a child at 8 days old. These days, because of secular science and biology, we know that this is the perfect time for such an operation. Now, as you can tell, I'm no genius, but that right there seems pretty amazing to me. Before scientists knew about the 8th day and coagulation, God knew.

There are many such examples of man in all his brilliance, having to catch up with the biology, science, math, astronomy, etc of the Bible.

I sometimes think that some men will go out of their way to disbelieve anything that the Bible says. They won't believe in the Holy Ghost, but they will believe in great-grandma Lucy speaking to them from "beyond" or haunting their attics. They have trouble believing in demonic possession and Satan but they will totally accept the idea of aliens.

Probably the weirdest secular flex is scientists trying to explain away what happens at death. "The brain is releasing a chemical"; "It's a state of...", etc. It's this or it's that. How do they know for certain?

NASB version

What I really think is that most mankind knows that God is. That frightens them though maybe because if they believe in the God of the Bible, they have to believe the rest of the Bible. They have to believe in eternal consequences and judgment. To believe in God, they would have to accept that they are not gods.

Another reason I think that men believe in the God of the Bible - the Creator, the I AM - is because they are always trying to replicate His work. Man has been trying to create life and re-create what they call the "Big Bang". Why is that?

So, yeah, I have a problem with people willing to be so certain about some things while they scoff at what Christians are certain of.

For anyone interested, here is a site that covers a lot of information to validate Bible evidence. Go to the various links across the top of the page for categories.

Peace

--Free