45th
Annual Meeting
Evangelical
Theological Society
The
McLean Hilton, Tysons Corner, VA
18
Nov 1993, 2:30 PM
PRESENTING
THE GOSPEL
TO
THOSE WHO REJECT SCRIPTURE
Robert
C. Newman[1]
Abstract: Presenting the Gospel is
fairly straightforward when your audience consists of those who know and
accept Scripture, but even in the U.S. many do not fall into this category. Some who accept (but don't know)
Scripture won't believe your message without careful study on their own,
and even then they may well be inclined to reject the testimony of Scripture
rather than believe what it says about themselves. But Paul has left us an example of
being all things to all men, that he might by all means save some. When he spoke to those who knew Scripture,
he used Scripture. When he spoke
to those who did not, he didn't use Scripture. How can we present the Gospel in a believable way to
those who do not view the Bible as God's Word?
Much of the evangelistic activity of the
Christian church today C particularly in the U.S. C
is centered on presenting the Gospel to those who already know and accept
Scripture. At least this is the
impression one gets from the popular evangelistic methods currently in use.
Consider the "Four Spiritual
Laws" booklet distributed by Campus Crusade.[2] This popular sixteen-page booklet
presents the Gospel in a series of four laws, followed by an invitation to
receive Christ. If a profession is
made, the materials provided at the end of the booklet give the person assurance
and get him or her started in growth.
Each of the four laws is supported by two to four brief Scripture
citations. Bible quotations are
also given for the material on assurance and discipleship.
Another popular Gospel presentation is
that used by Evangelism Explosion and briefly summarized in the booklet
"Do You Know for Sure?"[3] To answer the question why God should
let you into his heaven, the tract responds, "Did you know that the Bible
tells you how you can KNOW FOR SURE that you have eternal life and will go to
be with God in heaven?" Each
of the five following points is buttressed by one to four Scripture quotations. As with the "Four Spiritual
Laws," short Biblical quotations are given for the sections on
commitment, assurance and Christian growth. Thus both these presentations assume that the reader
accepts the Bible as God's Word.
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This is not unreasonable when one
considers that an unusually large fraction of the U.S. population says it
believes the Bible is God's Word.
The Gallup publication Religion in America found 72% of the U.S. population
making such an affirmation in a poll taken in 1984.[4]
Yet many of these do not know what the
Bible says, since their acquaintance with Scripture is only piecemeal and at
second hand, perhaps from very unreliable sources. A similar poll in 1982 showed that,
while 70% knew where Jesus had been born (which every Christmas pageant
tells us), only 46% could name all four Gospels and only 42% knew who delivered
the Sermon on the Mount.[5] In spite of this widespread ignorance,
we praise God that some of these will accept the Gospel when we tell them what
it says. There are probably many
thousands in the U.S. and millions throughout the world who have
never clearly heard God's offer of free pardon, who yet by his grace will make
an immediate decision when they do hear it.
Others will not accept immediately C
perhaps due to the large variety of religions in the world today, or to the
many charlatans around with quick-fix messages C but they will later turn to Christ after
they learn for themselves what the Bible says. These can often be won through longer-term evangelistic
Bible studies.
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On the other hand, others who currently
accept Scripture will later reject it when they find out what it really says.[6] They will prefer their own views and
lifestyle to those taught by Scripture, which they formerly thought were
the same.
And besides those who accept Scripture,
there are large numbers in the U.S. who reject it. Some 5% deny the existence of any God or Universal
Spirit, and only 66% believe in a personal God who watches over and judges
people.[7] Some 23% do not believe the Bible
to be God's Word and 30% believe it is sometimes mistaken, so less than half
even profess to believe whatever it says.[8] And some additional percentage
(probably a substantial number) would move into this position if
pressed by the claims of Jesus and the Gospel.[9]
How can we present the Gospel to such
people who reject Scripture?
That is what we want to consider here.
The Example of Paul:
The apostle Paul has set us an example in
his evangelistic work on how to present the Gospel to quite diverse
audiences.
To those knowing Scripture, Paul
made use of this knowledge in pressing the claims of Christ. In the synagogue at Antioch of Pisidia
on his first missionary journey (Acts 13:16-41), Paul spoke to Jews who had
been raised in the knowledge of God's Word, to proselytes and Godfearers who had
considerable exposure to Scripture, and probably to other Gentiles who were at
least sufficiently interested in the God of Israel to come to synagogue to
learn what the Bible teaches. Here
Paul sketched the history of Israel, making use of numerous biblical
allusions, and quoting from Ps 2:7, Isa 55:3, Ps 16:10, and Hab 1:5. Where his audience knows and accepts
Scripture, Paul does not hesitate to use it. Yet even with Bible-believing audiences, the apostle does
not expect them to take his word without checking it out. He argues with the Jews in Damascus
(Acts 9:22) that Jesus is the Messiah promised in Scripture. And those in Berea (Acts 17:11) are
commended for testing Paul's message by the Bible.
But to those not knowing Scripture, Paul
does not assume such knowledge.
Nor does he expect his listeners to take his word on faith either. In the market place at Lystra, where an
audience of pagan Gentiles gathered at news of a spectacular healing, Paul
(Acts 14:15-17) calls their attention to the creator God as seen in nature
through his gifts of rain, crops, food, and joy. Though God has previously let the Gentiles go their own way,
he has now sent Barnabas and Paul to call them to turn from their worthless
idolatry and serve the living (i.e., the real) God. In the more sophisticated climate at Athens, Paul
argues with the pagan philosophers and gains an opportunity for a hearing
before the court of the Areopagus.
Here Paul notes (Acts 17:22-31) that the Athenian worship is deficient
because the creator God needs nothing from us, but instead he gives us
everything. God made us
humans to seek him, and he is not far away, as quotations from the pagan
authors Epimenides and Aratus illustrate.
God previously overlooked idolatry but now commands repentance, has
set a day of judgment, and appointed Jesus as judge by raising him from the
dead. In these two examples we see
that, with pagans, educated or not, Paul appeals to such knowledge of God
as they have, plus the evidence of what God has recently done by intervening in
history through Jesus.
Besides these examples, Paul elsewhere
tells us his guiding principles in evangelization. In 1 Cor 9:19-23 he urges the believers at Corinth to give
up their own selfish attitudes, stop being stumbling blocks, and reach out to
others. Though the Corinthians'
major problem seems to have been getting along with each other in the
congregation, Paul's illustration concerns outreach to the unsaved:
Though
I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as
many as possible. To the Jews I
became like a Jew, to win the Jews.
To those under the law I became like one under the law... so as to win
those under the law. To those not
having the law I became like one not having the law... so as to win those not
having the law. To the weak I
became weak, to win the weak. I
have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save
some. I do all this for the sake
of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.
Paul's example suggests that we should
not expect the unsaved to come looking for us (though perhaps they ought to,
and some will), and that we should not expect them already to accept Scripture
or hold orthodox doctrines. It is
up to us to put ourselves out and go where they are and find them, not only
geographically, but also linguistically, culturally, ideologically,
methodologically and emotionally, at the same time not compromising
the Gospel itself.
Some Approaches to Those Who Reject
Scripture:
There are doubtless a number of
approaches we can make to those who do not already accept the Bible as God's
Word. Most of these will be
audience-dependent in one way or another, just as Paul indicates in 1 Corinthians
9 above. An approach to Muslims
will differ in many ways from one to Buddhists or secular humanists. And an approach to liberal,
sophisticated Muslims would probably differ from one to their less educated
brethren.
Since many today profess to be atheists
or agnostics, it is not unreasonable to present evidence for the existence of
God, without worrying too much whether they really are atheists. This approach might take a philosophical form to reach those
who have some training or interest in philosophy,[10]
though the fraction of people today that fit in this category is apparently
rather small.[11] Since science is highly regarded
in modern culture, the rapidly growing evidence for God's existence being
uncovered by scientific investigation will probably have a greater impact
on larger numbers, though here too the number of people who are scientifically
literate is small.[12]
There are many more in our society and
especially around the world who believe God exists, yet who do not identify him
with the God of the Bible. For
these, it may be most effective to present the claims of Christianity in
contrast to other religions[13]
and to give evidence for the truth of Scripture.[14]
Some in our society accept the truth of
parts of the Bible, but not those which seem unreasonable to them. These may be helped by responding to
the things which trouble them[15]
and by presenting the claims of Jesus and evidence for his resurrection.[16]
All these approaches can be very helpful
to remove stumbling blocks that keep many from coming to Christ. They can also encourage Christians,
giving them more confidence in the truth of Christianity and the
defensibility of the Bible, particularly as many believers have been
badgered into silence by the intellectual arrogance of skeptics. In addition, this material can be helpful
in stopping the mouths of opponents,[17]
who often seem to think (and certainly teach) that Christians are ignorant,
gullible people who are afraid to face the truth.
But all these methods will be fruitless
if the person is not inclined to listen.
A friend of mine who was an atheist until well into adulthood was once
asked how he would have reacted in earlier years to some evidence I had just
presented. His response
was, "I would never have gone to a talk of that sort"! Others may not be inclined to listen
because for them Christianity is just one of many religions clamoring for
attention. Or because they
know Christianity would interfere with their preferred lifestyle. And many others already have a religion
which satisfies them.
How can we incline a person to
listen? Ultimately we can't. Only God can finally do this. Sometimes he uses disaster in a
person's life, or some other incident that does not involve believers. But God often lets us share in drawing
others to himself, sometimes by friendships, sometimes by the unsaved
person observing our lifestyle when we don't even know it. Just as a preacher cannot
guarantee his congregation will listen to the sermon, neither can we guarantee
a hearing from the unsaved. But
just as a preacher can do some things to make it more likely the congregation
will listen, so can we as evangelists. We need to work on reaching out to where people are as
regards interests, education and intellect in order to be more effective.
One approach used effectively in
centuries past deserves more attention than it is currently getting, especially
given the great interest today in psychology and self-help. This approach is to help people see
that they really are sinners and that this is a very serious problem indeed. In pointing out the problem of human
sin, we must not merely communicate on the level that this is what God says, so
take it or leave it. The audience
may just take this as evidence that the Bible is not God's word after all. Too many in our society are already
turned off by evangelicals preaching against sin as though we
ourselves have licked the problem, when it is obvious to the unsaved that
we haven't. Talk about an unconvincing
argument! We need rather to
present the biblical teaching on sin in such a way that it is clearly
true, not just to those who already accept Scripture, but to those who don't.
G. K. Chesterton once said that original
sin is the only doctrine of Christianity which can really be proved.[18] Without endorsing Chesterton's claim
that it is the only such doctrine, we can make use of the sort of evidence he
had in mind. An excellent
presentation along these lines using the research findings of
modern psychology has been given by David G. Myers of Hope College.[19]
In spite of the popularity of
the "self-esteem" movement and its claim that the main human problem
is too low an opinion of ourselves, Myers notes that research psychologists
have amassed a "powerful river of evidence" that exactly the
opposite is true, that we most commonly have an unrealistically good opinion of
ourselves. Myers sketches six
lines of evidence for this:
1. We tend to
accept much more responsibility for our successes than for our failures,
which are typically seen as bad luck or someone else's fault.
2. Most of us
view ourselves as above average in any particular good trait, and a large
percentage of us put ourselves in the very highest percentiles.
3. When we
cannot deny that we did a particularly nasty thing, we are usually quite good
at justifying it.
4. We commonly
overestimate the accuracy of our judgments and the truth of our beliefs.
5. Most of us
are unrealistically optimistic in remembering and reporting information about
ourselves, and in predicting how well we will do in life.
6. We
consistently overestimate how virtuously we would act in hypothetical
situations compared with how we actually act in real ones.
Although Myers does not list it with
these six, another feature he notes is also relevant:
7. Depressed
people are typically more accurate in their self-appraisal and more likely to
see themselves as others see them.
Such materials might be very helpful in
getting people to see that their own evaluation of their attitudes and
performance may not be a realistic picture of how God views them.
A related matter which is also important
in presenting the Gospel to those who do not accept Scripture is the need to
remove stumbling blocks they have picked up along the way. Many in our culture (even in the
church) have distorted ideas about the Gospel which tend to obscure its message
or make it look arbitrary. We
must be very careful to keep in mind and convey to our listeners that God is
just, that He hates sin, and will not allow sin to go unpunished, and that
he couldn't be a good God if this were not so.
Some years ago I came across a salvation
tract which illustrates this problem in a distressing way.[20] The tract starts out by describing
the all-too-common practice of getting a traffic ticket "fixed." If you know the right people at City
Hall, it said, you can avoid paying the fine. They will "take care of it" for you. Similarly, the tract went on, if you
know God, He too will rescue you from the penalty for your sins. God forbid! Here we have twisted the free grace of God into crooked
politics! No wonder some people
despise the Gospel! Scripture
tells us again and again that God does not practice favoritism and we must not
either (Acts 10:34; Rom 2:11; Eph 6:9; Col 3:25; 1 Tim 5:21; Jas 2:1,9; Ex
23:3; Lev 19:15; Gen 18:25).
The biblical teaching about hell is
another big stumbling block to most unbelievers. In seeking to remove stumbling blocks, we have no right to
evaporate or dilute Scripture, but we must also be careful not to exaggerate
what it says either. Many people
seem to think that hell is the "great torture chamber in the sky" (or
rather, under the earth), where Satan and his demons are busy concocting
torments for the damned. This has
been the occasion for some opponents to compare God unfavorably with Hitler and
similar characters. Scripture
is clear (so it seems to me)[21]
that hell will last forever and that it is decidedly unpleasant, but this
must be presented as consistent with God's justice. No one will get what they don't deserve.
A helpful suggestion made years
ago by Charles Butler arises from the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. The rich man is pictured as
continuing to sin (in thought and words) after he has died. Perhaps, then, the eternal punishment
of hell is not an infinite punishment for a finite series of sins committed
during our life on earth, but rather an infinite series of finite
punishments which match the infinite series of finite sins we will continue to
commit in hell since we have rejected God's offer of pardon.[22]
This brings up another common stumbling
block C what about those who have never
heard? For many, this is the
clearest indication that Christianity is really arbitrary and that the
Christian picture of God is that of one who is unjust. I suggest that we Christians have not
done the best we could in defending God on this point, being more like Job's
three friends than we ought to be.
There is, of course, the problem of
children who die very young, before they are old enough to understand the Gospel. I do not intend to address this
question, except to point out that (in another context) God himself feels the
force of Abraham's plea, "Shall not the God of all the earth do
right?" and He will vindicate himself at the judgment. However, none of us (and none of our
audience bringing such objections) fall into this category, and God
sometimes chooses not to answer questions that don't concern us directly, just
as Jesus would not answer Peter's question about what would happen to John
(John 21:19-23).
As for people who are old enough to
understand the Gospel, what about those who have never heard?
If I understand Scripture properly, there aren't any! All have experienced God's general
revelation. God has revealed in
nature that He exists, that He is good, and that He is powerful.[23] In our consciences, God has also revealed
that He exists, that He is good, and that we aren't.[24] We are thus in bad trouble! We can cast ourselves on God for
mercy, asking Him to forgive us and rescue us from our sin, even though (apart
from Scripture) we have no guarantee he will do so.[25] God could only forgive us on the basis
of Jesus' work in paying for sin on the cross. How much do we need to know about Jesus to get saved? I don't know; perhaps nothing. The Scripture certainly seems to
indicate that people were saved before Jesus came, and not just those who were
Israelites.[26] Of course, God would not have given the
New Testament revelation if it were not needed, but we should not
assume that God has arbitrarily made changes in the way of salvation over
the course of human history. In
any case, it is clear that we must not be depending upon our own goodness, for
that is not good enough, as even our own conscience witnesses. Nor should we depend on the assurance
of various unauthorized teachers, whether professing Christians or
representatives of other religions.[27] And we certainly must not be
presuming upon God's forgiveness even as we continue going our own way in sin
and rebellion, for God is just and he will by no means clear the guilty.
Conclusions:
A perennial problem the Church has faced
through this century is the loss of so many of its children when they go away
to college. Some, of course, are
just maturing and beginning to make their own decisions now that they are no
longer under the supervision of their parents. Many such will decide to go their own way, especially if an
easy out is provided by the classroom instruction and moral climate of the school
they attend. Others, unfortunately,
are not adequately prepared to face the challenges they encounter there, even
though they would like to remain in the Church. I felt myself in something of this situation when I went
away to Duke University out of a "moderate" Southern Baptist church
just outside Washington, DC.
This is a great shame when Christianity
has such powerful evidences for its truth that impact directly on everyday,
observable life. But the
Church has all too easily fallen into a ghetto or fortress mentality,[28]
trying to keep their flock from contact with unbelief rather than training them
to effectively impact the unbelievers around them.
We as apologists, theologians, teachers,
and pastors need to help our people see where the facts really lie and
encourage them to live redemptive lives in full contact with the unsaved.
References: