Last Saturday my church was had a booth and was handing out free water at the Columbia Fair.  I signed up to help from 8 to 10 in the evening.  It was just me and my pastor.  I spent the evening saying "want some water" to almost everyone walking by.  A few were interested in who we were and we gave them a trifold brochure.  One of them talked a bit more, where we were, can we carpool, etc.

But there was one family that made the whole evening worthwhile!  The family was a mom, dad, two boys around 12±2 years of age, and a 19-year-old boy.  They all stopped in front.  They seemed like they wanted to say something, so I waited politely.  (My pastor was sitting down off to the side.)  They talked amongst themselves briefly (the dad encouraged the oldest to say something) and then the 19-year-old asked me, "do you believe that in order to get into heaven you must first be baptized?"  I had no idea where this was going, but the thief on the cross next to Jesus immediately came to mind so I said no and mentioned the thief.  He then asked what it takes.  I gave the worst Gospel I've ever given:  "Repent of your sins, and believe what Jesus has done for you and your sins on the cross."  Or something to that effect and brevity.  I'm so embarrassed!  I've had silent prayers at breakfast with a better gospel than that!  I forgot to describe what sins are, that God is a perfect and holy judge, about God's love and God's wrath, and more details about Jesus' atonement.

But that's the subject of this blog:  Given my 2.5 years as a Christian, and given my extreme calling to witness to the American culture, and given my 2.5 years of apologetics training in more beliefs, philosophies, religions and cults than you could probably name, I've never had an opportunity to present the gospel to someone like this before -- someone who's asked me, and someone who has chosen such a firm position.

Here's some more info that I got after talking with him.  He's an atheist.  It turns out he's a German exchange student and the family around him is his host family, who are strong followers of Christ.  He is currently testing Christianity, or bucking against tradition or something, as his "mom" puts it.  I think she might see him as a seeker.  But currently he has chosen atheism because he sees no reason to believe in God. 

Early in the conversation he said "I like science."  Sensing that he might be aiming for the science/religion false dichotomy, I threw back, "me too!"  That line of conversation didn't go anywhere, but I suspect the secular origin myth (Big Bang, evolution, materialism answers all, no need of God, etc.) may have an influence on him too.  Considering how that's a hobby subject of mine, I wonder if God intentionally directed the conversation away from that, as I'd most probably have gotten into an unfruitful tangent.

I presented to him the idea of right and wrong.  "You believe in good and evil, right?"  "Yeah."  I tried to get him to pinpoint how he knows good from evil, as Frederick Copelston tried with Bertrand Russell.  Through his own words, I showed him that he objectively cannot.  He admitted "it's just common sense."  I was able to fill that in by saying that the Bible gives an explanation for what he observes, that universal morals cannot exist apart from a universal moral Lawgiver.  Without God, anyone is justified in doing anything they want; there is nothing stopping him from being a backstabber and a con man, to "get ahead" in the evolutionary race, red in tooth and claw.  But why doesn't he do so?  I hoped to show him that holding to morals as an atheist is illogically inconsistent, not based on anything objective, a subjective thing that is useless when dealing with more than one person.  But it would be logical to suppose that these intrinsic morals are planted in us by God, since He says He did so.  This was the bulk of the conversation.  Throughout all this, "mom" was nodding encouragement to him and making little efforts to help my position.  I suspect they've been down this road before.

He asked, "well, if I pick and choose my morals, so do you with the Bible."  I moved on to why I believe the Bible is the inerrant word of God, and that I choose what God said, not what I think.  I told him how I studied the authenticity of scripture, that it has remained virtually unchanged for thousands of years, despite being copied over and over.  I compared the Dead Sea scrolls  (circa 50 BC) discovered in the 1940's to the previous-oldest-copies from the 1000's, and how, despite being a thousand years apart, were practically identical, which lends support that the Dead Sea scroll copies are probably identical to the originals written a thousand years prior to that.  I pointed out that despite the Bible being written by dozens of authors over thousands of years, they display a remarkable coherency, suggesting a single transcendant authorship.  I pointed to the book of Daniel and how it illustrates with uncanny detail prophetic events that occur hundreds of years after they were written (specifically how Daniel details the takeover of Israel by a series of nations ending with Alexander the Great and his four generals), and that secular historians are in fair agreement that Daniel was written prior to those events.  Prophecy suggests an author with a visual scope beyond what humans are capable of.

I then summed up the evidences for God:  (1) the innate knowledge of Good and Evil inside you, (2) the coherency of the Bible despite dozens of authors and thousands of years between them, and (3) prophecy.  And I attached to these three things this charge:  he must now reconcile these observations with his worldview (that God most definitely does not exist).  I could have picked from a dozen more arguments but I had to keep it focused.  And to my knowledge, these are inadequately-solved (i.e., unsolved) problems for atheists.  I also hoped to connect the scientific method in with this with the word "observation."

Somewhere in there my pastor chipped in, attempting to connect with the heart:  "why do you want to believe God does not exist?"  That didn't go far, perhaps because he didn't understand the question.  I think his tack was a good one, one I often miss in my Internet debates, but it just didn't happen. Nevertheless, I think the conversation did have a lot of heart to it.  Perhaps because we were face to face.

After 30 minutes or so, the conversation was wrapping up.  "Mom" and I talked for a bit.  She's gone to a few nondenominational churches, one of which I used to go to, and is a member of some denominational church that I cannot remember.  I could see Good Fruit in her, which is pretty awesome.  She's been praying for him.  I said I would too, and I have been.  This week he goes back to Germany where he will probably be immersed in his old lifestyle and old friends.  Unless God intervenes, he might not see a Christian again for years.  We believe God planted a seed that Saturday, though.  I encouraged him to check out Daniel for the prophecy, and the book of John because it's a simple read ("simple" in quotes).  I also told him that I was an atheist ten years ago, where he is now.  That encouraged him, I think.  (I regret having said that now, though, since I was more of an agnostic at that time.)

I thought I'd share.  I've been witnessing since before I was a Christian.  I remember telling people, "You know, you should check those Christians out.  I think they've got something."  Upon accepting the Gospel into my heart and dedicating my life for Christ, I saw the dire need to spread the Gospel to all who have not heard it.  But I had no outlet.  I'm too introverted.  Speaking to real people, my tongue locks up and I talk about trivial stuff, despite the fact that it doesn't matter if the Redskins win or not if we all are deserving of eternal punishment apart from God!  (Yes, I need to love them and listen to them as well.)  I found an outlet with reaching souls on the Internet.  But the anonymous nature of the Internet changes people, and attracts a different spiritual demographic than in Real Life™.  People on the Internet don't open up much, and discussion forums are predominantly filled with those who have already made up their mind about God and are looking for a fight (which is perfect for someone like me who wants to sharpen iron with iron).  In real life, I think this percent is much, much lower, and hearts are more exposed. 

For years I've been praying to God to use me -- one of the "dangerous" prayers we can ask.  The last three months He has been answering my prayer by making me more a part of people's lives in more intimate ways -- helping them in their struggles.  He answered my prayer much more directly last Saturday by lining up a seeker who asks the questions I've been preparing myself to answer for 2.5 years.  I found I flubbed my arguments majorly, spoke the Worst Gospel In History™, gotten tongue-tied at times, and couldn't organize my thoughts in real-time.  But despite that, I think God used all that for His glory.