Hi RITANS, my name is Joe (first post) and just want to thank everyone here for bringing me great encouragement as we all wait for the imminent rapture of the church! I am going to share a few things that the Lord revealed to me about my witnessing over the past year. I felt lead by the Lord to make this thread because the enemy is really out in full force trying to discourage Christians by the “new atheists”, creating false doctrines (new age, chrislam), and doing whatever he can to stray us from the Truth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Please use discernment.

 After I was saved I wanted to share the Truth so I went to an online forum and started to respond to threads that atheists made. What tended to happen in most of these threads is the atheist would ask for evidence for God and I would try my best to provide the proof. Even if I thought I provided proof for one of there questions they would just go and ask a different question. The thread could start about the resurrection of Jesus and could end up going into evolution, the Cambrian explosion, age of the earth, carbon dating, and so on. They would send me on a wild goose chase throughout the internet as I tried to find proof for them. It became extremely exhausting to say the least, but it was hard to stop because I know it was God’s will that not one will perish.  After a few months and a lot of prayer I learned that I wasn’t witnessing biblically.

The first thing I was doing was allowing God to be put on trial. The atheist was the jury and I was to provide the evidence. As a jury, they would then determine if God was real or not based on the evidence provided. The reason this isn’t biblical is because of Romans 1:18-21:

bless you YAHreigns ~~~ and welcome!

wow, what an exhaustion against the worldlings  ~~~ bless you dear one even making such a difficult attempt toward the lost,  as the Holy Spirit continues to lead you ~

I'm thinking, the road's not easy, huh,  we're in this together, as God's children, blessed along the Way,  learning  from His Word, our Lord the Finest Example, how He lived His majestic Life in a world of lies, deceit and rejection, even He found not easy . .

Our Jesus sure knew, as only He could to give answers simply even to the Pharisees.  I love how our Lord never got rattled, His peace beautifully lived, thank You, Jesus.  He simply spoke a word or two,  His wisdom uncomplicated, was so wonderfully powerful with pure Simplcity,  elegant and rich and true, the Bible saying no man spoke like this  ~~

We're all growing and learning from the Greatest Teacher ~~ no wonder we adore our God with all our hearts ~~

Lemondrop wrote:

Welcome, YAHreigns!  Interesting insight on witnessing to atheists.  I've worked with several "self-proclaimed" atheists over the years, and after we get to the point that they simply "choose" not to believe... I've given them copies of Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis.  Lewis, a former atheist, wrote it as a book TO atheists, about why God MUST exist, and why the Lord Jesus Christ is the only possible answer.  He uses "logic" to make his arguments... and I've made this deal with the people I've given it to: if I give it to you, you must read the first 69 pages.  They encompass Lewis' arguments on how/why Lewis became a believer.

Ty Lemon. lol "self proclaimed atheists" I think I heard Ray Comfort say that. I haven't read Mere Christianity but ill put it on my list. I like the idea of using it as a tract, an expensive tract, but well worth it if a soul is saved!

YAHreigns, welcome!  And thank you for the wonderful first post.  I've had these same conversations -- I've never thought of it as "putting God on trial", but you're right.  Unless their heart has been "tilled" by God, the seed of the Word won't take root.  They might be curious about God and decide not to believe because they're offended by the fact they're sinners if they're "good people".

God can defend Himself.  You present the Gospel.  It's up to them to believe or not, as grace comes by faith and faith by hearing the Word of God. 

Just remember, brethren, it is not our job to convince atheists there is a God, rather, it's our job to plant the seed.  Let the Holy Spirit water the seed if He so chooses.  That has been a big stumbling block for me lately, to let the lost "go", as it were--including my friends.  I've had to lay them at the foot of Jesus and tell Him they are His to deal with now, as I've scattered the seed.  That's all I can do. 

It's not my job to convince them of God, that job belongs to the Holy Spirit.  And He does that quite well on His own.  :)

~~Becka

YAHreigns / Joe - Yeah, I found Mere Christianity at a secular bookstore with a no-frills, plain cover for only $6.00, and - like you said - a very small cost to see an eternal soul saved!  I should have bought their entire stock out!

Becka - good point, I've run into people who get (seriously) offended that I considered them "sinners."  I told one co-worker that "The wages of sin is (eternal) death..." and he asked me if I meant he was going to hell.  I said that everyone is sending themselves to hell, without the substitutionary work of Christ... and he went around telling everyone, in a "chiding" sort of way, that I told him he's going to hell. 

Another co-worker told me that work was for work, and I shouldn't be talking about "religion" at work.  Of course, time was spent talking about football, politics, females, cars, current events... every imaginable thing except work, and he wasn't offended.  He insisted that I should only talk about religion outside the workplace.  I told him that, if I saw him in the bay (we work at a shipyard) drowning, going down for the last time - on the verge of dying - he wouldn't want me to stop and consider whether I might "offend" him by throwing him a life-ring.  I told him that the message I was speaking dealt with even more important issues, that we were talking about his eternal life - or death - but you're right, unless the Spirit makes the seed grow, it will remain dormant - or even dead.

Lol Lemon, what a deal!

Isn't it crazy how a room can freeze up and feel uncomfortable if they just hear the name Jesus? Seems to be proof of his divinity imo. 

I had a similar experience when I heard someone say how God should only be talked about at Church. I wanted to say that he should only talk about football when he was at a game. I held back though...