I’ve only been a Christ-follower for a few years, but it doesn’t take long for me to forget where I’ve been. Not that I was an atheist, but the thought patterns I had were very close to what I see in the comments. I’m probably in the minority, but think Atheists are probably closer to becoming followers of Christ than agnostics or those who have cobbled together their own God in the image of a comfy pair of sneakers.

To help our understanding of atheists, Richard Dawkins has begin the Out Campaign. It is a new website encouraging athiests “at the forefront of rational thinking and beacons of enlightenment” to reveal their identity as Athiests.

This gives any Christian who is interested in Internet ministry a great opportunity to meet and pray for “outed” athiests. I wouldn’t tell them you’re praying for them, because that comes across as insulting to someone who doesn’t believe in our God. God knows, and that’s what is important.

If any athiest is reading this post, I’m not talking about launching off in a self-righteous prayer of “Oh God, please show them how right I am and wrong they are.” I’m talking about prayers that God will reveal his presence and love. All or even most Christians aren’t as bent on hate as people let on. It’s just a meme, stereotype, etc. Seriously, Don’t be duped by the hype.

For others, God directs them right into the fire of controversy and conflict. Why? Because they can handle it with Grace and humility. You may be aware of the athiest blog called friendlyathiest.com, and so was another young Christian blogger. He was so inspired by the dialogue on the site, that he created friendlychristian.com, which serves to instigate conversation between Athiests and followers of Christ.

If you’re looking for a way to test your grace and humility, try that site out today.  Some cool posts going on there as well – the most recent one at time of this posting was speculation on whether Hitler could be in heaven. This is another Christian blogger who intuitively understands building buzz too – I’m impressed. Thanks Bill, for the great work and service.

Ignore or minimize any questions they ask about things they’ve read on the Internet about my religion - because everything on the Internet is a lie, right?

God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble.  Now, get out there and alienate some people from the love of God!  

The discussion was not quite what I planned. They focused on the commonalties between theirs and Christian faiths of the “Protestant background.” Everything we asked them about that our literary sources said about their beliefs (including Mormon texts), they denied. I flat asked them if there was anything new or different in the Book of Mormon that is not in the Bible. They said that it was all the same, but an expansion upon it. From the first encounter, they made it appear that our two belief systems were the same…

But, there were a couple major concerns I had.

1. There was an extremely obvious condescending tone from them when we would ask a question. They would even openly snicker at some questions of ours. I didn’t realize it until later but one had thrown an insult my way about the church I attend and I didn’t even realize it. My wife and mother-and-law thought I was being a “bigger person”. Nah, I just wasn’t quick enough on the uptake Guess that Jesus-guy would want me to forgive them, though – huh? I sure hope they wouldn’t be that rude if they knew the person wasn’t a Christian. Perhaps they were acutely aware of our high degree of skepticism, and figured they could get away with a little more.
2. They believe that all Christian pastors are apostates and grabbed the power for themselves rather than the correct way. After we whittled through their various old Testament references, we found that their statement hinged on their church’s belief that all priests (pastors, whatever) need to be chosen by a prophet, and nowadays those priests must be traced back to the prophet Joseph Smith since he was personally visited by God and Christ and given the “keys” to the resurgence of the Aaronic priesthood. That is a very bold and risky statement which lost them huge amounts of credibility with us – every pastor, priest outside of the Mormon church is a fraud?
3. Just for fun I asked them about the secret handshake you need to get into the more secret Mormon rituals (unlike the Christian church where it is all open to the public). They acted like we were crazy as they snickered and said “No… there’s no handshake.” I come to find out later that they were telling the truth – there is no handshake… any more, because they now use ID cards. So, these guys weren’t lying so far as you could prove in a court of law. In my book though, deception through omission is just as bad. Having to use deceptive tactics to share one’s faith casts even more doubt.
4. They believed that the Bible is incomplete due to political reasons and influence of sin – “that the Bible is the word of God, in so far as it is correctly translated” What does that mean? If you only believe part, then which part? They said the book of Mormon serves to confirm the Bible as true, using the example of a ray vs. a line. What is the difference? With a line you need two points. The problem is that they don’t believe one of those “dots” to be completely true. My faith rests on that the Bible is true – 100%. If I don’t, then I am basing that on my own beliefs. That would be idolatry as the Bible says… unless I don’t believe in that part either.
5. If our belief systems were so similar, why did they need an additional 550ish page book? They say it’s because the Bible falls short of the truth… and a story from a guy with serious legal issues in the 1830′s (including suspending rights of freedom of press by ordering a contradictory town newspaper press to be destroyed) had the remainder of it.
6. (And this was the biggest one for me) If our belief systems were so darn similar, then why are they trying to convert us? I go to a non-denominational, very conservative church (with a relaxed dress code that makes people think we’re very liberal – how’s that for silly stereotyping). If I knew someone that didn’t go to church or was not showing the fruits of a personal relationship with Christ, then I would invite them to mine. BUT, if I knew someone that was on fire for Christ, why would I go witness to them… unless I didn’t actually believe that they were followers of Christ?

I won’t go into the other details since the meeting went longer than any party really wanted it to, but I did get some takeaways from this for what Christians can do when a Mormon missionary shows up at the door.

1. Answer the door – every encounter is a chance to witness, even if it is done silently by them seeing Christ in how we act and speak.
2. Get ready before speaking with them – If you are very new or weak in your faith, ask them to come back and counsel other believers who you trust. They’ll come back whenever you ask – trust me. These guys came by 3 or 4 times to speak with us before we could finally set an actual date. Why do you need to talk with other trusted Christians first? The missionaries used all kinds of circular references and dodged all kinds of sincere questions from us. It was very, very sneaky, though. It reminded me of when I had a boss want to coach me on all kinds of ways to say no to our clients without using the word, “no.” If you don’t know what you believe, it could be easy for them to insert some doubt in your mind about the truth of the Bible. There was another case where that happened in history which was very significant.
3. Know your Bible – I wanted to keep this based on personal experience rather than being a debate of scripture, but even in those discussions we got “smoked” on the Bible. These guys took some huge liberties with very short and crisp verses in the Word, but they knew it (right or wrong). I’m constantly running into people in need spiritually. Often the best I can do is telling them, “Well in the Bible it says that (Insert scripture about how God loves them, has a plan for them, desires to know them, etc.) But I couldn’t point it out if they said, “Okay, then where.” I also need to be ready if I believe someone has taken something in the Bible waaaay out of context and is hurting themselves or others in the process. Situations like that have come up before and I knew what they were saying was wrong, but I wasn’t ready to show them where. I’m not saying we should debate people with scripture, but let’s face it. The Mormons kick our tails in marketing (their commercials are everywhere and portray a loving image of Christ far better than we do), and they know their Bible far better than the average Christian. Save your letters – when I say average, I’m talking to the other 79% of America’s population out the 80% that say they are Christians – not you
4. Keep it civil – remember that God doesn’t need us to defend him. We can certainly question them, because everyone needs to know why they believe what they believe. However, don’t lose your witness by letting the discussion get out of hand.

I hope this goes beyond just a personal lesson in witnessing, as I have trouble seeing how today’s encounter will impact those two young men to know Christ more fully. I also hope that this encourages you to share or discuss your faith with others. I’m just a regular guy who made a decision for Christ a bit less than 3 years ago. I’ve read or heard most of the Bible and have great recall, but I don’t know it chapter-and-verse by any stretch.

Fortunately it’s God’s plan and not mine. God has it all figured out whether we understand or not. We just need to obey. Please pray for those two young men, and for Mormon missionaries everywhere that if there is a difference in our beliefs that may jeopardize their eternal security in Christ that it be revealed and that they come to know the truth.

My wife called me to ask if I would get online to pay the mortgage through her account. We noticed her checking account was pretty low and found an unauthorized $500+ check made out to someone for “painting.”

I recall very well, the days of intense fellowship with my roller and brush while painting my house and I remember all my friends who came over to help. This guy wasn’t one of them. We actually didn’t even know his name.

We tracked the missing check + one more that hadn’t been used yet to a checkbook my wife left in her glove compartment. We also had the car recently serviced. See where I’m going with this?

Yeah… so my wife goes to the bank to fill out a claim. The bank calls her an hour or so later to say the guy was back trying to cash the other check. The teller asked him to sit down for a minute. The guy “allegedly” ran off and jumped in a truck from the place where we had our car serviced.

They have the guy’s thumbprint, face on film, and the driver’s license he left behind. Not the smartest crook, but money and sin often prevents us from wisdom like the Lord possesses.

We’re waiting for the investigation to wrap so we can sign the arrest warrant. Fortunately the two checks combined for less than $1000, so it is just a misdemeanor.

In the meantime, I’d like for you to pray for this guy with us. We’ll call him “Hector” for now. Just ask the Lord to use this experience as a turning point in his life. Please also pray that Christ will come into his life. Hector is a young man (gleaned from his driver’s license) and has plenty of time to turn things around – the Lord only needs a second or two to do it. We’d also appreciate your prayers that we don’t get any backlash from this

I’ll add a praise report. I have been ticked off at some of my customers for the past couple weeks and have been battling issues of hostility and pride. When this type of situation comes up in my life I usually react with anger (lets go kick his…) However, my wife and I were oddly calm even though we have the baby coming and every dollar is needed. I can only attribute this peace and compassion for this guy to the Lord’s intervention in our hearts.

Thanks, and have a blessed day.

Sometimes it seems like there are three separate parts of your life that don’t quite fit together…but God doesn’t see it that way. Our faith, our family, and our work intersect on the journey of life to form who we are…our life. It’s Life at Work. In this series, we see how God can take our life and our work and use them in our worship of Him.

Click here to download the first of the messages about Christ’s life truly expressed in the workplace. For the next few posts, I’ll link to a different message from the series. They are all free to download, of course, and I hope they are a blessing to you.

This blog originally started as a place to discuss being a “Christian in the Workplace.” I still think that is very important and relate many issues back to the workplace, but I started to view my life as the sum of a bunch of disparate pieces. However I think it may be useful to permanently link to these sermons somewhere on the first page of the blog. Let me know what you think.

Have a blessed day!

Many “truths” are disproved each year, and that trend only increases. That is what scientific study is supposed to be. Somewhere along the line some people turned science into a belief system rather than what it was meant to be (an orderly method by which we observe provable events) and became infected with decidedly unscientific (unproven and unobservable) phenomena. But I digress…

So How do I Share my Faith Without Sounding Like an Idiot?

Good question – I’m somewhat vague in my responses. The truth is that I don’t really have the answers. I maintain that these are all excellent questions, but will having the answers to all life’s mysteries then allow us to believe in God? No way – we always have one more question on the horizon.

Of course God knew that, which is why he speaks volumes about the mysterious element of faith. God knows what we need to know, and at what point we need to know it. We don’t usually have the opportunity in life to have every answer before we make a decision. Those who truly succeed have stepped out in faith, even if it was just faith in their own flesh.

Until people who are not sure about the ability of Jesus Christ to save them, there are a few things we can do to give those working out their faith another perspective to chew on regarding such early historical events such as the existence of dinosaurs, where the moon came from, and so forth.

Some Possible Answers to History’s Mysteries

A privately-funded creationism museum will soon be opening in Kentucky and they have a website with a considerable amount of information regarding creationism theories. Answers in Genesis’ material is distinctly different from some of the mediocre research I’ve seen in the past from Christian theorists where there is some tapping on the Bible, saying “If it’s in here, I believe.” While that is quite admirable, and basically what I have done as well, not everyone is willing to take quite that big of a leap. People want some answers that can at least be partially understood based on what they have experienced in school.

I have not read through much of the material – it’s almost as new to me as it will be to some of you, so be sure to add any comments or questions in the section at the bottom of this page. Enjoy!

I’ll be sharing more in the near future. We have been moving into a new house (big praise report coming on that one) so the posts have been a little slow. Thanks for dropping by, and may you and yours have a blessed day!

Some of Nathan and Amber’s friends kidded them about their choice of mission field since Costa Rica has become a trendy vacation spot in recent years.There won’t be much surfing going on down there, though.

Besides them being deep in the mountains and not on the beach, Latin America is a tough mission field. There is widespread poverty throughout, violence in some parts, and a lack of many basic needs such as quality health care. There is also cultural bigotry down there between the local Costa Ricans and those from El Salvador who left during political conflicts.

There is also a large gap between many people down there and God. Local Christian pastors report that while many in Latin America claim Catholicism as their religion, it is in religion (routine) only. In many cases, Catholic symbols are often mixed with local pagan beliefs and the message of Christ is subordinated to worship of idols.

I remember watching videos in college about the mix of religions. I wasn’t following God back then but still thought it seemed fishy. I would either buy into a belief system 100% or not. Either you’re a Christian, Muslim, Hindu, or whatever. Mixing them doesn’t make sense.

In the Christian belief system, altering the word of God is creating our own religion. That, of course, is idolatry. Even athiests know “Wishy-washy-ness” doesn’t work in any other part of life. It sure wouldn’t apply to the creator of the entire universe. Unfortunately there are some people in our own town that are seeking to whitewash the word of God with “modern” human understanding.

OK… I got sidetracked for a minute. I really encourage you to check out Nathan and Amber’s Costa Rica mission blog. It is great to see behind the scenes of real-life missionaries to know that they aren’t super-human. They just believe in a God who is.

I’m not exactly sure why that is though. My relationship with God is the most important thing I could have, (even though I don’t always treat it as such) yet I don’t share it with others. It’s strange because if I know of a great restaurant, a new band, or a fun event in town, I tell everyone.

Why are We Apprehensive About Sharing our Faith?

Perhaps it’s a bit of fear of rejection creeping in. The big excuse is that I am too new as a follower of Christ to be effective, wouldn’t know what to say, and that I might turn someone down a wrong path.

This is a very common sentiment amongst new believers. By “new” I’m not talking about the number of years, either. Many people go through their first year of being in the faith, then redo that “year in school” for the next 20 or 30 years of their life. Do you feel like that sometimes? I know I do.

To keep the scale balanced though, we do have to look at the positives, and there certainly have been many in this past calendar year. One of which is that I now am blessed to work out of my house full-time. I have struggled with my schedule, mostly because I am such a spaz sometimes. Also, I am getting out of bed a bit later since I don’t have to beat the rush hour traffic that gets a thick when you live in a town with as many bridges as we do in Charleston, SC.

The Men of Qumran

One area I have been working on my new-and-improved quiet time with God, and I started with the Book of John, Chapter 1. This brings us to that weird part of the title of this post mentioning the “men of Qumran”.

John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, “I am the voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord’” (John 1:23)

In the footnotes of my Bible for John 1:23, there was a reference to the people of Qumran. They were the community that created and stored the Dead Sea Scrolls which provide insight into the spiritual life of Christians in that era.

The people of Qumran applied these prophetic words from God through Isaiah, by isolating themselves from the world to secure their own salvation. You can probably think of some sects of Christianity today that do the same, though I won’t point fingers.

In comparison, John concentrated on helping people come to the Messiah.

Which one have I done lately? Unfortunately, I’d have to say that I follow the men of Qumran. I sequestered myself in my apartment and cubicle for a bit for God to work on my character. Of course that is a good thing, but what about the disciples? It was three years before they received the Holy Spirit, but they were immediately following Christ and supporting the Lord’s work. I’d say this hastens our maturity in Christ, though I know it comes at risk of personal comfort.

Balancing the Scales

My wife says that the blog counts as sharing faith, but I really need to make in impact in my local community. Paul wrote letters to the various churches, but he constantly traveled to see them as well. As much as my flesh would rather not make myself vulnerable to man’s rejection of the hope of Christ, this small group study will help immensely.

If you relate to my reluctance and struggles with sharing my faith in Christ, remember that witnessing isn’t necessarily standing on a street corner with a brochure, or handing out tracts at the shopping mall. Witnessing for Christ is simple interaction with those whom we have relationships with. We share the love of God with them, and hopefully someday they will accept. That is not for us to worry about. I remember a story by Chuck Swindoll about how he shared his faith with one of his bunkmates in the army and 50 years later he got a call that the man and his wife had accepted Christ.

If you are looking for a practical way to learn to share your faith there is a relatively simple channel through which you can learn.

Tackle Fear of Witnessing Through a Small Group

Does your church use the system of small groups to carry out the work of the Lord? Many do nowadays, but if yours doesn’t, you can join one in another church. It is really no problem unless you have some radically rigid beliefs like your denomination is the only one going to heaven, or something like that. (my wife’s church in her teen years did)

A small group ideally brings together members of a community who usually share a common belief (Christ, though those who have not put their faith in Christ are more than welcome!) and perhaps a common societal bond (college students, young married couples, elderly,empty nesters, surfing buddies, etc.) They all have led different lives and bring fresh viewpoints that challenge and encourage our own. There is usually some food involved and fellowship. Before I joined a small group, I did not relish the thought of hanging out with Christians. I knew that socializing in circles that I did before would be destructive, and staying in that middle area left me very lonely and too focused on my own problems.

Apprehensive about hanging out with Christians? I always heard the “judgemental Christian” meme and believed it. Sure, Christians are sinners like anyone else, but I bought into the enemy’s pack o’ lies that Christians on fire for the Lord were some wierdos. I laugh now, but my wife and I used to sit on a row of only two seats in church so we didn’t have to strike up a conversation with anyone.

Boy, was I wrong! The people in my small group are some of the coolest people I’ve met in Charleston. If you’re in a small group, you probably feel the same way.

The best part about joining a small group is that you are there to support each other through difficult times. I’m talking about more than helping each other move, or coming to see each other in the hospital. This principle covers the more day-to-day activities such as being a consistent witness for Christ. In most small groups there are usually a member or two with experience in sharing their faith that can guide you.

If you find a small group appealing in any way, pray that the Lord will lead you to one. Then take some action either at your church or by calling ones in your area. A good bet for finding small groups are non-denominational Christian churches. Remember, small groups are entirely biblical (Acts 2:46, Mark 6:40). Best of all they are a ton of fun and a tremendous support for our maturity and growth in Christ.