–Fostering Helpful Evangelistic Conversations–

The liberal is convinced that they have reduced the Bible’s important gospel message down to the need to love one another. They have, of course, stripped the primary command to love God from Jesus’ mouth. That is, from their perspective, the supernatural part that has to be stripped off of the primal message if it is going to bring any help.

They like to summarize it simply as ‘love your neighbor,’ which is far different from what Jesus actually said, “Love ... your neighbor as yourself.” But, again, I am not suggesting bringing up this verse to get into this discussion. I mention it because they are confident that they have found this catch phrase as the key theology for life. They really do believe that it is true. It is from here that they think that they ooze in confidence about their new religion.

We should not be scared of their viewpoints. Because they have dropped the first portion about loving God, it shows that their own perspective cannot be properly defended. Although they speak strongly of love and a God of love, their concepts are easily shown to be superficial.  They have basically redefined whatever they believe about God to match their concepts of love. We will find that their greatest weakness is what they consider their greatest strength.

Humanists have great confidence in their judgments. They are not scared at the fact that they have reshaped God. They think they have helped everyone by doing this. It is popular to believe that our concepts of God are evolving along with the human race, and they happily join in that process. It is unclear what they really believe about God. It seems to be, in most cases, a mysterious power that rarely, if ever, gets involved in our lives. But again, it seems best not to focus on who God is. Instead, focus on their key teaching of loving one another. It is easier to break through with concrete life examples than vague concepts of who God may or may not be.

1 John speaks very clearly that the one who does not have the Father does not have the Son (Jesus). The one who does not have Jesus does not have love. They have, of course, stripped Jesus of His miraculous birth, life and resurrection. In their eyes, He was merely a good teacher who spoke of the need to love one another. In this sense, Jesus does not seem any more special than other teachers.

In order to break into their lives and to give them a glance at how wrong their concepts are and how good God’s ways are, we need to create a conversation where life meets life. They need to see our love for them. Only by God orchestrating special events will they be able to see God’s love through our lives. They might even begin to consider that God might be real and personal, different than they once perceived. Liberals have been hit hard by hard-speaking conservatives. We need to love them and put our faith to action. Try inviting them for supper! Apologetics that builds up sides only produces a cloud of bitterness.

Love them. Humble yourself. Although we might know more than they, we all know very little. God can fully defend Himself. Don’t judge them but have pity on them. Be merciful. God is the Lawgiver and will judge them. We are called to show them God’s love. If our conversation does not affirm this, then at least be man enough to apologize and state that your attitude is not proper. But if you can be patient with them, you might consider a few arguments to expose their superficial perspective of love. God’s love is so much greater! Next =>