A Good Evangelist Should Think Like An Atheist.

Imagine me in my living room, if you will.  Just go along with this.  Daddy has headed off to the night shift, Mama and baby have finished supper (it was bacon and corn casserole - delish) and we've settled in to some serious cuddling before bed.  As I sway I'm catching the last few minutes of a favourite show that I've been looking forward to for days now, and then at the end I hear one of the interviewees say something that catches my ear.  He says (and I'm really paraphrasing) "One of the things I love most about Christianity is that I don't have to do anything.  I don't have any works to do, I just believe in Christ.)  and I thought...

Whoa.  Could that EVER be taken the wrong way.

Not that he's wrong!  He's right, but the reason I can say he's right is because I know what he MEANT to say, and I agree with it, but the way he phrased it, I mean, it was sloppy.  And I'll explain why it was sloppy in a minute but first...

Imagine me in my living room.  By now you should be pretty familiar with the layout; don't mind the green chair, I'll be re-upholstering it this Summer.  This time it is Sunday night and the baby is in bed and David, surprise, surprise, is NOT working the night shift and suggests a movie.  We're at a loss about what to watch when David says "Hey!  Remember that film I've been chatting about for it seems like forever?" (Clearly these were not his exact words...) "Well, howsa 'bout we watch that?"  And I agree, and that's how I found myself watching an 'apologetics' film which essentially revolved around a Bible conference where the key speaker was Frank Peretti.  David was very gung-ho about it; I could tell because he kept looking over at me to see my reaction and see if I also lurved the movie as much as he did.  I did not.  Again, not because I didn't believe the message, because clearly I do believe the message, seeing as Frank Peretti is a Christian, and I am a Christian, and provided Frank Peretti believes that Christ is the only son of God, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified, died and was buried and that he descended into Hell, rose again on the third day and ascended into Heaven, where he sits on the right hand of the Father and will come again to judge the quick and the dead...

Well, then Frank Peretti and I are on the same page.

Anyway I didn't like the Peretti film because of the film, not the message.  And I didn't like the interviewee because of his phrasing, not because of the message.  I agree with the message, but here's the kicker, I'm a Christian.  Yup.  And these films, these shows, these messages...these are excellent chances to talk about the faith to P.W.A.C.s.  People. Who. Aren't. Christians.

Not Christian!  Perish the thought.  Shouldn't we be looking at every media blip through the eyes of an atheist?  What would a non-believer think of this, should he or she stumble across it?  Would they be repulsed?  Would they run away thinking CRAZY PEOPLE?  Would they be encouraged?  Their curiosity aroused, their intellect buzzing, their minds full of questions and retorts and ideas?  Will this show/movie/song/blah elicit a 'All Christians are clearly idiots' feeling amongst my non Christian friends?  Because here's some news for those producers of films like Frank Peretti's:  I agreed with him, and I thought it was badly made.  I'm on his side, and I felt like he was a bit of a dip.  I want him to succeed, and I felt embarrassed at being attached to such a bad production.  Now, what would someone who didn't have an investment in the success of Christian evangelism feel like?  Someone who didn't care about Peretti, had never heard of Peretti, and cared even less about his message, would tear it apart.  They would say he didn't fully answer the questions he was given.  They would say his delivery was juvenile and silly.  They would say it felt elitist, clique-y, even, to watch the conference.  They would dismiss it, and in dismissing it they would throw the baby out with the bathwater and any good ideas or fundamental truths that were present in that video would be lost to them.

When I heard that interviewee speak tonight I felt something of the same as when I saw that film a few days ago.  Something along the lines of "Oh, I'm glad none of my non-believing friends heard that because they would tear it to shreds."  They would say...

 He doesn't want to work...well, clearly this whole Christian thing is for lazy people.

Boy it must be so EASY to just believe and fall back on that crutch.

I guess you can just SAY you're a Christian, then, and not have to do anything.

I suppose there's no such thing as a 'journey in faith' because it just ends with saying 'I believe'.

Faith is such a crock.  He's just covering his behind.

And what was meant was...

Christ's death was sufficient to atone for my sins, I don't need to add to it.

My salvation is complete in him, if I choose to accept it.

I can trust God.

Nothing I do on Earth will save me eternally.

I am loved.

I was an unbeliever for, oh, a long time.  More than twenty years.  I have thought those thoughts.  I have friends still in my life from before I was a Christian and they still think those thoughts and sometimes talk to me about it.  I wish I could tell them to look to the Christian examples they see, but the truth is that these Christian examples are so hidden.  They exist, but they're hidden from a non-believer's sight.  They were hidden from mine for many years and I was actually LOOKING for them.  How many are not looking?  What is available is undecipherable or aimed at Christians.  Couched in 'Christianese' and filled with terms no one can understand,  inside jokes only we get, references that can't be translated, or just won't be.  In this post I quoted some of the Apostle's Creed.  If you aren't a Christian, and you are reading, did you recognize it?  Did you think it was a big run-on sentence or remember a bit of it from a previous experience or would you only be able to tell me where it is if you Googled it right now?

I need to put a postscript of sorts onto this post, however.  I need Christian fellowship.  I need places to go and people to talk with who don't expect me to be 'on' all of the time.  I need a chance to argue theological concepts and to delve into complicated and obscure matters of my faith.  I need Christian girlfriends (and I haven't got very many of these) who can advise me on matters of faith and family life.  I need people to pray with.  And those are things we all need, and which we should endeavour to acquire, but Christianity needs an approachable 'public face', too.  I'm not advocating for a shiny used-car salesman sort of persona on the outside and the darkness hidden safely away, so don't think that!  We have faults, we have ridiculous people, we're a family, for goodness sakes, everyone has a crazy uncle somewhere!  But a lot of people will never think twice about us, never wonder what we have to say, if we look so unappealing, speak in such an uneducated way, and refuse to shed the light of Christ in an approachable manner.