Sharing the Gospel with atheists

[hamletcat]

I was wondering if anyone had any experience with sharing the highlights of the gospel with atheists. I am surrounded mostly with people who are either atheists or do not attend any type of Christian church, and I can't just quote scripture to them, because they would reject anything I had to say. To me the Gospel is significant, but I also don't want to turn people off or make them feel uncomfortable. I know this is difficult for other Christians to understand. But a lot of atheists, especially the ones in my life don't want to hear anything from the bible. Especially if I try to use it to help them with their life issues. I am just wondering if anyone has any suggestions or experience that they could share with me. Thanks so much.

[kwikphilly]

Blessings hamletcat....

      Welcome to Worthy.....the best way to share the Gospel of Jesus is by representing Him through our words ,our actions & our lives,,,,,,,getting into debates or trying to prove that God exists is not something any of us are equipped or required to do....it is the Holy Spirit that convicts one's heart,,,,,we are merely His Vessel........

       Personally,I do not really think there are ant true atheists,,,,Gods Word tells me that no one will have any excuses,He is clearly evident & He will present Himself in His creation,or rather He does,.God does not need us to defend Him......He only wants us to be examples His Attributes & Character .....thats what will have them asking you,,,,,"What is is about you.....?" 

      By approaching people & simply showing the fruits of the Spirit & maybe just a simple "Do you know how much Jesus loves you?;"......Let the Holy Spirit do the rest,He always knows how to answer the unbeliever,just ask & He will guide you.....

                                                                                                           With love-in Christ,Kwik

BTW,......If your daily bread is Gods Word ,the Holy Spirit will bring remembrance to you at the appropriate time,Gods Timing........if you don't have it inside there is not much to remind you of(imo)

[Guest]

Welcome~!

 

~

 

....and I can't just quote scripture to them, because they would reject anything I had to say....

 

 

Pray,

 

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Ephesians 6:12

 

Pray,

 

Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting. Matthew 17:21

 

Pray.............

 

But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. 2 Corinthians 4:3-4

 

For Without The Power Of God

 

But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: John 15:26

 

We All Are

 

So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Romans 10:17

 

Doomed

 

The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. John 3:35-36

 

~

 

Beloved

 

But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

 

Praying For You

 

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16

 

And For Your Buddies

 

Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:

 

And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? John 112:25-26

 

Love, Your Brother Joe

[hamletcat]

Thank you both for responding. I am particularly struggling with helping direct people away from sin who are suffering. Unfortunately only I can relate to scripture. At least with the people I am trying to help anyways. A lot of the "atheists" don't really understand what sin is and the consequences of it. With Christians, I find it easier because you can just relate things in scripture and then if they don't really understand it, you can explain in terms of how I see it, to try to get them to understand.

[Willa]

Our son does friendship evangelism. While keeping his family and himself firmly rooted in love and in God's word, he will offer to help friends at work with a project. He has helped people lay carpet, remodel, paint, work on transmissions and engines, brakes, or most any job. During such times he often hears their concerns and will offer to pray for these. Most people, even unbelievers, will not be offended by such an offer of genuine compassion. Eventually they have come to him for advice, and occasionally have even asked him about his faith. Some he has had to shake the dust from his feet and go on. A couple have visited our church and then gone back to the church their parents attended. Several he has led to the Lord. His witness is first with his life and then with words when an opportunity presents itself.

Just hold your ground without being preachy. If you become self righteous or preachy they will dis you immediately. But as soon as you don't laugh at their dirty jokes and smoke their pot they will have you pegged and will even try to trip you up and get you to fall. So just try to be there for them when they have a crises like a death in the family or they end up in the hospital or in jail. Then visit them and offer to pray for them. Bring them a big mac or something. But that is often the best time to reach out.

But I am not the best evangelist so my advice here may not be the best.

[crochetlady]

Lots of times we Don't know a person's stand on Scripture / whether or not they Are believers until we've had a chance to get to know them. 

  The 'friendship evangelizing' is a very good idea.   Actually -- that's what we Should be doing.  'Living ' our Christianity. 

 

Actually,  the only contact I've had with atheists is through another Forum that I'm on.  Over time I've discussed evolution / 'gay' rights /  young earth vs old earth. / Adam and Eve - Allegory or real history.   Notice that several of those are on the same subject.  When we Do take opportunities to share God's Word with others -- the Holy Spirit Does use it to get into their hearts.  And I'll readily admit that I'm much more 'vocal'  on a Forum than in person.   When I am 'person to person' I don't have the advantage of stopping to think First and then responding --  I'm Not a fast thinker. 

 

I've been an at-home person when raising my kids.  Am mostly with believers.  So I can't relate to work- place conversations.

 

And trying to prove that God exists won't get far, either.  Mostly our life will tell others what we do and don't believe in.  And, as I've mentioned -- Forums are anonymous.  A person feels Much freer to share openly about Scripture or whatever. 

[alphaparticle]

I was wondering if anyone had any experience with sharing the highlights of the gospel with atheists. I am surrounded mostly with people who are either atheists or do not attend any type of Christian church, and I can't just quote scripture to them, because they would reject anything I had to say. To me the Gospel is significant, but I also don't want to turn people off or make them feel uncomfortable. I know this is difficult for other Christians to understand. But a lot of atheists, especially the ones in my life don't want to hear anything from the bible. Especially if I try to use it to help them with their life issues. I am just wondering if anyone has any suggestions or experience that they could share with me. Thanks so much.

I think it depends a lot on the atheist in question. When sharing the gospel, I'd tend toward paraphrasing the Bible in such a way that the individual is likely to understand what I am talking about. I think you have the right intuition about quoting random passages at people tending not to communicate with many. I spent most of the time I was old enough to have an opinion on the matter as an atheist, and I had only a very caricatured idea of what Christianity was about before I took a deep look at it. People had quoted scripture at me before, and it was akin to gibberish to my ear.That being said, the BIble does seem to strongly indicate that the Spirit plays a role in such things, and perhaps if the Spirit led scripture quoting would be appropriate.

[hamletcat]

Wow, thank you very much everybody. God told me through revelation that part of his role for me was to do his work by sharing the gospel with atheists. One area in particular, which is a real challenge is in peace-making. I am hard-wired to think like an atheist so I try to "marry" the two worlds of thinking so that atheists are able to make that transition more easily. There is some scripture that seems to indicate that non-believers have an opportunity to be saved at the second coming of Jesus, once they are confronted with god and the Holy Spirit. So I don't focus necessarily on trying to "convert" them, just demonstrate God's work so they can become a follower of Jesus, so that it will be easier for them when he returns. It is difficult to explain, but I hope it makes some sense.

[Guest]

....There is some scripture that seems to indicate

 

that non-believers have an opportunity to be saved at the second coming of Jesus....

 

~

 

Beloved, Not

 

But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.

 

And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.

 

And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.

 

For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;

 

And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; 2 Peter 2:1-5

 

So Much

 

And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.

 

And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;

 

And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:

 

For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand? Revelation 6:14-17

 

See?

 

The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand.

 

He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life:

 

and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.  John 3:35-36

[JTC]

I'm glad you asked. I've come up with a new way of dealing with atheists, especially if they're scientific minded. You may need to educate yourself, unless you're in HS or collage you probably know this already. I had to listen to many hours of academic lectures on U Tube. Instead of telling them what you believe is right, show them where their beliefs are wrong or questionable and why. Above all do it in love. Do not argue. When they get hot under the collar, walk away. Talk another day.

First, thoroughly educate yourself on the fact that evolution was never proven. It really wasn't. The missing links were never found. But don't open yourself to attack by mentioning creation. Leave that for another week. Just quote proof evolution is an unproven theory. That one is easy.

The Big Bang favors us. Why? Before the BB physicists assumed the universe was created as is. Stars don't move nor do other galaxies. It was assumed the universe always existed, as is, and always will. The BB said the universe had a beginning. This created a huge problem for physicists. To make the problem worse, the whole universe, from the galaxies down to the quarks, exist in a mathematical perfection. So do plants and animals. Even our cells and DNA have mathematical perfection. I just learned this, but my old brain forgot what it's called already. Such perfection simply cannot occur at random. Even Stephen Hawking admitted that. But, say the physicists, if we assume there are millions or billions of universes, then we can assume one of them is perfect by chance. What luck it just happens to be ours. (sarcasm) But String theory is nothing but un provable equations. In fact to make the equations balance the math dudes had to postulate the existence of things that can't be proven.

If you ever meet someone who went to another universe and returned, and then he duplicated the experience, PLEASE post it all over the Net. But you won't have to because it will be in the NY Times, and many scientific magazines. Until that happens, other universes are fantasy. Educate yourself on this. Since we know of only 1 universe, for it to have mathematical perfection means an intelligence must have created it. At this point they will tell you about space gods. But who created the space gods? Other now extinct space gods. Who created them? Now we get into infinite regression, and science dudes hate infinite anything. It's more logical that one God created all the perfection of the universe instead of an infinite number of space gods.

There's also no real proof of black holes. (they hate this, so tread lightly) There never will be. Consider this. Even if you could fly into space and get close enough to a black hole to have absolute proof it's real, it will pull you in and you and your crew will die. Again, black holes are equations that atheists love because they don't want to believe in God. But don't tell them that. Rather than letting them attack your beliefs in God, you be the one to refute their beliefs. Because truthfully, these scientists have faith in what they say are facts. They aren't facts. They have equations that only balance because they assume something else is real. Change the words assume or postulate, to Have Faith In. Get it? They have faith black holes are real. They have faith other universes are real, therefore the equation balances. Even a young Albert Einstein did this. Although I'm still studying him. But when he said a ship traveling faster than light would travel forward in time, he assumed time moved at the speed of light. He had faith in that assumption. However, time isn't real, except to us mortal beings. God gave us the Sun and Moon so that based on their movements we could organize our lives. But time isn't a dimension. Only the Now exists. Change occurs so time seems real.

Maybe God could go back in time, but He wouldn't. If He did, He would violate our free will. God seems to consider the free will of His creations as sacred. If God was willing to violate free will, why not go way back and create Lucifer without pride? But God won't do it. I tell you the truth. Time is not a real thing. But I think Einstein later dropped his ideas of time travel.

When you talk to the atheists, don't mention Einstein. To them Einstein is almost god. You can mention Hawking or other present day physicists. And of course, until they're willing to admit you may indeed have a point, don't mention God. I bet you'll find this is more effective than quoting scripture. If you do this, let me know how it works. Be sure to educate yourself first. You have to approach them on their grounds, not ours.