It has been a chore for me to blog as of late, but as I was researching something for the homegroup I lead, I came across the following snippet from an article by Greg Bahnsen.
"Christianity does not claim to be relatively true, but absolutely and universally so. Furthermore, as a religious system it claims to be exclusively true. This is naturally quite offensive in a pluralistic, democratic age. "Everybody has a right to believe about God what they wish," we will be reminded. But that is not the point. The right to believe something does not translate it into something which is true. Some religious perspectives teach that there are a variety of ways of reaching God or serving Him (or It) -- many paths to the top of the mountain. Christianity is not one of them, though. Eclectic and smorgasbord approaches to religion may wish to incorporate Christianity into their religious options (one more of many), but in the nature of the case Christianity cannot be assimilated to their outlook. Christianity claims that Christ alone is the divine Savior, claims that only through Him can anyone be right with God, and claims that what we believe about God is restricted to what He reveals about Himself (thus excluding human imagination)."
The full article titled "Answering Objections" can be found here on the Covenant Media Foundation website.
I find a very important truth in Dr. Bahnsen's words that I want to highlight, namely that the claims of Christianity are "naturally quite offensive in a pluralistic, democratic age." This is extremely important for us as Christians as we interact with those who do not share our faith. If we are living our lives as we are called to do, following the philosophy of Christ as opposed to the philosophy of this world (Col. 2:8), then the explanation that we give for any claims we make in any realm of life should ultimately find its basis in scripture. It is just this appeal to scripture as the foundation of our lives that will consistently lead to altercations with non-Christians. How pleasant or unpleasant these interactions may be depends a great deal on how we handle them.
Remember that although non-Christians will often find the exclusive, absolute claims of the Bible to be offensive (1 Cor. 1:23), we are called to answer their questions in a gentle and respectful manner (1 Pet. 3:15), rather than in a contentious manner that only serves to further their opposition to the Bible (2 Tim. 2:23-26). How do we accomplish this without watering down the truth of God's word (John 17:17)?
Sharing an Offensive Message Without Being Offensive
There is a marked difference between sharing a message that is offensive, and sharing a message (offensive or not) in an offensive manner. Consider by way of an example the case of a friend who has personal hygiene that leaves much to be desired. You could certainly approach them with the direct question "do you realize that you smell horrible?" Even though this may be the case, meaning that the message itself is indeed offensive, there is no need to share the message in such an offensive manner.
When it comes to the gospel message, there are no doubt elements that non-Christians may find offensive. The claim that a person is a sinner can be a very offensive claim, especially if that person is "good" according to the standard of the culture they live in. In fact, this is one of the main reasons that non-Christians do not accept the "solution" that the gospel provides - they don't see any "problem" that needs to be solved. On top of the claim that all are sinners, the claim that Jesus is the only way to reconciliation with God can also be offensive, especially if the non-Christian happens to already hold a competing religious view.
Regardless of the offense of the message itself, we are called to share it, simply because it is true! The question then is not whether we should share this potentially offensive message, but rather how we should share it.
We see the answer to this question both in the life of Christ, and in the words of Paul as written to Timothy.
Following the Example of Christ
Jesus came to seek and save that which was lost (Luke 19:10), which is a crucial truth that we can never lose sight of. The motivation of Jesus was to help those who were in need, not to rail upon them for being in such a bad way, despite the fact that they were. It is true that Christ's ultimate motivation was to bring glory to the Father, but the central way that he accomplished this goal was by loving sinful man. Time and time again scripture states that Jesus had compassion (Matt. 9:36, Matt. 14:14, Matt. 15:32, Matt. 20:34), the result of which was always an action. The love of Christ for lost sinners always resulted in action, the greatest of which was his willing sacrifice at Calvary.
The methodology of Christ in sharing the truth was to love people; to show them compassion and meet their needs while simultaneously and unashamedly proclaiming the truth of who he was (the Messiah), who they were (sinners), and why they needed to have faith in him.
Following the Commands of Scripture
There is but one scriptural way to share the gospel, or defend one's faith - with gentleness and respect (1 Pet. 3:15). What does this look like in action? Paul tells us in 2 Timothy 2:23-26.
23Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. 24And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, 25correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, 26and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.
This is truly where the rubber meets the road. We are to be "kind to everyone", as one who is "patiently enduring evil" and engaged in correcting our opponents with gentleness.
When a simple sharing of the gospel turns ugly as if often does due to the offensive nature of what we are sharing, we have two different ways we can respond. One is to take offense at the offense being taken, and begin to rail upon the one we should be loving instead. We can beat our unsaved friends and relatives over the head with the word of God and rationalize our actions by assuring ourselves that we are simply "telling it the way it is". This has become way too easy to do in the less-than-personal world of the internet. People say things in email or on discussion boards that they would never say to someone they were standing in front of. The impersonal medium of the internet has been the catalyst for a whole new breed of "militant Christians" whose entire world revolves around "flaming" as many unbelievers as possible. Don't get me wrong - I am not blaming the medium of the internet for this; rather, I am blaming the messenger's abuse of it.
The more appropriate way to respond is to be kind, patient, and gentle. We are to teach those who do not believe about the love of God, not only in the message we share but in the way we share it. One of the main complaints against Christianity is the perception of hypocrisy. Unbelievers aren't stupid. On the contrary, they know enough about Jesus and his commands to see the hypocrisy of furthering a message of love by using insults and hateful speech. If we pray for those who are lost and speak the truth in love (Eph. 4:15) then we have done all we are commanded to do; all that we can do. for that matter. The rest is up to God, to grant them repentance (2 Tim. 2:25).
-- Brian
