Sharing Truth in a World Skeptical about Truth

A guest post by Matt Baehr

On July 15th, in his sermon entitled The Death of Death, Larry challenged us as a congregation to start a conversation with someone by asking, “Do you believe that Jesus Christ rose from the dead?” In his blog post about the sermon he amended the phrasing of the question to make it more open ended: “What do you make of the claim of Christians that Jesus rose from the dead?” He even told us to blame the question on him asking us to do it in order to alleviate the awkwardness of the situation. How did you feel about that assignment? Do you feel prepared for such a conversation? What if they say they think it’s ridiculous? Where do you go from there? “Um…well…I DON’T think it’s ridiculous!” “Well that belief is good for you and that’s great.” End of conversation. (Or beginning of argument!)

I think the question Larry posed is a great one and, as the first “followers of the Way” in Acts showed in their evangelistic efforts, it gets at the very foundation of our faith. How do you continue the conversation in a way that builds bridges to the gospel rather than puts rifts in your relationships? One way is to focus on the subject of belief.

You, Christian, believe that Jesus resurrected. Your unbelieving friend does not. Well, either He did or He didn’t. There is a real answer to the question whether it’s observable in the moment or not. We each have our beliefs and they are based on certain things. Focusing on belief and respectfully comparing the foundations of our belief could, Lord willing, lead to a meaningful conversation. For instance, as a reason for your belief you could bring up the fact that Jesus appeared to over 500 people over the course of 40 days before he ascended to heaven (I Cor. 15:1-8). They might say that what you’re referring to is written in the Bible which was written by men with an agenda. You could then ask how they arrived at their conclusions regarding the Bible…and now you’re getting somewhere.

One problem with the subject of belief in today’s society is that usually it is placed on the same level as opinion. Belief is not opinion. They couldn’t be more opposite. There is something very different between your views on the resurrection and what flavor ice cream you like.  A brilliant man named Tim Henderson discipled me in college. He recently put together this grid that aides people in having a discussion about opinion, belief and the idea of absolute truth. In it he explains how belief and opinion are opposite. When I heard Larry’s sermon and read his blog post I immediately thought about using this grid while stepping out in faith to answer his challenge to us. I pray it will be helpful to you as well!

(If you'd like a paper copy of the grid, leave a comment and let me know)