As Christians, we are often told of the importance of sharing our faith with others. Although this possibility conjures up all sorts of anxiety and trepidation, I don’t think that the most difficult audiences are those who are unfamiliar with faith. Generally speaking, they may be more willing to hear about the trust we have in God because human beings tend to be curious by nature. I think the more difficult audience are those who know Christ’s teachings but choose not to follow them. The disciples who abandoned Jesus after their disillusionment (John 6:66) were probably more reluctant to believe in a resurrected Savior than were the Gentiles whom Peter and Paul set out to teach. When we are familiar something we tend to disregard anything that conflicts with our already confirmed perceptions. We let our bias dictate our input and so willfully or not, we are reticent to change our point of view.
The reason that discussing Christianity with a former professing adherent is difficult is because their argument against faith often takes faith out of the equation. Knowing the Scriptural account, they know that many things can not be proved; believing their validity requires faith. Yet often times they use the inability to scientifically demonstrate certain tenets of the Christian faith as a reason to refuse to follow Christ and we often get caught in circular arguments where in order to win them to the kingdom we try to prove what can only be attested to by faith. Faith, after all, is the evidence of things hoped for. If they have shun all hope, then the evidence will remain hidden.
A.W. Tozer put it this way, “The unbelieving mind would not be convinced by any proof,
and the worshiping heart needs none.” May all our hearts be filled with worship.