Uncovering Inconsistencies
Hidden in Plain Sight
Anyone who has ever seen a young child attempt to hide by covering their eyes has enjoyed a heart warming laugh. They are sitting on your lap with your hands holding their sides to keep them from falling over as they throw their little hands up to hide their eyes convinced they are invisible.
We find that adorable in an 18 month old, but how it would look if it were someone the age of Shaquille O' Neal? Of course the initial problem would be how well you would fair with having someone the size of Shaq sitting on your lap, but I digress.
Clearly a young child does not yet understand that just because they can't see you it does not mean you can't see them. Adults know better, or do they?
Romans 1:18-32 speaks of what is true of all people in their natural state. In particular look at:
Romans 1:21 - "For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened."
Paul claims every living person knows God but they neither acknowledge him or give him thanks. Each person necessarily and innately knows that they are a creature made in the image of their Creator. Like the young child we are completely dependent upon him to hold us and keep us upright, but we cover our eyes pretending that we are invisible to God and completely self-reliant.
Unlike the child, however, we will not simply grow out of our persistent denial of the reality of God. The only way natural men and women come to acknowledge and glorify God is through regeneration - through being born again from the Holy Spirit's application of the gospel and granting of repentance and faith.
Castles Made of Sand
Because Christians have received the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5) we are able to see the ways that non-Christians sit on God's lap while covering their eyes. And it is part of the Christian's evangelistic task to uncover these inconsistencies.
A while back I had a conversation with someone who feels very strongly about global warming. This person shared the view of Noam Chomsky who said this about global warming, "It is hard to find words to capture the fact that humans are facing the most important question in their history — whether organised human life will survive in anything like the form we know — and are answering it by accelerating the race to disaster.”(1)
Rather than engage in the specific issue of global warming I decided to ask my interlocutor if they understood the existence of the universe to be purely materialistic. That is, do they believe the universe to be the exclusive product of time and matter grinding away. Affirming this was their view, I then asked why global warming was such a concern because if the universe is just time and matter wouldn't that mean one day our sun will explode and the earth will melt in its wake?
I asked this question both genuinely and gently, and after they pondered it a moment I pushed the issue just a bit further by asking, "If I am understanding Chomsky correctly he wants to fight against global warming, but ultimate global warming, the earth melting from the explosion of the sun, is the end result of his own worldview. Doesn't that seem rather inconsistent? Why fight against the very thing you believe to be inevitable?"
While my questions did not change this person's mind on the spot, I asked them with the hope of shaking their unwavering confidence in what they assume to be true about the world. Worldviews built upon anything other than the firm foundation of Scripture will all be proven to be castles made of sand which melt into the sea eventually.
All of this is to say that sometimes Christians seeking to fulfill the Great Commission need to begin evangelistic conversations by helping people see what they already know to be true about God and his world. We do this by gently uncovering the inconsistencies which exist in every non-Christian worldview. In the end, there is no such thing as a genuine atheist. There are only those who have suppressed the truth about God which is plain to everyone who has been made in his image.
Romans 1:18-20 - "The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse."
Our task is to help them see the emptiness and hopelessness bound up with every attempt to suppress the truth of God. We invite them to acknowledge that they already know the one who hung the stars, and we tell them that he who set the planets spinning was born a man and lived and died to take the wrath of God for all those who repent and believe in this glorious Good News - that the maker of all things was unmade for creatures who refused to give thanks and glorify him.
(1) - http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/noam-chomsky-donald-trump-climate-change-denier-global-warming-race-to-disaster-republicans-most-a7418296.html
Anyone who has ever seen a young child attempt to hide by covering their eyes has enjoyed a heart warming laugh. They are sitting on your lap with your hands holding their sides to keep them from falling over as they throw their little hands up to hide their eyes convinced they are invisible.
We find that adorable in an 18 month old, but how it would look if it were someone the age of Shaquille O' Neal? Of course the initial problem would be how well you would fair with having someone the size of Shaq sitting on your lap, but I digress.
Clearly a young child does not yet understand that just because they can't see you it does not mean you can't see them. Adults know better, or do they?
Romans 1:18-32 speaks of what is true of all people in their natural state. In particular look at:
Romans 1:21 - "For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened."
Paul claims every living person knows God but they neither acknowledge him or give him thanks. Each person necessarily and innately knows that they are a creature made in the image of their Creator. Like the young child we are completely dependent upon him to hold us and keep us upright, but we cover our eyes pretending that we are invisible to God and completely self-reliant.
Unlike the child, however, we will not simply grow out of our persistent denial of the reality of God. The only way natural men and women come to acknowledge and glorify God is through regeneration - through being born again from the Holy Spirit's application of the gospel and granting of repentance and faith.
Castles Made of Sand
Because Christians have received the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5) we are able to see the ways that non-Christians sit on God's lap while covering their eyes. And it is part of the Christian's evangelistic task to uncover these inconsistencies.
A while back I had a conversation with someone who feels very strongly about global warming. This person shared the view of Noam Chomsky who said this about global warming, "It is hard to find words to capture the fact that humans are facing the most important question in their history — whether organised human life will survive in anything like the form we know — and are answering it by accelerating the race to disaster.”(1)
Rather than engage in the specific issue of global warming I decided to ask my interlocutor if they understood the existence of the universe to be purely materialistic. That is, do they believe the universe to be the exclusive product of time and matter grinding away. Affirming this was their view, I then asked why global warming was such a concern because if the universe is just time and matter wouldn't that mean one day our sun will explode and the earth will melt in its wake?
I asked this question both genuinely and gently, and after they pondered it a moment I pushed the issue just a bit further by asking, "If I am understanding Chomsky correctly he wants to fight against global warming, but ultimate global warming, the earth melting from the explosion of the sun, is the end result of his own worldview. Doesn't that seem rather inconsistent? Why fight against the very thing you believe to be inevitable?"
While my questions did not change this person's mind on the spot, I asked them with the hope of shaking their unwavering confidence in what they assume to be true about the world. Worldviews built upon anything other than the firm foundation of Scripture will all be proven to be castles made of sand which melt into the sea eventually.
All of this is to say that sometimes Christians seeking to fulfill the Great Commission need to begin evangelistic conversations by helping people see what they already know to be true about God and his world. We do this by gently uncovering the inconsistencies which exist in every non-Christian worldview. In the end, there is no such thing as a genuine atheist. There are only those who have suppressed the truth about God which is plain to everyone who has been made in his image.
Romans 1:18-20 - "The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse."
Our task is to help them see the emptiness and hopelessness bound up with every attempt to suppress the truth of God. We invite them to acknowledge that they already know the one who hung the stars, and we tell them that he who set the planets spinning was born a man and lived and died to take the wrath of God for all those who repent and believe in this glorious Good News - that the maker of all things was unmade for creatures who refused to give thanks and glorify him.
(1) - http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/noam-chomsky-donald-trump-climate-change-denier-global-warming-race-to-disaster-republicans-most-a7418296.html
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