The Great Debate

     Have you ever been on a social media site or a forum page and noticed someone posting yet another anti-Christian quote or rant or phrase? We all have, and like me I'm sure you go through that little internal conversation about whether it's worth getting into it. The biggest problem I see is that we got into it attempting to prove the other person wrong. We see ourselves as “defending” the Word or “defending” God. That may seem all well and good but the way I see it there are two major flaws with that perspective: God doesn't need our help, and we should be worrying about the salvation of that persons's soul.

     It's tempting to try and defend the gospel, after all people -are- attacking it. As I said though, God doesn't need our defense and He doesn't need our help. The Bible will endure no matter what is thrown against it, no one will ever prevail against it. I don't remember who said it but I love the phrase “The Bible goes on to outlive its pole-bearers.” There have been detractors from the very beginning so one or two or a million pithy atheistic comments on Facebook are not going to bring it down. Furthermore, I can't help but wonder if when we “defend” the Bible are we really just defending ourselves? We see this person attacking our faith and so we attack back, but do we care about the truth or just being right? Our we not secure enough in our faith that we can handle others disagreeing with us? God will sort out who will be saved and who won't and who cares if people think I'm stupid?

     The real point I'd like to make though is this: when we jump into these arguments do we care about the soul on the other side of the debate or do we only let ourselves see an enemy? That person over there may be blaspheming the name of God, He may be calling into question the very character of our Lord Jesus Christ, but what do you expect Him to do? We are all naturally God-haters and enemies of the Lord so it does not surprise me at all when I see people attacking Christianity. It's not a perspective or a mindset that comes naturally so we have to pray and ask God for His perspective on people. I don't want to see enemies, I want to see the lost. These people need Jesus, they desperately need the God they hate so much or understand so little. I'm not saying not to debate but our goal can't be about being right or proving wrong but about shedding light onto darkness and putting the truth of God into the minds of others, about pushing that person one step further in the right direction.