Becoming All Things to All Men - 1 Corinthians 9:15-27

INTRODUCTION

How many times have you heard that Christians are to “become all things to all men” and then wondered what that phrase really means? Paul uses this phrase in 1 Corinthians 9:22 with a specific idea in mind, but this phrase has often been misunderstood and abused by professing Christians. Some have used this phrase to allow them to do all kinds of nonsense in the name of Jesus and call it Christian “ministry”. This is seen in the modern seeker-sensitive and Emergent Church movements. Others have failed to recognize the legitimate meaning of this phrase and so they end up thinking that everything must be done exactly the same way every time regardless of the cultural context. This is typically seen in many fundamentalist, independent Baptist circles. Sadly, both groups end up hindering the progress of the gospel by their misunderstanding of what it means to “become all things to all men”. So what does this phrase mean anyway? That question is answered by a proper understanding of 1 Corinthians chapters 8-10 and that will be the focus of our teaching today.

In 1 Corinthians 9:1-14, Paul reminds the Corinthians as to what his rights are as an Apostle. These can be summarized into three areas:

1. He has a right to have his daily needs supplied [v. 4].
2. He has a right to have a wife who could also accompany him in his ministry [v. 5].
3. He has a right to be supported by the Corinthians so that he doesn’t have to work a trade [v. 6].

Thus, the basic message of verses 3-14 is that those who proclaim the gospel have a right to get their living from the gospel (v. 14).

But after verse 14, there is a drastic change in Paul’s argument. We see that he refuses to use the very rights that he just argued for (vv. 15-27) and his basic message is that there must be no hindrance to the gospel, even if it means that church workers like him have to give up their right to fulltime support. Sadly, many modern fulltime church workers think completely opposite to Paul, thus reflecting a polished professionalism rooted in a love for money rather than a concern for the gospel itself (1 Tim. 6:9-10). Paul didn’t want anything to do with that, especially since his apostleship was already being called into question by some within this church.

Now, before we look at our text, it is important to note that philosophers, orators, and itinerant missionaries in the Greco-Roman world were financially and materially supported by four means: fees, patronage, begging, and working.[1] Paul taught that to charge a fee for ministry was the mark of a false teacher, so that wasn’t an option for him (2 Cor. 2:14; 4:1; Titus 1:11), to beg was to depend upon the arm of man rather than the providence of God (Matt. 6:33-34), and finally, to accept patronage from a church that was calling into question the legitimacy of his apostleship was to feed their already lingering doubts about his message and ministry (1 Cor. 9:15). And so in verses 15-27, he goes from defending his rights as an apostle to defending his right not to make use of his rights so that (1) he will not lose his reward for preaching the gospel without charge and more importantly, (2) that the gospel won’t be hindered.

TEACHING AND APPLICATION

Verse 15 – “But I have used none of these things. And I am not writing these things so that it will be done so in my case; for it would be better for me to die than have any man make my boast an empty one.” Paul’s preaching the gospel without pay is both a calculated decision so as not to hinder the gospel. He argued for his right to support, but then he says that he does not want to be supported by them. He would rather die than have the Corinthians support him lest they use that as another reason to call into question his ministry and message. As a matter of personal policy, Paul generally did not receive funds from those he was directly ministering to so that no one could accuse him of doing it for money (cf. 1 Thess. 2:1-9; 2 Thess. 3:7-9; and 1 Cor. 4:11-12; Acts 20:33-35). John MacAthur says the following regarding Paul’s boasting:

Paul’s boast was not intended to convey arrogance but joy. He was so glad for that spiritual privilege and commitment in which he rejoiced that he would rather die than contradict it. He had his priorities right, receiving his joy from exercising his privilege to restrict his freedoms rather than from using them.[2]

Verse 16 – “For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for I am under compulsion; for woe is me if I do not preach the gospel.” Paul says that he can’t boast in the task of proclaiming the gospel to the Gentiles because that is what he must do by divine design. To be “under compulsion” does not mean that he is compelled by some inner subjective “itch” to preach, but instead that he is compelled by God’s divinely predestined plan for his life to preach. Don’t forget that as an unbeliever he was on his way to persecute Christians when God arrested him and caused him to become the Apostle to the Gentiles (Acts 9:3-6, 15; 26:13-18; cf. Rom. 11:13). His ministry was divinely predetermined and to attempt to go against that would be to attempt to thwart the sovereign decree of God. That is why he says, “Woe is me if I do not preach the gospel”! Like Jeremiah and John the Baptist before him (Jer. 1:5; Luke 1:13-17), Paul was called to do what he did from his mother’s womb (Gal. 1:15-16). He could not stop from preaching what God had predestined him to preach because it was bestowed upon him by the Sovereign of heaven (Col. 1:25). Some of the worst emotional distress comes upon God-ordained preachers and prophets who resist God’s work for their lives. In this case, resistance is futile; they will be used of God. Jeremiah tried to stop preaching after becoming frustrated, depressed, and despondent due to the continual rejection and ridicule that he faced from rebellious Jews, but he testified to what happened to him when he tried to stop preaching, “But if I say, ‘I will not remember Him Or speak anymore in His name,’ Then in my heart it becomes like a burning fire shut up in my bones; And I am weary of holding it in, And I cannot endure it.” (Jeremiah 20:9) The man whom God sovereignly calls to proclaim His message cannot do anything else; for it is God’s predetermined plan that he preach. Paul was like that. He had no choice; he was “under compulsion.”

Verse 17 – “For if I do this voluntarily, I have a reward; but if against my will, I have a stewardship entrusted to me.” Paul says that he cannot boast in preaching the gospel because he does not do so of his own choosing. If he had done so by his own volition, then he is entitled to pay. But he has not done so, so what “pay” is there for him? He says that his apostleship is similar to that of a household slave, who works without pay and has been entrusted with managing a household. The fact that Paul didn’t do this “voluntarily” doesn’t mean that he was unwilling to obey, it just means that he had no part in God sovereignly and effectively calling him to the work which He created him for. To have a “stewardship entrusted to” him means that God gave Paul what God highly values for safe care. If the ministry that God gave him is not handled properly, God promises stern discipline (James 3:1). This is another reason why Paul said in verse 16 “woe is me if I do not preach the gospel”. Paul has told us what his reward could not be for, but now he tells us what it is for.

Verse 18 – “What then is my reward? That, when I preach the gospel, I may offer the gospel without charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel.^” In one sense, his “pay” was in fact to receive no pay. But this nonpayment payment gives him the apostolic freedom from all people, so that he might make himself a slave to everyone. So, in terms of his own ministry, his “pay” actually turns out to be his total freedom from all human hindrances to his ministry. Simply put, Paul’s reward was that he served the Lord without compensation even though he had a right to it. With great joy, Paul set aside a liberty and right that he had as an apostle so that he could make his own contribution to the work of the ministry by working with his own hands to support himself.

Verse 19 – “For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I may win more.” Paul’s primary reason for not taking full advantage of his liberty as an apostle and a believer was so that he may “win more”. Because he desired to see men come to Christ, Paul was willing to do anything short of compromising the gospel. Though he was “free from all men”, he was willing to limit his rights and become a “slave to all” by setting aside some of his Christian liberties so that he could reach them with the gospel. Paul would modify his lifestyle if necessary so that he would not cause a person to be offended by his preferences, habits, or Christian liberties. While he knew full well that salvation is of the Lord, he wanted nothing that he did to hinder a person from exercising faith in Jesus Christ. His motivation was to love them enough to set aside his own preferences so as to win people to Jesus. The word that translates the phrase “made . . . a slave” is a very strong word that means “to enslave, to bring under subjection”. The next verse shows how he was willing to bring himself under subjection to all so that he might win all.

Verse 20 – “To the Jews I became as a Jew, so that I might win Jews; to those who are under the Law, as under the Law though not being myself under the Law, so that I might win those who are under the Law . . .” To the Jews he became like a Jew; meaning, that within the limits of the New Covenant, he would behave as Jewish as necessary so that he could effectively evangelize Jews. He loved his own people even to the point of being willing to give up his salvation if possible, so that they could be saved (Rom. 9:1-3; 10:1; 11:14). This means that he could observe a Sabbath, a Jewish holy day, or any other ceremony or ritual as necessary to avoid putting a hindrance before them in receiving the gospel (cf. Acts 16:3 – Timothy’s circumcision; Acts 18:18 – Paul took a Jewish vow; 21:20-26 – Paul took part in a Jewish ritual to prove that he still believed in the validity of the Law and the Old Testament).

Verse 21 – “To those who are without law, as without law, though not being without the law of God but under the law of Christ, so that I might win those who are without law.” Paul was willing to live like a Gentile when ministering to Gentiles who are “without law”; meaning the Law of Moses. Paul makes it clear that he is not “without the law of God but under the law of Christ” so that his readers do not mistake him for a lawless man. He saw the Law of Christ as the sole binding authority upon his life because he was a redeemed man living under the New Covenant era. God’s law has not been abrogated, but in Christ the law of God has been raised to a higher standard in several ways. Consider the following from the Sermon on the Mount:

A Change in the Law? - In the course of this sermon, we see that Jesus is giving new law and, in the antithesis section, He is comparing this law to the Mosaic Covenant.

Divorce Matthew 5:31-32[3]

· Mosaic Law stated that a man could divorce his wife if she becomes displeasing to him. Deuteronomy 24:1-4

· The issue of something being displeasing about her was open for interpretation, but it definitely gave men an opportunity to divorce their wives.

· Adultery could not be the issue that made her displeasing because adultery would result in stoning. Leviticus 20:10

· Moses permitted the Israelites to divorce because of their hard hearts. Matthew 19:8

· Jesus limits divorce even more than Mosaic Law did. The only possible way to have a God honoring divorce is if your spouse commits adultery and remains unrepentant. Matthew 19:9

· Paul reiterates the statements that Jesus made in the Sermon on the Mount. He does not see the need to restate that adultery is a legitimate reason because Jesus has already made the statement. 1 Corinthians 7:10-16

Loving your Enemies Matthew 5:43-48

· Jesus states that we are to love our enemies and even pray for those who persecute us. Romans 12:14-21

· This concept was foreign to the Israelites because they were to destroy their enemies. Numbers 31:1-24, Deuteronomy 20

· There was no allowance for mercy in Mosaic Law because those under that law were not converted. Deuteronomy 7:1-2

A New Focus on Internal Motivation - In this sermon, Jesus also moves into the motivation for our actions. This was not the emphasis in the Old Covenant, but Jesus is putting the spotlight on these issues now.

Adultery Matthew 5:27-30

· In Mosaic Law, adultery was expressly forbidden. In fact, it was punishable by stoning if the adulterer was caught in the act. Because this was the case, only the outward action was commanded against in the law. Moses and the leaders of Israel could not punish an Israelite for an internal thought. Leviticus 20:10

· In Jesus’ law He increases the demand by condemning even a lustful look as adultery. This was something internal and impossible to punish in national Israel.

Murder Matthew 5:21-22

· Similar to adultery, murder was forbidden. In Mosaic Law, the act of murder was condemned in the Ten Commandments. The rest of the law explained what should be done to someone who murdered. Exodus 20:13 (6^th commandment) and Deuteronomy 5:17, Exodus 21:12-27

· In Jesus we find that even having thoughts against someone (hating them in your heart) was worthy of the judgment.

Summary - Jesus is giving the listeners a sneak peek into the ethics of the New Covenant era while still under the Old Covenant. We cannot deny that Jesus is changing the law in this sermon, for He does so in a variety of ways. Under the Law of Christ in this New Covenant era, not only is physical adultery evil, but according to Jesus, lusting in your heart after another person is evil and adulterous as well (Matt. 5:27-28). In the Old Covenant era, to “love your neighbor” meant your fellow Israelite (Lev. 19:18). In the New Covenant era, the Law of Christ says that your neighbor is anybody you bump up against (Luke 10:30-37 – the Good Samaritan). In the Old Covenant era, Israel’s enemies were to be destroyed (Num. 31:1-24, Deut. 20). In the New Covenant era, Jesus commands us to love our enemies and pray for them (Matthew 5:44-45). In the Old Covenant era, we were to love our fellow Israelites as ourselves (Lev. 19:18). In the New Covenant era, we are to love our fellow believer as Jesus loves them (John 13:34-35). So, Paul was under Law indeed, the Law of Christ. But while he was under this new Law, he had no problem following Gentile customs, eating their food, or wearing their clothes so that he may win them to Jesus.

Verse 22 – “To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak; I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some.” Paul avoiding offending those who had weak consciences. He refused to do things that would violate their consciences and cast a stumbling block before them; things like eating meat sacrificed to idols (1 Cor. 8:9-13). In becoming all things to all men so that he would by all means save some, he never compromised the purity and clarity of the gospel. He would never change any truth to please anyone. While the truth had to be proclaimed in the gospel, he would set aside his liberties before anyone in order to avoid hindering the progress of the message. Again, MacArthur says it well,

If a person is offended by God’s Word, that is his problem. If he is offended by biblical doctrine, standards, or church discipline, that is his problem. That person is offended by God. But if he is offended by our unnecessary behavior or practices – no matter how good and acceptable those may be in themselves – his problem becomes our problem. It is not a problem of law but a problem of love, and love always demands more than the law.[4]

Verse 23 – “I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it.” Paul’s life centered around the preaching and teaching of the gospel and nothing else mattered to him. Being a fellow partaker of the gospel with those whom he had ministered to was a precious joy that he held fast to. After all, at the end of this life, he too wanted to hear, “Well done my good and faithful slave, enter into the joy of your Master.” (Matt. 25:21).

Verse 24 – “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win.” The Corinthians were familiar with their own foot races which were part of the Isthmian Games which occurred every other year. These athletic competitions were only second to the Olympics in importance. To compete in them required proof of 10 months of continual hard training with the last month of training being held onsite in Corinth with supervised workouts in the gymnasium and the field. The training was grueling and the competition was stiff. Paul uses the Isthmian games as an apt illustration for the type of focused self-discipline needed to “run” the Christian race so as to win and receive the prize, which is eternal life. Just like the relatively cheap medals given to Olympians today (vs. the millions of dollars given to professional athletes), the “prize” mentioned by Paul was a perishable pine wreath placed on the head that would wear out over time. This perishable wreath represented fame, acclaim, and heroism. The life of the athlete and the fame that came along with that little pine wreath was perishable and transient. Paul says that if these athletes demonstrate such focus and determination in their struggle to obtain a perishable wreath, how much more should the Christian “run” the spiritual race not just for the sake of running, but so that they may “win”, i.e., win the imperishable wreath of eternal life? Therefore Christian, “run in such a way that you may win”!

Verse 25 – “Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.” Again, if the pagan athlete can exercise self-control in every area of life: diet, sleep, grueling training regimen, and proper instruction; how much more should the Christian engage in such discipline in order to obtain the imperishable crown, which is eternal life? (James 1:12) The athlete’s disciplined self-control should be a rebuke to half-hearted, spiritually out-of-shape Christians who claim to have the very power of God within them yet do very little to prepare themselves for the next life. Examine yourselves my dear friends lest you be found to be spiritually disqualified from the race! (2 Cor. 13:5)

Verse 26 – “Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air . . .” Continuing with athletic illustrations, Paul says that when he “runs” and “boxes” he doesn’t do so as if there is no goal in sight, for that would be a waste of time. No, he has the goal of eternal life in mind and when he carries out the daily grind of his Christian life he does so with that all consuming goal in mind. He doesn’t spiritually run about haphazardly nor does he spiritually box so as to simply fight at the air. No, he wants to keep his sights fixed on the goal of eternal life and he wants to strive to enter into that narrow gate (Matt. 7:13-14; 1 Tim. 1:18)!

Verse 27 – “ . . . but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.” “Discipline” comes from a Greek word (hupopiazo) which means “to strike under the eye”. The phrase “make it my slave” (dulagogeo) comes from the same root word used in verse 19 which means “to enslave, to bring under subjection”. Paul is essentially saying that he figuratively gives himself a black eye or is willing to put it out if necessary and that he makes his body a slave to his regenerated soul so that he can avoid causing a hindrance to the gospel and complete his life having fully served Christ. This is akin to what Jesus commanded in Matthew 18:9 "If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye, than to have two eyes and be cast into the fiery hell.”

Sadly, some of you are slaves to your bodies. You allow your flesh to dictate what your mind thinks. Your flesh controls you instead of you controlling your flesh. An athlete can’t do that, he brings his body into subjection to the training program. He follows his training regimen, not his body. He runs when he would rather be resting. He eats a balanced, healthy meal when his body would rather be slurping a Wendy’s chocolate frosty. He goes to bed when his flesh wants to stay up and he gets up early when his fleshly carcass wants to remain in bed. The successful athlete leads his body; he does allow his body to lead him. It is his slave, not vice versa. So it should be with you if you are spiritually lazy; if you are even a Christian at all!

A contestant that failed to meet the training requirements in the Isthmian games was disqualified. A disqualified athlete failed to meet the known requirements for participation and success and worse, he purposefully broke those requirements. When it comes to the Christian life, how many of you do that regularly? Many professing believers begin with sincere devotion and passion for Christ. They live red-hot for Jesus for a while, and then they begin to falter and eventually they fall away from the faith if repentance is never granted (Matt. 13:20-22). Instead of being disqualified from the Christian race, may you make your calling and election sure and at the end of your life may you be able to say with Paul, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; ⁸ in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.” (2 Timothy 4:7-8)

CONCLUSION

Never forget that enjoying our Christian freedoms can interfere with others seeing and experiencing our Christian love. Following our own ways at the expense of others can keep them from following the Way. God most uses those servants who are well-prepared to be used when the Spirit sovereignly chooses to use them in the propagation of the gospel and sometimes, that means laying aside our preferences and freedoms so that others may see Christ in us, the hope of glory.

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[1] Gordon D. Fee, The First Epistle to the Corinthians, (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1987), 399.

[2] John MacArthur Jr., The MacArthur New Testament Commentary on 1^st Corinthians, (Chicago, Ill: Moody, 1984), 209. Italics mine for emphasis – DSS.

[3] Note: Mark and Luke do not include Jesus’ statements about adultery in divorce. This does not mean that Jesus never said these things, but rather that those two authors choose not to include this information. Ultimately we must read all the gospels to get a well-rounded view of what Jesus is teaching. The gospels compliment one another rather than contradicting one another.

[4] MacArthur, 213.

Why is There Death and Suffering?

by Ken Ham and Dr Jonathan Sarfati (Reposted here from the Creation Ministries International website.)

Death and suffering is everywhere!

‘Earthquake Claims 10,000 in India.’ ‘Thousands Perish in Bangladesh’s Flood.’ Tragedy is constantly in the news, including large-scale, ‘senseless’ disasters that snuff out the lives of thousands, such as the terrorist attacks on New York’s World Trade Center. Nor is tragedy confined to today—it wasn’t too long ago that an evil regime wiped out 6 million Jews and many others. In addition to the headline events, each of us suffers pain at one time or another—illness, headaches, accidents and death. It’s not surprising, when the burdens become too great, that people cry out to God in anguish, ‘Why don’t you do anything? Don’t you care?’

How can an all-powerful, loving God allow suffering?

As the shock of each traumatic event subsides, people begin asking why such things occur. Reading about past wars or visiting memorials like the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., inevitably raises the same question, ‘How can there be a loving God controlling the universe in the light of such death and suffering?’

The pervasiveness of suffering is possibly the most effective tool that atheists use to attack the Bible’s picture of a ‘loving God.’ Atheists make what appears to be a reasonable complaint: ‘If God is loving and all-powerful, then why doesn’t He use His power to stop the evil, suffering, pain and death?’

Multitudes have rejected God because of suffering!

Sadly, most people—even Christians—have no ready answer to the question of death and suffering in the world. Believing that the world is millions or billions of years old, they have a difficult time explaining the purpose behind the apparent cruelty that they see.

Charles Darwin rejected Christianity after the death of his daughter.

‘Annie’s cruel death destroyed Charles’s tatters of beliefs in a moral, just universe. Later he would say that this period chimed the final death-knell for his Christianity,’ says a recent biography of Charles Darwin. ‘…Charles now took his stand as an unbeliever.’1

Darwin is only one of thousands of famous people who have struggled with this issue, trying to reconcile belief in God with the death and suffering he observed all around, that he believed had gone on for millions of years. Darwin’s struggle came to a climax with the death of his daughter Annie.2

When Charles Darwin wrote his landmark book On the Origin of Species, he was in essence writing a history of suffering and death. In the conclusion of the chapter entitled On The Imperfections Of The Geological Record, Darwin said the modern world has arisen ‘from the war of nature, from famine and death.’3 Based on his evolutionary perspective, Darwin considered death to be a permanent part of the world.

The billionaire Ted Turner, a famous media mogul, says he lost his faith after his sister died. The New York Times ran a sobering article, saying, ‘Turner is a strident nonbeliever, having lost his faith after his sister … died of a painful disease. … “I was taught that God was love and God was powerful,” Turner said, “And I couldn’t understand how someone so innocent should be made or allowed to suffer so.”’4

A famous evangelist rejected Christianity, in part because of the suffering he saw. Former well-known evangelist, the late Charles Templeton, published Farewell to God in 1996,5,6 describing his slide into unbelief and his rejection of Christianity. Once listed among those ‘best used of God’ by the National Association of Evangelicals,7 Templeton listed several ‘reasons for rejecting the Christian faith.’ For instance:

Geneticists say it is ‘nonsense’ to believe that sin is the ‘reason for all the crime, poverty, suffering, and general wickedness in the world.’8

The ‘grim and inescapable reality’ is that ‘all life is predicated on death. Every carnivorous creature must kill and devour another creature. It has no option.’9

Templeton, like Charles Darwin, had a big problem understanding how to reconcile an Earth full of death, disease and suffering with the loving God of the Bible. Templeton stated: ‘Why does God’s grand design require creatures with teeth designed to crush spines or rend flesh, claws fashioned to seize and tear, venom to paralyze, mouths to suck blood, coils to constrict and smother—even expandable jaws so that prey may be swallowed whole and alive? … Nature is in Tennyson’s vivid phrase, “red [with blood] in tooth and claw,” and life is a carnival of blood.’10 Templeton then concludes: ‘How could a loving and omnipotent God create such horrors as we have been contemplating?’11

Templeton is not the first person to talk like this. When told that there is a God of love who made the world, embittered people often reply: ‘I don’t see any God of love. All I see are children suffering and dying. I see people killing and stealing. Disease and death are everywhere. Nature is “red in tooth and claw.” It’s a horrible world. I don’t see your God of love. If your God does exist, He must be a sadistic ogre.’

Does an atheist really have a case?

It’s often useful to ask a questioner to justify the validity of his question under his own belief system. For an atheist to complain that the Christian God is ‘evil,’ he must provide a standard of good and evil by which to judge Him. But if we are simply evolved pond scum, as a consistent atheist must believe, where can we find an objective standard of right and wrong? Our ideas of right and wrong, under this system, are merely outcomes of some chemical processes that occur in the brain, which happened to confer survival advantage on our alleged ape-like ancestors. But the notions in Hitler’s brain obeyed the same chemical laws as those in Mother Teresa’s, so on what grounds are the latter’s actions ‘better’ than the former’s? Also, why should the terrorist attack slaying thousands of people in New York be more terrible than a frog killing thousands of flies?

A Christian, however, believes there is an objective standard of morality that rises above individual humans, because it is set by an objective and transcendent moral Lawgiver who is our Creator. An atheist’s argument against God because of objective evil inadvertently concedes the very point he is trying to argue against!

Such questions about God stem from a wrong view of history

Belief in evolution and/or millions of years of history necessitates that death has been a part of history since life first appeared on this planet. If you believe that the fossil layers (containing billions of dead things) represent the history of life over millions of years, it’s a very ugly record—full of death, disease and suffering.

‘Time and death.’

The late evolutionary scientist Carl Sagan described Darwin’s view of death well: ‘The secrets of evolution are time and death.’12 This sums up the most widely accepted history of death in this world. According to this view, (1) death, suffering and disease over millions of years led up to man’s emergence; (2) death, suffering and disease exist in this present world; and (3) death, suffering and disease will continue into the unknown future. Death is a permanent part of history, and death is our ally in the ‘creation’ of life.

Implications about suffering, if you accept this view of history.

If one believes in millions of years, then this world has always been a deadly place. The question that we naturally ask is ‘Who caused the cancer, disease and violence represented in the fossil record?’ Christians who believe in millions of years of history have a serious problem. The Bible plainly says that God is the Creator, and He called everything that He had made—before, leading up to, and including Adam and Eve, but before their Fall—‘very good’ (Genesis 1:31).

This situation is represented in the following:

As soon as Christians allow for death, suffering and disease before Adam’s sin (which they automatically must if they believe in millions of years), then they’ve raised a serious question about their Gospel message. What, then, has sin done to the world? According to Christian teaching, death is the penalty for sin (Romans 6:23)—and this fact is the foundation of the Gospel! Moreover, how can all things be ‘restored’ to a state with no death, pain or tears in the future (Revelation 21:4) if there never was a time free of death and suffering? The whole message of the Gospel falls apart if you have this view of history. It also would mean that God is to blame for death.

The Bible gives the right view of history—and the right view of God!

Fortunately, God has given us a different account of the history of death, recorded in His Word—the Bible. This historical document connects to real issues of life, and it fully explains why horrible things happen. In fact, God’s Word has much to say about death.

‘Sin and death.’

This phrase sums up the true history of death, as recorded in Genesis, the first book of the Bible. God originally created a perfect world, described by God as ‘very good’ (Genesis 1:31). People and animals ate plants, not other animals (Genesis 1:29–30). There was no violence or pain in this ‘very good’ world.

But this sinless world was marred by the rebellion of the first man, Adam. His sin brought an intruder into the world—death. God had to judge sin with death, as He warned Adam He would (Genesis 2:17, cf. 3:19).

Indeed, God apparently caused the first death in the world—an animal was slain to make clothing for Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:21). As a result of God’s judgment on the world, God has given us a taste of life without Him—a world that is running down—a world full of death and suffering. As Romans 8:22 says, ‘the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs’—because God Himself subjected the creation to processes of decay (v. 20).

Implications about suffering, if you accept this view of history.

How can we find a God of love amidst the groaning of this world? By understanding the Genesis account of the Fall, we know that we are looking at a fallen, cursed world. From the Bible’s perspective of history, death is an enemy, not an ally. In 1 Corinthians 15:26, the Apostle Paul describes death as the ‘last enemy.’ Death was not a part of God’s original creation, which truly was ‘very good.’

Death and suffering is the penalty for sin. When Adam rebelled against God, in effect he was saying that he wanted life without God. He wanted to decide truth for himself, independent of God. Now the Bible tells us that Adam was the head of the human race, representing each one of us, who are his descendants. Paul says in Romans 5:12–19 that we sin ‘in Adam,’ after the likeness of Adam. In other words, we have the same problem Adam had. When Adam rebelled against God, all human beings, represented by Adam, effectively said that they wanted life without God.

God had to judge Adam’s sin with death. He had already warned Adam that if he sinned, he would ‘surely die.’ After Adam’s Fall, he and all his descendants forfeited the right to live. After all, God is the author of life. Death is the natural penalty of choosing life without God, the giver of life. Also, because the Lord is holy and just, there had to be a penalty for rebellion.

The Bible makes it clear that death is the penalty for our sin, not just the sin of Adam. If you accept the Bible’s account of history, then our sins—not just the sins of ‘the other guy’—are responsible for all the death and suffering in the world! In other words, it is really our fault that the world is the way it is. No-one is really ‘innocent.’

God has removed some of His sustaining power—temporarily.

At the same time that God judged sin with death, He withdrew some of His sustaining power. Romans 8:22 tells us that the whole of creation is groaning and travailing in pain. Everything is running down because of sin. God has given us a taste of life without Him—a world full of violence, death, suffering and disease. If God withdrew all of His sustaining power, the creation would cease to exist. Colossians 1:16–17 tells us that all things are held together, right now, by the power of the Creator, the Lord Jesus Christ. However, in one sense He is not holding it together perfectly, as He is deliberately letting things fall apart to give us a taste of what life is like without God. In other words, God is allowing us to experience what we wanted—life without God (cf. Romans 1:18–32).

In the Old Testament, we get a glimpse of what the world is like when God upholds things one-hundred percent. In Deuteronomy 29:5 and Nehemiah 9:21, we are told that the Israelites wandered in the desert for 40 years, and yet their clothes didn’t wear out, their shoes didn’t wear out and their feet didn’t swell. Obviously God miraculously upheld their clothing, shoes and feet so that they would not wear out or fall apart as the rest of the creation is doing. One can only imagine what the world would be like if God upheld every detail of it like this.

The book of Daniel, chapter 3, gives us another glimpse, when we read about Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego walking into an intensely blazing furnace yet coming out without even the smell of smoke on their clothes. When the Lord Jesus Christ, the Creator of the universe, upheld their bodies and clothing in the midst of fire (v. 25), nothing could be hurt or destroyed.

These examples help us understand a little of what it would be like if God upheld every aspect of the creation—nothing would fall apart.

At present, we are living in a universe where things are decaying. Around us we see death, suffering and disease—all as a result of God’s judgment against sin and His withdrawal of some of His sustaining power to give us what we asked for—a taste of life without God. Thus, looking through ‘Biblical lenses,’ we see our sin in Adam as the ‘big-picture’ perspective on tragic events, such as the actions of terrorists. Of course, such specific evil acts were also a result of the individual sin of the terrorists. The suffering caused by the earthquake in India, by contrast, cannot be blamed on any individual’s sin today, but is still the consequence of sin in general (more on this below).

In contrast to the view that death and suffering have continued for millions of years, this Biblical view of history has a wonderful implication for the future. The world will one day be restored (Acts 3:21) to a state in which, once again, there will be no violence and death. According to Isaiah 11:6–9, wolves and lambs, leopards and goats, lions and calves, and snakes and children, will dwell together peacefully. Clearly, this future state reflects the paradise that was once lost, not some imaginary land that never existed.

All right, so Adam’s Fall explains sorrow in general, but what about specific cases of ‘senseless suffering’?

The Bible teaches that suffering is part of the ‘big picture’ involving sin, but individual cases of suffering are not always correlated with particular sins of individuals.

God allowed the suffering of righteous Job.

A man named Job, who was the most righteous man on Earth at his time, suffered intensely—losing all his children, servants and possessions in a single day; then he was struck by a painful illness. The Lord never told Job the specific reasons for his suffering, but God lets every reader of the book of Job witness some extraordinary ‘behind-the-scenes’ events in Heaven, which Job never saw. The Lord had reasons for allowing Job’s suffering, but He never told Job these reasons, and He demanded that Job not question the decisions of his Maker.

Jesus was asked why a man was born blind.

When Jesus and His disciples passed by a blind man, His disciples asked Him whether the man’s blindness from birth was due to his own sin or the sin of his parents. Jesus explained that neither was the case. The man was born blind so that God could demonstrate His power (when Jesus healed him, John 9:1-7).

Jesus discussed why eighteen Jews died tragically when the tower of Siloam collapsed.

Jesus said something that is directly applicable to modern tragedies, such as the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in the United States on September 11, 2001. Luke 13:4 records His words: ‘Those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were sinners above all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no!’ Suffering in our lives is not always related to our personal sin.

Note, however, that Jesus went on to say that ‘unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.’ Though this may have been referring to perishing physically in the coming downfall of Jerusalem, the bottom line is that no-one is innocent. All of us are sinners and therefore condemned to die. Thousands of people died in the World Trade Center catastrophe, but the hundreds of millions of people who saw and heard about this event will also die one day—in fact, thousands of them are dying every day—because all humans have been given the death penalty because of sin.

The account of the rich man and Lazarus is a key to understanding suffering.

The Bible is never embarrassed to talk about the question of suffering. God’s past judgments have included almost every type of suffering imaginable, and He repeatedly asserts His absolute power and authority over men’s lives. Yet in one of Christ’s most memorable teachings (Luke 16:19–31), the Son of God gives the key to understanding the apparent injustices of this world.
A wicked rich man lived in splendor, while a faithful beggar named Lazarus sat at the rich man’s gate, covered with sores and eating table scraps. But the story does not end here. There is an eternal world to come, where God will make all things right. The hope of a resurrection is the key to understanding our suffering.13

Once, the twentieth-century atheistic philosopher Bertrand Russell claimed that no-one could sit by the bedside of a child with a terminal disease and believe in a loving God. A minister who actually had experience with dying children (unlike Russell who never got his own hands dirty with such practical things) challenged Russell to explain what he could offer such a child. An atheist could only say, ‘Sorry, chap, you’ve had your chips, and that’s the end of everything for you.’ But the Christian has hope that this life is not the end.

The Apostle Paul found reasons to ‘glory in my infirmities.’

Paul’s ‘résumé of suffering’ included torture, beatings, imprisonment, stoning, shipwreck, robbery, infirmities, exhaustion, hunger, thirst, and cold. His letters show that Christ’s Resurrection was the key to his making sense of his suffering. Without the Resurrection, ‘then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain, … [and] we are of all men most miserable’ (1 Corinthians 15:14, 19).

Though sometimes we will never see in this life the reasons for some suffering, Paul’s letters contain practical reasons for the suffering of God’s children, even when they have done nothing wrong. For instance:

Suffering can ‘perfect’ us, or make us mature in the image of Christ. (Job 23:10, Hebrews 5:8–9).
Suffering can help some to come to know Christ.
Suffering can make us more able to comfort others who suffer.
Is God doing anything about death and suffering?

People who accuse God of sitting back and doing nothing are missing a vital truth. In reality, God has already done everything you would want a loving God to do—and infinitely more! The Son of God became a man and endured both suffering and a horrible death on man’s behalf. Adam’s sin left mankind in a terrible predicament. Even though our bodies die, we are made in the image of God, and thus we have souls that are immortal. Our conscious being is going to live forever. Unless God intervened, Adam’s sin meant that we would spend an eternity of suffering and separation from Him.

The only way for us to restore our life with God is if we are able to come to Him with the penalty paid for our sin. Leviticus 17:11 helps us to understand how this can be done. It says, ‘The life of the flesh is in the blood.’ Blood represents life. The New Testament explains that ‘without the shedding of blood there is no remission [of sins]’ (Hebrews 9:22). God makes it clear that, because we are creatures of flesh and blood, the only way to pay the penalty for our sin is if blood is shed to take away our sin.

In the Garden of Eden, God killed an animal and clothed Adam and Eve as a picture of a covering for our sin. A blood sacrifice was needed because of our sin. The Israelites sacrificed animals over and over again; however, because Adam’s blood does not flow in animals, animal blood, though it could temporarily cover our sin, could never take it away. The Hebrew word translated ‘atonement’ is כפר (kaphar), which means ‘cover.’

The solution was God’s plan to send His Son, the Second Person of the triune Godhead, the Lord Jesus Christ, to become a man—a perfect man—to be a sacrifice for sin. In the person of Jesus Christ, our Creator God stepped into history (John 1:1–14) to become a physical descendant of Adam, called ‘the last Adam’ (1 Corinthians 15:45), born of a virgin. Because the Holy Spirit overshadowed His mother (Luke 1:35), He was a perfect man, one without sin—despite having been tempted in every way that we are (Hebrews 4:15)—who thus could shed His blood on a cross for our sin.

Because mankind’s first representative head—Adam—was responsible for bringing sin and death into the world, the human race can now have a new representative—the ‘last Adam’—who paid the penalty for sin. No sinner could pay for the sins of others, but this last Adam—Jesus Christ—was a perfect man. God in human flesh was able to bear the sins and sorrows of the world.
The Son of God rose from the grave so that He could provide eternal life for all who believe (John 3:16).

After Christ’s suffering and death, He rose from the dead, showing He had ultimate power—power over death. He can now give eternal life to anyone who receives it by faith (John 1:12, Ephesians 2:8–9). The Bible teaches us that those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and believe that God has raised Him from the dead, and receive Him as Lord and Savior, will spend eternity with God (1 Corinthians 15:1–4).

The Son of God sympathizes with our sorrows.

Christ’s suffering and death mean that God Himself can personally empathize with our suffering, because He has experienced it. His followers have a High Priest—Jesus—who can be ‘touched with the feeling of our infirmities. … Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need’ (Hebrews 4:15–16).
How long will this suffering and death go on?

People who complain about the suffering on this Earth need to understand God’s perspective of time. God dwells in eternity, and He is lovingly preparing His people to spend an eternity with Him. As the Apostle Paul said, ‘I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us’ (Romans 8:18). The book of Hebrews says that Jesus Himself, ‘for the glory that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God’ (Hebrews 12:2).

The present suffering—intense as it can be at times—is so insignificant, in view of eternity, that it can’t even be compared to the glory to come.

God has prepared an eternal home where there will be no more death or suffering.

Those who put their trust in Christ as Savior have a wonderful hope—they can spend eternity with the Lord in a place where there will be no more death. ‘And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away’ (Revelation 21:4).

Indeed, death is really the path that opens the way to this wonderful place, called Heaven. If we lived forever, we would never have an opportunity to shed this sinful state. But God wants us to have a new body, and He wants us to dwell with Him forever. In fact, the Bible states that ‘precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints’ (Psalm 116:15). Death is ‘precious’ because sinners who have trusted Christ will enter into the presence of their Creator, in a place where righteousness dwells.

There is also a place of eternal separation from God.

The Bible warns that those who reject Christ will taste a ‘second death’—eternal separation from God (Revelation 21:8). Most of us have heard about Hell, a place of fire and torment. None other than Jesus Christ warned of this place more than He spoke of Heaven. He also made it clear that the torment of the wicked was as eternal (Greek aionios) as the life of the blessed (Matthew 25:46). God does not delight in the death of the wicked. ‘Say unto them, As I live, said the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn, turn from your evil ways; for why will you die, O house of Israel?’ (Ezekiel 33:11). God takes no pleasure in the afflictions and calamities of people. He is a loving, merciful God—it is our fault that man is in the current state of suffering and death.

As we face horrible suffering, such as the tragedy at the World Trade Center, let it remind us that the ultimate cause of such calamity is our sin—our rebellion against God. Our loving God, despite our sinfulness, wants us to spend eternity with Him. Christians need to stretch forth a loving, comforting arm to those who are in need of comfort and strength during times of suffering. They can find strength in the arms of a loving Creator who hates Death—the enemy that will one day be thrown into the Lake of Fire (Revelation 20:14).

There is no conflict between the statements ‘God is all-powerful and loving’ and ‘the world is full of suffering and evil.’ For God to rid the world of evil would require ridding the world of us! Instead, God wants us to be saved from His wrath to come. One day, God will indeed rid the world of evil.

We have two options: separate from our sins by trusting in Christ, and dwell with God forever; or cling to our sins, in which case God will grant our wish and separate us from Himself for eternity. This is why Jesus on the Day of Judgment says to evildoers, ‘Depart from me …’ (Matthew 7:23, Luke 13:27).

When we understand the origin of death and the Gospel of Jesus Christ as proclaimed in the Bible, then we can understand why this world is the way it is and how there can be a loving God in the midst of tragedy, violence, suffering and death. Which view of death do you accept? Is it one that makes God an ogre responsible for millions of years of death, disease and suffering? Or is it one that places the blame on our sin, and pictures our Creator God as a loving, merciful Savior who wept over the city of Jerusalem, who wept at the tomb of His friend Lazarus, and who weeps for all of us?

Discover how you can have everlasting life with the Creator of the universe…

References
Desmond, A., and Moore, J., Darwin: The Life of a Tormented Evolutionist, W.W. Norton & Company, New York, p. 387, 1991. Return to text.
Desmond and Moore, p. 387. Return to text.
Darwin, C., On the Origin of Species, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, p. 490, 1964 (1859). Return to text.
Associated Press, ‘Ted Turner was suicidal after breakup,’ , April 16, 2001. Return to text.
Templeton, C., Farewell to God, McClelland & Stewart, Inc., Toronto, Canada, 1996. Return to text.
For a refutation of Templeton’s arguments, see Ham, K., and Byers, S., ‘The slippery slide to unbelief: A famous evangelist goes from hope to hopelessness,’ Creation 22(3):8–13, June–August 2000. Return to text.
Martin, W., A Prophet with Honor: The Billy Graham Story, William Morrow and Company, Inc., New York, p. 110, 1991. Return to text.
Templeton, C., Ref. 5, p. 30. Return to text.
Templeton, C., Ref. 5, p. 198. Return to text.
Templeton, C., Ref. 5, pp. 198–199. Return to text.
Templeton, C., Ref. 5, p. 201. Return to text.
Sagan, C., Cosmos Part 2: One Voice in the Cosmic Fugue, produced by Public Broadcasting Company in Los Angeles with af. liate station KCET-TV, and first aired in 1980 on PBS stations throughout the US. Return to text.
Wilder-Smith, A.E., Is This A God Of Love? TWFT Publishers, Costa Mesa, California, pp. 43–46, 1991. Return to text.

UNCG Outreach Report 1-26-2010

Today, we had the pleasure of proclaiming the Name above all Names once again at UNCG. The overall foot traffic was much less this Tuesday due to cold temperatures and classes being back into full swing versus warm temperatures and registration taking place last Tuesday. Before I began preaching, two young men from a local Southern Baptist Church came up to me and personally thanked me for being there. They said that UNCG was not only plagued by the usual vile behavior grounded in secular thought but that heretical preachers had been on the campus for years, defiling the gospel of Christ and poisoning the well against doctrinally sound preachers like myself. After the first 1 1/2 hours, there were not enough people mingling around to preach open-air to, so we had a great opportunity to engage in one-on-one evangelism, something I personally prefer over open-air preaching.

I noticed that the initial reaction and body language of some of the folks I approached one-on-one was very negative and after I spoke with several professing Christian students I found out why. Sadly, they (and others) assumed that I was simply another perfectionist heretic telling people that they had to be completely sinless to go to heaven. Like many other campuses across the U.S., UNCG has been plagued by these types of heretics. This grieves me for several reasons: (1) not only are these so-called preachers still lost in their own sins (1 John 1:8), but they are simply preaching a hopeless message that requires them and their hearers to lift heavy burdens that they will not be able to bear and (2) they drag the name of Jesus through the mud by grossly misrepresenting His teachings by confusing justification with sanctification. Thus, we will have to make sure we do everything possible to distance ourselves from these heretics.

I had cordial one-on-one conversations with several unbelievers. The first was a young man with a Jewish background. He said that he couldn't accept that Jesus was Messiah because Jesus never claimed such and Messiah is supposed to bring in worldwide peace and Jesus didn't do that, therefore He can't be the promised Messiah. However, he did note that he thought that Jesus was a good moral teacher. I explained to him that it was impossible for Jesus to be a good moral teacher and make the claims that He did because if he was right about Jesus not being the Messiah then Jesus was a liar or lunatic because He claimed to be Messiah, accepted worship, forgave sins, etc. I then quoted John 4:25-26 to Him showing that Jesus claimed to be Messiah and that He also allowed Himself to be called Christ, which is the Greek for christos - Anointed One, Messiah. He then said, "Well, we believe that Messiah may not necessarily be a person, but may be a concept or some other idea that ushers in world peace. " At this point I began to quote his own prophets to Him by memory as best as I could demonstrating that Messiah was not only a person, but was to crush the head of the serpent (Genesis 3:15), would be born of a virgin in Bethlehem (Isaiah 7:14; Micah 5:2), that His hands and feet were to be pierced (Psalm 22:16 cf. Zech. 12:10; John 19:37), He would be called God (Isaiah 9:6-7), was to be humiliated before men and offered up as a substitutionary atonement for sinners (Isaiah 52:13-53), that He would do great miracles of healing (Isaiah 61:1-2) and that He would indeed return to inaugurate a Messianic era wherein He would bring in worldwide peace (Ezekiel 40-48; Revelation 19:11-19 & chapters 20-22). He said he would have to check all of that out. I encouraged him to read his Tanakh daily, especially the Messianic prophecies I mentioned and then to get a copy of the NT and read it several times. I then gave him a tract that explained the gospel using many OT references and he went on his way.

The second unbeliever I spoke with was a young Muslim woman who basically said she was a Muslim because she was raised that way and so that was part of her identity. I began to explain the gospel to her and she then stated something like this, "Well Christians and Muslims basically believe in the same god" to which I responded, "Actually that is not true. To believe in the God of Christianity is to believe in the doctrine of the Trinity whereas Islam teaches Unitarianism and that Allah can have "no partners". I then explained that her own religion teaches that to adhere to the doctrine of the Trinity is to commit the sin of shirk. She said in typical relativistic fashion, "Well, if you believe in Christianity that's great for you, but Islam is who I am." I then asked her, "So you are saying, 'what's true for you is true for you and what's true for me is true for me?'" and she said, "Yeah" to which I responded, "But it's impossible for both of those religions to be true at the same time in the same way because they have competing and contradictory truth claims. Logically, they can both be wrong, but they can't both be right." to which she had no response. I then briefly explained the gospel to her.

The last unbeliever I spoke with was a young agnostic man with Jewish background. I found this out after asking him, "If you could ask God one question, what would it be?" to which he eventually said, "That's a great question, I guess 'why am I here?'" (i.e., what's my purpose in life?). I then quoted Matthew 22:37-40 and 1 Corinthians 10:31. Later in the conversation he then said he was a pretty decent person and I took him through the Law of Christ to show him that everyone, including him, has fallen short of God's righteous standards and that is why he needed Christ (Romans 3:10-11; 6:23). We discussed specific examples (i.e., lying, thievery, adultery, disobedience to parents, blasphemy, etc.) and he admitted that if the God of the Bible existed, then he was in big trouble. I then explained the gospel to him. I then asked him apart from the Bible how he knew that it was wrong to lie, steal, kill, etc. and he said "because I go on my feelings" and I said, "Well, what if I feel like molesting little children for fun is a good thing to do because it makes me feel good?" he retorted with "naw man, that's wrong" to which I said "I totally agree with you that it is wrong, but if each man does what is right in his own eyes (which is the standard you gave me to work with) then why is it wrong for me to do molest little children for fun?" Then he appealed to the higher law of society and I said, "Well, what if another society says it's o.k. to molest little children for fun, how can you say it's wrong for that society if society is ultimately where you get your moral standards from?" and he retorted again with the same response as earlier. I said, "Again, I agree, but I have an objective, transcendent moral law given to me by God that applies to all people and all places by which I can condemn such things regardless of what any society says, but I want to know how you can do such without contradicting yourself?" to which he said, "It's just wrong man, everybody knows that." to which I responded, "Well, apparently that other hypothetical society doesn't know that since they feel that it's okay." I then said, "Look my friend, this is what happens when you don't begin with the God of Scripture; you are left to self-refuting moral relativism or society says relativism." Then his bus showed up, I thanked him for chatting, gave him a tract, and he was off.

We are going to pray for these dear lost souls. Their confusion is not only apparent, but it is also deliberate in many cases. Here's a few things I am seeing with this generation of young people and what I think needs to be done to effectively engage this generation with the gospel:

1. They don't care that they are inconsistent and irrational in their worldview. They don't mind holding to blatant contradictions. Several unbelievers have just outright admitted this to me! I then point out that they wouldn't feel the same way about their paycheck and they respond with something like, "Yeah, but that relates to the real world, I can't verify the stuff you're talking about." Fifteen years ago, when I first became a believer, this wasn't a problem. Back then, when I confronted people with their contradictory worldview, they would say something like, "Yeah, you've got a good point there, I need to rethink some things." Now, since postmodernism, relativism, and Eastern thought has sunk it's claws into the culture of media, video games, and pop music, people don't care that they are contradictory in their worldview as long as they can stay happy and comfortable. This is why we must proclaim the gospel to them.

2. Answer their questions with the Bible to defend the Bible (Hebrews 6:13). Don't spend time answering complex questions in the open air. With one-to-one evangelism, answering complex questions can also be a problem because I've found that most unbelieving students don't care to listen to a logical train of thought longer than 30 seconds. Memorize the URLs of good websites like creation.com if they have difficult scientific questions and give them your contact information for further discussion if they are interested.

3. Remind yourself that you can't know everything about every worldview that exists. Worse yet, new religions and philosophies are being created all the time. Thus, you have to know your Bible and know how to ask good questions to enable you to answer a fool as his folly deserves, lest he be wise in his own conceit (Proverbs 26:5).

4. Be humble and kind. People hate an arrogant religionist know-it-all, but many people are willing to talk to a humble Christian even if they strongly disagree with them.

5. Pray. Pray that God would be pleased to use your well-presented witness and the open-air preaching as a means to regenerate souls. The regenerative power of the Holy Spirit knows no bounds. It has the power to pierce the most confused and crazy soul. Depend on Him to do His work in His time!

I'll add more to the above list as I learn more about the word, myself, and unbelievers.

In conclusion, the more I do this, the more I am aware of the Christian's need to simply pray more, know their Bibles better, know what the Bible says about the nature of man, and have a firm grasp of basic Christian doctrine and systematic theology. Please pray for us as we desire to love the students at UNCG by giving them the only message that can save them from their sins.