When it comes to food, everyone has different tastes. Some people’s palates span quite a wide range of cuisine. Others, not so much.
Every once in a while, you meet someone and find out they don’t like a certain food, which elicits a dramatic response from you. “What? You don’t like such-and-such? How could you possibly not like that?” I’ve met people who don’t like ice cream! That one stumps me. Here’s my view on ice cream and a few other types of desserts. Either that’s what we will be eating in heaven, so we’d better get used to it now, or there won’t be any in heaven, so we need to eat as much as possible before we get there! Amy doesn’t buy that logic unless she happens to have a sweet tooth that particular day. 😁
Believe it or not, I’ve actually met someone who doesn’t really like water! That’s a bit of a stretch for me. I’ll never understand that one.
So, do you hate spinach? Many people do. You have no idea how much I hated it growing up. Interesting story, however. Early in our marriage, Amy and I were having dinner at home and afterward she asked, “How did you like your salad”? My reply? “It was really good, thanks for making it!” “That was spinach!” she said laughingly. “What? I don’t like spinach! Well, I guess I really do like it!” Here’s the kicker. I had never actually had spinach, ever. I just always assumed I hated it! Thinking back, my perception of spinach came from watching the cartoon “Popeye the Sailor Man.” If you remember that show, you will recall him tearing open a can of raw spinach and eating it to gain instant strength to handle whatever problem he was facing. All I remember is thinking I would love to have that strength, but I’ll pass if I have to eat mushy gross spinach out of a can.
There were quite a few foods I “hated” growing up though I had never tried them. I was a very picky eater, and my mom catered to my dad’s narrow, traditional interests, which included a lot of meat and potatoes. I don’t ever remember having seafood, Mexican, Thai food, Indian, etc. Now I enjoy all of those quite a bit. SPOILER ALERT: One other food I never had growing up and still haven’t ever had… mac and cheese! I know, crazy, right? I’m sure it’s probably delicious, and I would like it a lot. However, it looked gross when I was young, and now, it’s just fun being able to tell people I’ve never had it! It’s just a game at this point.
Alright, enough about food. I haven’t had lunch yet. and this is making me hungry.
Some people “hate” Christianity, but they’ve never really “had” it. They have their preconceived notions and assumptions about it and have come to their current conclusions based on what they perceive it to be. In many cases, if their version were accurate, I wouldn’t like Christianity either!
We do ourselves a great disservice when we assume the skeptic properly understands what Christianity truly is. We tend to jump right into defending ourselves which potentially could do a lot of damage. Let me illustrate by way of personal experience. Many years ago (when I was functioning more like a “facts machine”), I often convinced people that the Bible is the inspired Word of God. However, it was depressing for them. Why? Because they had the impression that the biblical God hated them and was always waiting for them to mess up so He could punish them and eventually send them to hell! Sign me up for that… not!
We need to first explain to them how much God loves them, so much that He sent His only Son to die on a cross to pay for their sins. And that forgiveness of sins and spending eternity with God when they die is a free gift God offers to everyone who simply accepts it by faith. Finding out that this scenario is true would be the best news anyone had ever received! Contrast that to the mean, old, vengeful, angry God who only loves people who are impossibly virtually perfect. You know, the “goodie-two-shoes”, who seldom do anything wrong, sit around reading their Bibles every day, all day long, and never have any fun.
Some, not all, see Christianity from this extreme perspective. Others, have a more realistic view of God, but mistakenly think they have to clean up their lives first, then they can become a Christian, but only if they continue living in this new, saintly manner every day for the rest of their lives. That would be overwhelming and discourage just about everyone from considering becoming a Christian. They need to understand that Christ accepts us “as we are” but works to help us not stay “as we are,” a life-long process called sanctification. Our sins, which would keep us from God’s presence for eternity are forgiven forever once we confess them and place our trust in the shed blood of Jesus alone for our salvation. The ultimate penalty for our sins has been irradicated completely. However, we still want to grow in grace and truth as we get to know our Savior better and wish to powerfully and effectively share all these truths with others.
Once we have clearly defined biblical Christianity for the skeptic, we can then proceed to offer a defense for its truthfulness, which is what we call apologetics. Paul said he was, “set for the defense of the gospel” (Philippians 1:17). Also, consider the words of G.K. Chesterton:
“The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; rather, it has been found difficult and left untried.”Just a few things to keep in the forefront of your mind as you seek to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with as many people as possible before his imminent return!
