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APOLOGETICS

When I was young in the Lord, there were times that I was abrasive or outright rude when I was trying to witness. My conversations quickly turned to confrontations as I set out to prove I was right and they were wrong. Whenever I shifted into "street preacher rude", I was never successful in bringing people to Christ. Oh, don't get me wrong, I won some arguments, but I didn't win souls.

In their book, "The Insider", Peterson & Shamy write, "The goal is not to win the argument. It is to help people see Jesus."

—"The Insider", p. 135. Illustration by Jim L. Wilson

Proverbs 11:30 (ASV) "The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; And he that is wise winneth souls."

APOLOGETICS

Historian Tom Holland’s new book, Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World (Basic, 2019) tells the amazing story of how a culture that had esteemed only big winners began to care about (in worldly terms) big losers. This is the story of the Gospels.

One example begins with a description of ancient Rome’s most dramatic gentrification project. The bodies of dead slaves littered a ditch just outside the ancient walls. Roman builders cleaned it out and created Rome’s first heated swimming pool. This beautiful pool was completely raised on the backs of the dead.” 

The societies that developed over the centuries, as more people came to worship a loser (by Roman standards), grew a different set of virtues alongside the old Roman ones of military toughness and tenacity. Anselm, 1000 years after the wondrous crucifixion, described them as “patience in tribulation, offering the other cheek, praying for one’s enemies, loving those who hate us.”

Holland’s book depicts the power of Christianity in upsetting the powerful. Even those who turn against Christian theology have usually absorbed some of the fundamental ethic. Christianity changed all that in theory and sometimes in practice. Even those who hate Christ pay tribute to Him when they care for a few of the least of these—and, someday, maybe more.

World Magazine, November 23, 2019 p 64

Christianity has successfully overcome the degrading societies that it has replaced. The job is not over though. As followers of Christ we need to remain confident that the way of Christ is the best. —Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell.

Romans 15:17 (CSB)

Therefore I have reason to boast in Christ Jesus regarding what pertains to God.