Having earwiged a few conversations recently I feel the need to offer us Christian men an alternative to our traditional approach of pitting our wits against those of our non-Christian friends. Intellectually I think we all know we will never argue anyone into the Kingdom but that doesn't seem to stop us trying.

Don't get me wrong, we are called to give an explanation of our faith where called upon to do so, and I believe that we should have some intellectual rigor as well as biblical foundations. However we seem to spend a disproportionate amount of our witnessing time and energy on this.

I should state that my views are my own and I claim no theological high ground or spiritual authority (like I would!). Like everyone my path to faith will have influenced my take on this so I'll give a bit of background, but before that, here is my flat assertion.

Non Christian men will claim adamantly that they will believe only empirical evidence which is why they can't bring themselves to believe in Christ. In other words "I'll believe it when I see it". This is, I believe, a device to avoid facing up to the truth because in every other sphere of life we operate the opposite policy "I'll see it when I believe it".

Having been brought up in a secular home with only nominal and irregular Christian input, my first hurdle to faith was the very existence of God. Let me assure you it is not self evident. Arguments as to the order of the universe implying an ordered mind behind it hold no water from the perspective I grew up with. Someone said recently at a conference "look at a beautiful sunset and tell me there is no God". That's quite straightforward from an atheist perspective as it happens. I have to confess I get a bit impatient with Christian apologetics at evangelistic events because I think it's often misdirected. It's not that I don't agree with them, I do, but I believe the impact is limited.

Why? Well quite apart from my own journey, I don't know one Christian who came to faith through these arguments. So what changed my mind (and heart).

At the age of 16 I would have said I was an agnostic and a fairly apathetic one at that. That year my Father died (the first of a hat trick of family tragedies that year including the murder of a cousin). I had to mature quickly in order to support other family members and as a result developed a more independent point of view. I became a convinced atheist, not the ‘angry at God type’ (which is not a real atheist of course) but a well thought out rational atheist.

When I was 20 my girlfriend at the time decided to join her local Church of Scotland Church. It caused some tension between us not because I disagreed or thought it would change her but because it didn't seem to make any difference to her. I had friends who were involved in the House Church movement and that made a huge difference to their life style and choices. (This seemed more consistent with their stated beliefs and I could respect that. At the time I thought this a bit ironic but now I see God was "preparing the way" long before I was aware of it).

Before moving South to University, I took a job in a local Christian Hotel and conference centre, there not being a lot of choice at that time in Scotland. This resulted in a great deal of exposure to the Gospel and my work colleagues tried valiantly to persuade me. However their arguments
held no sway and, looking back, I must have caused a lot of heartache and frustration as I can usually more than hold my own in an argument (no change there then).

Two things eventually got me. Firstly the person of Jesus and his work on the cross. IF, and that was a big IF, the account of what God did for me was true, it demanded a response. Secondly, the lives of some of those around me testified to real relationship which made a real and significant difference to their life and attitudes. Finally, after much prayer and heart searching on my part, I believe Jesus took the initiative and "made it personal" in his time.

About a month after becoming a Christian I moved south (Brighton) and started my degree in Media and (of all things) The History of Ideas, Religions and Cultures. Talk about the lions den, I found myself faced with intense scrutiny of my new found faith, both in terms of lifestyle but also intellectually in Philosophy and "Comparative Religion" discussions. The long and the short of it is that I had quickly to develop a robust defence and do so on the hoof.

That necessity led me to conclude a couple of things which have been really useful in my journey since:

Liberal Christianity is internally inconsistent and therefore non-sense (I mean literally rather than as a sweeping judgment or insult). It falls apart fairly rapidly under secular scrutiny and I saw this happen for real with a number of my student friends.

Relativism suffers the same fate; it contradicts itself and is therefore non-sense.

Biblical Christianity can be logically proven to be no more or less ridiculous than a humanist or atheist point of view (I'll save that argument for the next thought if anyone is interested).

I know this will either sound like pop-theology or a bit highbrow depending on your own start point so let me boil it down to its bare bones.

People will believe the Gospel when they personally encounter Christ; the next best thing is when they encounter the person of Christ in another human being.

Practically I believe this means we should focus our energies on ensuring our lives radiate Christ so that our every encounter with our non-Christian friends affords them a glimpse of Christ, whether we are sharing the gospel, defending our faith, working or playing.

Kevin Cherry