When people call Christianity a "fairytale..."

Smokey19

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I have encountered this a few times conversing with non-believers, and it always irritates me, not least because it shows a lack of respect for God, but also it's a dismissive attempt to undermine and belittle believers.

Do you engage with people who seem to have made their minds up or do you view them as a lost cause?
 
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AllDayFaith

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Do you engage with people who seem to have made their minds up or do you view them as a lost cause?
Yes it's important to defend God when these people question His existence. No one is a lost cause. If you consider someone a lost cause you just committed condemnation. You already know we do not have the right to judge, let alone condemn people.
 
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HatedByAll

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Follow the advice of Psalm 1. Do not sit in the seat of scoffers.

You can reason with doubters and unbelievers even if the are not ready to hear truth, but scoffers do so because they do not want to hear what you say at all. Allow the Holy Spirit time to work on their hearts. Later they may be ready to hear what you have to say.
 
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ReesePiece23

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Ultimately, actions speak louder than words. Get your head down and be the best version of yourself that you can possibly be - and then, when they ask "how do you do it?" You know what to reply with.

Lead by example, don't waffle on about how terrible they are.
 
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Dave G.

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Here is the thing, we who have come to Christ know better than what these people are saying. No need to argue or to react. Smile then go pray for them. You could categorize your prayer list and have one section for scoffers, you don't even have to list names but make a corporate prayer for them all. The Spirit will point out specific people who may be a mission field for you,name them in your prayers. You don't know what things will look like in 10 years.
 
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Tempura

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Not that I necessarily engage with the sole purpose of trying to convince them with words or arguments, even though I absolutely will provide scripture if they are receptive. But in general I heavily suck in that department - words, debates, arguments. But I don't think of them as lost causes. If I did, I should think of myself as one too. I've done and said some awful things. I should remember myself, and also Paul, who violently persecuted the body of Christ. What I can do is to humble myself, treat them with love without wanting anything back, and pray for them, for God to work in them and through me in any ways He sees fit. My abilities only go so far, my patience, humility and judgement can be quite shaky, so I go to Christ with my concerns about my neighbor. Concerning the people I deal with, that is. I don't go out seeking for strangers as I am a hermit and a weirdo.
 
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Norbert L

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I have encountered this a few times conversing with non-believers, and it always irritates me, not least because it shows a lack of respect for God, but also it's a dismissive attempt to undermine and belittle believers.

Do you engage with people who seem to have made their minds up or do you view them as a lost cause?
There is a third approach if you know the person rather well. Just flip their comment back on them, something like how much of the conclusions scientists have reached is worse than science fiction, history will remember it as scientific myth. But more broadly speaking it depends. Proverbs 26:4-5
 
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Tolworth John

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I have encountered this a few times conversing with non-believers, and it always irritates me, not least because it shows a lack of respect for God, but also it's a dismissive attempt to undermine and belittle believers.

Do you engage with people who seem to have made their minds up or do you view them as a lost cause?

It is always worth asking a few questions like :-
Why do you believe that and what evidence do you have for that believe?

Do be sure that you can also answer theses same questions.

If they are unreasonable in rejecting reasonable answers put it to them.

What reasonable evidence would you accept that shows Christianity is true?
You will have already shown that by the standards used by historians Christianity is true, that Luke is a trustworthy historian, that there is only one reasonable explanation for the resurrection.

You are basically rubbing there noses in how unreasonable they are.
 
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Albion

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I have encountered this a few times conversing with non-believers, and it always irritates me, not least because it shows a lack of respect for God, but also it's a dismissive attempt to undermine and belittle believers.

Do you engage with people who seem to have made their minds up or do you view them as a lost cause?
If they start off by using a word like "fairytale" I expect the worst, but most of the time I will engage a little bit further to see if they have more of an argument than that...or if, on the other hand, they simply dismiss religious belief out of hand.
 
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Maria Billingsley

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I have encountered this a few times conversing with non-believers, and it always irritates me, not least because it shows a lack of respect for God, but also it's a dismissive attempt to undermine and belittle believers.

Do you engage with people who seem to have made their minds up or do you view them as a lost cause?
Welcome! You may want to use the description of "fairytale" to your advantage. Afterall, fairytales main purpose is to give a moral story in a way the audience will remember. They exist to teach a clear lesson. Jesus Christ of Nazareth did this constantly through His parables aka fairytales. So the next time you hear this, agree and proceed with one of Christs many tales of righteousness. Equip yourself!
Be blessed and stay healthy!
 
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Sophrosyne

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I think you should ignore the individual if they aren't a curious type willing to listen to reason anything you say about Christ may actually harden their heart towards God if words are not chosen wisely as by voicing "fairytale" they are baiting you for a response and giving them any expected argument will only seek to them as an "I told you so" type answer. You often have to approach those who are outright antagonistic to God as enemies of him and that any "attack" on their "non belief" belief will be countered easily and end up having to use tactics to deal with them that are non conventional... frontal attacks (expected and obvious) won't work, you have to use stealth on them to challenge them to think for themselves (put them on the defense) otherwise they will put you on defense and defending Christianity against non believers attacks is like trying to prove the moon exists to a blind man by telling him to just look at the sky on a clear night. Non believers often are purposely "blind" to the truth and have no desire to see it.
 
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bling

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I read some good responses here and gained some thoughts.

Everyone is different so there is no “one” good response, it all depends on the person and yourself.

I like the idea of maybe saying something like: “you know Jesus did tell some almost fairytale stories to get His points across” like ______.

You can witness how Christianity has changed your own life, since they cannot argue with that.

There are some unbelievable huge claims being made that would cause many to believe it has to be unreal, but often reality is stranger than fiction.
 
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1213

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...Do you engage with people who seem to have made their minds up or do you view them as a lost cause?

If I have said everything I want to say, then it is enough for me. If someone asks something, I try to answer, even if the person would be annoying.
 
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ViaCrucis

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I have encountered this a few times conversing with non-believers, and it always irritates me, not least because it shows a lack of respect for God, but also it's a dismissive attempt to undermine and belittle believers.

Do you engage with people who seem to have made their minds up or do you view them as a lost cause?

Well, how do you feel about other religions? For example, how seriously do you take the ancient Hellenistic religion with its many cults devoted to the various gods of the Greek pantheon?

On some level, that's really just normal. I think the foundational narrative of Islam (as just one example) is false, it's not true. Muhammad didn't encounter the archangel Gabriel, and God did not reveal anything Muhammad--he wasn't a prophet or a messenger of God, and the body of religious teaching in Islam isn't true. Now, it would be disrespectful of me to walk up to a Muslim and just attack her or his religion calling it a fairy tale. But, even still, it is true that I simply do not accept that their religion is true.

And, likewise, those who aren't Christian are going to feel the exact same way about our religion. From their perspective it basically is just a fairy tale. Maybe it's disrespectful to say that to you or me, I can agree with that. It's certainly not very cordial and doesn't engender one to an open and civil discourse on the topic of religion. But, I can't change how someone else thinks about my religion; but I do have the choice on how to respond to people.

-CryptoLutheran
 
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Hieronymus

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I have encountered this a few times conversing with non-believers, and it always irritates me, not least because it shows a lack of respect for God, but also it's a dismissive attempt to undermine and belittle believers.
Many (most?) people are intimidated by the whole thing, so they put up a defense.
Others have learned from other people that it's all just made up and / or outdated.
Do you engage with people who seem to have made their minds up or do you view them as a lost cause?
You never know what happens eventually, to a tiny planted seed.

But i'm also careful not to "cast the pearls before the swine".
And it's not as much that those people are swine, but they will react like swine when you pick the wrong time and / or situations to share your beliefs.

But sometimes we have no choice but to say something, like when someone shares their inaccurate views on these matters.
 
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Olmhinlu

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A long time ago on this site, when I was an atheist and a kid/teen, I was affected - though not immediately converted - by simply having conversations with articulate, intelligent Christians.

I thought that Christians could be dismissed en masse as ridiculous for believing in an invisible sky god, miracles, 'fairytale' stuff etc. It was revelatory to deal with people who were both open Christians and quite obviously not idiots.

So, I think there could be merit in it. I would probably prioritise my time. You could have different lists for people you keep in touch with to talk about the Gospel. Some you could check in with more or less frequently. If people ask you stop talking to them (at or all, or "about it"), then you could oblige them. I wouldn't want to be quick to write people off, but we should also be discerning;

if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town.
 
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BobRyan

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I have encountered this a few times conversing with non-believers, and it always irritates me, not least because it shows a lack of respect for God, but also it's a dismissive attempt to undermine and belittle believers.

Do you engage with people who seem to have made their minds up or do you view them as a lost cause?

Hard to know which ones are truly hardened to the point of the unpardonable sin - vs just a temporary stubborn phase like Saul-turned-to-Paul went through.

I usually try to find some tiny point where they are not entirely closed minded to get "the camel's nose under the tent."

Those married to the unpardonable sin - will simply start "gaming you" when you resort to just finding an obvious easy point of agreement and they don't want to budge from their pillar-of-the-closed-mind. A few others less seared into a closed-mind may join them in that regard so "not everyone that shows the symptom has the virus" - but it is at least a yellow flag of caution.
 
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