Help!: how to respond?

[Lostwords]

I am a conservative Christian, and one of my atheist/ex-Christian friends sent me this e-mail. I don't know how to respond, advice?

"Now.. I'm not sure I want to be convinced that your beliefs are true, because if they are, (according to Hebrews 6:4-6) I'm eternally screwed and have no hope. But, nevertheless, I'd really appreciate it if you could maybe try to explain why it is your beliefs make sense to you, because in my mind I have no clue how anyone who thinks hard about it can justify having faith in the God of the Bible. So, if nothing else, I'd just like to know that all Christians aren't completly insane.

ok...I'm just going to summarize my understanding of Christianity. You can correct me where I'm wrong.

THE OLD TESTAMENT

I don't know if you're familiar with the ancient Greek and Roman gods.. (ie. Zeus, Hera, ect..) but the God of the old testament acted suspiciously like them (though he was perhaps more violent). To start, he chose one nation as his favorite nation, (why would a real god do that?) He killed thousands of babies in Egypt, commanded the Jews to attack a city and kill every man, woman child, and animal, (they were punished when they saved some animals to sacrifice), he also allowed the devil to kill Job's (one of Gods most faithful followers) entire family, as well as his slaves, (God was cool with slaves back then) just because Satan was talking trash to God. (You'd think God wouldn't take Satan's trash talk so seriously) God also flooded the earth...killing countless more children, oh, and he destroyed Sodom, Gomorrah, and Jericho.. (however, Nineveh got a second chance, they must have been God's second favorite people) all of which were no doubt packed with kids. At some point during the slaughtering, God gave the Jews a list a 10 things he really didn't want them to do. (you'd think he would've added pedophilia to the list, judging by the way the Catholic church operates, but who knows..maybe God just has it out for kids.)

That of course, is just the old testament. The second half of the book takes a surprisingly positive twist! (...well...sort of..)

THE NEW TESTAMENT

Well.. the basic gist of it is, that 2000 years ago, there was a man/god who was his own father. (this isn't that crazy I guess.. He's God, he can do what he wants) And long story short, he died, and rose three days later. Now, we (as Christians) are instructed to symbolically cannibalize him. The ritual often takes place in a building, where everyone is sitting facing an ancient torture device. (I'm not really going anywhere with that.. I always just thought it was kind of creepy)
Now, the reason Jesus was sent on this suicide mission, was because the first woman ever, was convinced by a talking snake to eat from a magic tree. When she ate from the tree, an evil force was put in us, and the only way to remove this evil force is to telepathically ask this man who we symbolically cannibalize to take it away in exchange for our soul. If we do this, we get to live forever in paradise...That's the good news!

...however, the bad news is that if you don't, you end up in burning fire for all of eternity. It doesn't matter if you're a Buddhist monk who strives his whole life for Holiness, or a Muslim suicide bomber who had so much faith in God that you took your own life for him, or an electrician named Steve. You must guess the right religion (without any real proof..) or else you must BURN!
(Fun fact about hell: it wasn't mentioned until the new testament! Until then, the Jews believed in something much like Hades. They believed that they would all go to the same place no matter what.

In Plato's republic, which was written about 200 years before Jesus lived, Socrates suggests that promise of paradise be given to anyone who died heroically in battle. That way, the people have more incentive to serve their country. So, basically he suggests heaven for those who fit into the minority that follows everything he says, and hell (or hades) for everyone else. The fact that the exact same concept showed up 200 years later in Christianity, then later in Islam is purely coincidental.)

by the by, when all the books were shoved into the cannon, (a few hundred years after they were written) Christianity became the state mandated religion, and anyone who didn't believe that Jesus loved them was killed. The Crusades and the Spanish Inquisition came afterwards. Oddly, God never found any cause to smite any of these people as he did when Ananias and Sapphira fibbed about their tithe. In fact, we haven't had a good smiting in a few thousand years! Maybe God should bring it back, smite some of those far away brown people who have been causing us so many problems. If he did that, belief in Christianity would skyrocket! Jesus said that faith can move mountains, maybe someone should do that.. have a documentary where they shoot mount Everest to the moon using only prayer.. Or maybe we could get some of those Baal worshipers to pour water on a sacrifice and then have our God ignite it on national television.. that would get some media coverage! (all the Baal worshipers would have to be killed of course..)

Sorry... I got a little sarcastic there at the end. I know that we can't expect God to actually do anything on his own.. because it's a different time and he doesn't do that stuff anymore. We instead have to do his work for him and then give him credit.

But in all seriousness... How do you look at that and say, "that makes sense, I think I'll devote my entire life to believing it"? I just personally think if there is a God, he could come up with a lot better than that.

I appreciate you taking time to read this... and maybe you can shed some light on the madness.

Sincerely,
Jim Jones"

 

[sealacamp]

I have dealt with this sort of supposed wisdom and logic before. Clearly this person does not know God or understand His word. So this is what I would say to them:

Stop deceiving yourselves. If you think you are wise by this world’s standards, you need to become a fool to be truly wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. As the Scriptures say, “He traps the wise
in the snare of their own cleverness.”
And again,
“The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise;
he knows they are worthless.”

And

The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God. As the Scriptures say, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise
and discard the intelligence of the intelligent.”[

These are the two scriptures I would use. Other than that I would not even try to defend God, He can do that on His own in His own way, as He surely will. Arguing and defending will do you no good as this person clearly has their mind made up and deceived. However you can plant a seed and then move on. Having dissolved a 40 year friendship over just such an issue I can tell you that it is difficult and painful to walk away from someone that you really care about after years of being close to them. Never the less sometimes it becomes clear that this is the only path left and it would appear that way to me in your situation based on your friends email. Put them in Gods hands and pray for them and them move on with your walk with the Lord. God will do what ever is in His plan for this person. Just keep the faith with God, study His word, and pray for all of us to do His will on this earth.

May God rescue your friend as they are obviously lost in the land of evil deception.

Sealacamp

 

[Lostwords]

First off, your friend is mixing several religions back and forth. I see he's pulling stuff from the Roman Catholic faith into Christianity. The Roman Catholic faith is an apostate faith. Second, your friend was never a Christian to begin with (1 John 2:19 They went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they were of us, they would have remained with us; but they left so that it might be revealed that they all are not of us.).

God is God and He can do whatever He wants. Also God is a holy God (Isaiah 6:3, Revelation 4:8) and He must punish sin as we see He did in the OT. Because we don't see this now doesn't mean God has stopped punish sin. We will all have to answer for what we have done in this life. If you see God punish sin doesn't make him unjust or a cruel God, it makes Him a just God and a God we can trust will punish wickedness. If we like it or not doesn't matter.

I haven't addressed everything in the email in details, but I have covered it more in general terms. Please tell me if you want me to address something more specific.

Before I send anything, I know how he would respond. He would ask why God's punishments had to extend to all of the children. This was one of his main arguments, so he would be sure to bring it up.

 

[Lostwords]

I have dealt with this sort of supposed wisdom and logic before. Clearly this person does not know God or understand His word. So this is what I would say to them:



And



These are the two scriptures I would use. Other than that I would not even try to defend God, He can do that on His own in His own way, as He surely will. Arguing and defending will do you no good as this person clearly has their mind made up and deceived. However you can plant a seed and then move on. Having dissolved a 40 year friendship over just such an issue I can tell you that it is difficult and painful to walk away from someone that you really care about after years of being close to them. Never the less sometimes it becomes clear that this is the only path left and it would appear that way to me in your situation based on your friends email. Put them in Gods hands and pray for them and them move on with your walk with the Lord. God will do what ever is in His plan for this person. Just keep the faith with God, study His word, and pray for all of us to do His will on this earth.

May God rescue your friend as they are obviously lost in the land of evil deception.

Sealacamp

Those are defenatly good verses to leave him with, but I think it's important to actually be able to defend my faith, God doesn't call us to just be blind and ignore others arguments against him, and I believe discussing with a non believer can only strengthen my faith and answer some questions I myself have at some level.

But as a fairly new believer, I don't quite know how to answer some of these questions.

Thanks for your help so far guys!

 

[sealacamp]

God doesn't call us to just be blind and ignore others arguments against him,

Then you can't walk on the water with Jesus, because if you continually have to find reason the move forward you will find many places that no reason exists then that will be the end of your walk. As for defending God or your faith do what ever you feel is right. Just remember God can defend Himself and doesn't need us to do anything. All that has ever been asked of us is to stand firm in our faith, not firm in our reason. Should you choose to defend yourself to this person you will find yourself in a never ending circle of discussion with no conclusive end in sight. Having had many such discussions I know when it is best to leave a seed and move on. You may do as you wish but if you search the scriptures I believe you will find where the apostle Paul said that such discussions are unhealthy and should be avoided. May God lead you where he wants you to be.

Sealacamp

 

[singpeace]

Good Lord. I feel for you. This is certainly a task, and I will see if I can throw you a bone or two here. Wow.

The first thing I would tell your friend is to please slow down a bit and not include so much information at one time. Ask your friend to try and keep topics/examples/references/citations to three at a time. I'm a minister, and I'm already tired just reading all of that. He's all over the place.

Okay, here is what I know: He misunderstands Hebrews. Paul is not saying a person can be a Christian, walk away, no longer be a Christian and then be forever doomed. What Paul is saying (tell JJ to read whole chapter) is that it is not possible for one to become a Christian and then no longer be a Christian. The scriptures before 4:6 clearly show Paul's frustration with having to go over and over explaining simple truths.

Second, God did not act like Zeus and other Greek and Roman gods, they were mythical figures.... fiction. Their made up characters mirror the real God. Not the other way around.

I could answer each point your friend has addressed, but I'm not going there today.

Your friend should educate himself a little better. He seems intelligent. Tell him to do some of his own research; but to do real research and not go finding Biblical answers from carnal resources. He has so many facts WRONG.
Bless you, dear.
Send your buddy to me, if you want. Private message or whatever. We can take things one at a time and be respectful doing so, or tell him I say he knows the truth and is full of hot air.

 

[JesusFreak78]

Before I send anything, I know how he would respond. He would ask why God's punishments had to extend to all of the children. This was one of his main arguments, so he would be sure to bring it up.

It's part of the curse. We are all born with a sinful nature (Psalms 51:5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me. Psalms 58:3 The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray from the belly, speaking lies. Romans 5:12 Because of this, even as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, so also death passed to all men, inasmuch as all sinned.), so we will end end rebel against God if we want to or not. Because we are born in a sinful nature doesn't mean we aren't responsible for our sins because God gave us the ten commandments so we would know how to live a sinless life.

I hope that answer your question.

 

[JesusFreak78]

Those are defenatly good verses to leave him with, but I think it's important to actually be able to defend my faith, God doesn't call us to just be blind and ignore others arguments against him, and I believe discussing with a non believer can only strengthen my faith and answer some questions I myself have at some level.

But as a fairly new believer, I don't quite know how to answer some of these questions.

Thanks for your help so far guys!

You are right, you are told to give an answer to everyone who ask you.

1 Peter 3:15
But sanctify" the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give an answer to everyone asking you a reason concerning the hope in you, with meekness and fear,

 

[sealacamp]

But what of these?

It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means. 15 Those who are spiritual can evaluate all things, but they themselves cannot be evaluated by others. 16 For, “Who can know the Lord’s thoughts?
Who knows enough to teach him?”[h]
But we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ.

Or this:

18 Stop deceiving yourselves. If you think you are wise by this world’s standards, you need to become a fool to be truly wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. As the Scriptures say, “He traps the wise
in the snare of their own cleverness.”[e]
20 And again,
“The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise;
he knows they are worthless.”[f]

Or this:

Do not waste time arguing over godless ideas and old wives’ tales. Instead, train yourself to be godly.

And this:

Avoid godless, foolish discussions with those who oppose you with their so-called knowledge.

There is a time to discuss and a time to plant and walk away. Each person must discern for themselves the nature of the situation they are in at that moment. If the truth has been revealed to someone and they have twisted it into a convoluted view of the truth, in my opinion, it is best to leave a seed and walk away. My past experience is that those discussions are fruitless and it would appear that the Apostle Paul had a similar experience since he advised Timothy to walk away as well. Do what you like brother but what ever it is that you feel compelled to do it needs to remain in the bounds of scripture otherwise you may find yourself somewhere you don't want to be. May God guide you as you follow Him.

Sealacamp

 

[Lostwords]

Then you can't walk on the water with Jesus, because if you continually have to find reason the move forward you will find many places that no reason exists then that will be the end of your walk. As for defending God or your faith do what ever you feel is right. Just remember God can defend Himself and doesn't need us to do anything. All that has ever been asked of us is to stand firm in our faith, not firm in our reason. Should you choose to defend yourself to this person you will find yourself in a never ending circle of discussion with no conclusive end in sight. Having had many such discussions I know when it is best to leave a seed and move on. You may do as you wish but if you search the scriptures I believe you will find where the apostle Paul said that such discussions are unhealthy and should be avoided. May God lead you where he wants you to be.

Sealacamp

It would be more for me than for him. Obviously God doesn't need me to defend him, but like I said, I too have a few of these questions on a much smaller, less angry level. And finding answers for them can only strengthen my faith, right?

 

[Lostwords]

Good Lord. I feel for you. This is certainly a task, and I will see if I can throw you a bone or two here. Wow.

The first thing I would tell your friend is to please slow down a bit and not include so much information at one time. Ask your friend to try and keep topics/examples/references/citations to three at a time. I'm a minister, and I'm already tired just reading all of that. He's all over the place.

Okay, here is what I know: He misunderstands Hebrews. Paul is not saying a person can be a Christian, walk away, no longer be a Christian and then be forever doomed. What Paul is saying (tell JJ to read whole chapter) is that it is not possible for one to become a Christian and then no longer be a Christian. The scriptures before 4:6 clearly show Paul's frustration with having to go over and over explaining simple truths.

Second, God did not act like Zeus and other Greek and Roman gods, they were mythical figures.... fiction. Their made up characters mirror the real God. Not the other way around.

I could answer each point your friend has addressed, but I'm not going there today.

Your friend should educate himself a little better. He seems intelligent. Tell him to do some of his own research; but to do real research and not go finding Biblical answers from carnal resources. He has so many facts WRONG.
Bless you, dear.
Send your buddy to me, if you want. Private message or whatever. We can take things one at a time and be respectful doing so, or tell him I say he knows the truth and is full of hot air.

Thanks for the insights!

what if I directed him to this site, and had him start his own thread? (I would have him pm you, but I'd really like to see where this goes.)

after looking at the guidlines, I assume this probably isn't the right section for him. Where should I direct him to?

 

[desmalia]

It would be more for me than for him. Obviously God doesn't need me to defend him, but like I said, I too have a few of these questions on a much smaller, less angry level. And finding answers for them can only strengthen my faith, right?

Hi, and welcome to CF!

As others have mentioned, your friend has posed a whole pile of questions, each of which requires indepth discussion. It can't all be done in a few quick paragraphs. If you sense he's really looking for answers, definitely seek to provide answers to each one separately, before moving on to the next. In fact, I think that's the responsible thing to do. There are answers to his questions, but is he willing to put in the time to really discuss each one? If he's just mocking and attacking and you don't get the sense he wants to really discuss these things, then it's most likely better to come at it from a different angle. In that case I would recommend getting away from details just intended to trip you up, and get right to the heart of the matter: your friends sinfulness in light of a holy, just God. Here's a good resource to help with that: The Way of the Master

As for your own interest in more detailed answers to some of these questions, I highly recommend breaking them down and starting a new thread here for each subject you'd like to discuss.

what if I directed him to this site, and had him start his own thread? (I would have him pm you, but I'd really like to see where this goes.)

after looking at the guidlines, I assume this probably isn't the right section for him. Where should I direct him to?

Just my two cents, but I would not direct him here. He most likely won't be permitted to post in the sections where he'll get biblical answers. There a number of sections he might post in, but there is a tremendous amount of heresy being promoted as "Christian" in many areas of this forum. I wouldn't recommend that. It will just add fuel to his fire.

 

[sealacamp]

It would be more for me than for him. Obviously God doesn't need me to defend him, but like I said, I too have a few of these questions on a much smaller, less angry level. And finding answers for them can only strengthen my faith, right?

Yes.

“Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.

Sealacamp

 

[Lostwords]

Hi, and welcome to CF!

As others have mentioned, your friend has posed a whole pile of questions, each of which requires indepth discussion. It can't all be done in a few quick paragraphs. If you sense he's really looking for answers, definitely seek to provide answers to each one separately, before moving on to the next. In fact, I think that's the responsible thing to do. There are answers to his questions, but is he willing to put in the time to really discuss each one? If he's just mocking and attacking and you don't get the sense he wants to really discuss these things, then it's most likely better to come at it from a different angle. In that case I would recommend getting away from details just intended to trip you up, and get right to the heart of the matter: your friends sinfulness in light of a holy, just God. Here's a good resource to help with that:

As for your own interest in more detailed answers to some of these questions, I highly recommend breaking them down and starting a new thread here for each subject you'd like to discuss.



Just my two cents, but I would not direct him here. He most likely won't be permitted to post in the sections where he'll get biblical answers. There a number of sections he might post in, but there is a tremendous amount of heresy being promoted as "Christian" in many areas of this forum. I wouldn't recommend that. It will just add fuel to his fire.

I don't know that he's actually looking for answers in order to become part of the faith, but I believe he would listen to my responses, and once he relizes that he has the wrong impression.. You never know..

Thanks for the advice, I hadn't been around this site enough to know that it was probably a bad idea.

 

[JesusFreak78]

But what of these?



Or this:



Or this:



And this:



There is a time to discuss and a time to plant and walk away. Each person must discern for themselves the nature of the situation they are in at that moment. If the truth has been revealed to someone and they have twisted it into a convoluted view of the truth, in my opinion, it is best to leave a seed and walk away. My past experience is that those discussions are fruitless and it would appear that the Apostle Paul had a similar experience since he advised Timothy to walk away as well. Do what you like brother but what ever it is that you feel compelled to do it needs to remain in the bounds of scripture otherwise you may find yourself somewhere you don't want to be. May God guide you as you follow Him.

Sealacamp

I think we are to give an answer if we are being asked as commanded in 1 Peter 3:15, but if the discussion doesn't leave anywhere and you're talking to a deaf ear you are to walk away.

 

[JesusFreak78]

Hi, and welcome to CF!

As others have mentioned, your friend has posed a whole pile of questions, each of which requires indepth discussion. It can't all be done in a few quick paragraphs. If you sense he's really looking for answers, definitely seek to provide answers to each one separately, before moving on to the next. In fact, I think that's the responsible thing to do. There are answers to his questions, but is he willing to put in the time to really discuss each one? If he's just mocking and attacking and you don't get the sense he wants to really discuss these things, then it's most likely better to come at it from a different angle. In that case I would recommend getting away from details just intended to trip you up, and get right to the heart of the matter: your friends sinfulness in light of a holy, just God. Here's a good resource to help with that: The Way of the Master

As for your own interest in more detailed answers to some of these questions, I highly recommend breaking them down and starting a new thread here for each subject you'd like to discuss.



Just my two cents, but I would not direct him here. He most likely won't be permitted to post in the sections where he'll get biblical answers. There a number of sections he might post in, but there is a tremendous amount of heresy being promoted as "Christian" in many areas of this forum. I wouldn't recommend that. It will just add fuel to his fire.

I agree with you. It makes me feel like ripping out my hear or something when I read some of those posts.

 

[Dionysiou]

I am a conservative Christian, and one of my atheist/ex-Christian friends sent me this e-mail. I don't know how to respond, advice?

"Now.. I'm not sure I want to be convinced that your beliefs are true, because if they are, (according to Hebrews 6:4-6) I'm eternally screwed and have no hope. But, nevertheless, I'd really appreciate it if you could maybe try to explain why it is your beliefs make sense to you, because in my mind I have no clue how anyone who thinks hard about it can justify having faith in the God of the Bible. So, if nothing else, I'd just like to know that all Christians aren't completly insane.

ok...I'm just going to summarize my understanding of Christianity. You can correct me where I'm wrong.

THE OLD TESTAMENT

I don't know if you're familiar with the ancient Greek and Roman gods.. (ie. Zeus, Hera, ect..) but the God of the old testament acted suspiciously like them (though he was perhaps more violent). To start, he chose one nation as his favorite nation, (why would a real god do that?) He killed thousands of babies in Egypt, commanded the Jews to attack a city and kill every man, woman child, and animal, (they were punished when they saved some animals to sacrifice), he also allowed the devil to kill Job's (one of Gods most faithful followers) entire family, as well as his slaves, (God was cool with slaves back then) just because Satan was talking trash to God. (You'd think God wouldn't take Satan's trash talk so seriously) God also flooded the earth...killing countless more children, oh, and he destroyed Sodom, Gomorrah, and Jericho.. (however, Nineveh got a second chance, they must have been God's second favorite people) all of which were no doubt packed with kids. At some point during the slaughtering, God gave the Jews a list a 10 things he really didn't want them to do. (you'd think he would've added pedophilia to the list, judging by the way the Catholic church operates, but who knows..maybe God just has it out for kids.)

That of course, is just the old testament. The second half of the book takes a surprisingly positive twist! (...well...sort of..)

THE NEW TESTAMENT

Well.. the basic gist of it is, that 2000 years ago, there was a man/god who was his own father. (this isn't that crazy I guess.. He's God, he can do what he wants) And long story short, he died, and rose three days later. Now, we (as Christians) are instructed to symbolically cannibalize him. The ritual often takes place in a building, where everyone is sitting facing an ancient torture device. (I'm not really going anywhere with that.. I always just thought it was kind of creepy)
Now, the reason Jesus was sent on this suicide mission, was because the first woman ever, was convinced by a talking snake to eat from a magic tree. When she ate from the tree, an evil force was put in us, and the only way to remove this evil force is to telepathically ask this man who we symbolically cannibalize to take it away in exchange for our soul. If we do this, we get to live forever in paradise...That's the good news!

...however, the bad news is that if you don't, you end up in burning fire for all of eternity. It doesn't matter if you're a Buddhist monk who strives his whole life for Holiness, or a Muslim suicide bomber who had so much faith in God that you took your own life for him, or an electrician named Steve. You must guess the right religion (without any real proof..) or else you must BURN!
(Fun fact about hell: it wasn't mentioned until the new testament! Until then, the Jews believed in something much like Hades. They believed that they would all go to the same place no matter what.

In Plato's republic, which was written about 200 years before Jesus lived, Socrates suggests that promise of paradise be given to anyone who died heroically in battle. That way, the people have more incentive to serve their country. So, basically he suggests heaven for those who fit into the minority that follows everything he says, and hell (or hades) for everyone else. The fact that the exact same concept showed up 200 years later in Christianity, then later in Islam is purely coincidental.)

by the by, when all the books were shoved into the cannon, (a few hundred years after they were written) Christianity became the state mandated religion, and anyone who didn't believe that Jesus loved them was killed. The Crusades and the Spanish Inquisition came afterwards. Oddly, God never found any cause to smite any of these people as he did when Ananias and Sapphira fibbed about their tithe. In fact, we haven't had a good smiting in a few thousand years! Maybe God should bring it back, smite some of those far away brown people who have been causing us so many problems. If he did that, belief in Christianity would skyrocket! Jesus said that faith can move mountains, maybe someone should do that.. have a documentary where they shoot mount Everest to the moon using only prayer.. Or maybe we could get some of those Baal worshipers to pour water on a sacrifice and then have our God ignite it on national television.. that would get some media coverage! (all the Baal worshipers would have to be killed of course..)

Sorry... I got a little sarcastic there at the end. I know that we can't expect God to actually do anything on his own.. because it's a different time and he doesn't do that stuff anymore. We instead have to do his work for him and then give him credit.

But in all seriousness... How do you look at that and say, "that makes sense, I think I'll devote my entire life to believing it"? I just personally think if there is a God, he could come up with a lot better than that.

I appreciate you taking time to read this... and maybe you can shed some light on the madness.

Sincerely,
Jim Jones"

he cracked me up a fair few times, your friend is funny. He made christianity seem so ridiculous. and he realises that christians will always be able to say "oh its God, so He can do whatever he wants". So really there is no point in arguing about it at all, you can answer anything with that.

 

[sealacamp]

I think we are to give an answer if we are being asked as commanded in 1 Peter 3:15, but if the discussion doesn't leave anywhere and you're talking to a deaf ear you are to walk away.

And if someone asks about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it.

If we are being asked about our Christian walk/hope as Peter is saying then yes we definitely should answer and encourage anyone that asks. If someone is condemning God and Christ with remarks that outside the bounds of truth then we an either answer or not depending on the situation. By no means is there any place in the Lords word where we are asked to reply to mockers and rebels. In fact under circumstances where Jesus faced those that questioned in a mocking way He said nothing. Even when people attempted to force an answer from Him He said nothing. So once again I say do what you are led to do, as for me I would not entertain this person.

Then the high priest stood up and said to Jesus, “Well, aren’t you going to answer these charges? What do you have to say for yourself?” But Jesus remained silent.

Sealacamp

 

[JesusFreak78]

If we are being asked about our Christian walk/hope as Peter is saying then yes we definitely should answer and encourage anyone that asks. If someone is condemning God and Christ with remarks that outside the bounds of truth then we an either answer or not depending on the situation. By no means is there any place in the Lords word where we are asked to reply to mockers and rebels. In fact under circumstances where Jesus faced those that questioned in a mocking way He said nothing. Even when people attempted to force an answer from Him He said nothing. So once again I say do what you are led to do, as for me I would not entertain this person.



Sealacamp

I agree with you if they are doing this knowing what they are doing, but man are doing it out of ignorance because they have only heard one side. I think if you tried to explain to them the truth they would stop mocking and show an interest instead.

 

[sealacamp]

I agree with you if they are doing this knowing what they are doing, but man are doing it out of ignorance because they have only heard one side. I think if you tried to explain to them the truth they would stop mocking and show an interest instead.

That possibility always exists. So each person has to judge for themselves what is going on in each situation and then respond accordingly.

Sealacamp