Thank you all for your posts. I am hoping to see more examples of actual witness encounters and by reviewing, there has been very little. This could mean one of two things: either the participants are too consumed w/ proving their position, or more worse, they just don't witness. Some have said they don't witness using science...I respect that. Of course science or knowledge doesn't save anyone but could be a means of introducing the gospel. We know that salvation comes from repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, and giving intellectual assent to Jesus or creation or guided evolution does not pardon our sins.
In these forums, I have observed many who say something to the effect of "I don't bible-beat them or shove the gospel down their throat", and "the best witness is to build a relationship w/ them and just talk and discuss etc..."
That's basically how I witness to my friends. I show them that not all Christians (as they view them) are Bible Thumpers who only care about fire and brimestone. I show them my love and compassion for others and how God touches my life. Nothing turns off people more than hateful speech. I see this many times at my University. There's always a group that parades around the Free Speech area promoting the idea that Mormons, Catholics, gays, etc... are all going to Hell and are all horrible people. These people hurt Christianity through their hateful message.
I believe a more loving message would do much better. And even if I did not convert them, I would hope to leave an impression upon them so that they too would lead a good life, and would leave them open to conversion.
I understand their point of view. My only problem is, what happens if they die tomorrow?
And what if they die in the few seconds before you even talk to them? Should I scare them using Hell right away? We can play the what if game all we want, but it's pointless because they wouldn't convert if I shoved it straight down their throat.
Some friends and I go to college campuses and all different kinds of hangout places to preach the gospel. I have the opportunity to witness to a lot of athiests at the secular colleges. When i ask them about God, they usually start by saying, "I don't believe in God, I believe evolution."
Here in lies the problem. According to YECists, the Bible says evolution is false. This causes the atheists to falsely believe you either have to accept the Bible or science, but not both. That's why I am against Creationism. It causes educated people (especially in the scientific areas) to reject Christianity.
As a yec, I quickly throw out some lines about the surrounding buildings. Did they just pop up and form over the years or were they designed and built? I use simple illustrations and sometimes delve into more scientific arguments depending on who I'm speaking to.
But the problem is that's not how evolution works. This is exactly why I don't mix science and witnessing, it's too easy to say something that's incorrect. Buildings don't reproduce and accumulate small errors, so using them as an argument against evolution is wrong. Not only that, if you start spreading misinformation about how genetic information can't increase, then a simple paper search would prove your statement was incorrect (see my reply, I found a paper that directly shows an increase of genetic information, according to AiG's definition). Now what do the secular atheist think? Christians are ignorant, and don't understand science? Science and religion is incompatible?
These reasons are why Christians (especially those without scientific backgrounds) shouldn't be using science for the purposes of conversion. Many times, they are just plain wrong. For example, how many Creationists here have used the argument that the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics disproves evolution? Don't be shy, raise your hands. This argument is completely wrong, since it ignores the Sun. How many people have used genetic information against evolution? Carbon dating sea objects? Exponential population growth? All these arguments can be shown to be wrong, yet Creationists still use them.
I wouldn't use evolution to witness just because it, too, may also be wrong. Science changes, and I hate to use an argument that would later be shown to be incorrect because it may shake the faith of the people. A lot of atheists on the forums mentioned that they lost faith due to the stances of YECism and the lies spread by Dr. Hovind and his likes.