Should We Argue with Non-Believers?

 If you are a Christian and have been on social media, you know there are lots of non-believers who love to argue. In my book Purpose Driven Outreach, I talk about types of unbelievers, and the first type is the opposer. These individuals have a viewpoint that is in opposition to the Christian faith. Sometimes it is another faith, but most of the time, these are atheistic people. Just today, as I was looking at the comments on a post on Biblical roles of manhood and womanhood, there was one individual who was militant in his opposition to the Bible, to its teachings. Of course, an idea like Biblical family roles will already generate controversy. This individual was not content to stick with the subject matter, but attack the Bible and faith.

As a Christian, what do we do with these people? There are a few passages that I rely on to deal with these individuals. We know from scripture that foremost the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are not saved. (I Corinthians 1:18). They will not understand grace. 2 Corinthians 4:4 tells us the Satan blinds the minds of the unbelievers so they cannot see. Without the work and power of the Holy Spirit doing a work in the hearts of the unbeliever, they will reject faith. No amount or arguing or fighting will ever convince them, because grace comes through faith, not intellectual superiority or winning a fight. No one gets argued to faith in Christ.

Am I saying you should never debate these individuals? No, not at all. There is definitely a right time to have these conversations, and we should. 1 Peter 3:15 says we should always be ready to give a defense. Not first, that is defense, not offense. Giving a defense is respectfully telling someone why you believe. If the person you are talking to is being combative, argumentative, rude, and hateful, I think it is wise to disengage with that individual. There is nothing good that comes out of getting into a mud throwing contest with someone without moral restraints.

So here are my rules for when to get into it. First, my primary rule is not about talking to the opposer, but the individuals who are witnessing the exchange. We, as more mature believers, need to be aware of those weaker in their faith. We need to show that the Christian faith is defensible, is sound, it solid. It has been under attack for 2,000 years, and a random antagonistic atheist has zero chance of changing that fact. Faith in Christ has survived lions, beheading, crucifixion, the stake, and torture of all kinds. An angry atheist will not stop it. We don't need to convince the atheist of that fact, because he or she will never understand unless they are convicted by the Holy Spirit, because salvation is the work of God. Now, don't hear what I'm not saying, I am not saying that in some instances, the Holy Spirit can't enlighten the heart of the atheist and that individual can suddenly repent and come to faith. It has happened. It happened to Lee Strobel, an investigative journalist who set out to disprove the Christian faith who eventually came to faith. It can happen, so we do preach Christ, His death, burial, and resurrection, and the forgiveness of our sin through grace by faith. Our goal is that everyone hears, but be more mindful of those in the audience than the atheist. Like Pharogh, the atheist has usually been given over to their own depravity, which is why they are so militant and angry.

We give a defense to protect those younger in their faith. We give a defense in the opportunity to have the crowd hear and those who are listening, they have the opportunity to hear the message. The Holy Spirit works through the preaching and teaching of believers, that is why Paul says "faith comes by hearing"  in Romans 10:17. We preach and teach, people here and the Holy Spirit works on them through their hearing.

As a followers of Christ, we also take a stand for the things we believe to be right. I will take a stand for the rights of the unborn. I believe they are people who are created in the image of God and have the right to life. I will defend that belief. I will defend the right to religious liberty, and I met with many school leaders when I worked in youth and college ministry to defend the right for students to have a See You At the Pole rally or a Bible Study before or after school. When I was in High School, we started the FCA I was involved in, and an atheist teacher asked me if he could start a Fellowship of Pagan Athletes. When I told him that was what the 1st amendment was for, he simply walked away because his separation of church and faith argument didn't stick. We defend the rights of people from those individuals who would seek to take away their rights.

If you want to learn more, check out my book Purpose Driven Outreach to learn more about the types of individuals we find when we share our faith, the levels of openness to the Gospel, and ways we can make a plan to deal with these situations. It is available on Amazon, link on the blog page.

Are You a Good Person?

 Today, I want to talk pragmatically more than theologically. There is a simple answer to my question: No, you are not a good person. You are either a sinner or a sinner saved by grace, who is redeemed and has goodness as a result of the Holy Spirit working in you. Today I want to talk about actions and behaviors.

This post was prompted by an action this morning. I was walking towards a door, and a young man who seemed to be in a hurry stopped and opened the door for me. It was a kind gesture, and it impressed me. I don't know this young man, but I was struck by his willingness to do a good thing. (If you have a theological issue with that statement, see again the first paragraph). I am not making a judgment to the state of this young man's soul, and good works alone won't get us to heaven, but he did a kind thing, and Jesus commends that. He says that a cup of cold water, a small favor for someone, to a disciple they will receive a reward. 

And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward. Matthew 10:42 (ESV)

Back to the pragmatism. We live in a world where kindness is a rare commodity. Even being kind sometimes has consequences. I opened the door one time for a young woman who stopped and looked at me, and stated, "I have a boyfriend". I then walked into the store because I was disgusted at the behavior. Selfishness and narcissism are prevalent in our society, it has become an epidemic. Here are some questions we each need to be asking ourselves.

1. Are we willing to sacrifice a little time and effort to help someone else?

2. Are we doing the right thing, even when there is no reward?

3. Are we willing to help others when it is hard or an inconvenience?

4. Are we doing things only because of what is in it for us?

Little things you can ask yourself. Would you stop if you are in a hurry to open the door for someone? Would you give up your weekend to help someone move or repair their home? Do you put your shopping cart away or just leave it in the parking lot? Do you drive like everyone else should move out of your way because you are the most important person on the road? Do you wait your turn or find ways to skip the line? Do you feel you are entitled to the work, effort, or time of another person? Do you insult people on social media if they don't agree with you? Do you judge others by the way they look? All these things can help us asking the question, "what kind of person am I?"

If you are a follower and believer in Jesus Christ, these are all areas that you should either be kind of becoming kind. There are part of love, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self control. You will find joy and faithfulness added when you live them out. If you look around, you will see society is falling apart in many ways, and like my dad told me, you can be part of the problem, or part of the solution. Be like the young man this morning.

Master's Done!

 It has been a minute since I wrote on my blog. By a minute, I mean more than a year. I was involved in another Master's program. I have my first Master's in Educational Leadership and I have just completed my Master's in English. That program took a great deal of my attention, so I haven't written much elsewhere. Some of my other projects had to take a back seat to the papers I wrote for class. My thesis is complete and I have completed all the work and projects for the class.

Here are a few of the things I will be working on, and I am hoping it translates to more blog writing. First, I will be teaching a college class at the high school next year. I will be teaching Composition to seniors, so they can finish college comp before they even graduate high school. Next, I will be beginning a podcast with my best friend Greg and my son-in-law Nate. One of the aspects of the podcast will be a blog, and I will probably post those both at the Real Life site (coming soon) and on here. I will be working to publicise my two existing books, working on a fiction book (details to come). I have some TikTok stuff going, that blew up kind of by accident. Might be creating one that is more theologically focused.

Thanks to everyone for being on my rather choppy journey. I know it has been a lot of stop and go along the way. I have a tendency to get a lot of irons in the fire, so I am trying to prioritize and make good decisions. I look forward to the new adventures, hope you'll come along with me! Blessings everyone.

Why I Became a Teacher pt 3

 The third reason I and many other people went into teaching I thought was the most common reason. Turns out, especially in secondary education, it is not, it is the first two. The third reason is more common in primary grades. The reason is simple, we love being with our students. Teaching, guiding, helping, and supporting students is really what drew me first to youth ministry and later to teaching. Young people and students are incredible, and they are capable of great things. Even the ones who give you a hard time can be really amazing.

This really hit me when I became a dad. As a dad, I had my kids around all the time, and I loved how incredible they were. My kids are grown, and my youngest graduated high school in a few weeks. As a teacher, I don't have the same role with my students as I do as dad, obviously, but I get to play the role of guide in aspects of their lives. I am able to invest in their futures and help them become more successful.

Students and young people today are being abandoned. They are left to be raised by technology. Parents, guardians, and caregivers are not teaching kids at home like the once did. It seems that daily I see a post on social media about "things they should teach in school" which demonstrates that parents aren't teaching kids at home anymore. Kids need school and teachers who care now more than ever. Without teachers who care, students are more and more being raised by smartphones. They are learning life lessons from tictok and not a caring adult in their lives.

I care about students because I had teachers and adults who cared about me. I was invested in, and now as a result I am paying it forward. We need people who care about what happens to this generation, we have way too many people who are just concerned about themselves. We need to invest in the future, and that means investing in students.

The struggle I have is that I get frustrated when I care more about student success than students do. I get frustrated with parents, and I get frustrated with our society when they abandon our students. I get irritated when I see social media posts that continue to pass off the raising of students and kids to the schools and the outsourcing of parental responsibility. It can be difficult to remain a detached, uninvolved individual.

Why I Became a Teacher Pt 2

 In my last post, we talked about reason number one, that people just love teaching. Some people just love to teach and naturally are drawn to teaching. Today, I want to look at reason number two that individuals become teachers. Especially in Secondary Education (7th-12th grade) and post-high school, it can be for a love of the subject matter. Some people really love a subject and want to spend their life engaged in that subject. Elementary teachers usually don't have this strong desire, because they teach all subjects. As an English teacher, I think literature is the most important subject. You can see a previous blog post about why I think literature is important. If you find a math teacher, they are going to say things like "Math is the language of the universe". That is an actual quote from a friend of mine who of course taught math.

People teach a subject because they obviously love that subject. They are good at it, they believe in it, and they want other people to know and love it. Those who teach because they love a subject and sometimes struggle with people who don't love that subject. If a student says that literature is not important and reading is boring and stupid, I am aghast. I struggle with the belief that my students don't see the value in what I'm doing, because of course, it makes sense. Naturally, we all assume that people should have the think patterns of thought and logic that we do. When they don't, it causes us to have some discomfort and cognitive dissidence. We can see how things fit and struggle when they don't.

Teachers who love subjects are really passionate about subjects, but sometimes we don't explain them as well as we should. It makes sense to us, we understand the subject. We sometimes gloss over the subject because, for us, it clicks. If it doesn't click for a student, they can feel like we are a bad teacher. They struggle to understand and we struggle to understand why. Students need to have an understanding and basic education in all subjects, so be patient with those of us who think what we teach is the most important.

Literature is the most important.

Why People Become Teachers Part 1

 Today is the 1st of May, so I wanted to reflect on my journey. May is not only the last month of school, but also Teacher Appreciation Week is the 2nd week of May. Ending the school year and celebrating teachers, I wanted to focus on teaching for a moment. Normally my blog is focused on things of faith and theology, but I wanted to look at my other career for a minute. Let's talk about teachers. I find that people become teachers for 3 reasons. It can be one or more of these reasons, but you will discover every teacher has at least one of these reasons.

The first reason is, people become teachers because they love to teach. Some people find that teaching is just a default mode. When I began working in churches, I loved examining and explaining aspects of faith. I loved to learn about the Bible and then share what I learned with others. I loved the entire process. I didn't choose to teach, I just taught.

Some people are just natural teachers, it is how they are wired. The way information is processed, I don't really feel comfortable with something until I can tell someone else about it. I want to be able to understand something well enough to explain it to another person. I naturally became better at this process through teacher training and education, but teaching is just who I am. It is almost in the way I process information.

Some individuals go into the profession because it is just who the are. I was often told I would be a great teacher before I became a teacher. When I worked in other jobs, I found myself teaching. When I worked at a manufacturing plant, I was drawn to training and instruction. When I worked in wildlife, I found myself teaching homeowners about the wildlife that was causing the nuisance and how to deal with or mitigate it. I just taught.

In my life, I have loved teaching Sunday School. When I preach, teaching is more of my default style. Passing along knowledge and understanding is key to how I communicate. I find that even my storytelling is didactic. This leaves me with a few weak points. First off, those of us who are natural teachers can seem condescending when we are talking to people. My natural inclination is to teach, and in doing so I sometimes give too much detail or background. Naturally, people can feel like I assume they don't know anything. It can be off-putting to feel like an individual is talking to you like you are a student, and I don't mean to do it. I try to not assume a teacher role when I am just in casual conversation.

Some people are just wired as teachers. Paul says that God gave some to be teachers, so those who are in Christ may have the added spiritual gift to teach. It may require others to be patient with us, as we don't mean to be in teaching mode all the time, we just don't know any better. A teacher is more than what I do, it really is who I am in a very real way.

Don't Get Theology from Tiktok

 I enjoy TikTok, and I have made some videos, mostly on car stuff. I tend not to get too theological on TikTok. I do enjoy some content by some Christian creators on TikTok, but I have seen a lot of bad theology. I have seen some really, really bad theology on TikTok. I have come to one conclusion, Tiktok is not the place to establish your theology.

Here is the issue when we give everyone a platform. People will find some rare, obscure interpretation or theory or idea and then go on like they have the keys to the universe. They are going to show up and teach you something that no one has taught you. It is basically the theological equivalent of a conspiracy theory. They will pull some obscure references from a single translation, work some mental gymnastics, and tell you something "new".

Let's be honest, it's not new. Heresies began before the New Testament was complete. Judiaser, Gnotics, and Nicolatians all show up in the New Testament. Arianism, Antinomianism, and syncretism all appeared shortly after. Any time there is truth, someone will distort it for their own purposes. On TikTok, that purpose is usually to get views. They will call themselves "experts" or "scholars" and will often seek to debate others by chopping at logic focusing on individual trees and ignoring the forest.

The scripture is an interconnected book, and the 66 individual books need to be taken as a whole. Taking a part from a passage to make a point is a horrible way to do exegesis. We use the Bible to interpret the Bible, and pulling one verse or part of a verse out of a passage and using it as proof is what we call "proof-texting". It is exactly the same thing as finding a speech and taking a sound bite out as a "gotcha" moment. It is theologically inconsistent, logically flawed, and deceptive as best.

Remember, TikTok exists for entertainment. It does not replace church, study, or legitimate books, study aids, and commentaries. There are 2,000 years of Christian history filled with individuals looking for the truth. If someone shows up on TikTok who can "prove" or "disprove" based on some interpretation they pulled out of nowhere, they are just another in the long list of heretical false teachers who are looking to lead God's people astray. Don't fall for it!