DEALING WITH PROFESSED SKEPTICS AND INFIDELS
There are various classes of Sceptics and the same methods of dealing
will not answer for all.
1. _Skeptics who are mere triflers._ With such use 1 Cor. i. 18. If a
man says the Bible is foolishness to him, you can say “Yes, that is just
what the Bible itself says.” He will probably be surprised at this reply
and then you can show him 1 Cor. i. 18; “the preaching of the cross is
to them that perish foolishness.” Then you can say to him, “You see that
the Bible says that it is foolishness to some—them that _perish_—and the
reason it is foolishness to you is because you are perishing.” 1 Cor.
ii. 14, can be used in a similar way. A worker was one night dealing
with a man who said to him when he was trying to persuade him to come to
Christ, “all that you are saying is foolishness to me.” The worker
quickly replied, “Yes, that is just what the Bible says.” The man looked
at him in astonishment and said: “What?” “You said all that I have been
saying to you was foolishness to you, and that is just what the Bible
says.” The man was more astonished then than ever and the worker turned
him to 1 Cor. ii. 14, “But the natural man receiveth not the things of
the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he
know them because they are spiritually discerned.” The man said “I never
saw that before; I never thought of it in that light before.” 2 Cor. iv.
3, 4, is very useful in showing the trifler that he is lost and that his
skepticism arises from the fact that the “god of this world hath blinded
his mind.” 2 Thes. ii. 10‒12, is useful in showing the origin of
skepticism, “because they received not the love of the truth” and the
consequences of skepticism—delusion and damnation. John viii. 21, 24, is
also very searching in dealing with this class of skeptics, showing the
terrible consequences of unbelief. John v. 44; iii. 18, 19, 20 expose
the origin of scepticism. Ps. xiv. 1, is useful in some cases though one
needs to be guarded in its use, using it only when it can be done with
earnestness and tenderness. 2 Thes. i. 7, 8 can also be used with good
results.
2. _Serious minded skeptics._ There is a large class of men and women in
our day who are really desirous of knowing the truth but who are in an
utter fog of skepticism. John vii. 17 is a very helpful passage in
dealing with such. It shows the way out of skepticism to faith. Get the
skeptic to act along the line of that verse. Put to him the question,
“Will you surrender your will to God and promise to search honestly and
earnestly to find out what God’s will is that you may do it, to ask God
to show you whether you need a Saviour and whether Jesus is a Divine
Saviour, the Son of God; and will you promise that, if God will show you
that Jesus is the Son of God, to accept Him as your Saviour and confess
Him before the world?” Have him make his promise definite, by putting it
down in black and white. If you get him to do this, his skepticism will
soon take wings.
One evening at the close of a service I asked a gentleman why he was not
a Christian. He replied: “I will tell you. I do not talk much about it;
for I am not proud of it as some are, but I am a skeptic. I have lain
awake nights thinking about this matter.” “Do you believe there is a
God?” “Yes, I never gave up my faith that there was a God.” “Well, if
there is a God you ought to obey him. Will you to–night take your stand
upon the will of God to follow it wherever it carries you even if it
carries you over the Niagara Falls?” “I try to do as near right as I
know how.” “That is not what I asked; will you take your stand on the
will of God to follow it wherever it carries you?” “I have never put it
that way.” “Will you put it that way to–night?” “I will.” “Do you
believe God answers prayer?” “I don’t know; I am afraid not.” “You don’t
know that he does not?” “No.” “Well, here is a possible clue to the
truth, will you follow it, will you ask God to show you whether Jesus is
His Son; and what your duty concerning him is?” “I will.” Not long after
that the man came into a meeting with a new look in his face. He arose
and said: “I was all in a mist. I believed nothing.” Then he told us
what he had done. He had done just as he promised. “And now,” he
continued, “my doubts are all gone. I don’t know where they have gone
but they are gone.” If the skeptic will not act in this way you can
“stop his mouth” by showing him that he is not an honest skeptic and
that the trouble with him is not his skepticism but his sin. If the man
does not believe there is a God, you can begin one step further back.
Ask him if he believes there is an absolute difference between right and
wrong (if he does not he is a mere trifler). If he says he does, ask him
if he will take his stand upon the right and follow it wherever it
carries him. He may try to put you off by saying “What is right?” or
that he is doing the right as nearly as he knows how. Get him to promise
that he will take his stand upon the right, whatever he may find it to
be and follow it whatever the consequence may be. Then show him that if
he is honest in this promise, he will try to find out what the right is.
Next say to him, “You do not know whether God answers prayer or not. I
know He does, and you will admit that here is a possible clue to
knowledge. If you are honest in your desire to know the truth, you will
follow this possible clue. You can get down and at least pray, ‘O my
God, if there be a God, teach me thy will and I will do it. Show me
whether Jesus is thy son or not. If you show that he is, I will accept
Him as my Saviour and confess Him before the world.’” Then tell the man
to begin reading the Gospel of John, reading slowly and thoughtfully,
only a few verses at a time, asking God for light each time before
reading and promising God that he will follow the light as fast as He
makes it clear. If the man will follow this rational course, it will
result in every case in the skeptic coming out into the clear light of
faith in the Bible, as the word of God, and Jesus Christ as the Son of
God. If the man is not an honest skeptic, this course of treatment will
reveal the fact and then you can show him that the difficulty is not
with his skepticism but with his rebellious heart.
If the man says that he does not know whether there is an absolute
difference between right and wrong, then you can set it down at once
that he is bad and turn upon him kindly and earnestly and say to him,
“My friend, there is something wrong in your life; no man that is living
right doubts that there is a difference between right and wrong. Now you
probably know what is wrong and the trouble is not with your skepticism,
but with your sin.” One afternoon after I had given out an invitation
for any skeptic or any one else who wished to talk with me, to remain
after the meeting, a young man with whom I had dealt some months before
stayed. I asked him what his trouble was. He replied, “The same trouble
that I told you in the spring, I cannot believe that there is a God.” I
asked him if he had done as I had advised him to do in our former
conversation; if he had taken his stand upon the right to follow it
wherever it carried him. He replied that he did not know that there was
any difference between right and wrong. “I do not know that there is
such a thing as right.” I looked him right in the eyes and said, “Is
there some sin your life?”
He said “Yes.” I said “what is it?” He replied, “The same that I told
you last spring.” I said, “You promised to give it up, have you given it
up?” He said “No, I have not.” “Well,” I said, “there is the difficulty,
not with your skepticism. Give up that sin and your skepticism will take
care of itself.” In some confusion he replied, “I guess that is the
trouble.”
3. _Those who doubt the existence of God._
The passages under 1 and 2 can also be used with this class and
generally it is wise to use them before those given under this head.
There are however, three passages that are often times effective with
this specific class of skeptics. Ps. xiv. 1; before using this passage
you can say to the man, “Let me read you from God’s own word what he
says about those who deny his existence.” Often times it is well to
leave the passage to do its own work. Sometimes, however, it is wise to
dwell a little upon it. Call the man’s attention to the fact that it is
“in his heart” that the fool says “there is no God.” He does not believe
there is a God because he does not wish to. You can add that the folly
of saying in one’s heart that there is no God is seen in two points;
first, there is a God and it is folly to say there is not one, and
second, the doctrine that there is not a God always brings misery and
wretchedness. Put it right to the man, and ask him if he ever knew a
happy atheist. Ps. xix. 1, 2; Romans i. 19‒22, are also effective
passages.
4. _Those who doubt that the Bible is the word of God._
Romans iii. 3, 4, is useful in showing that questioning the fact does
not alter the fact. Matt. xxiv. 35, is often used by the Spirit to carry
to the heart of the skeptic the certainty and immutability of God’s
word. Mark vii. 13; Matt. v. 18; John x. 35; Luke xxiv. 27, 44, are
useful as giving Christ’s testimony that the Old Testament is the Word
of God. They are especially helpful in dealing with those who say that
they accept the authority of Christ but not that of the Old Testament,
for in them Christ sets His seal to the Old Testament Scriptures and
they show conclusively that if we accept His authority we must accept
that of the Old Testament also. Along the same line John xiv. 26, and
xvi. 12, 13, are useful as containing Christ’s indorsement of the New
Testament.
1 Thes. ii. 13, can be used with good effect to meet the statement which
is often made, that Paul nowhere claims that his teaching is the word of
God. 2 Peter i. 21, John viii. 47; Luke xvi. 30, 31, can also be used in
dealing with this class. 2 John v. 10, is very effective in showing the
guilt of those who believe not the record that God has given. Before
using this last passage you can say, “You doubt, do you, that the Bible
is the Word of God? Now let us see what God says about those that
believe not His testimony;” then turn them to the passage and have them
read it.
5. _Those who doubt a future existence._
1 Cor. xv. 35‒36; Jno. v. 28‒29; Dan. xii. 2.
6. _Those who doubt the doctrine of future punishment, or the conscious,
endless suffering of the lost._ Rev. xxi. 8, defines what “death” means
when used in the scriptures Rev. xvii. 8, compared with Rev. xix. 20,
shows what perdition or destruction means in the scriptures. Rev. xix.
20, compared with Rev. xx. 10 shows that “the lake of fire” is not a
place where those consigned to it cease to exist, for we find in the
latter passage the beast and false prophet are still there at the end of
a thousand years and that they, so far from being annihilated or losing
conscious existence are tormented night and day forever and ever. Rev.
xiii. 7‒8 show that those who are subjected to the terrible retribution
here described are those whose names are not written in the Book of
Life. Matt. x. 28 shows that there is destruction for the soul apart
from the destruction of the body. Luke xii. 5, shows that after one is
killed and is of course dead, there is a punishment in “hell.” Mark iii.
28‒29 (R. V.) shows that there is such a thing as eternal sin. Luke xvi.
23‒26, shows that the condition of the wicked dead is one of conscious
torment. Mark xiv. 21, shows that the retribution visited upon the
wicked is of so stern a character that it would be better for him upon
whom it is visited if he had never been born.
2 Peter ii. 4; Jude 6, show that hell is not a place where the
inhabitants cease to exist, but where they are reserved alive, for the
purpose of God. Heb. x. 28‒29, show that while the punishment of
transgression of the Mosaic law was death, that sorer punishment awaits
those who have “trodden under foot the Son of God.” Matt. xxv. 41 gives
further light upon the subject. It shows that the wicked go to the same
place with the Beast and False Prophet and the Devil mentioned in Rev.
xix. 20, and xx. 10, and share the same endless, conscious torment.
7. _Those who doubt the divinity of Christ._
a. In Acts x. 36; 1 Cor. ii. 8, compare Ps. xxiv. 8‒10; Heb. i. 8; John
xx. 28; Rom. ix. 5; Rev. i. 17, compare Is. xliv. 6, we find several
divine titles applied to Christ, the same titles being applied to Christ
in the New Testament that are applied to Jehovah in the old.
b. In Heb. i. 10, 3, we find divine offices attributed to Christ.
c. In John v. 22‒23, compare Rev. v. 13; Heb. i. 6; Phil. ii. 10, we
find it taught that Jesus Christ should be worshiped as God.
d. In John v. 22‒23 we find Jesus claiming the same honor as his Father,
and either He was Divine or the most blasphemous impostor that ever
lived. Drive it home that the one who denies Christ’s Divinity puts Him
in the place of a blasphemous imposter. Mark xiv. 61, 62, can be used in
a similar way.
e. 1 Jno. ii. 22, 23, compared with 1 Jno. v. 1, 5, shows that the one
who denies the Divinity of Christ, no matter who he may be, is a liar
and an antichrist. 1 Jno. v. 10‒12, shows that he who does not believe
that Jesus is divine makes God a liar, “Because he believeth not the
record that God gave of His Son.” Heb. x. 28‒29, shows the folly, guilt
and punishment of rejecting Christ as the Son of God. John viii. 24,
shows beyond a question that no one who does not believe in the Divinity
of Jesus Christ will be saved. Jno. xx. 31, shows that we have life
through believing that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God.
(Note. It is best as a rule before taking up specific difficulties to
deal with the inquirer with the passage under the head of “Skeptics who
are triflers,” or those under “Serious minded skeptics.”)
Often times there is no need to take up specific questions as for
example about future punishment until the inquirer has first settled the
matter whether he will accept Christ as his Saviour.