How do you minister to atheist?

[Madeline]

How do you minister to atheist?

Most atheists I minister to don't care what I have to say. The Gospel bounces off of them like bullets to Superman. If I tell them that God loves them and sent his only Son to die for them, they respond by saying, 'I don't care, I don't believe that!'. Or if I were to ask them if they believe that they will go to heaven when they die, they respond by saying, 'I don't believe in God or Heaven' What am I suppose to do? And I don't want to go force the Gospel on them, they get upset sometimes and this scares me!!!

Love,
Madeline

[hermanj]

I would make it personal to you. Instead of trying to tell them about God, ask if you can share with them your views on God and religion. Then proceed to share the Gospel with them, while always relating it back to yourself. That way, it does not seem threatening. I believe that the Holy Spirit is powerful enough that someone who does not believe in God can hear the Gospel and come under enough conviction to get saved.

However, make sure you do not offend them! (I say this only to reiterate a point you already made.) If they say no, I might ask again, but if the answer does not change then I would leave it alone. It would be much better to leave them so that they would be willing to turn to someone who knows God than to offend them so that they will never turn to God.

[Psalms18_28]

My husband used to be an atheist. He joined Amway (we are not in it anymore), and all they did was talk about God. He didn't like it at first, he just wanted to make money, but the more he listened, the more he realized.

Just carry on to your normal conversation and keep bringing up how good Jesus is to your life and why when the opportuntity knocks.

[Anon]

Try asking an atheist why we have seven days in the week and why we have Saturday and Sunday off. :D

[Samer]

The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.

And so it is that the Bible doesn't need to prove God--it's evident by nature--and it simply begins "In the beginning God..."!

We know that people who reject this are hardheaded and willfully ignorant (Psalm 14:1, 2 Peter 3:5). Thus, they usually aren't responsive to logic.

Atheism, to say there is no God, is silly. To say there is no God is akin to saying there is no gold in China. Such a statement requires absolute knowledge of everything, which none of us has but God.

If I told you to look at any building, and asked you to prove to me that there is a builder, you would probably say "That's easy! The building is proof that there was a builder." You don't just lay down cement and lights and bricks and glass, and turn around and after a million years, a building will be there. And so creation is proof of a Creator.

It's the same with a painting, like the Mona Lisa. Prove to me a painting has a painter, and you will say the painting itself is proof. Nobody in their right mind would think the Mona Lisa (or something much more complex) appeared by chance, yet the earth and heavens are filled with beauty and art. Art implies an Artist.

Recently, I went with some coworkers to Yosemite National Park, an amazing, breathtaking place. Occasionally as we were hiking, we would come across a few stones that were stacked on top of each other (as sort of mini Stonehenges, if you will). Amidst all the other rocks on the path, we noticed these, and knew instinctively that some man had come put them on top of each other. Just a few stupid little rocks, three or four, on top of each other, and we all knew they were put in order by intelligence. If these rocks need an orderer, what of all the order found in the Universe, from the atomic in level, to the galactic?

Here is a picture from the trip, to show the foolishness of my friends. They recognized the intelligence placing a few rocks together, but do not believe in the God of the Universe, but think everything around us came by chance. Sometimes, you just can't reason with these people and have to pray for conviction of sin, similar to what Jim stated.



Incidentally, they are computer programmers. Of course, the genetic code is vastly more compact and complex, with amazing error checking, than any human code on a computer. I have read that the amount of information in one pinhead of DNA would fill up many miles of DVD's stacked upon each other.

Countless statistics can be used--the anthropic principle is amazing--but in the end, they're just willingly ignorant, as Peter says.

Here's another illustration:

If you put a computer, a robot, a 747 jet, and a worm next to eachother, and you ask any scientist which is the most intricately designed, out of those four, they would all say the worm.

When you study how an eye works, a digestive system works, the intricate details are amazing. So if the computer, robot, and 747 all had creators and designers, what sense does it make to believe the worm came about by luck and chance over time? Doesn't really make sense. Think about it--would all the parts of a 747, placed inside a garage for billions and billions of years, with however many tornadoes as you like, ever become a 747? Of course not! Not only if the computer, robot, and 747 had a creator and designer, the creator and designer of the worm would have to be much greater, and grander, than that of the others.

Also, Bible prophecy is an amazing proof of God that may work with some. You may want to explore that.
Also, it's important not to talk much about the gospel before having given the law, which is necessary to convict them of sin so that the gospel will make sense.

And remember! God has given us ALL a conscience inside of us. Every time we sin, we do it with knowledge that it is against God's law. Use this fact!!!

[Anon]

Actually that beautiful picture is not only a proof of God, but a proof of the flood. If you fly in an airplane above the mountain ranges you can practically see how the water made rivets and valleys and ran off the face of the earth. Its amazing to me how blind the scientists really are...willfully, because the only other choice is to accept Christ.

[Madeline]

Those are some excellent suggestions samer, thank you! And I love that picture, I can almost smell the trees! But then I don't smell to well.

Love,
Madeline

[ltl]

I've got some more suggestions as well.
1) The last thing to do is to get into an intellectual debate. Try not to quote from stuff (like from secular historians) outside the Bible to help your witnessing, and STAY AWAY from philosophical stuff. Many of them are well-skilled in philosophy and such stuff, they will defeat you easily if you do not rely on God's Word alone.

2) 1 point you can tell them: Man, by nature, is a religious being. Even the most remotest tribe will at least worship something, or will be interested in spiritual fulfillment. If it is not religion (very true for the atheist) that they seek, they will seek other things, like philosophy, arts, history and so on. I have never, in my life, heard of a person who has absolutely no interest in any spiritual things. Does that not tell us Man retains in his heart, a knowledge (albeit corrupted) that there a God exists? Tell them then, this God is the Biblical God, the Lord God Almighty.

3) What about life after death? Many atheists will tell you after death, they just go out of existence. But I doubt any of them will feel comfortable about it. Aha! The conscience. The fear, that judgment shall come for them after death. Another evidence of God's existence. Focus on this part, the conscience (as the other brethren here have mentioned). If God does not exist, then morality does not need to exist as well, because human beings will have no one to be responsible to, but themselves. This is why many unsaved people who go on to a life of decadence and evil first reject God.

5) Btw, I find it contradictive they can get upset after hearing the gospel of Christ preached. If they do not believe (and reject) in God or the gospel, they wouldn't feel offended in the first place (because they think it's nonsense). Perhaps it's their conscience being pricked? Hmmm...

And, if they threaten to get violent or blackmail you, back away. [it's good if you can find a fellow brethren to help you] You preached the gospel to them: it is now their responsibility to accept or reject it. But at least you have sown seeds of God's Word in them, which, hopefully... will grow and bear fruit aplenty.

May God's blessings and protection be with you, as you preach His news to the lost!

[Madeline]

WOW ltl! You're brilliant!!! You must do a lot of ministering. I typically find the evolutionists the most difficult to deal with. I tried to run away from someone who got violent and he caught me, this scares me. So now I pray for God's protection each time I minister to strangers. I'm going to use those pointers you gave me, thank you ltl!

Love,
Madeline

[Jerry]

Samer, that is such a good picture. Would it be possible to get permission (for Angela) to use it for our computer background site?
http://www.earnestlycontending.com/LUJesus

[Samer]

Sure thing, Jerry. I just clicked it, but God made it. :mrgreen:

Once I'm home later today, I'll look for the original-resolution version to send you.

[Tim]

As mentioned in another thread Way of the Master is not a KJV only site or ministry but I have this book and it is great in explaining the fallacies of Atheism.


God Doesn't Believe in Atheists

http://www.livingwaters.com/Merchant2/merchant.MV?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=104

[Samer]

Jerry:
http://img154.imageshack.us/img154/254/img0781lm1.jpg

[Jerry]

Thanks - that picture is even better this way.

[lettheredeemedsayso]

When ministering to an athiest I would address the issue of

What is Truth?