Back in 2014 I went to hear a Christian speaker on my college campus. He was a scientist that was speaking on how modern genetics proves neo-Darwinism wrong. The event was sponsored by the Society for the Advancement of Creation Science (SACS) and the auditorium was almost packed. There were a lot of atheist who came, as well as Christians. The lecture was interesting and VERY scientific, so a lot of it was way over my head. The speaker mainly stuck to the science and hardly mentioned God at all, but when he opened the floor up for questions there were lots of people angrily attacking him for being Christian and believing in God, which had nothing to so with his thorough presentation about modern day genetics. It was getting a little too hostile for me in the Q&A so I left and just sat down in the hallway and prayed for the speaker. I prayed that The Lord would give him strength and the right answers to give these hard-hearted people. And I prayed for the people, that they would come to know the grace and love of God.

While I was sitting out there, a guy approached me. I had known this guy for a little over a year and he briefly attended my church before leaving for theological differences. The guy was a follower of John MacArthur, the father of the modern “Lordship Salvation” movement that came out of Reformed Theology. This student was always very hostile, even when he was being nice, he just came across as hostile. Several times I even wondered if the guy had demonic influence. But that’s another story.

I was making small talk with him about the lecture, when two guys walked by. One I recognized as an atheist that a friend and I talked to 3 years prior. My friend shared the gospel with him and brought him to talk to a minister friend of ours who had more experience with the questions the guy was asking. In-between those two meetings I saw the guy on campus involved with an atheist group. I’d seen him many times in passing throughout the years but he didn’t ever seem to remember me. Every time I saw him I would get a weird feeling like I needed to share the gospel with him, but I was never in a situation where the opportunity presented itself.

Anyways, the atheist asks us what we thought about the lecture and we told him. I mentioned that, even though I am a Christian and I believe that God created the world in 6 days like the Bible says, I get kind of frustrated when Christians put arguing about Creation/Evolution above sharing the gospel. I agree with them on the issue, but I see sharing the gospel as a much bigger thing than arguing over how old the earth is. He then mentioned that he was an atheist and talked about how he sees issues like climate control as a much bigger issue. Not wanting to open or discuss that can of worms, I kept quiet.

In comes the the other guy. For sake of not sharing his name, I’ll just use his initials, SG.

SG: Are you a good person?

Atheist: I’d like to think so…

SG: Have you ever broken any of the Ten Commandments?

Atheist: I don’t think so. I grew up Catholic.

SG: Have you ever lied?

Atheist: I uh, um, yes, I’ve lied before

SG: What do you call someone who lies?

Atheist: a liar?

SG: Correct! You’re a liar

Atheist: You’re being kinda mean….

ME: That’s just his voice, he can’t help it (trying a bit of humor to lighten the tension)

SG: Have you ever stolen anything?

Atheist: Uh……yeah.

SG: What do you call someone who steals?

Atheist: a thief…

SG: Have you ever looked at someone with lustful thoughts?

Atheist: Um……yes….

SG: Well, the bible says if you even look at a woman with lust then you have committed adultery in your heart. So by your own admission you are a lying stealing adulterer at heart. You are a sinner

Atheist: I uh, um…

SG: The bible says that if you are a sinner you deserve to go to hell.

(At this point the atheist is clearly offended and upset from the tone and hostility that SG is using towards him)

ME: May I interject?

SG & Atheist: Yes

ME: Look, I see this all as like a courtroom setting. You know, like the courts we have in America. Laws are set up and if we break those laws we go to court and the judge gives us our punishment. Well, God set up these laws and told us what we can and can’t do. But we have all sinned, and the Bible says that if we even do one little sin, we deserve to go to hell. God requires perfection to go to heaven, and we aren’t perfect. We all deserve hell! Even me! All the terrible things I’ve done, I deserve hell.

Atheist: But why would you serve a God who is such a tyrant?

ME: He’s not a tyrant, I was just getting to that in my analogy.

Atheist: Oh, sorry, go ahead…

ME: Now, I’m sitting in front of the judge and he tells me that I’ve broken his laws and that I deserve punishment. Which I do. But all of a sudden, a man stands up and comes in-between the judge and I and says “let me take his punishment instead. I love him and I don’t want him to suffer, let me take the pain and suffering so he won’t have to”. So the judge agrees. The man who stood up turns and says, I’m taking your punishment, if you simply believe that I am paying for your crimes and am saving you from that, then you can be free and live in eternity with me.” That man is Jesus, God in the flesh. He loves us so much that he was willing to die for us and he offers everlasting life to all those who simply believe that he is who he claimed to be and that his death accomplished what he claimed it accomplished. See? He’s a loving God, not a tyrant. And even though we may mess up sometimes, he is waiting with open arms as our father who loves us.

Atheist: Huh….interesting…

SG: May I say something?

ME: Sure

SG: God doesn’t want you. You’re a sinner, you admitted it, and God doesn’t want sinners. He won’t take sinners. All the sins that you have done, you have to stop doing them and then he will take you when you believe in him. You have to turn away from all the sin in your life and the come to him because he doesn’t want you right now

*At this point the atheist is very confused and still frightened by the hostile and accusative tone of SG. Throughout SG’s confrontation the atheist was slowly backing up, and I could tell by his body language that he was very nervous and uncomfortable.  Luckily, some more outspoken confrontational atheists came up and start arguing with SG, and he starts using the same questioning tactic with them. I notice that the first atheist is kind of nervously slinking away and I can tell that he is distraught and confused. While SG is arguing with the other atheists, I approached the first one a bit away from the group of the others.*

ME: Hey man, I just wanted to let you know that I am sorry about the way he was acting. He and I don’t see eye to eye on a lot of things and I’m sorry he came across so hostile.

Atheist: Oh……it’s fine….he was acting very mean. If someone is trying to share an idea or their faith with you, they should do it in love and compassion, not mean attacking and hostile

ME: I completely agree with you. And unfortunately there are many people like him that aren’t loving like they should be, and I hate it because it isn’t right. I can’t stand it

Atheist: I can tell that you’re a nice guy

ME: Ha, well, I love people, and I’m all about showing love and kindness to everyone.

Atheist: That’s good

ME: Look, here’s my number, and if you ever want to talk more about this stuff, or if you have any questions, I would love to sit down and talk to you about all this in a non confrontation way.

Atheist: I’d like to do that sometime.

I immediately recognized SG’s tactics as those of known Lordship Salvation proponent Ray Comfort and his ministry, The Way of the Master. The tactics do a good job of helping someone to realize they are a sinner, but that’s about where the usefulness stops. It is a very outdated method and leads to people becoming very confused and doubting whether they are saved or not. It is definitely NOT the way of my master, Jesus.

During the whole encounter I was nervous because I was seeing someone lead an unbeliever astray, but the Lord kept me calm and allowed for a window of opportunity to spark some truth. I was worried because SG was very hostile and mean to him and shared a false gospel about how God doesn’t want him until he cleans up his life, but I now realize that it was a good thing. The atheist saw two different approaches to witnessing. He saw an angry hostile judgmental and condemning person who claimed to be Christian and a quiet, loving, gentle, and compassionate Christian. He showed more interest in talking with the latter because of the love and compassion. I’m not trying to make myself look better than SG, I’m just merely observing how the atheist reacted to the two types of approaches. I am argumentative by nature, but the Lord gave me the confidence and the right words to speak to the atheist. I could feel God’s presence there. It was amazing.

Jesus never approached lost people and immediately started telling them that they were going to hell. He showed nothing but love and compassion to people. Also, Jesus never said he didn’t want sinners, in fact, he said quite the opposite. He said he came to save the sinners. And in the book of John, which was written with the sole purpose of leading an unbeliever to faith, the word faith or believe (same Greek word) is used over 76 times in reference to eternal salvation. Not once does it give any prerequisites or additions to “believe”. That is because we are saved by God’s grace through our faith alone in Christ alone, not by our works. “Cleaning yourself up” or “stopping sin” is never a requirement to go to receive everlasting life.

John 3:16 says that “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him will not perish, but have everlasting life.”

The moral of this event is that we should always show love and compassion to people, ESPECIALLY when sharing the gospel with an unbeliever. The apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13, “If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing. If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.”

He then goes on to say in the same chapter, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”

The Bible teaches that we need to teach the truth of the gospel of Christ in a loving manner. We are called to tell people that we are all sinners and that we all have fallen short of God’s requirement to get into heaven, which is perfection, and that we all deserve the punishment for breaking God’s law, and that punishment is hell. But Jesus paid for all of our sins and took on the pain and death that we deserved. He then rose again proving that He was God and that what He said was true. And that if we simply believe that he is who he claimed to be and that his death accomplished what he claimed it accomplished, then we will spend eternity in heaven with Him.l

Later that week the atheist texted me and thanked me for being kind to him. We ended up meeting and talking more about the gospel and he talked about how hostile and harsh SG was. I informed him that much of what SG said, especially about “God not wanting” him, was false and was not taught in scripture.

I often think about the atheist and what became of him. It wasn’t my job to convert him on the spot. We are never called to “argue someone to Christ” because that will never work. But we are called to share the gospel. As the writer of Hebrews says: “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any double-edged sword, piercing even to the point of dividing soul from spirit, and joints from marrow; it is able to judge the desires and thoughts of the heart.”

In this encounter, my job was to simply share the gospel of Christ’s love and grace and be an example of Christ to this lost person. The Holy Spirit will take it from there.