Question: "How should Christians stand up for their faith in such an anti-Christian world?"
Answer:
As Christians, the two things we can do to stand up for Christ are to
live according to His Word and grow our own knowledge of Him. Christ
said, “Let your light shine before men…” (Matthew 5:16).
This means that we should live and act in a way that supports the
gospel. We should also arm ourselves with knowledge, both of the gospel (Ephesians 6:10-17) and of the world around us. First Peter 3:15
says, “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared
to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the
hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.” All we can
do is live and teach as Christ would and let Him take care of the rest.
Critics of Christianity have become more vocal recently. This is partly
because there are many people who do not believe in God or understand
the truth about Him at all. Yet the apparent increase of anti-Christians
is also due to perception. As with many topics, those who truly despise
Christianity are the loudest and most vocal of the non-believers. The
vast majority of those who do not believe don’t care enough to bother
believers. The few angry, vocal, bitter unbelievers make enough noise to
seem more numerous than they are.
The typical insult from the non-religious crowd is to refer to believers
as “ignorant,” “stupid,” “brainwashed,” or to otherwise suggest that
those who have faith are less intelligent than those who do not. When a
Christian stands up intelligently for his faith, the terms change to
“bigot,” “extremist,” or “zealot.” When people who know that the
believer is kind and loving hear this, the atheist starts to look like
the fool that he or she is (Psalm 53:1).
Most non-believers have no personal reason to see Christians
negatively, but they sometimes hear so much from the loud
anti-Christians that they just assume it is so. They need examples of
Christ-like living to see the truth.
Of course, when someone claiming to be a Christian says or does
something that is not Christ-like, the angry, loud crowd is there to
identify him as a typical religious hypocrite. This is something we have
been warned to expect (Romans 1:28-30; Matthew 5:11).
The best thing to do is to cite a passage of the Bible that speaks
against what the person did. And remind the atheists that just because a
person says he is a Christian, and even if he thinks he is a Christian,
that does not mean that he is. Matthew 7:16,20
tell us that true Christians will be known by their actions, not merely
by their profession. And remind critics that absolutely no one lives
without sinning at all (Romans 3:23).
An important thing to remember is that no one, no matter how persuasive,
can force anyone to believe anything he doesn’t want to believe. No
matter what the evidence, no matter what the argument, people will
believe what they want to believe (Luke 12:54-56). Conviction is not a Christian’s job. The Holy Spirit convicts people (John 14:16-17),
and they choose whether or not to believe. What we can do is present
ourselves in a way that is as Christ-like as possible. It is sad that
there are many atheists who have read the entire Bible looking for
ammunition against Christians, and that there are many Christians who
have hardly read the Bible at all.
It’s hard for the angry crowd to accuse a Christian of being a hateful,
cruel bigot when that person demonstrates a life of kindness, humility,
and compassion. When a Christian can discuss, debate or debunk secular
arguments accurately, the label of “ignorant” no longer fits. A
Christian who has read the secular arguments and can politely expose
their flaws helps to deflate the stereotypes advanced by atheists.
Knowledge is the weapon, and it is invincible when we let Christ direct
us in how to use it.
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