One time I had a reader write me a series of letters and started it by saying that I was full of *%$! concerning the Bible. He went on to say that the Bible was not true and anyone espousing it was a liar. I rarely respond to such but this time I did. I asked him what he based His belief system on. He quickly responded that he did not have one and that he was an atheist.
I told him that even atheists base their belief system in something, so what was his. He responded and indeed it turns out he doesn’t have one. The bottom line is he merely “knows” there is no God.
Hmmm . . . At this point I decided I wanted to engage further. I pressed on and insisted he had to believe in something! I could tell he was getting exasperated, and that is exactly the effect I desired. He let go with numerous oaths and called me every name in the book. Yikes his foul mouth was very nasty! I told him as much and told him his mother should have washed his mouth out with soap as a youngster.
He told me his mother was a drug addict and his father was in prison. Hmmm . . . Now that was disappointing. and then he tried his utmost to curse and insult me again and that didn’t seem to work so well, so what was left?
I told myself I am going to testify to this guy, after all I had been studying the Bible for over fifty years and had engaged in writing Words for the Day for over 25 years and today my faith was as solid as a rock. I told him I’d been abused by my father too, but it didn’t turn me into an atheist. I told him about Jesus paying his sin debt and that we all needed to admit He was the Son of God and ask for His forgiveness and to follow Him forever.
I would like to say that He became a Christ follower, but such is not the case. Instead, He just hurled more insults and cursed up a vile storm. I learned a long time ago that I merely plant a seed, someone else waters it, and God is the One who makes it grow. I ended our conversation by telling him thanks for the stirring debate and I was going to pray for him.
1 Corinthians 3:6
“I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God gave the growth”