Answering the Critics

The other day, I was accosted by a sales girl in a shopping centre. I've met this kind before. They pass you a freebie, then you're hooked. Not every sales girl can do this well, but the girls from this particular organisation are well trained, I have to say. This is the second time in roughly 5 years that I've come across this brand, and it is also the second time I've spent way to much money with them...

That aside, I took the opportunity share the gospel with the girl. She had built a good rapport with me, and was very easy-going and open. Since she was sharing a great product with me (I do think they are good quality products), I thought I'd share something great with her too!

She was so polite, but had some serious indictments against God. Her family fled the Poh Pot regime in Cambodia, and one of her sisters fell victim to the genocide there. If God exists, she countered, this shouldn't have happened.

Additionally, she believed that people only need God when they are sad or in trouble. In other words, she believed God is a crutch only made up by people in need. She also felt that she had no choice to follow another god since her family are all Buddhists. What do you say to such a list?

These arguments are very common. I've read them in books and movies, and heard them repeated in discussions with friends. They may be universal questions but sometimes I wonder if some people just pick up these views from the media.

What I do know is that trying to convince someone when their mindset is fixed is like banging your head against a brick wall. She was definitely fixed, and in any case, she was a stranger I'd met for the first time. For most people, convincing people is not the strategy to take, and you can't allow emotions to overtake rational discussion. No matter how emotional your conversation (or debating) partner, you have to stay rational and calm. You plant a seed, expose a flaw in their argument(s), share Christ with them, show them His love and that's all you can do.

I don't know if what I said went anywhere, but what I hoped that I had done is plant a seed that would make her think, and continue to sit in her heart and remind her in days to come.

We have to remember that we are not there to convince people. It's God who will ultimately help them to be convinced. We are to be faithful messengers who communicate the message accurately, and represent God faithfully. We may be the last in a long line of messengers who plants the last seed to break down the hardness of their hearts, or we may be one in the middle. But every one counts.

I am reminded of an analogy I heard in an awesome SFC camp meeting one year (any SFCers out there??) that everytime we share is like a drop of water. That drop may not seem to go anywhere, but over time, consistent drips over time can break down rock in a way that no flood can.

Be a drop of water today!