Witnessing to the Witnesses

I had a very interesting conversation with a couple of "Jehovah's Witnesses" the other day.  I want to tell you about the main issues discussed.

Goodness!

I heard a very strange objection to Christianity recently - an atheist wondered why we believed that God was good! 

Surely it's wrong to be sure???

I want to talk about something that we hear a lot in our society in which people love to be offended.

Hide & Seek

It's one of the very few arguments atheists advance in support of their view - the hiddeness of God.

So?

I was talking to a man yesterday about the reality of salvation.  He told me that he used to work in the Middle East and would be more inclined toward Islam.

The same, only different

"All sin is sin!"  This truism is frequently employed to make people think that God sees no difference in the seriousness of the sins that people commit, and some times that very sentiment is expressed - "God doesn't differentiate between sins.  The only problem with this view is...it's wrong!

You couldn't make it up

I was speaking to someone last week who mentioned that there were books that the early Christians threw out of the Bible.  It is a common charge - the Christians cherry picked and edited the books that suited their agenda and threw out the rest.  It's a common charge but that doesn't make it a good one...

That's not bad!

The standard atheist way of defining morality is what advances human flourishing.  This is their starting point, and they have no grounding for it; this is their standard but they have no place from which to hang it.  It is simply the way it is - if something contributes to human flourishing, it's good; if it doesn't then it's bad.

Who does He think He is?

I was having a conversation with a woman who told me she was an atheist.  As we discussed God's existence it emerged that she didn't have any good reasons to believe He didn't exist, and had nothing to say to the evidence I gave for His existence.  The reason she said she was an atheist was because she didn't like God.

More on baptism

I indicated quite a while ago in a previous post that I would do a follow up post on the subject of baptism, and this has been brought to mind by some correspondence with someone who believes that baptism is essential for salvation.