I was talking to a lady last week and there are a few points worth passing on.
She had an Amnesty International sign on her window which said, "I stand for Human Rights". We got into a conversation about spiritual issues and I asked her if she ever thought about what happens after death. She said she did think about it and believed there was something after death and that there was a Supreme Being but she didn't need religion.
I told her that I agreed with her on the fact that we don't need man-made religion, but that when it comes to the future we have good reason to trust the Bible.
I read to her from Psalm 22 and she could see that it was referring to the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ. I pointed out to her that it was written 1,000 BC and hundreds of years before crucifixion was invented. I was making the point that this is showing that the Bible is no ordinary book and it has proven itself to be able to speak with accuracy and authority about the future, and it speaks about our future, and tells us there is a day of judgment ahead. We agreed that it was a good thing that there was a day of judgment - what an awful thing it would be if the injustices of this world were never put right. I then told her that while that is good news it is also bad news because we are all guilty of wrong-doing.
She said at this point that "guilt isn't a word I allow in my vocabulary." She said everyone should just live by their personal ethic and there is no guilt. I asked if she was saying that there is no evil. She affirmed that to be the case! There is no evil, no wrong, you live by your own standards. So I said, "What about child abuse?" Her response was, "Don't talk to me about child abuse. I was brought up Catholic and sure the Catholic Church is abusing children every day." I said, "And that's wrong, isn't it?" She started, then stopped, and didn't say anything. So I said, "You said in one sentence that there is nothing wrong or evil and then in the very next sentence you are complaining about the wrongs and evils done by the Roman Catholic Church."
I asked, "Human trafficking, slavery, are these things evil?" She turned her head away and thought for a long moment, then quietly said, "I don't know." This is someone who proclaims from her front window that she stands for human rights, yet she says she doesn't know if human trafficking and slavery are wrong!
I said, "I think you do know. I think you know these things are evil, but you're recognising that that points to a transcendent standard and a righteous God to whom we are accountable."
To my amazement, she said she agreed! I was able to tell her that the Bible not only prophesied how He would die, but it prophesied why He would die (Isaiah 53:4-6) - to pay the penalty for our sin so that we could go free if we trust Christ as our Saviour and claim Him as our Substitute.
