Telling the Story, Part 8: Bridge the Gap

Image Credit:  pannaconsulting.com

Once you’ve told your story you can talk about faith in a way that bridges the gap between Christians and secularists. Our faith teaches practical lessons that make sense - even to skeptics – and we can connect by using them.

We all see the decline in social values and the economic costs we bear because of it.  It’s happened because of a fraying work ethic, lessening of personal responsibility and trashing of the concepts of family and discipline.  Anyone with common sense sees this.  But people often don’t understand that dysfunctional behaviors violate Christian teaching or that Christianity’s standards once provided cohesiveness and self-discipline that helped prevent destructive behaviors.

Christianity is attacked so routinely that people reflexively reject our faith, don’t understand it and don’t see the importance of its values.  We should tackle this and make the connection between the diminishment of faith and our dysfunctional society.  Believe in God or not, we’ve seen what happens when secularists ignore Christian teachings and make up the rules. Their failure gives our faith street cred.

Everyone needs hope, and we can offer it.   In 2008 the presidency was won partly on the promise of hope.  But hope for what, exactly?  It was never defined, leaving everyone to plug in whatever they wished for.  In most cases it was probably for “things” like a better job, cheaper rent or the end of war.  As important as these are, they pale compared to the promise of Christ. Our hope is bigger.  It’s for an eternal life that transcends our problems and gives us a perspective that mitigates despair.  We should explain how this affects our lives. 

Many people don’t believe eternal life is possible, but we can’t be shy about presenting it.  When I understood this promise, even though I thought it was farfetched, I asked myself, “What if this is true?” and decided to find out.  It was the hook that inspired curiosity.

Sometimes we can tie into what the other person already believes.  One guy’s outlook changed because a pop author suggested an “attitude of gratitude.”  But it’s just a shallow knockoff of Christian belief. We’re thankful to a God who made everything, watches over us, and gives us eternal life. Non-spiritual gratitude is limited and lacks the depth and promise of Christian belief.

The Big Bang Theory and the Theory of Evolution can be bridges.  Without disputing them, mention that the questions neither can answer are exactly the things faith explains. Science can’t credibly explain where life comes from or what created the universe, so skeptics are left with implausible answers that enable them to ignore God.  We should explain that faith completes our view of the universe by providing the missing answers.

Our job is to get people to think.  Get them to say “Really?” “No kidding!”  “I never knew that.”  “I never thought about it that way.”  The idea is to have them ask themselves “What if this is true?”  If you bring an unbeliever to this point, you’ve done a stellar job.

Next Christian Standpoint article:  Continuing the Conversation

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