Think like a Christian with Eddie Roman

Opening Prayer and Introduction to the Speaker

See. All right. Well, first of all, I'm going to open up in prayer. So everyone can join me. Lord God, thank you for this time as we dive into your word and really get the foundation of what it is to be a Christian and what you expect from us as we walk in the path of righteousness, Lord.

We love you and I thank you for this time. I pray you be with our speaker, Eddie, and that you would use him mightily and that everyone who attends would be blessed by this message and use it to equip themselves and others.

And we thank you so much, Lord. In Jesus name, amen. So I am Stacey Gaona with Throughout All Ages. Actually, recently, I have became the founder of Throughout All Ages, the CEO, and God just opened those doors wide open.

So what I do, what we do is go into the public high schools and build up the student's character to intellectually think about their worldview and weigh it with truth. And if you want to learn more about Throughout All Ages, 1530 Apologetics, you can go to my website at throughoutallages .com.

During this time of the presentation, I just want to let you know, at the end, feel free to turn on your cameras and you can participate when Q &A is going to begin. So first of all, I'm excited to introduce my speaker.

And his name is Eddie Roman. He is a Christian evangelist, teacher and encourages believers to share their faith. He is a speaker and a team leader at Living Waters Ambassadors Academy. The evangelism training seminar led by Ray Comfort.

Eddie has a book called Search and Rescue. It has been used by churches and individuals who desire to be used by the Lord in evangelism. Eddie is the producer and director of the Way of the Master television program and host by Ray Comfort.

And Eddie has been a creator of programs and many Christian ministries, including the Billy Graham Association, Samaritan's Purse, and Harvest Crusades with Greg Laurie. During his time as a missionary, he was a photographer, video autographer, and Eddie worked in Sudan, Indonesia, Burma, Pakistan, and many other third world countries.

Eddie lives in Marietta, California with his family. And tonight's message is evangelism can be difficult, but these apologetic principles will help you reach the loss. And tonight's message or title is Think Like a Christian.

And I am super excited to announce not just our guest speaker, but a good friend, Eddie Roman. Go ahead, Eddie.

Thinking Like a Christian in Apologetics

Thank you so much. Boy, that was a lot of information. Sorry, I gave you so much information about me. Well, tonight we're going to be talking about apologetics, specifically, how are we to think and act when we are engaging unbelievers?

You know, I understand this fellowship has been around for a long time, you know, thinking and learning about the subject of biblical creationism, very important topic. And I would guess that a lot of people in this fellowship know quite a bit about how to answer questions, how to, you know, engage with atheists about all the different issues that come up.

But even before we get to answering questions, it's really important that we as Christians just understand how to think. I have the great opportunity of leading my church's evangelism squad, and we go out at least once a week and just talk to unbelievers.

And in that environment, it's very easy to, you know, enjoy the debate itself. And I've met a lot of guys over the years who street preach and evangelize and do apologetics. And if we're not careful, it's possible for us to, you know, do these things in a way that just isn't Christ-like at all.

You know, I've seen evangelists and apologists win the argument, but lose their testimony in so many different ways. And so tonight, what we're going to look at is just some things to keep in mind as we're engaging in these things.

So I'm going to share my screen with you. I've got a little PowerPoint presentation I'm going to present here. So let me see if I can get back into my Zoom mindset. All right. So we're going to be looking at apologetics.

So the gospel is good news. If you're a Christian, you know that. But unfortunately, for a lot of the people we talk to, it's not so good news. As a matter of fact, if you witness to people, if you do apologetics for any length of time, you're going to run into people who not only don't like what you have to say, but they don't like you just for bringing these things up.

So tonight, we're going to look at how are we to deal with in being rejected and just in thinking through the objections and things that come our way. You know, the word apologia, it just means speech in defense.

We're defending what it is we believe. And the word comes out of 1 Peter 3 15, which says, sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you.

And with apologetics, so often, ministries and apologists, they focus on that first part. They know the be ready to give an answer part really good. And yet a lot of times, we forget about the very last part of that verse, which says, yet with gentleness and reverence.

And we need to remember that that is so important. It's not just being able to answer questions. It's the way we answer questions as well. You know, first, first Peter 315 is just so important, not only in in the Lord's command to us to be ready.

And it's great that we study these things. But we also need to keep in mind the manner in which in how we're to represent our Lord. Alright, so when you think about defense, defending the faith, you know, think about a castle.

And when when there's a battle going on a castle, you castle, you see these old movies, and you think of like, fiery arrows coming to this castle. And what happens, you know, they bounce off the castle.

And then what do the people in the castle do? Well, they fire back, you know, so when we when we think of a war, a spiritual war, a lot of us tend to have that same mindset where people, atheists, whoever, skeptics, they fire at us, and we're just going to fire right back.

And that's that's the flesh, that's a natural reaction. But But again, that's, that's not the way that's not what we see Jesus doing. You know, Jesus didn't fire back, he, he was humble, he lived in humility.

And, and we just need to look at what the scriptures have to say about how we're to act. So what are we defending against? We're defending against false religion, unbiblical tradition, you know, you think about so I was raised a Catholic, and in Catholicism, and even specific Christian groups, Christian churches, there's a whole lot of unbiblical tradition.

And we can, you know, that can be someone's argument against us, we defend against cultural norms. And now more than ever, we are seeing the separation between Christians and non Christians in many different ways, you know, it's just becoming more normalized, that Christianity is less and less normal in this culture.

So that's something we're defending against. We're defending against political ideas, you know. And without turning this study into a whole nother subject, we all know that politics is at the forefront right now of so many people's minds.

And there's times when we're defending against that, because it comes against our Christian way of thinking, we defend against haters of God, you know, some people just straight out hate God. And when they see you as someone who loves God, well, then you become the target.

So we were defending against this as well. And then we're also defending against demonic influence. And this is really important to remember. So often, we can read a book on how to answer the creationist questions, we can read a book on how to deal with Mormons, or, you know, any group.

And we get into this intellectual mindset to where we just know all the answers. And we become dependent on our intellect, rather than realizing there are demons out there, and they are real. And this is a big part of the issue here.

So we need to remember all these different things. Attacks come in the form of questions about our faith. You really believe that stuff? Assertions. And boy, this is a big one, especially when you're dealing with skeptics.

An assertion is basically a truth claim, a statement with nothing to back up, to back it up. And so many people just believe what they believe. And they tell you, you know, you know what, the Bible just isn't real.

Everybody knows this, you know, that kind of thing. And in their mind, they just believe that as a fact. And yet, they have no nothing, no evidence, no worldview to back it up. They just say these things.

That's just an assertion. And I would say this is actually the majority of the kind of attack that we get. Just, you know, this is how it is, kind of thing. Attacks come in pressure to follow the world.

They come in ridicule and mocking, pressure to conform politically. And boy, again, we're seeing quite a bit of that lately. And also pressure to remain silent. And I think that's actually probably the big one right there.

Just remain silent. Yeah, you can be a Christian on Sunday. You can do whatever you want, you know, in your private time. But when you come to work, when you come to school, you need to keep your faith to yourself.

I actually have a young woman on my evangelism team who recently lost her job because in, you know, behind the scenes, another employee asked her, what do you think about women pastors? And this young lady told her what the Bible had to say about it.

This other employee got upset, told the boss, and within a week, she was fired. Well, and what was the reason for harassing another employee? The one that asked her a question, and she just answered, you know, so the pressure there is just to remain silent.

If she would have just kept her mouth shut, no problem at all. And yet, in her conviction, she just answered the question. She told the truth. And so that's the pressure. And, you know, a little bit about myself, I spent the majority of my Christian life not saying anything, because I was afraid.

I had the fear of man and women going on, and I just didn't want to rock the boat kind of thing. And so that's a very big pressure, you know, and it's something that we need to just trust the Lord and be able to get over.

Seeing Unbelievers Through God's Eyes

Okay. Now, one of the things that's really important, and we're talking about thinking like a Christian here, is just to look at God's description of the lost, you know. Now, we see people on TV, we see atheist skeptics, you know, whatever, these people who oppose the faith, you know, this is a six-day creation fellowship.

So we see these evolutionists or whatever it is that, you know, crawls under your skin in this era of the, you know, whatever you want to call it, the COVID days, there's a lot that can get under our skin right now, you know, our patience level is being tested constantly.

And so we can see these people we see as enemies of the faith, and there can be a fear there, there can be an anger there, there can be just a lot of angst against what we perceive is the enemy. And our description of the lost might include words like scary or, you know, hateful or whatever.

And this can be one of the reasons we keep silent, we just don't want to get into it, because as far as we're concerned, you know, that person is too much for us to deal with, they're too smart, they're too forceful, they're too whatever.

But you know what God has to say about these people who so often we just put on this pedestal of fear, or this, you know, we see these people as like, we could never win an argument or talk to this person.

And yet God sees something totally different, you know, when God looks at unbelievers, he sees children of wrath, he sees children of wrath, he doesn't necessarily see this great smart intellectual person, he sees children of wrath, you know, Ephesians 2, 1 -3 describes every human being before they become a Christian.

So if you're a Christian, this describes you as well, before you were a Christian. It says, and you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.

Among them, we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. This is important to remember that not only are the people that are coming against us like we used to be, but one of the fall into as Christians is we see unbelievers as victims or, oh, these poor unbelievers, if they only knew this one thing, if they only knew this fact, if they only knew this argument, then they would come to their senses and be saved.

And there is a lot of coming to their senses that is involved, but it's not like they're innocent. And that's the important thing to remember here. It's not like unbelievers are neutral and they just need to know something.

No, God looks at them and says, they're children of wrath. Even the nicest skeptic, the nicest atheist you will ever meet from God's perspective, that's a child of wrath. You meet skeptics sometimes and they say, you know what, that Christianity stuff, that's good for you.

And they'll say, oh, so-and-so, he was in jail and now he's a Christian, that's good for him, you know, like as if they need it and I don't. Why? Well, because I'm smarter than them or I would never be so dumb as to do what they did or, but God says, no, you're not smart, you're not innocent, you're not neutral, you're a child of wrath.

This is important to remember. The opponent of God is not neutral. God also says that unbelievers are blind. 2 Corinthians 4, 3 and 4. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

You think of all the scientists who just reject God. You think of the people, the atheists who have made a name for themselves, they sell books, they, you know, speak publicly and they give all this intellectual so-called knowledge to just show their position and they consider themselves being really smart and God looks at them and says, you're blind, that's what you are, you're blind.

And so we shouldn't fear the knowledge of an unbeliever, we just need to think of them, think as a Christian from God's point of view and what God says about them. You know, they're not as smart as you think they are.

They might be smart but intellectual capacity is very different than morality. You can be very smart, you can be, you know, a college professor and still be evil and still be an enemy of God and still not come to the right conclusions with all that information.

Why? Because the person is blind. It's important to remember. Another thing that God says about unbelievers is that they're held captive, right? People call themselves free thinkers. I'm so free. I talked to a woman the other night who, she's in the new age and she's living in a van and she's just driving around, she has no more responsibility.

She escaped the stronghold of her religious parents, according to her, and she's free. And God says, no, you're held captive. Second Timothy 2, 24 -26, the Lord's bond servant, that's us, must not be quarrelsome but be kind to all, able to teach patience when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition.

Why do we need to do that? Here's why. If perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.

Unbelievers are held captive by the devil. It's not just an intellectual issue. It's not that they're free somehow. They're being held captive, right? And the reason we're kind, the reason we walk in the spirit, the reason we think and act according to God's word, is simply because God knows best about how to reach people.

We walk in the spirit, you know? We don't just plot and scheme and try to figure out, oh, if I could say this to this person, you know, communication is important, but even more important is doing things God's way, praying and reaching out to people since sincerely in love, not seeing people as just the bad enemy, but realizing these people are held captive.

So as we're thinking through these things, it's good to have a little strategy, you know? We need to think about what is it, how are we to think and how are we to act, you know? What is it we're supposed to be thinking about here?

It's just a good thing to keep in mind. How to think, first of all, we're just going to believe the Bible. I mean, it really is as simple as that, you know? We're going to believe the Bible. So let's look at, you know, what that might look like.

Guarding Your Mind with Scripture

So how to think. Colossians 2, 8 and 9. This is directly talking about the Christian way of thinking. I believe specifically when it comes to dealing with unbelievers. It says, see to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.

For in him all the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form, and in him you have been made complete, and he is the head over all rule and authority. This is so important. It says, see to it. In other words, this is something you need to do.

This is your responsibility. You need to see to it. I talk to people once in a while who, you know, say, well, I used to go to church, but then I got into Mormonism, or I used to go to church and now I'm a Catholic, or, you know, I used to be a sixth-day creationist, but now I believe in evolution.

And how does that happen? Well, one of the reasons is because those people did not see to it. They did not guard their thinking. They did not arm themselves with a biblical way of thinking, a biblical worldview, you know.

See to it. Those people have been taken captive by the enemy because they didn't guard their own thinking, you know. We need to see to it. This is something that we need to do, and I just want to commend you all who've been studying the scriptures and studying, you know, the differences between the creation way of thinking and the evolution way of thinking, all these things.

Evolution is just simply another way that the enemy has taken people captive through empty deception. It's a philosophy. Like this verse describes evolution. It's a philosophy. It's empty deception. It's according to the tradition of man.

It has nothing to do with the scriptures. We need to see to it. We need to guard our minds when it comes to the way we think. This is how to think. Another really important issue, again, is just the issue of spiritual warfare.

You know, there's a lot of things that we can look at and just kind of get scared. You know, Islam, I remember a few years back, I don't know, five, ten years back, there was so much stuff in the news constantly about people being executed, you know, when the war was going on and ISIS and all that.

It's like never before did we see CNN news coverage of a bunch of guys getting their heads chopped off because they were Christians and the Muslims were chopping their heads off. Now, I understand that not all Muslims do that, and I'm thankful because there's some that live in my neighborhood, but the reality is that happens, you know, and so when we see that stuff on the news, when we hear about it, we can become fearful of Islam or, you know, take your pick.

There's all kinds of religions out there that tend to be militant in the way they do things. We can just hide in fear of what could possibly happen, and yet Ephesians 6, 10, and 12 tells us how we're to think concerning these things.

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Now, that first verse, if you just do that, if you just do that, that is going to solve so many of our issues. Be strong in our intellect?

No. In our stack of creation books? No. In my apologetic know-how? No. Be strong in the Lord. Be strong in the Lord, in the power of His might. Now, that's the issue. Evangelism, apologetics, these things are an act of faith.

We do these by faith. We're saved by faith. We live by faith. We walk by faith. We evangelize. We speak to people. We reason with people by faith. Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the full armor of God so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places, Ephesians 6.

This is such a well-known verse. It's one we hear in church pretty regularly, and yet we're talking to someone, and we just forget it. We forget that there's a spiritual war going on here, and we resort to, how do I answer this, and what do I know?

So often, when I'm on the street and I'm talking to someone, what I try to do, I don't do this all the time, but what I try to do when I'm approaching someone to talk to them, and this would be the same with friends, family, someone at school, when I know I'm about to talk to this person about spiritual things, I just pray, and my prayer is usually something like, God, I have no idea what this person's about to say.

I have no idea how smart they are. I have no idea what they know, but by faith, I'm going to explain the gospel to them, because that's what you want me to do, and this person needs you. Something simple like that.

I just pray that. It can be intimidating talking to someone who you don't know, and that's part of the fear, just fear of the unknown. We don't know what's going to happen, and so we're hesitant, and yet entering into it knowing that it's a spiritual war, that Jesus Christ has already won, by the way.

He just has us here, and we're doing stuff, in the interim between now and glory, but it can be intimidating unless we're trusting in the Lord, and the power of His might. We need to remember to do that.

Another way to think, very important, think like a Christian. It's to take every thought captive. This is something that we need to purposely just think about. When these objections come in, when someone says something you don't understand, I've never been asked that before.

How do I answer that? It seems like every other week, there's some new article coming out in National Geographic. Scientists discover this rock, and that proves evolution. It's like, I don't know anything about that rock.

I've never heard about that before. What about this rock? You can be overrun with these things if you don't take every thought captive. It says, for though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.

We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. Here's a very simple way that that can look like.

Let's say you're a college student, and you're sitting in your class. My wife, when she was in college, she actually heard a professor say, you know what, Christians will tell you in Romans chapter one that the Bible says that everybody knows that God exists, and yet we all know that's not true.

I just want to tell you right now, if there's any Christians in this class, don't even try to bring it up in this class because it's not going to go well for you. First day of class, how's that? And so, if my wife didn't have the mindset of basically, you know, as simple as whatever, you know, I could see where a lot of people could get really tangled up in that and be fearful, you know.

We need to take every thought captive, not let our mind wander into all these places where it really doesn't need to go, knowing that Jesus Christ rules and reigns from heaven. He sits on the throne, and he's not ignorant of all the evil that mankind does.

You know, we need to take every thought captive against everything raised against the knowledge of God. And so, even just hearing an objective, hearing a question that you don't know the answer to, and instead of allowing it to take your thoughts away in all these different places, just simply saying, you know what?

I don't understand what that means, but I do know this. God's word is true. God is in control, and that's all that matters. I don't need to know everything, but I do know this. God is in control, and God knows the answer to that question or that objection.

He might not have given it to me yet, but he knows it's not a surprise to him. We need to take every thought captive. Okay, so that's just some different ways of how we're to think. Even before anything comes out of our mouth, just thinking this way, just having the filter of God's word over your mind as these thoughts come in, it's so important.

That's how to think. But now, how about how to act? It is very easy to get angry when you're talking to skeptics who are just saying the most ridiculous things. It's very easy to allow yourself to just get in the flesh.

Acting with Wisdom, Grace, and Kindness

So, how are we to act when we engage people? Well, again, we're to follow the Bible. You know, Colossians 4, 5, and 6, it directly addresses how we're to act, how we're to conduct ourselves. It says, conduct yourselves with wisdom towards outsiders, unbelievers, making the most of the opportunity.

Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person. So, you know, there is a difference between what you say and how you say it.

And this is so important. There could be something that is absolutely true. And yet, if it's said in a way that's mean, or angry, or just distasteful, that's going to ruin the message. It really is. I mean, every once in a while, you'll see these guys holding up big signs, and they'll say something just obscene, and they're supposedly a Christian.

They'll say, God hates, and then derogatory word for a homosexual right here at the bottom. God hates this word. I don't even want to say. And they're holding up a sign, and they somehow think that that's like a good way to witness.

That person is not conducting themselves with wisdom. That is not wise to do that. It's just not, you know. It's okay for you as a Christian to be repelled against the way that other Christians sometimes act, when you see that it's unbiblical.

That's just unbiblical. I have one person who sends me text messages once in a while. Unfortunately, he got my number, and he's a Christian. And he kind of picks apart and criticizes everything that I do that don't line up with his exact doctrinal statements.

But he just blasts me. He sends all caps, and he knows that that means yelling in text messages, you know. And so what he's saying, sometimes it's actually biblical, you know. But if he was giving it to me in a way where he's being gracious, or at the least using lowercase texting, I might actually listen to it.

But since he's not conducting himself in a Christian way, I don't even pay attention to it. And I would say most people respond the same way. We need to conduct ourselves with wisdom. We need to be wise.

We need to make the most of opportunities. We need to speak with grace. That's the issue. We need to be representatives of the Lord Jesus Christ. Not just knowing the truth, but displaying it in how we act as well.

Back to 2 Timothy 2, 24. A little reminder about how to act. It says, the Lord's bondservant must not be quarrelsome. Don't argue, okay. There's a difference between talking, communicating, presenting evidence, and arguing.

And I think all of us, we know where the line is. Like we know when we're no longer being effective. We're no longer communicating in a gracious way. And now we're just like, yes, yes, it's true. No, I'm right.

You're wrong. You know, we understand that. We don't need to do that. The Lord's bondservant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, except for the atheists. No, it doesn't say that. We're supposed to be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged.

Man, so I have the opportunity of working with Ray Comfort. And I've gotten to know him over the years and, you know, kind of seen how he is when cameras aren't on, when people aren't around. And I've learned so much from that man in the area of just being kind to people.

You know, some of you might've seen the videos of him open air preaching and he's standing up on a box in Huntington Beach. And there's just, you know, people cussing at him and people belittling him and just saying all kinds of rude stuff.

And, you know, he's up there preaching and he does an amazing job of answering people in situations like that. But something that you don't see is after the cameras are turned off and, you know, the crowd is gone.

You don't see Ray approaching this atheist who he just had this debate with, maybe a homeless guy, maybe just a really upset guy and saying, hey man, you know, just wanted you to know that I care about you.

And, you know, there's been many times, Ray would probably hate me saying this, but I don't care because he's not here. There's been times when Ray has bought people's shoes, like homeless guy who just ragged on Ray forever, just screamed at him.

And afterwards, Ray goes up to him and says, hey, I noticed you don't have any shoes on. Can I buy you some? They go across the store to the surf shop, most expensive place to buy anything. And Ray just says, pick some shoes.

And the guy does, and Ray pays for them. Like that's being kind to all. That's loving your enemies. And man, I pray that I can just have a mindset of being like that all the time. It's amazing. And yet that's Jesus Christ right there.

Jesus Christ. He loved his enemies. That's what he did. You know, the Lord's bond servant must not be quarrelsome. He must be kind to all, able to teach patient when wrong. This is so important. Don't look at your opponent.

If you're arguing, debating with a skeptic, don't look at your opponent as the enemy, all bad. Look at them with compassion, understanding that after this debate is over, after your time with them is over, let's say you have a relative who you just can't stand because they're constantly mocking you.

Understand that after your five years or 10 years or 60 years of living with this person and over it's heaven or hell, right? And whatever discomfort they're bringing you now, in reality, the Bible says life is like a vapor.

It's going to be over just like that. And it's heaven or hell. And so don't look at this person as, you know, just someone that you need to just get off your back, but look at them with compassion. They are in peril.

They don't know it, but they are in peril. We need to be kind. We need to be patient when dealing with unbelievers. I'm going to get a drink real quick here. All right. With all that in mind, we're going to look at specifically atheism.

All these principles can apply to any different belief system, but we're just going to take a little time to look at some specific atheist beliefs. And I'm talking about beliefs about themselves in general.

This is what I've seen in talking to atheists. And when I say atheists, I'm usually talking about someone who is actively spreading their faith. They do have faith. They do have beliefs. They're, you know, people who are actively reading books, and they're into this.

They like being an atheist, and they're kind of active about it, you know. And of course, this is just a generalization. Not all atheists are like this, but in general, this is kind of what I've seen.

Atheists, many atheists, when they think of themselves, who they are, they see themselves as being independent, as free thinkers, as reasonable. They're the ones that are reasonable. You know, they're not like you, dumb Christian person, believing in this book of fairy tales.

That's what they think about themselves. They're reasonable. They're logical. And they're just, in general, more intelligent than those religious folks. That's what atheists, in general, believe about themselves.

But what does God say about atheists, you know? We already looked at this a little bit, but the reality is this. And again, when I say the atheist reality, this is what I mean. God's Word is what's real.

Okay? If you're a Christian, God's Word is what's real. And that's why I titled this message, Think Like a Christian. Like, this is just the fact, right? God's Word is what's real. The reality is, concerning atheists, is that they're not free thinkers.

They are held captive. They're not independent. They are slaves of sin. They are not reasonable. They need reason. They need a reason, you know? Come let us reason together, Isaiah 118 says. Let your sins be as scarlet, I'll make you white as snow.

They need to be reasoned with. According to the Bible, Psalm 141, atheism is foolish. Okay? It's foolish. The fool has said in his heart, there is no God, right? And so often, atheists see themselves as the intelligent one.

Oh, I read this book by Richard Hitchens, and I know more than you do. I'm smart, right? That's kind of what they, but the reality is no. A person who actively, or even inactively, is saying there is no God, that person is a fool, no matter how nice they are, no matter how mean they are.

They're foolish. There's a difference between intelligence and wisdom. You can be very, very smart. You can have a whole lot of stuff up here, a whole lot of facts. What you do with those facts determines whether you are wise or unwise, okay?

The smartest person in the world, if they are not using that intelligence in the way that God has told us to, they're not using it for what God has given us to use it for, that's a fool, according to Psalm 141.

They're unable to understand the things of God. They're blind. They don't have the Spirit, 2 Corinthians 2 .14. All right? And so, again, we need to balance this. This is the truth, and yet we are to approach the atheist, our opponent, whoever it is, in a gracious way, right?