Why don’t I share my faith with others? This is one of the most important questions a Christian will have to face in his or her lifetime. To answer that question we will consider three options. First, could it be as Christians we are afraid of offending the skeptic. Second, many Christians suffer from a severe case of apathy. And thirdly, Christians have a fear of ignorance, afraid that their argument will not hold up against educated skeptics. Certainly there are many more reasons, but for the sake of our argument we will only consider these three, and how knowledge is the remedy. This is the root of the problem; Christians fail to share their faith because of a personal lack of biblically based facts.

Knowledge in Action

    Knowledge is the fact or condition of being aware of something (Merriam-Webster). We have gained our knowledge through biblical principles aided by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit then takes scripture and empowers us. Jesus told His disciples before He ascended, “tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.” (Luke 24:49 KJV). Here Jesus is speaking explicitly of the Holy Ghost. In another place Jesus said, “The comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” (John 14:26 KJV).  According to these verses the Holy Spirit only works in the confines of scripture. Biblical knowledge mixed with the Holy Spirit makes champions out of cowards.
Consider the Apostle Peter. Before Pentecost he was fearful, ignorant of God’s plan, and seemed unqualified to preach. Notice the change that was made after the Holy Spirit empowered him, and brought all things to his remembrance. He before denied Christ, but now he publicly proclaims His name. Skeptics were shocked by the boldness and eloquence of Peter, and marveled because he had no formal education. His lack of a formal education is not an excuse for us to stay ignorant, but rather proof of the power of the Word of God enabled by the Holy Spirit. In the Garden of Gethsemane Peter was afraid for his life, but later gave his life for the cause of Christ. Adrian Rogers, one of the greatest preachers of the twentieth century said, “There are three kinds of people in this world: those who are afraid, those who don’t know enough to be afraid, and those who know their Bible.” (Rogers 34).

Fear of offense

    Let us now consider our first option. For many Christians they just don’t want to offend a skeptic or an unbeliever. This is a sinful excuse of a lack of faith. If we take this defense for our position we fail to fully understand the future judgment for those without Christ. It is also self-centered because we care more about how someone perceives us rather than what is best for them. If a woman was driving down a road and noticed the bridge ahead was down she would of course turn around and find another way. As she was traveling back she saw a man driving a truck excessively fast but failed in making any attempt to stop him. One of two things had taken place: either she didn’t really believe the bridge ahead was down, “maybe I was just hallucinating,” she must have thought, or she didn’t want the other driver to think she was crazy or silly if she tried to stop him. As Christians, if we fully understood the penalty of dying without Jesus Christ, that knowledge would compel us to action.
Remember, Jesus came not to bring peace on the earth but rather division (Luke 12:51 KJV). Let us briefly consider Martin Luther, the father of the Protestant Reformation. He was a member of the Roman Catholic Church and later became a monk and priest. But his studies in the Scriptures led him to go against the Catholic grain and learned that Justification was through faith in Christ alone (Woodbridge 187). He nailed his theses to a church door, condemning ninety five items including indulgences (buying forgiveness for sins). Luther was summoned to appear before Charles V to recant his position, history teaches he stated “Here I stand, my conscience is captive to the Word of God.” (Godfrey 194). He believed the knowledge found in the Word of God was more important than public opinion.

Christian Apathy

    Our second option is just a severe case of Christian apathy. Many people just admit they are too busy to read or study the Bible. The “Center for Bible Engagement” conducted a one hundred and thirteen question survey with 8,665 respondents from across the United States. The purpose of the research was to determine why so many Christians own Bibles but fail to read them. A striking discovery was made:

"The more the respondent reads the Bible, the more witnessing he or she does. 59.7% of those who shared their faith with more than ten people in the past year read the Bible daily, compared to only one-third, 33.4% of those who did not share their own faith." (Center for Bible Engagement).

The Fear of Ignorance

    The last option we will consider is the fear of ignorance. Many fail to share their faith because they are intimidated by the false knowledge of intelligent skeptics in relation to their lack of knowledge of biblical facts or the theist world view. Ignorance produces fear, and fear cripples the Christian apologist and forces him or her to hide behind the bushes on most worldview conversations. The fact is Theism has earned its place in society as a justifiable argument, but many Christians cannot keep up with the fictitious knowledge of skeptics.  According to the book Why you can believe the Bible, if there was no Bible there wouldn’t be a Western Civilization.

"Christianity deserves credit for many of the great political, social, humanitarian, scientific, educational, and cultural advances in the Western world. The Bible, it seems, has inspired most of the great writers, artists, scientist, politicians, and educators. Contrarily, those who seek to undermine or destroy Christian influence merely engage in a form of cultural suicide: They destroy the very possibility of building the better life they seek." (Ankerberg, Weldon 7-8).

    Not only has Christianity merited a place in conversation because our society draws its origin from it, but it is the only rational worldview, not to mention it is the only one that is true. Science and philosophy attempt to discredit the Bible. Adrian Rodgers said “Every now and then science may disagree with the Bible. Just give the scientist time, and maybe they will catch up.” (Rogers 31). The theory of evolution requires more faith to believe in than does God created the Heavens and the Earth. The big bang theory or maybe we should call it a big dude, defies scientific law. The first law of thermodynamics states: energy cannot be created or destroyed it can only change forms (Wikipedia). There must be a beginning if we know energy exist today. Also it suggests energy is eternal. If that is true there would be no reason not to believe in an eternal God, because science by faith has to believe this law. This is just one example from many to help us understand how Christianity can find a place into a relativistic society.

  How does Christianity stand against other world views? The answer to this question is, Theism is the only one that makes any sense. Atheism is improvable, contrary to human nature, and steals its values from Theism (Cordoun 83). Agnosticism is too contradictory. Deism suggests God created the World but does not perform miracles (Cordoun 91). Thus Deism is to be blunt, very irrational. Pantheism is a belief that God is an infinite being. They believe God is the world and the world is God. There is one major problem with this belief. How is the world finite and God infinite if they are one in the same? Therefore Pantheism contradicts itself. The last world view we will consider before someone else comes up with another in an attempt to try to explain away God is Panentheism. This belief suggests that God is finite and just a spectator (Cordoun 95-97). If God is finite than were did he come from? Are they suggesting God must have evolved like everything else? This places God on the same level as humanity, thus there are no moral laws or punishment. This could explain why many choose to believe this lie. Christian knowledge does have a prominent place in any secular world view conversation.

The Solution

    In conclusion knowledge really is power, but not just knowledge in general but Christian knowledge. Studying the Word of God changes our lives. It is more than an out dated book that is out of touch with today’s society. The Bible has withstood centuries of attacks and persecutions. This not only proves that it is timeless, but speaks of its divine origin. “For ever oh Lord, thy word is settled in heaven,” (Psalm 119:89). Charles Spurgeon said,

"But this is the Word of God; come, search, ye critics, and find a flaw; examine it, from its Genesis to its Revelation, and find an error. This is a vein of pure gold, unalloyed by quartz, or any earthly substance. This is a star without a speck; a sun without a blot; a light without darkness; a moon without its paleness; a glory without a dimness. O Bible! It cannot be said of any book, that it is perfect and pure; but of thee we can declare all wisdom is gathered up in thee, without a particle of folly. This is the judge that ends strife, where wit and wisdom fail. This book untainted by any error; but is pure unalloyed, perfect truth. Why? Because God wrote it. Ah! Charge God with error if ye please; tell him that his book is not what it ought to be." (Spurgeon 31).

    However, obtaining this knowledge takes work. It consists of burning the midnight oil in prayer and Bible study. Setting aside times throughout the day for personal devotion and communion with Christ. In doing this it brings upon the Christian numerous blessings, and the knowledge gained has a far more eternal weight in glory. It is time for us as Christians to climb out of the dark valley of fear, laziness, and ignorance, dust off the dirt that relativism has left behind and grow in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
                                                                                                                                                       Josh Greene
 

Works Cited
"knowledge."  Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. 2008. November 28 2008
       <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/knowledge>

Rogers, Adrian. Adrianisms, volume one,
           Love Worth Finding Ministries, 2006

Woodbridge, John D., gen. ed. Great Leaders of the Christian Church,
          Moody Press, 1988

“Bible literacy report.”Center for Bible Engagement, 11-28-08,
          http://www.centerforbibleengagement.org

John Ankerberg, John Weldon. Why You Can Believe the Bible,
          Harvest House Publishers, 2004

Rodgers, Adrian. Adrianisms, volume two,
         Love Worth Finding Ministries, 2007

“thermodynamics.” Wikipedia, November 25, 2008. November 28, 2008
         http://www.wikipedia.org

Corduan, Winfriend. No Doubt About It,
         Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1997

Spurgeon, Charles. Spurgeon’s Sermons volumes 1-2,
         Baker Books, 2007

The King James Bible. C.I. Scofield, gen. ed.
        Oxford University Press, 1996