Stuff That Matters In Life

(Read yesterday’s post first)

Yesterday, I posted a scenario that Greg Koukl encountered with a Jewish man. The Jewish man said he believed in God, and was living a moral life.  Those were the important things, it seemed to him—how one lived, not what one believed.

What would you say to this Jewish man?

Greg answered him with two questions.

Here are the two questions Greg asked:

“Do you think people who commit moral crimes ought to be punished?”

He thought for a moment.  “Well, since I’m a prosecuting attorney…yes.”

“So do I,” I agreed.

“Second question: Have you ever committed any moral crimes?”

There was a slight pause.  This was getting personal. “Yes, I guess I have,” he admitted.

“So have I,” I confessed, agreeing with him again.

“So now we have this difficult situation, don’t we?  We both believe those who commit moral crimes ought to be punished, and we both believe we’ve committed moral crimes.  Do you know what I call that?  I call that bad news.”

In less than 60 seconds I had accomplished a remarkable thing with this approach.  I didn’t have to convince him he was a sinner.  He was telling me. I didn’t have to convince him he deserved to be punished.  He was telling me.

I was tapping into a deep intuition every person shares: knowledge of his own guilt and a realization that guilt should be punished.  And I didn’t do it arrogantly or in an obnoxious, condescending way. I freely admitted I was in the same trouble he was.

This approach reveals a very important sequence in making our message intelligible: First the bad news, then the good news.  Next week I’ll share the second step, which is the solution God offers and the good news of Jesus Christ.

I think that is an excellent approach to explain our need for Christ. I hope I get to use that one day.

You’ll have to sign up for Ambassador Insights to get Greg’s second step.