Always be ready to give a defence

As I re-read an old Path Treader Ministries post (available here in article form), I remembered an atheist who brought up that verse with me. He felt this was a "gotcha" moment. "Ha! See? Your own book says God creates evil, therefore your God must Himself be evil!" Not in those exact terms, of course, but it was obvious that, though he had said he had encountered many Christians, this was an argument he felt works well.

Now, I don't claim to be an expert. In fact, my unique selling point for Bible Brain is that I'm just an idiot with a keyboard. "I am the simple the Psalmist talks about". Anyone can do what I do. You can be a David, yet still knock down a Goliath. But you still have to be ready.

Note how even in the account of David, David didn't just walk up unprepared. Though he slew Goliath with only one stone (and the giant's own sword), he initially picked up 5 (1 Samuel 17:40). And though he could neither walk in Saul's armor, nor did he ultimately have need of it, he did not see it as an insult to his faith to try it on (1 Samuel 17:38-39).

As Christians, we need the faith of David, but we also need to know exactly what kind of giant we're facing. We're not facing a 9ft blasphemer with a sword. We are facing spiritual enemies who hold our targets captive. Unbelievers are often intelligent. Not wise enough to accept the truth, but smart enough, and in some cases crafty enough, to oppose it. This is why the Lord inspired Peter to warn us to always be ready to give a defence. You will almost certainly encounter tough questions. And unfortunately, you won't be able to answer them all. We don't have the benefit of omniscience. We're not Christ, we're not even prophets or Apostles.

But 2,000 years of Church history shows that we don't need to be. Christianity did not spread rapidly because everyone in the Church knew everything about everything. In fact, the New Testament says quite a bit about how not many wise according to the flesh are called. Sure, you'll get the occasional Paul, but Jesus' closest followers were often people like Peter, a hot-headed fisherman. Nevertheless Christianity spread like wildfire, even under persecution, and in some cases because of it.

Therefore be wise. Figure out what kind of unbeliever you are likely to encounter, study their most asked questions, arm yourself with answers to a few rare questions, and never, ever, stop praying. If we are to save the lost, we cannot afford to live in ignorance.