Page 3 of 3Yet often we need to hold back our answer and initiate genuine dialogue with a question. When your coworker asks you—with an accusatory tone—why you still believe in God in light of all the people dying of AIDS, ask him how he explains such a horrible tragedy.
When your neighbor asks you why you think Jesus is anything more than just a good moral teacher, ask him why he thinks Jesus was a good teacher. Has he read a lot of Jesus' teachings? What would he say was the main message Jesus taught?
Our message is too important for it to continue to fall upon deaf ears. Our answers really are what people need to hear if we could just get them to listen. The apostle Peter was surely right in imploring us to "always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you" (1 Pet. 3:15). But we can follow Jesus' method of doing so by answering a question with a question.
Adapted from Discipleship Journal (Jan./Feb. 2002), 2002 Randy Newman. Used by permission. A version of this article also appears in Newman's book, Questioning Evangelism: Engaging People's Hearts the Way Jesus Did (Kregel).
Copyright 2004 by the author or Christianity Today/Today's Christian magazine.
Click here for reprint information.
