Friend constantly has rebuttal to my answers about Christianity.

Do you feel you need to have a rebuttal when someone tries to challenge your beliefs? 

I have someone very close to me in my life who no longer believes in Jesus or the Bible. They believe we are all God and one consciousness. 

They just keep asking (attacking) me all these questions about the Bible and I never know how to respond. Part of me feels bad like I should know how to answer and the other part of me just knows they are not going to change their mind anyway so why waste my time in the conversation at all. 

These are hard questions and I can understand where they are coming from, but is just super frustrating they way they think they "caught me" somehow for not having an answer. And the answers given are never enough. 

I generally try to avoid this person right now, but they are very close to me and seek me out.

It’s always hard questions like if God’s love is unconditional why did he flood the earth, why did he allow Elisha to kill 40 kids in his name, why is salvation conditioned? And anything I try to say he just responds with well that’s not unconditional love. 

I definitely try to create space right now because I feel like they are just attacking and nothing good come from these conversations, but they are so close to me it’s hard.

A: It's called Apologetics. It means defense of the Faith. It is part of evangelism. We who are saved, help others understand Christianity, answer objections, curiosities and share the Gospel. The whole purpose is to call them to embrace & obey the Gospel of Christ that saves, transforms, and gives them a never ending relationship with God. 

2 Timothy 3:16-17

"All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work."

We need to know it, and the Gospel, to accurately, faithfully share Christianity. 

2 Timothy 2:15

"Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth."

2 Timothy 4:2-3 "Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear."

Mark 16:15 "He [Jesus] said to them, 'Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.'"

1 Peter 3:15

"But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect."

Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes

Acts 2:37

"Now when they heard this [the Gospel], they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, 'Brothers, what shall we do [to be saved]?'"

These can be good resources for you and your friend, as you minister to him. 

Probing with Gospel 

*This includes a link to faq objection answers, a Gospel proving convo idea, and resources for evangelism equipping. 

Videos on Christianity, you can watch together and discuss 

The athiests and others are in the satanic system, are blinded by Satan, and their sin nature, and oblivious to it all. In their pride snd arrigance they think they know the truth and think theyre on the thrkne of their life. They want to try to appear more noble minded, smarter, and try to knock & mock you, thinking they have it figured out, (when thst fails they try to decieve you into their false beliefs, or worse try to force you to buckle and cave (instead of holding furm to truth. Like peer pressuring you into being an ally [like: forcing you into & lying regarding pronouns]). If they cant get you to leave the true Faith, theyll put up struggling blocks, tempt or get you to sin [in any way or the above example] so you feel unworthy towards God, get depressed, avoid God, weaken your faith....and they hope that causes you to give up or throw away your faith [throw off Christ]. Stand firm. God "is on our side", Christ "with us always" and the Holy Spirit indwelling us, they can do nothing. 

Isaiah 41:10"So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."

2 Chronicles 20:15 "He said: 'Listen, King Jehoshaphat and all who live in Judah and Jerusalem! This is what the Lord says to you: Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s.'"

Romans 8:31"What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?"

Job 1:9"Satan replied to the Lord, 'Does Job fear God for nothing?'"

Zechariah 3:1"Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right side to accuse him."

But he never wins, like with Job, and at the end. Just as he was thrown out of Heaven, he will be thrown into thr eternal like of fire. He has no power over us. Hes like a tempting court jester, just dancing around trying to cause problems. We trust God, and dont fear him. He has no power over us. 

1Revelation 12:10"Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: 'Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah. For "the accuser" of our brothers and sisters, "who accuses" them before our God day and night, has been hurled down.'"

John 10:10"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."

1 Peter 5:8"Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour."

He will use unsaved people to taunt, jeer, play tricks on, even persecute [with God's approval for a sanctification reason; for our good in the end]. He never does anything without God's approval and purpose. Hes a dog on a leash. But remember unsaved folk like Paul caused the persecuted faith and alliegence to Christ to stay strong. And folk like Paul (who once persecuted, unjustly arrested, tortured and had killed) also can, do, have, and are bring saved, and now serve Christ. 

So while folk like your friend think they "caught you" as if just cuz you dont have a perfect answer, he might be like Paul right now, there's hope. They might pick at us thinking theyrd putting holes in our Fauth but they arent. And its why we dont stay in the intellect in our convos, but swing to & call them to the Gospel. The Holiness of God, reflected in the Law stops the mouth, Convicts, and is the schoolmaster to lead us to Christ.

On God and love...

The God Who Loves by MacArthur is a good book to share to your friend. It discusses the below. You can get it in audiobook too. If you have or he has paid Spotify, share this link. He can hear it free this month. For Amazon/ Audible go here.

Correcting man's wrong understanding of God's love is important, and they always invent a god they prefer or can be angry at for myriad of reasons. Since they arent God, they judge him [unjustly & in sin; ignorantly] as if they are above God. You want to show the truth of God's love but also that its not unbalanced nor seperate from his other attributes. And that He is a Holy and Perfect God. Which can lead to Gospel convos or circle back to that. Without embracing the Gospel they cant see the truth nor embrace it. They'll stay blinded and in sin. So prayerfully minister to your friend, and perhaps those seeds planted will bear fruit, as Scripture says: 

Isaiah 1:18.

"Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool."

Reason with him in truth, by the truth. If he gets saved, the NT versions of the above are noted below, and theres much to rejoice over. 

1 John 1:7:

"But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin."

Revelation 1:5, 

"... him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood."

1 Corinthians 6:11

"And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God."

Luke 15:10

" I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

Once you go through the material yourself, you'll be better prepared, and getting more equipped to evangelize, doing your part to faithfully serve Christ as you proclaim the Gospel to the world. 😊✨️

God will lead, teach, bring verses to your memory, and give you things to praise, thank and glorify Him for, as you faithfully serve him. 

*Feel free to use links, share them, look them up again while evangelizing, to purposefully have a in depth or thorough answer for them, then....swing back to the Gospel. 😊

There's books out there with 5k FAQ answered. Your friend doesn't need to know all those answers before salvation. He needs to know "what's reasonable" in order to trust it. Thats all. So give him the basics and the Gospel. It is enough. 

God bless

*Bookmark this page to come back to these resources as needed. 

Just a reminder