Questions Christians Shouldn’t Ask Topic of CMU Apologetics Lectures

Never ask if people are saved, or if they can be converted John Stackhouse says

By Aaron Epp

If you’re a Christian, and you want to share your faith, there are at least four questions you shouldn’t ask.

Do you know what they are?

John Stackhouse: Everyone needs to hear the Gospel

John Stackhouse does. Stackhouse, a professor of theology and culture at Regent College in Vancouver, B.C. shared them March 17-19 during a three-part apologetics lecture series titled “Is He Saved? And Other Questions Christians Shouldn’t Ask,” at Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) in Winnipeg.

“Is he saved?” is the first question Christians shouldn’t ask, Stackhouse said. Why? Because one can’t know the answer.

“I can guess, and I can guess reliably,” Stackhouse said, “but I can’t know for sure because I am not privy to the [inner-workings] of his heart.”

The second question Christians shouldn’t ask is: “Does he need to hear the gospel?” The answer, Stackhouse said, is “of course he needs to hear the gospel—everyone does.”

For non-believers, hearing the gospel can lead them to salvation, he said. For those who already believe, hearing the gospel is a reminder and reassurance. Christians need to hear the good news at all stages of their lives, he added.

“What can I do to convert him?” is the third question Christians shouldn’t ask. The answer, he said, is “nothing.” And not only is there nothing people can do to convert non-believers, there’s nothing people can do to convert themselves, he stated.

“There are no sure-fire, snappy arguments to [make people] become Christian, or to make spiritually dead people alive,” Stackhouse said. “That’s God’s province.”

The final question Christians shouldn’t ask, Stackhouse said, is “How do I treat people?” Again, his answer was simple: “Love them.”

“You care for them, you give them whatever good gift you can,” he said, adding it may mean talking about the gospel with them, and it may mean not talking about the gospel with them—it depends on whether they’re open to it or not.

Stackhouse illustrated his answer with the story about his uncle. He talks about everything with his uncle, except the gospel. That’s because his uncle doesn’t want to talk about it, and Stackhouse said he doesn’t want to be one more person trying to shove it down his throat. His uncle knows, however, that if he did want to bring it up, Stackhouse would gladly share about his faith.

“When we are commending the faith to people . . . we need to focus on what really matters,” Stackhouse stated. First and foremost, that means loving your neighbour as yourself, because “love is the context in which anything else that’s going to happen is going to happen.”

People don’t want to hear from someone who doesn’t care about them, he noted; Christians need to genuinely love and care for the person they are witnessing to.

This is different than how some view apologetics—the practice of defending and sharing faith—he stated. For Stackhouse, apologetics is not a “bang-clash battle of the champions” or an “intellectual and spiritual blood sport.” It’s not supposed to be about “bagging victims. It’s supposed to be about loving [our] neighbours.”

Sharing faith has to be “‘I care about you, and I don’t care so much about how I look in this conversation,’” Stackhouse concluded. “Let’s win the friend, not the argument, by God’s grace.”

Pierre Gilbert, associate professor of biblical and theological studies at CMU, praised Stackhouse’s presentations, adding that lectures on apologetics are important because “they provide an opportunity for students and our community to be exposed to scholars who have given considerable thought” to how the Christian faith can be shared today.

In addition to speaking about questions Christians shouldn’t ask, Stackhouse also made a presentation about the problem of evil, spoke at Steinbach Bible College, preached at The Meeting Place, participated in CJOB’s GodTalk program and spoke at a pastors’ round table at CMU.

“John came here with a servant attitude, and he went full-bore,” Gilbert said. “In the end, it tells you that John is someone who loves Christ and is working for the kingdom of God.”

Posted March 28, 2008.

For more information contact CMU Communications Director, 500 Shaftesbury Blvd., Winnipeg, Manitoba R3P 2N2, telephone: 204-487-3300 ext. 630, fax: 204-889-1694, (www.cmu.ca)