The challenge

The woman's Christian neighbour didn't know what to say. She and her husband had befriended this woman, had presented the gospel to her and had invited her to a Christmas outreach at their church.

The problem was that a certain businessman also attended that church. In the course of business transactions over the last several months, this businessman had subjected the woman to a barrage of accusations and complaints, all unfounded.

As well, the woman had been offended by other Christians who had accused her of witchcraft because she had recommended acupuncture to them; they were now boycotting her business. She said that she had been raised in a religious home (Roman Catholic) that had had no religious reality, and added that she had not seen much religious reality among the Christians in this town either. She consistently refused to consider the thought that she might be a sinner, because she lived a far more moral life than she had seen in most Christians.

A few years ago, I taught a Bible college course on apologetics (not very successfully). Apologetics deals with the intellectual challenges non-Christians raise against Christianity and the answers that Christians can give in response.

In the first lecture, I told the students that the prime intellectual challenge to Christianity at this time is not scientific evolution or higher criticism of the Bible, but moral failures in the church such as those of televangelist Jim Bakker. One of the students was bright enough to immediately ask me what the Christian response was to questions about such moral failures. I gave some answers, none of them very satisfactory.

In the years since, I have thought about that question and decided that there is no satisfactory answer. If Christ clearly has not changed our lives, no amount of clever arguing will be able to convince people that He has or can. On the other hand, when lives have clearly been changed for the better by an encounter with Jesus Christ, it is difficult for non-Christians to dispute the reality of Christ. The oft-repeated observation is true: The worst argument for Christianity is Christians, but the best argument for Christianity is also Christians.

There is more to the story of the angry woman and her Christian neighbours. (It is not my story, by the way, but a story told me by one of the people involved.) The Christian neighbours have continued to relate to the woman, and she responds warmly to them. They tell her, "We are Christians too, and we don't act like that businessman." They tell her that there are many good people in their church. They tell her that if there were no Christians, the rest homes and hospitals and homes for unwed mothers would collapse for lack of staff. But they haven't only talked. They helped her move to a new house. She has been impressed by the calm faith of the Christian neighbours' daughter in the face of difficult situations. But she is not yet open to discussing the truth of Christianity or establishing a relationship with God. The story is not over yet. It is not over because God loves that woman. It is not over because Jesus died for her. It is not over because God loves the Christian neighbours and is working through them. Perhaps more remarkably, it is not over because God loves the businessman too. God loves all of us even when we are unjust businessmen, miserly employers, demanding customers, harsh critics and unfriendly neighbours. He loves all of us sinners inside and outside the church, and, in His grace, He is not done with us either.

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