Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Attitudes in defending the faith

When the Apostle Peter instructed us to defend the faith, he laid out some principles that every successful ambassador of Christ will follow:

1 Peter 3:15:
"But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear."

"Meekness and fear" means with a humble attitude, with reverence. It is not the pedantic Apostolic that gets a listening ear, but the one that is not afraid to treat others with the same respect he'd like to receive.

God has given us a beautiful treasure to share with others, we must do so in a Christian spirit of love. We are not suppossed to hit people over the head with the truth.

For those that think that an argumentative way of doing apologetics is the best way, I'd like to ask them how many Trinitarians have they won to the Lord that way?

Every Trinitarian minister that our local church, Mundo Pentecostal, has baptized in Jesus' Name has been won first by love, then by doctrine. Both are important, both are required.

We are not shy to share the truth. We will never be ashamed of being Oneness believers. We will never be ashamed of believing in the Holy Spirit baptism with tongues or our lifestyle. At the same time, we will never be afraid to become friends with those we want to win to the truth.

We did not receive the truth because we deserved it. We weren't worthy. We weren't more honest that other people that go to denominational churches or other religions. It was by God's mercy and grace that we were saved. In ourselves we have nothing to be proud of. We certainly can not look at others as less spiritual or less honest. We must show them the "mark" that everyone can see: love.

I haven't found any other method that works to win souls. Have you?

...