How Does a Christian Persuade a Non-Christian?
A good way to start is by making certain assumptions about unbelievers that the Bible itself makes. These 5 presuppositions describe the natural state of mind with which we have all been born. We might call this state of mind human nature because it acts and thinks just like everyone else does. It will dominate a person's entire life until death unless it is supernaturally altered to act and think contrary to the exact opposite of what one would naturally do and think. If that ever happens to a person, he will obtain what the Bible calls a spiritual mind. The natural mind is only concerned with things that relate to this present, material world to the exclusion of the things of God. Most of the people you know, the things you read and see in the media and movies, the literature and all advertising exhibit and appeal to the processes of the natural mind. In some versions of the Bible, the natural mind or human nature is called "the old man" or "the flesh."
So here is a 5-part description of the natural mind in the Bible.
1. By nature, all people LOVE DARKNESS RATHER THAN LIGHT. More than that, people hate the light and will not come to it so that their life of evil deeds will not be exposed for others, themselves, or God to see (John 3:19,20). If they get the slightest hint that any kind of Biblical light is about to shine in their direction, they repel against it and flee its presence.
2. By nature, we are born with A MIND THAT IS HOSTILE TO GOD. So much so that the natural mind is not only unable submit to God’s law, but it is impossible for it to do so (Romans 8:7).
3. By nature, we do not accept spiritual truth about God because to the natural mind IT IS ABSOLUTE FOLLY. We are incapable of understanding it. That is because understanding God’s truth requires a spiritual mind. But we came into this world with a natural mind.
4. By nature, we have absolutely NO INTEREST in spiritual things about God. The Apostle Paul puts it this way, “We are dead because of our trespasses and sins. (Ephesians 2:1) That is, our sinful nature and our natural mind that has come down to us from Adam through our parents has left us without any natural desire or ability to respond to God or His will. Our minds and our hearts are numb to God. There is not a single twitch of movement in that direction. On the contrary, we are energized and alive to this world and everything it offers. We lust eagerly for every allurement in its arsenal because we have a natural mind. This is the natural mind's home. It is where it was born and thrives. It is kith and kin to everything and everyone in it. We are energized and alive to this world and everything it offers. We lust for every allurement because we have a natural mind. This is self-evident all about you. Most people couldn't care less about God and the Bible. They reject both when these two words are applied to any issue in our culture or to them personally. In addition, when Sundays roll around, they are either in bed or doing a million other things that hold far more interest for them than attending a church. Even those who say they are “spiritual” dismiss the Bible, the concept of a Creator God, and the church. But when it comes to spiritual things in the Bible, their minds and hearts lie as dormant as a corpse because there is no response.
5. By nature, all people “SUPPRESS THE TRUTH ABOUT GOD” (Romans 1:18).
Paul says that the knowledge of God is plain to everyone and has been “clearly perceived” because God Himself has clearly shown it to them in His creation. Everyone who has been born from the beginning of time has been able see God’s power, His divinity, and His attributes (Romans 1:19,20). In fact, those facts about God are and have been screaming at everyone 24 hours around the clock, day and night, at every point on the earth in a language that everyone understands (Psalm 19). No one can ever say, "I don't know or I didn't know the truth about God". His revelation in nature is so direct and explicit that Paul says everyone is “without excuse” (Romans 1:20). In other words, every being made in His image knows that the Lord God is the Almighty Creator who exists.
If that is true, then why are there agnostics, atheists, and unbelievers?
The answer has already been given. They “suppress the truth” about God. They hold down or deny the truth that they know. Atheists and agnostics do not begin with neutral thinking and an honest survey of the facts to come to their conclusions. They start as "believers" and then convince themselves by a natural circle of rejection of what they know to settle on the lie they think they believe.Their whole line of “thinking became futile…claiming to be wise, they became fools…and exchanged the truth about God for a lie”. As a result, God passed a judgment down on them for rejecting the obvious, “their foolish hearts were darkened” (Romans 1:18-24). That darkening entails all of the 5 descriptions of human nature above.
So when you attempt to persuade a non-Christian to become a Christian, here is what you must assume. You are dealing with a person who already knows the truth about God his Creator. He knows it even much better than you think because Paul says in Romans 2 that God’s law is written on everyone’s heart and his conscience is at work in condemning him internally. That conscience and the knowledge he already has about God are so thorough in their work that “they know…they deserve to die” (Romans 8:32). The knowledge about God that an unbeliever has is replete even to the extent of a knowledge of condemnation.
Nevertheless, when each of us is born, the natural mind that was passed down to us does not allow us to do anything with these God-revealed truths that we all know. Our minds and hearts have been darkened. They are now hostile to God, despise the light, love the darkness, find spiritual truth foolishness, boring and uninteresting, and something that we will naturally suppress even when the bare truth is shouting at and staring us square in the face every second of our existence.
So how does a Christian deal with such a person who has a natural mind? Some people think that we need to be very skillful in our reasoning with arguments about God and the proof of His existence so that we can persuade a non-christian to believe. But when you read the Biblical statements about the nature of man above, you will see that the non-Christian’s mind always begins with a natural, inimical suppression of the truth, an inability to submit to it, no capacity for understanding it, and an impervious non-interest akin to neuropathy. No line of reason, argument, or persuasion is capable of penetrating and overcoming those spiritual barriers that exist for someone who has a natural mind. Any search the unbeliever will conduct in his mind to come to the truth about God starts with rejection. All the way through the investigation his mind will deal with it the same way. Although he will deny it, he will chase the truth in a circle of unbelief and arrive where he started.
But there is a way out. And there is only one way out of this condemnation of man’s mind when he thinks about God. It is not by a man’s reason but by the grace of God. Unless the Lord supernaturally changes that man’s heart, renews his mind with a certainty that transcends human investigation, makes his dead spirit alive (the new birth or regeneration), gives him a spiritual mind, opens his eyes, makes him love the light and hate the darkness, he will never get out of that never-ending circle of unbelief and suppression of the truth in which the majority of mankind still resides.
And how does that happen? Changing a person's mind from natural to spiritual is the work of God, not man or anything he can do because the spiritual barriers an unbeliever faces within himself are insurmountable. But, God’s sovereign and supernatural work of regeneration and changing a person’s heart is often accompanied by a presentation of the Word of God. A Christian must presuppose that the unbeliever already knows what he rejects. There is no real need to convince him that God exists. He already believes that. He is only holding that truth down. The believer must now present the gospel in any intellectual discussion about God and give evidence from Christian presuppositions and Biblical truth to Christian conclusions. He must assume the Biblical position here, that the only thing that makes any sense about anything is Christ “in whom all things hold together” (Col. 1:17) and “in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col. 2:3). It is the “fear of the Lord” that is “the beginning of knowledge” (Prov. 1:7) and “the beginning of wisdom” (Ps. 111:10, Prov. 9:10).
If the Spirit of God is pleased, when the gospel is presented to a person who possesses a natural mind, the Lord will open the mind and eyes of the one who suppressed the truth to embrace the truth about God that is apparent and all about him as the very criterion of truth and from whom all other facts derive their meaning and intelligibility. As Paul says, "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God."
So here is a 5-part description of the natural mind in the Bible.
1. By nature, all people LOVE DARKNESS RATHER THAN LIGHT. More than that, people hate the light and will not come to it so that their life of evil deeds will not be exposed for others, themselves, or God to see (John 3:19,20). If they get the slightest hint that any kind of Biblical light is about to shine in their direction, they repel against it and flee its presence.
2. By nature, we are born with A MIND THAT IS HOSTILE TO GOD. So much so that the natural mind is not only unable submit to God’s law, but it is impossible for it to do so (Romans 8:7).
3. By nature, we do not accept spiritual truth about God because to the natural mind IT IS ABSOLUTE FOLLY. We are incapable of understanding it. That is because understanding God’s truth requires a spiritual mind. But we came into this world with a natural mind.
4. By nature, we have absolutely NO INTEREST in spiritual things about God. The Apostle Paul puts it this way, “We are dead because of our trespasses and sins. (Ephesians 2:1) That is, our sinful nature and our natural mind that has come down to us from Adam through our parents has left us without any natural desire or ability to respond to God or His will. Our minds and our hearts are numb to God. There is not a single twitch of movement in that direction. On the contrary, we are energized and alive to this world and everything it offers. We lust eagerly for every allurement in its arsenal because we have a natural mind. This is the natural mind's home. It is where it was born and thrives. It is kith and kin to everything and everyone in it. We are energized and alive to this world and everything it offers. We lust for every allurement because we have a natural mind. This is self-evident all about you. Most people couldn't care less about God and the Bible. They reject both when these two words are applied to any issue in our culture or to them personally. In addition, when Sundays roll around, they are either in bed or doing a million other things that hold far more interest for them than attending a church. Even those who say they are “spiritual” dismiss the Bible, the concept of a Creator God, and the church. But when it comes to spiritual things in the Bible, their minds and hearts lie as dormant as a corpse because there is no response.
5. By nature, all people “SUPPRESS THE TRUTH ABOUT GOD” (Romans 1:18).
Paul says that the knowledge of God is plain to everyone and has been “clearly perceived” because God Himself has clearly shown it to them in His creation. Everyone who has been born from the beginning of time has been able see God’s power, His divinity, and His attributes (Romans 1:19,20). In fact, those facts about God are and have been screaming at everyone 24 hours around the clock, day and night, at every point on the earth in a language that everyone understands (Psalm 19). No one can ever say, "I don't know or I didn't know the truth about God". His revelation in nature is so direct and explicit that Paul says everyone is “without excuse” (Romans 1:20). In other words, every being made in His image knows that the Lord God is the Almighty Creator who exists.
If that is true, then why are there agnostics, atheists, and unbelievers?
The answer has already been given. They “suppress the truth” about God. They hold down or deny the truth that they know. Atheists and agnostics do not begin with neutral thinking and an honest survey of the facts to come to their conclusions. They start as "believers" and then convince themselves by a natural circle of rejection of what they know to settle on the lie they think they believe.Their whole line of “thinking became futile…claiming to be wise, they became fools…and exchanged the truth about God for a lie”. As a result, God passed a judgment down on them for rejecting the obvious, “their foolish hearts were darkened” (Romans 1:18-24). That darkening entails all of the 5 descriptions of human nature above.
So when you attempt to persuade a non-Christian to become a Christian, here is what you must assume. You are dealing with a person who already knows the truth about God his Creator. He knows it even much better than you think because Paul says in Romans 2 that God’s law is written on everyone’s heart and his conscience is at work in condemning him internally. That conscience and the knowledge he already has about God are so thorough in their work that “they know…they deserve to die” (Romans 8:32). The knowledge about God that an unbeliever has is replete even to the extent of a knowledge of condemnation.
Nevertheless, when each of us is born, the natural mind that was passed down to us does not allow us to do anything with these God-revealed truths that we all know. Our minds and hearts have been darkened. They are now hostile to God, despise the light, love the darkness, find spiritual truth foolishness, boring and uninteresting, and something that we will naturally suppress even when the bare truth is shouting at and staring us square in the face every second of our existence.
So how does a Christian deal with such a person who has a natural mind? Some people think that we need to be very skillful in our reasoning with arguments about God and the proof of His existence so that we can persuade a non-christian to believe. But when you read the Biblical statements about the nature of man above, you will see that the non-Christian’s mind always begins with a natural, inimical suppression of the truth, an inability to submit to it, no capacity for understanding it, and an impervious non-interest akin to neuropathy. No line of reason, argument, or persuasion is capable of penetrating and overcoming those spiritual barriers that exist for someone who has a natural mind. Any search the unbeliever will conduct in his mind to come to the truth about God starts with rejection. All the way through the investigation his mind will deal with it the same way. Although he will deny it, he will chase the truth in a circle of unbelief and arrive where he started.
But there is a way out. And there is only one way out of this condemnation of man’s mind when he thinks about God. It is not by a man’s reason but by the grace of God. Unless the Lord supernaturally changes that man’s heart, renews his mind with a certainty that transcends human investigation, makes his dead spirit alive (the new birth or regeneration), gives him a spiritual mind, opens his eyes, makes him love the light and hate the darkness, he will never get out of that never-ending circle of unbelief and suppression of the truth in which the majority of mankind still resides.
And how does that happen? Changing a person's mind from natural to spiritual is the work of God, not man or anything he can do because the spiritual barriers an unbeliever faces within himself are insurmountable. But, God’s sovereign and supernatural work of regeneration and changing a person’s heart is often accompanied by a presentation of the Word of God. A Christian must presuppose that the unbeliever already knows what he rejects. There is no real need to convince him that God exists. He already believes that. He is only holding that truth down. The believer must now present the gospel in any intellectual discussion about God and give evidence from Christian presuppositions and Biblical truth to Christian conclusions. He must assume the Biblical position here, that the only thing that makes any sense about anything is Christ “in whom all things hold together” (Col. 1:17) and “in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col. 2:3). It is the “fear of the Lord” that is “the beginning of knowledge” (Prov. 1:7) and “the beginning of wisdom” (Ps. 111:10, Prov. 9:10).
If the Spirit of God is pleased, when the gospel is presented to a person who possesses a natural mind, the Lord will open the mind and eyes of the one who suppressed the truth to embrace the truth about God that is apparent and all about him as the very criterion of truth and from whom all other facts derive their meaning and intelligibility. As Paul says, "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God."