“I believe your faith is merely a psychological projection, my friend. In your need for some kind of father figure, you have created your very own God. He didn’t create you; you created Him!”

Imagine you are headed home on a plane, and the person next to you makes that challenge. How would you respond?

I’ve been in the church my entire life, and I can honestly say that I would not have been ready to respond to this statement ten or fifteen years ago. A couple of summers ago, however, I was given the opportunity to do so. I was flying back home from Pensacola, Florida, and seated next to me was a businessman from Connecticut. We got into some small talk about what we did for a living, and he, of course, found out that I was a minister and that I had just been speaking to youth on the philosophical question, “Who am I?” Ordinarily, communication shuts down as soon as I give my occupation, but in this instance, we continued our dialogue. (I guess most people are more willing to have a conversation with a preacher if it begins with philosophy.)

So we got into a little discussion, which, not surprisingly, soon meandered its way into theology. We went on to talk about our different worldviews, about ethics, what we believed about how we all got here, and how we’re to order and live our lives. We ended up having a very meaningful conversation, in my opinion.

If you are a “why” person, you may be asking yourself some questions right about now, such as, “Why would I go through an entire conversation and open myself up only to be told that my faith is based on something I made up in my own mind and that, in essence, it’s not real at all?”

Because the Bible challenges us to a greater discipline in understanding our faith and in communicating that faith to our friends, our family, and the people we work with on a daily basis. (And, by the way, this principle applies across the board—not just to Christians—but that’s another post.) The apostle Peter, one of the original followers of Christ, says that we need to be prepared to give a defense for not only what we believe, but also why we believe it. And, he says we must be able to give this defense to anyone who asks.

Our society is a virtual smorgasbord of belief systems.  We’re surrounded by Huxleys and Nagels, and by many others, and they have questions.  How then do we, as Christ followers, respond? Look at I Peter 3:15, and then consider this quote from St. Francis of Assisi, the renowned Catholic mystic and monk: “We should preach always.” I like that. Of course, I am a preacher. But, there’s more to the quote: “. . . preach always, and, if necessary, use words.”

We’ve got to live what we believe. That is the foremost way we are to respond to those who don’t believe what we believe—to set apart Christ as Lord in our hearts and seek to emulate Him in all that we do, which in this case means listening and responding with gentleness, respect, and humility. Yes, we should do all we can to be intellectually prepared, but if our response is more facts than plain kindness we’re missing the mark.

© 2005, Ben Young.

Editor's Note: Ben didn't mention this in his post, but this airplane conversation was part of what led him write, along with Sarah Welch, a very succinct Platonic dialogue titled Why Bert is Not A Christian. In sharp dialogue that is often amusing, Ben takes on a few of the objections to Christianity. It's only 96 pages.  This is not a magnum opus on apologetics for seminary professors; rather, this is from the scrum of Ben's life as a pastor, engaging countless individuals over the years.  Then he and Sarah refined the converations, and then refined them again.  What you get is a very distilled, very practical model of conversation with one imagined skeptic.