IDEAS FOR WITNESSING

I was going to ask you for her first name, but I forgot to, so thank you for that

Thankyou for these. I was looking into stuff like that for when she might be open to it. What are your thoughts on the material produced by https://www.icr.org

Praise God! You are experiencing the same as the Messiah. May you be blessed and strengthened always.

I’m one of those people that smiles a lot and often I get asJed, “what you smiling about?” —what a great opportunity to point to the good Lord above.

Maybe some folks just need reminding, though—like Paul!

Hello again FollowingtheWay, it's one thing to talk about such secondary matters with believers, but I'd figure out how to stay clear of things which have nothing to do with the Gospel when talking to the unsaved (and do all that you can to redirect the conversation back to the Gospel if Cheyene, or anyone else, tries to change the topic to something like origins). Doing so is a nothing more than a game or a distraction that unbelievers play to shift the conversation away from the only issue that's important, their need for the Lord Jesus Christ, and it's a trap that is easy for us to fall into because almost any topic is more comfortable to talk about than the Gospel is (as doing so necessitates talking about the "bad news" that made it necessary in the first place).

Right now, the only thing that is necessary for her to understand is why/from what she needs to be saved, and who the Savior is, of course, and you may have to face the fact that she is not be ready to hear about all of that yet (I wasn't saved when I turned 30, but the Lord finally got past the brick that I used to have upstairs where my brain was supposed to be 2 months later and here I am, still very much His nearly 37 years later, PTL ).

Quite frankly, if there is no interest, much less desperation on her part to find an answer to her 'real' problem (when the Gospel is presented to her), and/or if you find that you have try to "sell" certain aspects of Christianity to make it palatable enough for her to even talk about, then she has no understanding of her true, spiritual condition and/or her true need yet (but planting/watering seeds about that, about her spiritual condition and need, that is, is what you need to leave her with, NOT with the fact that there may be a way to mesh what atheistic science teaches with the Bible! Such secondary and tertiary topics need to be carefully, but intentionally rejected so that the focus of our conversations with the unsaved remain on topic, on the one and only topic that truly matters, whether they know it or not, yes?).

God bless you!!

~Deuteronomy

thankyou for that reminder and blessings . I will try to keep it pointed to why she needs Jesus and away from those secondary distractions which I personally think that’s exactly what she is doing now that you mention it. It’s deflecting the conversation entirely. I’ve known this woman on and off for half my life. I met her when I was 17 and she 16. I’ve never seen her be this hostile to me ever. Usually conversations of pleasantries and a distanced but appropriate mutual respect in friendship had been the normal . We are better than just acquaintances but not a close relationship. We have a teenage history together back when I was unsaved . Back then she told me that she was abused at 14 by a man her mom was dating . I remember her describing to me how she was forced to give court descriptions of what this man did and I recall that triggered some pretty intense emotions from her. I think she repressed or compartmentalized her emotional life to survive it. She is likely scared to express what she needs to bring to God and let go of. I can’t imagine what she went through and the amount of un forgiveness rolling around in her 32 year old heart towards her abuser and the bitterness there. Unknown if she’s had secular counseling to help. I doubt it knowing the rough family life she had as a teen jumping State to State. I think she’s running from anything that may bring those issues back to the surface including any religious conversation-science I’m betting is how she has made sense of her world and it’s been what brings her reliable security and I challenged that. She’s in the Bible Belt of America and I’m sure her she’s heard the gospel once or twice from others. I’m pretty sure once someone tells her the truth she cuts them out of her life. I think she knows her spiritual condition because she doesn’t get hostile till I mention sin even as a general topic . I’m hopeful God will bring other opportunities to lean in again before it’s too late because I do care for this one . Maybe I’ve been cut out of her life now just like the others. I don’t know , maybe I’m not called to do anything more than an initial planting or another watering and maybe I need to simply let it go from there. But Please pray also for God to lead me in this situation as well because it is a complicated one and she no doubt hardened her heart since I last talked to her which breaks my heart too.

You need no forethought or ideas for witnessing, just tell the truth of what you have seen and heard, and praise Jesus.

Really besides the brevity of this, don't take it as a smart alleck reply. Really, it's when you overthink or forethink that you usually stumble up. Just really all you must do is be truthful about what you seen or heard, don't worry about being right or wrong or impressive or unimpressive or worry about what people will think of you or any of that stuff. Just let God flow through you from there, it is the best way to witness, anyone can do it it is no mystic art, PRAISE JESUS!

Avoid using them, they have too many errors in their materials. The Old Earth creationists have professionals and well educated Sciencists. If you want to reach someone for Jesus, stay away from Young Earth Creationists.

If you want to use YEC, I recommend the CDs by Bob Dukto. He has debated many from the other sides on many subjects.

https://wmuz.com/bob/
https://toptenproofs.com/?utm_source=WMUZ&utm_medium=webpage
https://wmuz.com/2023/06/27/bob-dutko-show-summary-monday-06-26-23/