Evangelism: Nothing New

I'm reading Augustine's Confessions, and in chapter 6 he's talking about the steps he went through to come to saving faith in Jesus Christ. Click the post's title to read the quotes in chapter 5, paragraph 7.

First, he says "those men were not to be listened to who would say to me, 'How do you know that those Scriptures were imparted to mankind by the Spirit of the one and most true God?'" I found it interesting that this is the same issue being brought against Christians some 1600 years after Augustine. Nothing is new under the sun.

Also, for those who won't believe it unless they see it, think about this: "O Lord, little by little, with a gentle and most merciful hand, drawing and calming my heart, You persuaded me that, if I took into account the multitude of things I had never seen, nor been present when they were enacted—such as many of the events of secular history; and the numerous reports of places and cities which I had not seen; or such as my relations with many friends, or physicians, or with these men and those—that unless we should believe, we should do nothing at all in this life. Finally, I was impressed with what an unalterable assurance I believed which two people were my parents, though this was impossible for me to know otherwise than by hearsay."

I remember talking to a guy who told me "Until Jesus walks up to me and tells me Himself who He is, I will not believe in Him. It's just blind faith." I responded, "Are you going to get home tonight?" He said, "Yeah." I said, "How do you know?" He paused, and said, "You got me. I have faith that I'll get home tonight, but I don't know." I said, "Right, and your rejection of Christ is like sitting outside your car saying 'I don't know if I'm going to get home, so I'm not getting in.'"

There were at least two problems with this guy. First, he made the distinction between faith and knowledge, and second, he forgot that no one can function without exercising faith. History is impossible without faith. I have faith that places like Antarctica exists, and that the maps are true, even though I've never been there. I have faith that what my friends say about their lives are true, though I wasn't there. I have faith that my burger is beef, and not beef mixed with manure like the movie Fast Food Nation is going to show.

We can't live this life without faith, and we won't live in the next life without faith...in Christ alone, and not myself or any other "savior," to rescue me from God's holy wrath for my sins and usher me into heaven.