I’ve been slowly working my way through the works of Francis Schaeffer. What I read this morning was deeply convicting. Schaeffer was discussing his strategy of “taking the roof off” the lives of unbelievers. By doing this, he knew that his goal was to lead a person to despair. He wrestled with this a bit but came to the conclusion that if Christianity is true then it’s the most loving thing to do. Here are his words:
We cannot do this until we have personally faced the question as to whether the Judeo-Christian system is true in the way we have been speaking of truth. When we are certain about this for ourselves, then if we love men we shall have the courage to life the roof off other people’s lives and expose them to the collapse of their defenses. We ourselves, as we face these people, must have the integrity to continue to live open to the questions: Does God exist? Is the content of the Judeo-Christian system truth? (Schaeffer, 144)
This was convicting to me because I had to confess one of the reasons why I sometimes struggle with evangelism is because of a lurking and nagging unbelief. I’m convinced that many of us functionally have nothing more than a Pascal’s wager faith. What do I mean by that? I mean a faith which is merely hedging our bets.
If you aren’t familiar with it, this is Pascal’s wager. There are four basic options:
- Option #1: You believe and God does exist. This leads to infinite gain.
- Option #2: You believe and God does not exist. This leads (according to Paschal) to minimal loss.
- Option #3: You don’t believe and God does exist. This leads to infinite loss.
- Option #4: You don’t believe and God does not exist. This leads to minimal gain.
According to Paschal it is safer to believe in God even if there is no evidence that He exists. The problem, though, is that this is not biblical belief and faith.
If I believe simply because I think it’s safer, then I’m doing nothing more than hedging my bets. Nobody dies for a hedged bet. You don’t take the gospel to areas of violent opposition “just in case” it is true.
A person that hedges his bets could come to the end of his life–find out that God did not really exist–and still be able to say, “Well at least I still had ______”. Such a life is foreign to that envisioned by the apostles. Consider Peter’s words in John 6: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” Peter was all-in. He wasn’t hedging his bets. If Jesus isn’t who he says he is, then Peter has nothing.
Or consider Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 15:19
, “If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.” Why are we of all people most to be pitied? Because we’ve foolishly thrown away everything for a farce.
You’ve got to ask yourself today, do I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the only way to the Father or do I not? Enough of this living as if belief in Jesus is just a safe bet. It isn’t a safe bet. It’s an all-in bet or it’s nothing.
And if I’m all-in then I’d do well to engage in thoughtful evangelism. Thoughtful evangelism is confident enough to take the blows delivered from unbelief and tear the roof off, for their good and for the glory of God.
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Adapted from here.
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