But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect. – 1 Peter 3:15
You’ve heard it before, and maybe even thought of it in the midst of an uncomfortable or difficult conversation with a non-believer. Sometimes we don’t have all the answers. Or we feel that our answers might not be the “right” thing to say. So when talking to non-believers, how can we represent our faith well, explain our convictions to those hard hitting questions, and do so with “gentleness and respect” like we are commanded to in 1 Peter 3?
Faith is Like Skydiving author and apologist Rick Mattson shares some of his easy to remember and understand analogies and how they work.
Why is faith like skydiving? Maybe you’ve heard someone talk about Christians making a leap of faith, or a blind leap of faith without really understanding their own religion? Rick Mattson says that this is not accurate. Instead, the Christian faith is like skydiving. You wouldn’t jump out of a flying plane before you’ve made certain that you have all of the necessary equipment, that your parachute is working well, and you know how to operate all of this equipment and how to land safely. We do the same when we exercise our faith. Sure, there are elements of chance, risk, and things that we can’t answer for. But overall, we know some things about our faith, we know some things about our God. So while we are in fact jumping, it’s an informed action. We aren’t going into it blind. And if someone wants to know more about that jump of faith, you can share what you already know in ways that are engaging and easily understood.
