“Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” (Colossians 4:5-6, NIV)
What do you do when you meet someone who’s genuinely searching for answers, not just looking to argue? In this video, Adrian shares a story from a first-class seat beside a man whose honest questions about faith led to a thoughtful, real conversation. Last week, we talked about what to do with a dishonest skeptic. This week, we start to tackle how to talk to an honest skeptic and a helpful tool called The Circle Of Reason.
Weekly Challenge:
Ask God to reveal any honest skeptics He is inviting you to connect with this week, whether they are people already in your life or ones you will meet along your way. Trust Him to guide your conversations to be genuinely caring and spirit-led.
For those who prefer to read instead of watch, you’ll also find the video transcript below.
Video Transcript:
Sitting in first class next to a guy who had a $2,500 suit on. It was the nicest suit I’ve ever seen in my life. I could see my face in it. I was fixing my hair; I mean, the thing was waterproof, for goodness’ sake. It was a sweet suit. I looked at him, and we started talking.
I said, “That’s a really nice suit.” And you can imagine me sitting in first class—I had my sweats on—”That’s a nice suit right there, buddy. How are you doing?”
He said, “I’m doing well.”
I said, “What do you do for a living?”
He said, “I work for the Defense Department.”
I went, “You do? You work for the Defense Department with a suit like that? You must be at a level where you’re not allowed to tell me what level you’re at. What level are you?”
He said, “You can’t ask that.”
I said, “Okay, you could probably kill me with your pinky.” And we started talking and laughing.
I was talking about different things going on around the world and stuff.
Then he broke in with the question I wanted him to ask the whole time. He said, “Well, what do you do?”
I said, “I’m an evangelist. I go around the country telling people about Jesus and how they can be forgiven of their sins.” And I got that little Gospel message in there real quick.
He said, “My best friend’s born again.” Guess what I said?
I said, “Why aren’t you?” Isn’t that what he wanted me to ask?
He said, “No one can answer my questions.”
I said, “Hey, we’ve got an hour and a half flight from Atlanta to New Orleans. Why not just go ahead and shoot fire away?” And he started asking me questions about uranium dating, argon-argon techniques, carbon-14, and I studied every one of these questions. The Lord had given me favor to be able to answer quickly every single one of them.
Then I took him through what I’m about to show you. I call it the Circle of Reason. I took him through this concept of proving the existence of God, proving—well, here’s how I’ll do it. I’ll draw it on the board here so you can keep notes and keep track of what I’m saying.
What I start with is God at the top. Then, at 3 o’clock, I put the name Jesus.
Okay, so watch this now. At 6 o’clock, I put the word, Miracle. Then, at 9:00, I put the word, Bible. Then I draw an arrow from each of these points to the others—like a clock around the circle, arrows connecting them. Then I draw an arrow across the circle from Bible to Jesus, and from God to Miracle. I call it the Circle of Reason.
Now, I thought I got this from a guy named R.C. Sproul in Seminary at Columbia International University, in my apologetics class. But I looked over my material and called the professor, and we couldn’t figure out who originally came up with this. I didn’t come up with this myself, so don’t think, “Oh, that’s impressive—I played football.” But this is one of the most effective ways I’ve found to share the Gospel. The Lord has given me favor to lead many atheists, agnostics, and skeptics to Christ using this one little diagram. It’s powerful because once you break into it, you’re in—and all of the points prove each other, which is pretty impressive.
Now, notice where Bible is. I never start with the Bible; it’s at 9:00. I end with the Bible. It’s very difficult to prove to a skeptic that the Bible is true. Very difficult. But I’m going to show you some techniques on how to do that. It’s not impossible.