Today, my friend Steve (tireless critic of Ravi Zacharias) tweeted the following question to me:
“When a Christian is evangelizing, is it OK for them to say to their audience right before the invitation, “Full disclosure, I’m having some bothersome doubts about my religion today. But, organ player, let’s do it anyway, One-two-three-four ‘Just as I am ….,’?”
I replied:
“I’ve got mixed views on the revivalist tradition, but ask yourself this: if a police officer is talking a man off a ledge, and that day the officer is struggling with his own depression, do you want him to tell the man that he doubts life is meaningful?”
Needless to say, if a Christian evangelist believes that he/she is talking folks off the proverbial ledge (you know, the one just above the eternal abyss), should he/she really be sharing some doubts in that moment?
There is a time and place for expressing your doubts. Indeed, for many Christians, a healthy Christian life is defined by expressing those doubts. But this is neither the time nor the place.
