The Challenge

I noticed that a polite and seeming sincere atheist has kindly challenged me or any other Christian to live the life of an unbeliever, for just one month. In return, he would live the life of a Christian. The rule is that each person has to be open-minded to the fact that they may be wrong in their beliefs. The Christian is not to read the Bible, and he’s not to go to church. The atheist will in turn read the Bible and go to church.

While I appreciate the kind gesture, it really illustrates that we Christians have a communication problem with some people. It’s completely our fault. We haven’t made the issue clear. So I’m going to try and make it very understandable. I will repeat and deliberately emphasize it, so that it hits the target. In doing this I risk sounding sarcastic. If that’s how it comes across, I apologize.

Here we go: A Christian is someone who knows the Lord. Let me repeat that. A Christian is someone who knows the Lord. They know the Lord. Actually know Him. Experientially. They know a Person, not a lifestyle. I’m talking about the God of the universe. They know Him.

I will now personalize this, but I am speaking on behalf of everyone who knows the Lord. I don’t “believe” that He exists. I know Him. Personally. I have a living relationship with the Creator. I talk to Him through prayer, and He guides me though His Word and by His Holy Spirit. I have known the Lord since April 25th, 1972 at 1:30 in the morning.

Perhaps I’m not making myself clear, so I will try an analogy. It’s like actually knowing someone. Personally. It’s like having a friendship with him; a 24-hour day, 365 days a year intimate relationship. Therefore, it is self-evident that I can’t live for a month being open to not knowing Him. All the so-called “mistakes” in the Bible can’t change that fact. All the hypocrisy committed by religious people in the past can’t change it. All the atheists on God’s earth saying that He doesn’t exist doesn’t change it in the slightest. Darwin’s theory can’t change it. The storms of this life can’t change it. If I get cancer and die a horrible death, it doesn’t change the fact that I know the Lord. I not only know Him, but I love Him. I love Him with all of my heart, mind, soul and strength. He is my life, He’s my joy, my Creator, my Savior, my Lord and my God.

And if I die for the cause of the gospel, my hope would be that the spilling of my blood would be a small testimony to those who don’t know Him. My earnest hope and prayer would be that they would soften their sinful hearts, and repent and trust Jesus Christ, so that they too can testify to the unchanging truth that “This is eternal life, that they might know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent” (John 17:3).