The Power of Reason for Evangelism

A few weeks ago, I posted The Power of Your Testimony. In this post, I discussed why your testimony can be so powerful for evangelism, but I also made the claim that reason is another one of these powerful tools. Now, there are other tools we can use to spread our faith, but these two blogs focus on what you can say to convince others that God is real and worth pursuing.

We will start by looking at what it means to reason. The word “reason” means “the power of the mind to think, understand, and form judgments by a process of logic.” Used this way it is a noun, but it can be used as a verb with the same meaning. When we reason with someone, we are using, in some form or another, logical arguments. Hopefully, those arguments are reasoned well. Unfortunately, what we see both from the secular world and Christianity is argumentation that is using bad reasoning. This is primarily in the form of “logical fallacies.” There is a myriad of logical fallacies that can occur, and I suggest that you spend some time looking them up, but for the sake of time, I will just give one example.

One of the more commonly used logical fallacies today is ad hominem. Ad hominem is an argument attacking the person rather than what they are saying. In fact, this is precisely how most of our politics work. Politicians (or those working for them) dig up something from their opponents’ past and use it against them rather than addressing what they are saying. A simple example of an ad hominem would be, “My doctor is rude, therefore, he is a bad doctor.” While we all can agree that we wouldn’t want a rude doctor, the fact that a doctor is rude doesn’t make them bad at their job.

So, how does reasoning well make for a powerful evangelistic tool? Well, despite what is commonly believed, our faith in God is reasonable. It is defendable. We can use logic to come to valid conclusions about God and the Bible. In fact, we are commanded to do this. 1 Peter 3:15 says,

But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect

1 Peter 3:15

“Make a defense” is the word ἀπολογία (apologia) which is where we get our word for apologetics. This Greek word was used by lawyers who were to give a defense for someone. This means that we ought to always be prepared to defend our faith like a lawyer would but to make sure we do so with gentleness and respect. An apologist is someone who uses apologetics to give a reason or defense for our faith. While the term can be used in a non-Christian context, it is usually used in relation to Christianity. We should all be apologists in some regard due to the command above. We are not only commanded to do it, but the example in the New Testament is overwhelmingly logical. For example, Romans is a book that builds logical arguments to defend the faith. I bring up Romans in particular, but most books of the New Testament, and indeed the whole Bible, use logic. Acts actually gives us an interesting insight into this method. Acts 17:2-4 says,

And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessry for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.” And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women.

Acts 17:2-4

“As was his custom.” That is the phrase used by Luke (Luke wrote Acts). Paul regularly reasoned from the Scriptures in the synagogues. The text also says that he was successful. It wasn’t a universal success by any means, but he was able to convert many Jews and Greeks to Christianity through the use of reason.

There are many examples of how the use of reason demonstrates that our faith is not only reasonable but is the best option. The arguments themselves are not the purpose of this blog, nor do I have time to address them, but I recommend spending some time looking them up. You can simply Google “apologetic arguments for Christianity” or you can be more specific if you want. Of course, not all apologetic arguments are done equally well, so you will have to be discerning about which ones are decent. That said, a quick Google search is an excellent way to get started.

Now that we have gone down that rabbit hole, let’s get back to the topic at hand. As I said above, Christianity is reasonable. Faith, as used in Scripture, doesn’t mean what it has come to mean today. We don’t have “blind” faith in God (or at least we shouldn’t). This is the idea of belief in God despite the lack of proof. In Scripture, “faith” describes a much more firm belief than that. We believe in God because of the proof. “Faith” might better be described as “complete trust in God due to the knowledge of God.” As we come to know God, we should be able to trust Him more and more. The reason for this is twofold.

First, we come to know God through Scripture’s witness. Scripture tells us what we can expect from God. It is the true witness to God’s nature and power. For example, based on Scripture, I know if God tells me to do something and I obey, He will see it through. If there are no funds for whatever it is He has called me to do, He will provide. If I don’t have the skill required, He will either grow that skill in me or provide someone who can assist.

Second, we come to know God through experience. As we pursue God and obey Him, we will naturally come to know what to expect from Him based on those experiences. For example, I have examples of God coming through both monetarily and timing-wise when He commanded that I do something (for an explanation of some of these check out my testimony). He commanded something to be done that I had no idea how it would come to fruition, but based on Scripture, I trusted Him. He pulled through and now I have both Scripture and those experiences to back up my trust in Him. The more I learn about Him, and the more I experience Him, the more I trust Him.

This does, of course, come with the caveat that we are actually pursuing Him. If we go after something that we think He is commanding us to do, but He isn’t, things likely won’t go so well. Or if they do go well, it doesn’t necessarily tell us anything about God.

Hopefully, that dispels some of the myths surrounding the word “faith.”

I can personally attest to the value of reason in evangelism. I am someone who needs evidence that what I believe is true. Luckily (though luck had nothing to do with it), there is a ton of evidence for the God of the Bible being real. If I didn’t find this to be true, I simply wouldn’t be a Christian. Many people are like me. They need to know that Christianity is reasonable.

There are many examples of people who became believers through reason, though perhaps none more famous than Lee Strobel. Lee Strobel became a believer after his wife became a Christian and started to change. This drove him to investigate the Bible to try and find how it was changing her. Eventually, through this investigation which involved many theologians and Bible scholars, he also became a Christian. He has gone on to write many books arguing for Christianity. Another fairly famous example would be Antony Flew who was a notorious philosopher who argued against God for the vast majority of his life, but ultimately flipped to Christianity in his later years of life.

As I continue writing on my website, you will see examples brought up about how reason can be used for evangelism. Additionally, as I write books and the like, I will be including some of the ways that demonstrate that faith in God is reasonable and worth pursuing.

As always, if you have any questions feel free to contact me at ljandersonbooks@outlook.com and I will do my best to answer your questions. To stay up to date on my blog posts, and receive updates on other writing projects, follow me on Twitter and/or Facebook.