Christians are called upon by God to share the Christian gospel with others in order to help them become Christians.
One of the ways Christians try to evangelize (help non-Christians believe the gospel) is to help them see how wretched they really are so that they might see their need for Jesus.
Others try to help people see their philosophical need for a source or ground of absolute truth. This can be done using various methods.
Some take time to talk people through whether God exists at all or if he does, that miracles occur and can be attributed to him.
Some just share how much Jesus loves that specific person and to do that, they have to demonstrate their own love for that person. This can take hours, months, or even years.
But pretty much all of these methods involve preparing the person to hear the message of Christ.
These methods are often wise.
Other times, Christians focus on an evangelism method that they just know is right, but since it is more catered to their own personality type or perhaps a narrow definition of how the human mind works, the method can become a hindrance rather than a help.
Despite that, most people would acknowledge that sharing the gospel of grace requires pre-evangelism.
But I’ve come across some people who are so weak, self-hating and resentful toward the world in general that sharing a gospel message that includes the promise of something like “living forever with God” sounds worse than dying and sleeping forever.
How can we help them aside from prayer? I think that sometimes pre-evangelism is helping people find that life has the potential for happiness, that choices matter, and that nature is not against them. This is not easy. And of course, in all of this, we must point people to God’s grace here and now. But still, in a culture where consumerist nihilism reigns supreme and product acquisition is the highest good, it won’t be easy to help some people see that life is meaningful in the first place.
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