“Most people are not scholars. Most people are not academics and researchers who have dedicated their life to a single idea. Furthermore, most people’s objections to God are not intellectual; they are either emotional or volitional. It is not so much their mind that rejects God, but their heart.” From the book Relational Apologetics, by Michael C. Sherrard.

Most Christians travel through life in a protective bubble, surrounded by people who think just like we do and insulated from the unbelievers around us. We leave the bubble from time to time to make a living and look after our needs and the needs of our family, but scuttle back to the bubble as quickly as we can for fear that someone may ask questions for which we don’t have an answer. Sometimes there comes an uncomfortable thought that this isn’t really how Jesus wants us to live. He wants us to share our faith. But that would take us out of our comfort zone, so we draw back into our bubble, comforting ourselves that people around us really aren’t interested in hearing about our faith.

We think we would have to have solid answers to all their objections to our faith, and we just don’t have them. Michael Sherrard says that’s OK. We can do more to help people consider Christian faith by asking questions than by dumping a truckload of what we think to be irrefutable evidence on them.

Most people wish their lives were more satisfying, more fulfilling. Do we find Christian life satisfying and fulfilling? That is the starting point. But if we start out as teachers of a better way, people are apt to say “That’s good for you, but it wouldn’t work for me.”

Sherrard says that is not the end of a conversation. It is just the beginning. By asking questions, and listening, we will come to understand each other and be able to prompt the other person to discover for himself the truth of Christian faith.

The subtitle of the book is “Defending the Christian Faith With Holiness, Respect and Truth”. I like this little book, I bought it as an e-book when it first came out ten years ago and recently took a fresh look at it. I find the emphasis on humility and respect make it feel like something we all might benefit from. It is available as a paperback and an e-book from indigo.ca. Readers outside Canada can find it on Amazon.

Relational Apologetics, copyright 2012 by Michael C. Sherrard, published by Hill Harrow Books, Brooks, Georgia