How to share with a “religious” person no “relationship” with Christ

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The Way of the Master

The School of Biblical Evangelism from Ray Comfort offers 120 lessons that will help train you and your whole family about sharing your faith in Christ with others. Highly recommended.

Man hiking in the wilderness. Illustration copyrighted. The most effective way to speak about the issues of eternity to a religious person is not to get sidetracked from the essentials of salvation. Upon hearing a persons background, we may feel an obligation to speak to issues such as infant baptism, transubstantiation, etc. However, it is wise rather to build on the points of agreement between the Bible and the persons denomination, such as the virgin birth, the cross, and so on.

One point of agreement will almost certainly be the Ten Commandments. They are the key to bringing any religious person to a saving knowledge of the gospel. After someone is converted to Jesus Christ, the Bible will come alive and he will be led into all truth by the indwelling Holy Spirit. God's Word will then give him light, and he will forsake religious tradition as he is led by God. (See: "Why you should use the law in evangelism")

While there are strong biblical arguments that may convince unregenerate people that their churchs traditions contradict Holy Scripture, there is a difficulty. Some religious people hold the teachings of their church to be on a par with, or of greater authority than, Holy Scripture. It is therefore often futile to try to convince them intellectually that their trust should be in the person of Jesus Christ, rather than in their own righteousness or in their church traditions.

For this reason we should aim at the conscience, rather than the intellect. Take them through the Law of God (the Commandments) to show that they are condemned despite their works (See “Am I good enough to get to heaven?” as an example of this approach), and strongly emphasize that we are saved by grace, and grace alone, rather than by trusting in our own righteousness or religious traditions.

If they are open to the gospel, and are interested in what God's Word says in reference to their churchs teachings, they will listen to Scripture. For example, in Matthew 8:14 we see that Peter (whom the Roman Catholic church maintains was the first pope) was married, as were many of the other apostles (see 1 Corinthians 9:5).

Author: Ray Comfort of Living Waters Publications