God Talk
Introducing ‘God-talk’ into a conversation with unbelievers is fraught with difficulties. Some of those problems are of our own making. Too many a Christian has been ready to “rush in where angels fear to tread” – as the saying goes. The upshot is that some non-Christians feel that talking with followers of Jesus will mean getting hit over the head with a Bible. My ten years of working in industry and commerce, before becoming a pastor, taught me to avoid “Bible bashing”. Surely the apostle Peter meant exactly that. He told us in his first letter that when asked, Christians must always be ready to give an account of the hope that is in us – but, Peter added, “...do this with gentleness and respect.” Perhaps Peter had also experienced zealous Christians who buttonholed unbelievers with a “Brother are you saved?” approach.
I’ve found though that there is one opportunity unbelievers often give us to raise faith issues without even realising it. That is in those moments when they blaspheme. When a workmate or neighbour uses the Lord’s name as an expletive that’s an open invitation to some God-talk – after all, they started on the subject.
Of course, it’s still important just how we tackle that issue. I once worked in a factory where a fellow Christian carried around a pocket full of cards. He used to hand them out regularly to people who used the Lord’s name as a curse. The cards read: “Excuse me! You’ve just used the Lord’s name in vain. This blasphemy offends me and it damns your eternal soul to hell!” I admired his zeal but that was never quite my style.
I was more inclined to challenge the person by asking: “What has He got to do with it?” Since my workmates usually didn’t even realise they had blasphemed, they would ask: “What has who got to do with what?” That provided an opening to talk about blasphemy and on some occasions led to some fruitful discussions.
An acquaintance once tried a different tack that worked well. In the company’s dining room someone across the table used the name of the Jesus as an expletive. The Christian asked him, “Instead of saying, ‘Oh Christ!’ why don’t you say, ‘Oh Buddha!’?” The man thought for a moment and then said, “I guess because if I did, and there was a Buddhist sitting here at the table he would be offended. My acquaintance shot back, “Well, I’m a Christian and you just offended me?” The man admitted he hadn’t realised how the flippant use of the name of Jesus offends Christians.
A friend of mine uses yet a different approach. Often when people blaspheme in his presence he will ask them whether they are Christians. That often leads to a confused look to which he then responds along the lines of: “Well, Christians call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that’s just what you did.”
My mother once told me an interesting story of another approach that was certainly a little more confronting but that has possibilities: In the time when there were no cars, people travelled by horse or boat. In Holland there were a lot of canals and many boats would pass through them. Once, a group of people in a boat were busily talking. One man didn’t take part in the conversation. He was reading the paper. Still, he heard a lot of what was said, especially the swearing of a certain person. The reader discovered his name was Prins. Next time the man misused God’s name again, the reader said, without looking up from his paper: “Prins”. Prins looked, but the man was reading. Next time he used the name of the Lord in vain, the reader said again, without taking his eyes from the paper, “Prins”. When this happened a third time Mr. Prins became angry, walked up to the reader and shouted; “What do you want from me?” The reader said, “Nothing!” “Well, why then do you call me?” “Sir”, the reader said, “you are doing the same. I heard you calling the name of God, but you never said anything to Him.”
John Westendorp
2MaxFM - April 6th 2025
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