What do I say to a co-worker who's full of questions & comments (all favorable) about my faith, but says he's not ready to change and will accept Christ on his deathbed.

You are to be commended for discerning that your co-worker needs to accept Christ now, not in the distant future. Certainly answer all of his questions to the best of your ability. And graciously thank him for his comments. As you have discussions with him/her, you might ask some of the following questions:

• Do you feel obligated to clean up your act before you can accept Christ? Why?
• What aspect of living the Christian life seems overwhelming to you?
• What do you think a person needs to do before accepting Christ?
• What makes you feel that you cannot change enough to live a Christian life?

Listen intently and enter the dialogue thoughtfully. Listen for false perspectives or misunderstandings of truth. Share stories and Scripture that help correct the misunderstandings. For example, in your own words or by reading Scripture share Luke 23:32-33, 39-43, and Acts 16:30-31. In both cases, salvation was promised before any possible moral reform could be instituted. Ask your friend the question — If not a matter of self-improvement, on what basis was this promise made? A great opening for the gospel message.

Putting one's faith in Jesus for forgiveness of sins means a whole new start in life, with ongoing changes. These changes occur after crossing the line of faith.

Another avenue to explore with your friend is to ask — if you had an opportunity to improve your life, would you reject that opportunity or explore it? Why then, will you wait until you are on your death bed to accept Christ? Why not explore the opportunity now?
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How can we be sure our faith is the right one?

Thanks for asking this question. It is one of the most frequently asked questions about Christianity. The better question is not whether 'our' faith is the right one. The better question is whether the Christianity is right and true. In other words, it is not right because it is 'our' faith. It will only be right if the Christian faith is true and real.

The most likely place to begin to explore this question is with Jesus. Christianity is about Jesus. Jesus, his deity, his death and resurrection is what sets the Christian faith apart from all other world religions. And so to assure the Christian faith is true (only one faith can be true) we must deal with the following questions:

• How do we know Jesus ever really lived?
• Is Jesus God?
• Did Jesus rise from the dead?

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How do we know Jesus lived?

The Bible is not the only document in which we find the life of Jesus recorded. His existence is recorded by Tacitus, one of the greatest historians of ancient Rome and Flavius Josephus, a Jewish historian who wrote about Jesus in his Jewish Antiquities. In addition we find mention of Christ's life in the accounts of ancient writers such as Suetonius, Thallus, Pliny the Younger and Lucian.

Thus, historians both favorable and unfavorable toward Jesus did write about him. Also there were many historical writings about the early Christians.
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Is Jesus God?

Jesus claimed to be God and demonstrated the attributes that only God has.

Claims:

Mark 14:61-64

⁶¹But Jesus remained silent and gave no answer. Again the high priest asked him, "Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?" ⁶²"I am," said Jesus. "And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven." ⁶³The high priest tore his clothes. "Why do we need any more witnesses?" he asked. ⁶⁴"You have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?" They all condemned him as worthy of death.

John 8:57-59

⁵⁷"You are not yet fifty years old," the Jews said to him, "and you have seen Abraham!" ⁵⁸"I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!" ⁵⁹At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.

John 10:30-33

^30AI and the Father are one." ³¹Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him, ³²but Jesus said to them, "I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?" ³³"We are not stoning you for any of these," replied the Jews, "but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God."

John 14:6-9

⁶Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. ⁷If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him." ⁸Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us." ⁹Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'?

Demonstrates:

Mark 2:1-13

¹A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. ²So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. ³Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them. ⁴Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on. ⁵When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven." ⁶Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, ⁷"Why does this fellow talk like that? He's blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?" ⁸Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, "Why are you thinking these things? ⁹Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up, take your mat and walk'? ¹⁰But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins . . . ." He said to the paralytic, ¹¹"I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home." ¹²He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, "We have never seen anything like this!" ¹³Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them.

Mark 4:41

⁴¹They were terrified and asked each other, "Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!"

John 2:1-11

¹On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there, ²and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. ³When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him, "They have no more wine." ⁴"Dear woman, why do you involve me?" Jesus replied, "My time has not yet come." ⁵is mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you." ⁶Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.[a] ⁷Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the jars with water"; so they filled them to the brim. ⁸Then he told them, "Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet." They did so, ⁹and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside ¹⁰and said, "Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now." ¹¹This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed in Cana of Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.

John 10:38

³⁸But if I do it, even though you do not believe me, believe the miracles, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father."

Matthew 14:13-21

¹³This is why I speak to them in parables: "Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand. ¹⁴In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: " 'You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. ¹⁵For this people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.' ¹⁶But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. ¹⁷For I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it. ¹⁸"Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: ¹⁹When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path. ²⁰The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. ²¹But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away.

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Did Jesus rise from the dead?

Both Christians and non-Christians have recognized the resurrection of Jesus Christ to be the foundation of Christianity. In the early church of Corinth some were questioning, even denying the possibility of the resurrection. The apostle Paul responds "If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith" (1 Corinthians 15:14).

Data to be considered for the resurrection:

1. The birth of the church and its worldwide scope.
2. The empty tomb and the witnesses
3. The appearances of Christ after his resurrection.
4. The action and martyrdom of his followers.

Space here does not permit a full discussion of the plausibility and evidence of Christ's resurrection. For further investigation consider the following resources:

• Know Why you Believe — Paul Little
• The Reason for God — Tim Keller
• The Case for Christ — Lee Strobel

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How does our relationship with Christ during this life influence my relationship with him in eternity?

This is an intriguing question, because behind it is the question of whether everyone begins over, when Christ returns, or does that complete transformation build on what has already taken place during our Christian life?

I'm not sure the Bible gives us an answer to that question. The Bible does say that when Christ returns we shall all be changed. John says in 1 John 3:2, "but we know that when he appears, will we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." I suspect that some of us will have more that will need to be transformed than others because of our growth in the grace and knowledge of Christ during our lifetime or lack thereof. But I also suspect that the transformation will be so radical that each of us will be overwhelmed by God's grace and focused so much on Christ that we are unlikely to compare ourselves with others.

A tangential question that emerges from this discussion is why we should be proactive in our spiritual transformation if God is going to transform all of us when Christ returns? In 1 John, chapters 2 and 3, we are given some strong reasons why we should be proactive in our transformation. John says, in 1 John 2:6, that whoever claims to live in Christ, must walk as Christ did. I understand him to mean that if we have connected with Christ in a salvific fashion, we will sense within us that desire to live as Christ lived. In 1 John 2:28, John writes. "And now, dear children, continue him, so that when he appears we may be confident and not ashamed before him at his coming." John is saying that if we have given our lives to Christ, we don't want to be ashamed when he returns. And so we will try to be proactive in our own spiritual life and growth. John expresses the same thought in 1 John 3:3, when he writes: "Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as Jesus is pure." John is reminding us that if we have hope that we will see Jesus when he returns, then we want to purify ourselves because Jesus is pure. All of these reasons serve to encourage us to be proactive in our obedience to Christ and living out the life that Christ has given to us.
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