Personal Evangelism Class
Lesson #11
By Art Wallis
“Major Excuses For Not Becoming a Christian, And How to Handle Them”
Introduction: Remember that an excuse is a “skin of a truth stuffed with a lie”. There is no way that we can possibly cover all of the excuses that you will ever run up against in soul-winning, but we will try to deal briefly with some of the more frequent and general excuses that people use.
I. THE BEST COMMENTARY ON THIS IS FOUND IN LUKE 14:15-24. READ IT!!
A. The excuses offered here go from the absurd to the ridiculous.
B. You will run into excuses that are just as absurd and ridiculous as these are.
C. If the people you are studying with continue to make excuses, you need to go somewhere else and find people who are willing to obey, not make excuses.
II. Human nature causes a person to want to take the course of least resistance when it comes to making a tough decision. Usually that course is not the BEST one.
III. HOW DO YOU HANDLE EXCUSES?
A. Do not let the excuse get you into an argument with the prospect. Always remember that “he who angers you, conquers you”. In other words, if the prospect’s excuse makes you angry, he has won. If you make the prospect angry, you have lost and the door to reach him may be closed forever. What is worse, the prospect may have lost his soul.
B. “Don’t argue, don’t flatly contradict, but don’t compromise your conviction either.”
C. Be sure to put the prospect’s excuse in your own words to be sure that you fully understand it so that you can properly deal with it.
1. “First, you show consideration for your prospect’s point of view. Don’t argue, but agree, or yield, as far as you can.” (without compromising truth-A.W.)
2. Second, lead his thinking to your proposition.
3. Third, advance your reasons for your proposition.
4. Finally, lead him to agree with you.
SUMMARIZED: YOU YIELD, TURN, ADVANCE, AND CLOSE!
D. You might also have the prospect explain his position more fully. He may explain himself right out of his present beliefs.
E. You might say, “I understand that you are saying ______, but have you ever looked at it from this point of view;” then you explain what you are trying to teach.
F. You can also get the prospect to re-evaluate the reasons he believes what he does, by asking the simple little question, “Why?”
G. If the prospect happens to have been born in the “objective case and kickative mood”, you may have to let him know that the only one they can compare themselves with, in order to get a fair comparison, is to Christ. Often these kinds of people like to compare themselves to the weakest member of the church to make themselves look good.
IV. EXCUSES USUALLY FALL INTO THREE GNEREAL CATEGORIES: Circumstances, Other People, and Self.
A. Circumstances.
1. “Give me time to think about becoming a Christian”
Rx – “Today is the day of salvation” – II Cor. 6:2
2. “Sunday is the only day I have off work to be with my family, I’m too busy.”
Rx – What if you do gain the whole world and lose your own soul? Mark 8:36 & 37
3. “There are so many churches, I can’t decide which one to join.”
Rx – There is but “one faith” and “one church” and the Lord adds you to that one when you obey the Gospel -–Eph. 4:5, Matt. 16:18 (church-singular), Acts 2:47KJV
4. “The church of Christ has set its standards to high; I want a church that is easier to meet its qualifications.”
Rx – The church of Christ only has the same qualifications as those that Christ Himself set down in the Scriptures.
B. OTHER PEOPLE
1. “I have had my feelings hurt by something ______(minister, elder, deacon, Bible teacher, other Christians, etc.) said to me.”
Rx – Let them get it out of their system, then ask them why they should take it out on the Lord and chance losing their own salvation because of someone else.
2. “I will become a Christian when my husband, wife, child, parent, friend, etc. does.”
Rx – Why wait for them? You could die tonight and your soul would be eternally lost. See Matt. 10:37 – “Why don’t you lead the way for them?!”
3. There are hypocrites in the church.”
Rx – Yes, there are. Why don’t you come along and join them! (This response is a last ditch effort when all else has failed to get a positive response from the prospect after they have used this excuse)
Rx – “It would be better to spend a few years with a few hypocrites in the church than to spend all eternity with all of them separated from God.”
Rx – Hypocrites are actually ‘counterfeit Christians’. People only counterfeit something of value, therefore, Christianity must be of value.
Rx – You might try Romans 14:12 on them, also.
4. “My parents would object” / “ My friends would make fun of me.”
Rx – See Luke 9:26; See Luke 18: 29 & 30; See also Psalms 27:10
C. “Self” Excuses
1. “I’m not yet ready”
Rx – II Cor. 6:2 – Today is the day of salvation.
2. “I’m not willing to make the necessary changes in my life.”
Rx – Matthew 6:33
3. “My parents made me go to church when I was a kid.”
Rx – They made you take baths, too! You still do that because it is good for you. So is going to church. (I prefer the term, “being the church” over “attending or going to church” –A.W.)
4. “I don’t know enough about the Bible and the church to make a decision on it.”
Rx – “The average religious American today knows more about Jesus than did the Jews of Jesus’ day.”
5. “I’m good enough to go to heaven already.”
Rx – Morality doesn’t save – Romans 6:23; Acts 10 (Cornelius)
6. “I’m not good enough to be a Christian.”
Rx – Agree with them, but emphasize that Jesus came to cleanse us from sin when we become Christians. – Luke 19:10; Romans 10:11-13 – stressing the idea of “whosoever” means anyone!
7. “I don’t understand the Bible.”
Rx – Have you studied it? I would like to study it with you.
8. “I’m afraid that I will not be able to live a good Christian life and will be a failure at it.
Rx – Philippians 4:13 and I Cor. 10:13
V. OTHER QUESTIONS YOU ARE APT TO RUN INTO
A. “How do you know there is a God?”
1. Nature proves there is a divine power – the heavens declare the glory of God….
2. Man’s existence as a creature, far superior to the animals is proof, for we are made in God’s image.
3. Man has unsatisfied longings – these show that we have a need for immortality built into us.
4. The Bible says there is a God and it has never been proven false.
B. “If there is a God, why does he allow sin and war?”
1. God has always given man freedom of choice and many times man makes the wrong choice – i.e. Adam & Eve in the Garden…, thus we suffer because of man’s wrong choices.
2. Romans 8:28 - someday we will find the good.
C. “Why do you believe the Bible to be the word of God?”
1. It has the loftiest ideals. It shows men both at their very best and at their very worst.
2. It is historically, scientifically, and psychologically accurate.
3. It has unity, though it was written by 40 men inspired by God, over a period of some 1400-1600 years.
D. “How do we know that the Bible has been properly translated and kept pure for us today?”
1. I Peter 1:25; I Peter 1:23
2. The Dead Sea Scrolls found in 1947 showed that the Old Testament, as we have it, is properly translated.
3. Jesus quoted from all but one of the Old Testament Books, thus giving them authenticity and validation.
E. “I would follow Jesus, but the Christian life isn’t practical”
1. See Galatians 5:19-26
F. “I don’t believe in baptism (immersion)” – be sure to clarify what they mean by “baptism”.
1. Go through the Scriptures on baptism - I Peter 3:21, Gal. 3:27, Romans 6:3-6, Acts 22:16, Acts 2:38, and Mark 16;16
G. “I’m waiting until I get the right ‘feeling’.”
1. We must go by ‘knowledge’ not by ‘feeling’. – I John 5:13 and Isa. 55:3
2. We must do God’s will – Matt. 7:21
H. “I believe in Jesus; that is enough.”
1. A faith that doesn’t work is dead – James 2:24
2. It may be a weak faith – Romans 14:1
3. See Matt. 7:21
4. Faith must be obeyed – Romans 1:5 & 16:26
I. “I’m too mean and nasty to be a Christian.”
1. Those that had Christ crucified were mean, but sought forgiveness. – Acts 2:37 &38
2. God will forgive if you quit sinning – I Timothy 1:15
3. Saul of Tarsus had been responsible for the stoning to death of Stephen, but was offered forgiveness -–Acts 22:16
J. “I don’t know why I don’t want to become a Christian, I just don’t.”
1. This is a “yes” answer in disguise. Keep working on them.
2. Answer all questions he may have.
3. Ask, “Are you ready to obey the gospel in baptism today?” If they say “yes”, get up and say, “Then let’s go.” If the prospect hedges, ask if he has any questions or if there is anything that would keep him/her from obeying.
Conclusion: As I stated earlier, there is no way to cover all of the excuses and objection that people might have, but this list should cover the majority of opposition you might find.
NEXT WEEK’S LESSON IS: “Leading to the Point of Obeying the Gospel”. This is a MUST for this class. It is perhaps the most important lesson of this series, especially if you are going to just use “the Bible” in your teaching, without using any additional teaching aids, such as flip charts, VCR tapes, Cassette tapes, etc…
(Information taken from class notes, the Bible, Joe Ellis, Otis Gatewood, and personal experience)