How To Convince A Doubter

Written By: Shari Tvrdik

As a missionary sharing the Gospel to the unreached, it is here at the empty tomb, where you realize the story you are passing along is either miraculous or ... insane.

We are telling people that God is not dead. He is not bottled up in an idol on their shelf, or perched on the top of a mountain. He is not remembered....He is alive.

For most of us, doubt has crept in from time to time over the years. The Easter story is not that simple is it?  It balances precariously against the virgin birth and begs the question, "Are you crazy?"

 The death, and even the resurrection of Jesus Christ has significant historical data. Our Faith in Christ is not without something to stand on. Yet for the history to be made real to us, we need something more than data. What would it take to convince our doubts? 500 eyewitness? Ten thousand? What number would confirm to us living two-thousand years after the fact, that yes, the resurrection was indeed a verified, vetted, factual event?
How do we convince the doubter  or those hearing the Gospel story for the very first time?
In my experience with the unreached and my personal battle with doubt, it takes something more than a well organized  apologetics explanation.
When all the talk and rhetoric has faded it is the still small voice that confirms. It is the daily collection of Christ's revelation piled high after years equating to one beautifully redeemed life that convinces a worn out believer to keep the faith. As Peter says well in John 6:8  “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life."
And this is the real message people are looking for, a message of transformation, hope and rescue.
That is the message that screams louder than the available  FACTS.
For those facts, although uplifting to the one bullied by doubt, will not be the tipping point for a person who needs to see to find their hope in Christ.
The doubter must see you out of the tomb. 
You and I, out of our tomb, fully alive in Christ, will do much more to lead others to embrace the resurrection than we could possibly imagine.


"It is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus." Ephesians 2:6-7