Explain Me!
Everyone admitted that this atheist lecturer was extremely intelligent. In debates, he could generally make his opponent, however brilliant, trip himself up and look utterly ridiculous. His arguments were subtly convincing, and his ability to mislead his hearers was proven by the spread of atheism wherever he lectured.
One evening he was giving a lecture in a large university near a mining town in South Africa. The college had set up a large tent on the large lawn where not only could students attend but anyone from the town was also welcomed, said the big sign. As he was speaking, he noticed in his audience one who was listening intently. This man was still wearing his grimy miner’s work clothes, and his massive frame and bulging muscles showed his unusual strength.
The lecturer argued against the divine inspiration of the Bible, against Jesus Christ as God’s Son, and against Christianity as the logical consequence of such beliefs. Feeling confident that he had destroyed any faith his hearers had in such theories, as he labeled them, he ended his speech by saying, “Now I’m sure that I have succeeded in explaining to you the myth that is called the religion of Jesus Christ.”
He had hardly finished when the miner rose slowly to his feet. Though dressed in grimy clothes, he demanded respect as he towered over his neighbors. His voice boomed through the hall as he addressed the atheist. “Sir,” he said, “I’m only a working man and I don’t know your fancy word ‘myth.’ But these people know me! They know that until three years ago I was the toughest man in town. They know that up till that time I had a miserable home. I neglected my wife and children. I cursed. I swore. I drank all my wages, and whoever opposed me was beaten up.
“Then someone came along and told me of the love of God to sinners. He gave me a glimpse of Christ Jesus dying on Calvary’s cross for lost people like me. He lifted me up with hope and faith in the very things that you now call myths. I believed those very things that you now deny, and through my newfound trust in the cleansing power of the Savior’s blood, my life was changed. These folks can tell you that my life is now completely different. We have a happy home. I love my wife and children. I feel better in every way, and God has taken from me the desire for strong liquor. A new power has taken possession of me since Christ came into my life.
Sir,” he concluded, “if what you say is true, then how do you
explain me?”
The atheist had no explanation to offer, and that miner sent people
home hearing the truth that the Bible is still the Word of the living
God, that Jesus Christ is anything but a myth, and that the gospel is
“the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth.”
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth” (Romans 1:16). “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31).
