A friend of mine, who is not a Christian, posted this BuzzFeed article to Facebook yesterday:

What messages did they send?

Does not the second law of thermodynamics disprove evolution?

How do you explain a sunset if their (sic) is no God?

What about noetics?

What mechanism has science discovered that evidences an increase of genetic information seen in any genetic mutation or evolutionary process?

Relating to the big bang theory … Where did the exploding star come from?

I enjoy a hearty debate. I like my brain, and I like using it. I think apologetics is good fun. I hope that here, in this space, I don’t have to explain that I’m not advocating ignorant faith. Aside from a few of those 22 messages that are cliché and/or simply embarrassing, I’m not opposed to those questions or those discussions, but there is a time and place.

When a man with a camera hands you a blank notebook and asks you to write a note to the “other” – for lack of a more divisive, polarizing term – side, it is neither that time nor place. When someone offers you a brief audience with the lost, it has to be about Jesus. Because it’s all about Jesus.

Were these people set up? Probably. They’d just sat for two and a half hours and listened to their faith being intellectualized  and debated on very scientific terms. (Which, again, is not a bad thing.) So their minds were on what they had just heard. If you got stuck in an elevator with one of these people and asked why he’s a Christian, he probably wouldn’t start with Lucy or metamorphosis or thermodynamics.

But how easily are we refocused? How much do we love the ways of the world? How much do we enjoy being right? Is our faith resting on the apologetics, or is it merely encouraged by them?

What if the Church was so in love with Jesus that we could sit and enjoy a debate like this, or have a similar conversation with a non-Christian friend, and at the end of it still have a heart that screams, “But really, believe it or not, He loves you.” What if this writer had photographed dozens of messages like,

God really loves you, and He will always be there for you if you ever decide to look for Him.

I used to hate the idea of God, but when I cried to Him He answered me. He’ll answer you too.

God is love.

God promised to forgive anyone who came to Him.

I don’t hate you. And I don’t think you’re stupid.

My life was falling apart when I turned it over to Jesus. He still saves.

It is never too late for you.

What if all he got was grace and love and warm smiles? What impression would that have made? How would that have impacted people?

I like the discussions and the debates as much as the next person, that’s why we’re here, but let’s never, ever let it end with who is right or wrong, who won and who lost. Let’s always, always, always point people back to Jesus.