This past year or so has been one of the most taxing, and intense challenges of my faith that i can ever recall. As a result, I think I have gained a deeper understanding of who God is, how He relates to me, and what he has called me (and I believe many of us) to do.
Prior to the Jehovah's Witnesses coming to my apartment, I very rarely ever found myself researching what other people believed. Up until this point, I have been able to rely solely upon whatever I have been taught in church, or been able to reason from my own reading of the Word. I soon found out, however, that this was not enough to get me through a conversation with well-trained agents of a non-gospel. The first time I spoke with them was with my roommate Tad, when they came to our apartment. I firmly believe that God supplied Tad and me with the necessary tools in scripture to defend our beliefs that day, for I have never been able to recollect scripture as well as I did that day. It was because of that, I felt as though I could handle whatever they threw at me, and was more than ready for them to come back again. Oops.
The next time they came (almost a year later), I was by myself in the apartment, and long story short, they gave me a whoopin'. They came more than prepared this time, and I was not. I was left in a frustrated and confused stupor, wondering what had happened. It took me some time to realize that, although God is more than capable of providing the knowledge and wisdom for sharing the Gospel with anyone, that does not mean that we are to be slack in our personal studies and our diligence in searching the scriptures for truth.
I have also been challenged in my knowledge of the scriptures. I don't know about you, but I find it terribly upsetting that people who are going around preaching a false gospel can quote scripture (albeit out of context) better than I can. It is to my shame that this is true. Knowing what the truth is, and understanding the gospel is a wonderful thing, but I have found it loses a great deal of impact when it is put in my own words, instead of the words of God. I need to be able to support my beliefs with scripture, not only logic and understanding. This is especially true when speaking with those who claim to be of God, but are in reality against Him. We know that Jesus is God, but how many of us can provide more than a handful of verses that prove it? Or how about verses in support of a Trinity?
It is because of this that I have come to the conclusion that we need to be prepared to defend our beliefs at all times, just as it says in 1 Peter 3:15. Now I'm not saying we need to constantly be researching different beliefs and how to defend against them, but we should be examining our own beliefs and doctrines, and weighing them against the whole of scripture. We take many of our beliefs for granted, assuming them to be right because it is taught at a pulpit. Hopefully, if we are at gospel preaching churches, we are able to trust our pastors, but they are still only men, and if we aren't cautious, we can fall into the same snare many cults fall into: abiding by man's word, in place of God's.
It is now my challenge, and i would argue everyone's as well, to memorize scripture, and prepare to defend my faith against any power of the earth, to "preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching." (2 Timothy 4:2)
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