I answered the door, years ago, and was delighted to see two young men I didn’t know, calling on me. Turns out I had responded to a television commercial offering a free Bible and they were here to deliver it to me. Not as fast as US Mail, I thought, but personal. I had some time so I invited them in and let them give their presentation. When they finished, I said, I have a few questions.

In your holy book, it says that Jesus was born in Jerusalem, but you said you also believe the Bible and the Bible says Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Which is true?

They gave a flimsy answer – about how some archaeologist says that Jerusalem was a province one time long ago and Bethlehem was a town in that province, so both are true. There’s no credible evidence for that but I let it go. I asked my next question:

In the Bible, we’re told that Jesus Christ is God. But you have told me that you believe Jesus was a great man who became like God, but he wasn’t born God.

Well, one of them answered, if you actually read those verses in the original language, you’ll see that it says Jesus was a god, but not the God.

This is the moment I was waiting for. I said, “wait right here, I’ll be right back.” I ran upstairs, grabbed my Greek New Testament, which I was studying in college, and returned. I said, “Here’s a Greek New Testament. Show me where it says Jesus was a god, not truly God.

They had to admit that they didn’t read Greek; they didn’t know any Greek. I showed them John 1:1 in the Greek and explained that it can only be translated, “the Word was God,” not “a god.” They said they would send someone else who could answer my questions.

With that they left. The following Friday night, they were back at my door. This time, their supervisor came with them. He was better prepared but he didn’t know what he was talking about either.

The great thing about obeying Jesus’ command to share our faith is he doesn’t make us get a college degree on the Bible and Theology before we can talk about Jesus.

Don’t talk about what you don’t know. Just tell your story. Say, “this one thing I know…this is what Jesus has done for me, this is what Jesus means to me…this is what God is doing in my life right now…

The blind man said, (John 9:25) “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”

Just be yourself and tell your story. It’s that simple.

-D Weidlich