STACKING THE DECK

Billy Coffey is at a diner waiting for his lunch when a stranger approaches him and asks a question: "Do you go to church?"

Billy C. answers, "Yes."

The stranger asks: "Do you think non-Christians will go to heaven or to hell when they die?" But he doesn't wait for an answer; he goes on, "Christians say that God is love, but if you don't go along with the program, then you get eternally punished. That doesn't sound like love to me, that just sounds hypocritical."

A STACKED DECK

That query is the attitude of many. It's the type of question Oprah Winfrey and Larry King would ask to embarrass the believer. What we need to realize is that the way the question is phrased presents the Christian with a deck stacked against him. (The phrase, "a stacked deck" means to make arrangements that result in an unfair advantage over someone or something. Like fixing a deck of playing cards in one's favor during a game.) It's a loaded question and needs to be recognized as such because not all of the theological cards are on the table.

But, instead of being at a loss for words, the Christian can reply like Billy Coffey did, with some additions:

"Not really. How old are you? I'd guess you're around 50. God has spent fifty years trying to get your attention. He has done this in many ways--one of the fundamental ways is that whenever you've looked up at the night sky, you've seen the power, intelligence, and precision of His handiwork. By that, He's been telling you every cloudless night, "I exist," night after night, week after week, month after month, year after year. Evidently, your response has been that of wanting Him to stay as far away from you as possible. Your choice, every time has been, "No. I don't want to know You."

"Then, over the course of those 50 years, there's no telling how many opportunities you've had to respond positively to His invitation to know Him--opportunities through reading the Bible that He spent 1400 years to produce for you. There's no telling of the countless number of people who crossed your path, invited you to a church meeting, a campus meeting, or talked to you about Christ. And what about those thoughts you've had about eternity, it's a concept God has hard wired into your mind. 

"He's been loving, gracious and patient with you for five decades, but at each opportunity, you've wanted nothing to do with Him or His Word, and certainly not His Son who died for all your sins. Instead you've spent your decades watching "Jeopardy" and the weather reports or keeping up with the the latest celebrity to catch you fleeting fancy. If you were honest, you'd say, 'I really haven't cared about spiritual things.'

"The thing is, since you've wanted nothing to do with Him all these years and if you continue with that attitude, He'll honor your request that you want to be as far away from Him as possible.You'll have all eternity be far, far away.

"But don't stack the deck with a question you've preloaded and don't call Him 'hypocritical.' You don't have that option."