One evening at the close of a service I asked a gentleman why he was not a Christian. He replied: “I will tell you. I do not talk much about it; for I am not proud of it as some are, but I am a skeptic. I have lain awake nights thinking about this matter.” “Do you believe there is a God?” “Yes, I never gave up my faith that there was a God.” “Well, if there is a God you ought to obey him. Will you to–night take your stand upon the will of God to follow it wherever it carries you even if it carries you over the Niagara Falls?” “I try to do as near right as I know how.” “That is not what I asked; will you take your stand on the will of God to follow it wherever it carries you?” “I have never put it that way.” “Will you put it that way to–night?” “I will.” “Do you believe God answers prayer?” “I don’t know; I am afraid not.” “You don’t know that he does not?” “No.” “Well, here is a possible clue to the truth, will you follow it, will you ask God to show you whether Jesus is His Son; and what your duty concerning him is?” “I will.” Not long after that the man came into a meeting with a new look in his face. He arose and said: “I was all in a mist. I believed nothing.” Then he told us what he had done. He had done just as he promised. “And now,” he continued, “my doubts are all gone. I don’t know where they have gone but they are gone.” If the skeptic will not act in this way you can “stop his mouth” by showing him that he is not an honest skeptic and that the trouble with him is not his skepticism but his sin. If the man does not believe there is a God, you can begin one step further back. Ask him if he believes there is an absolute difference between right and wrong (if he does not he is a mere trifler). If he says he does, ask him if he will take his stand upon the right and follow it wherever it carries him. He may try to put you off by saying “What is right?” or that he is doing the right as nearly as he knows how. Get him to promise that he will take his stand upon the right, whatever he may find it to be and follow it whatever the consequence may be. Then show him that if he is honest in this promise, he will try to find out what the right is. Next say to him, “You do not know whether God answers prayer or not. I know He does, and you will admit that here is a possible clue to knowledge. If you are honest in your desire to know the truth, you will follow this possible clue. You can get down and at least pray, ‘O my God, if there be a God, teach me thy will and I will do it. Show me whether Jesus is thy son or not. If you show that he is, I will accept Him as my Saviour and confess Him before the world.’” Then tell the man to begin reading the Gospel of John, reading slowly and thoughtfully, only a few verses at a time, asking God for light each time before reading and promising God that he will follow the light as fast as He makes it clear. If the man will follow this rational course, it will result in every case in the skeptic coming out into the clear light of faith in the Bible, as the word of God, and Jesus Christ as the Son of God. If the man is not an honest skeptic, this course of treatment will reveal the fact and then you can show him that the difficulty is not with his skepticism but with his rebellious heart.
If the man says that he does not know whether there is an absolute difference between right and wrong, then you can set it down at once that he is bad and turn upon him kindly and earnestly and say to him, “My friend, there is something wrong in your life; no man that is living right doubts that there is a difference between right and wrong. Now you probably know what is wrong and the trouble is not with your skepticism, but with your sin.” One afternoon after I had given out an invitation for any skeptic or any one else who wished to talk with me, to remain after the meeting, a young man with whom I had dealt some months before stayed. I asked him what his trouble was. He replied, “The same trouble that I told you in the spring, I cannot believe that there is a God.” I asked him if he had done as I had advised him to do in our former conversation; if he had taken his stand upon the right to follow it wherever it carried him. He replied that he did not know that there was any difference between right and wrong. “I do not know that there is such a thing as right.” I looked him right in the eyes and said, “Is there some sin your life?”
He said “Yes.” I said “what is it?” He replied, “The same that I told you last spring.” I said, “You promised to give it up, have you given it up?” He said “No, I have not.” “Well,” I said, “there is the difficulty, not with your skepticism. Give up that sin and your skepticism will take care of itself.” In some confusion he replied, “I guess that is the trouble.”
3. _Those who doubt the existence of God._