Good according to who?

Now behold, one came and said to Him, “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?” So He said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.”
– Matthew 19:16-17

“But I’m a good person. Why would God send me to hell?”

In this interaction between Jesus and the Rich Young Ruler, there is a key point that Jesus is making that many people, including the rich young ruler, miss; Jesus isn’t asking him to explain why he thinks Jesus is good, he’s asking him if he knows who he’s talking to. Do you see it? Let me rephrase what Jesus said to see if it becomes clear: “You’re calling me good, but there is only One who is truly “good” and that is God. Are you calling me good because you see what I do, or are you calling me good because you know who I AM?”

The “I’m a good person, therefore …” is a diversionary tactic that diverts the conversation from the actual issue at hand (that we must be saved) to an appeal to character, which implies that the person saying this holds the sole purview of good and evil in the universe – which of course is ridiculous. On the horizontal (man to man) they may very well be a “good” person as far as moral conduct is concerned, but no one but a crazy person would compare themselves to Jesus – which is exactly the standard God is using.

If you’ve ever watched Ray Comfort, this is exactly why he goes through the Ten Commandments at this point to get the person to see that in the eyes of the Law, their “goodness” is really not as good as they thought it would be. He’s using a principle from Galatians 3:24-25 “Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.  But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.” The Law of God was never intended to save us; it was intended to point us to our need for a Savior.

So the point in dealing with this objection, is to get the person to take their eyes off of themselves and how the world sees them, and get them back onto how GOD sees them; since his opinion of whether we are good or not is the only opinion that’s going to matter on the Day of Judgement, right? One thing I like to ask a person who says this is “Okay – if our goodness could earn us heaven, can you tell me why you think Jesus had to die? Or what his death accomplished?”

From there, have a game plan as to where you are taking this conversation. To be effective when we reason with people about our faith, we must know where we are going next in our conversation and anticipate subsequent objections and / or questions. Never ask a question if you do not know the answer to the question! That seems obvious, but I’ve seen it happen time and again in dialogues between Christians and unbelievers. As I wrote in “Defense of the Faith” the objective of knowing the answers to your own questions and potential objections isn’t so that you can “win” the debate, it’s so that you can help the person to see. It’s just a matter of being as effective as possible when you witness to people.

The way Jesus used questions to stimulate critical thinking in order to get people to examine their underlying beliefs fits well with what we know as the Socratic method (a reference to the Greek Philosopher Socrates), and it’s very effective. Personal revelation is always the best revelation when it comes to the things of God – people will own ideas much more readily if they’ve drawn their own conclusions rather than being told what to believe. That’s what we’re trying to accomplish through asking questions and directing dialogue in such a manner to get the person we’re talking to, to think. There’s an old axiom that states “A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still”. Think about that.

Can you think of some scriptures that would help our lost friend to see that their version of goodness and God’s version of goodness might not be the same? What possible objections or questions can you foresee coming up with the scriptures you provide?

Let’s hear what you have to say!