Philadelphia, PA. Steve and his SPSE team spent lots of time evangelizing at the world meeting of families in Philadelphia, in preparation for the visit of Pope Francis. Here we see Steve speaking to a fallen away Catholic currently attending an evangelical church. Steve explained to him why it is important to come back to the Catholic Church for his salvation’s sake. He also talked, among other things, about how the Church Jesus founded is protected from error, and has the fullness of the revealed truth and of the means of grace, meant for each person. This is opposed to other Christian sects, which, though possessing many important truths of Christ, ultimately offer only partial truth. Steve used the example of Baptism: some churches say it is required for salvation – others say that it is not. The bible says, “Baptism now saves you” – and yet interpretations abound. How is a believer in Christ supposed to sort them all out? In the Church that Christ founded, there is a charism of truth, so that only in his Church can you have the guarantee of full truth.
Steve’s team also evangelized many security guards, and many people out on the streets. In one conversation, a security guard told Steve that she did not believe that Jesus even existed. Steve and another member of the team, Randy, explained to her how it is that we know that Jesus existed, and then proceeded to go beyond this question to that of his identity, using the “lunatic, liar, or Lord” argument.
Many people have heard some form of the “lunatic, liar, or Lord” argument for the divinity of Christ. The basic argument says that given the kinds of things said and done by Christ in the Gospels, one could not honestly call him a great moral teacher, or anything like it. If Jesus said the things that the Gospels say he said (like that his followers should eat his flesh and drink his blood), then he could not be a great moral teacher, but must be either a bad man (liar), or insane. If he is neither of these things, then he must be who he said that he is – the divine Son of God.
Before they parted ways, Steve, Randy, and the security guard promised to pray for one another, and the security guard said that she would also pray to God, that He would show her the Truth.
Each human soul is infinitely valuable in God’s eyes, so each encounter is important. SPSE makes it easy to begin. Do you like to be friendly? Would you love to see people come back to the Church? Becoming a member of SPSE gives you access to the training and other resources to help you be part of an effective team. If you are not already a member of an active SPSE team, please pray about joining us today in this powerful work.