Professor John Lennox's Basic Insight

Professor John Lennox has given us a lesson in how to treat others.

The Diary of a CEO is one of the most popular podcasts in the world. Steve Bartlett interviews prominent figures from all walks of life, including Christians. Bartlett is not a believer, but he is thinking and finding his ‘new atheism’ less credible than a few years ago.

Bartlett recently interviewed Wes Huff and his most recent episode features a 1½ hr conversation with Professor John Lennox, whom Bartlett describes as ‘No.1 Christian Expert’.

The interview has already surpassed 1.5 million views on YouTube alone. The section that is particularly going viral is the final few minutes where Steve Bartlett shares with Prof Lennox what he finds is the most compelling argument for God.

He says,

‘One of the most compelling arguments for God that you’ve presented and your way of seeing the world isn’t necessarily anything you’ve written in your books or anything you’ve said, it’s actually, you.’

Bartlett goes on to explain that he sees a peace and contentment and anchoring in Lennox and in other Christians he has met, including Wed Huff.

What a testimony!

Most of us are not great communicators or effective apologists. We don’t have erudite answers for all the tricky questions. We don’t have the expertise to argue about cosmology or microbiology. The great philosophers are a tangle of never ending mindless paragraphs which make little sense to our brains. Few of us hold theological degrees or are gifted evangelists. But every Christian can display in increasing measure, the grace and beauty and truth of Jesus Christ in our lives. The more we believe the gospel and as His word impacts the furthest reaches of our hearts and minds, Jesus becomes more pronounced.

Many friends are today sharing this clip and suggesting, ‘see, our lives can be compelling and persuade people about God.’

John Lennox then briefly responds to Steve Bartlett’s confession, and in these few short sentences, Prof Lennox makes a comment so unremarkable and yet it is one often missing today in the way Christians treat other people (certainly when it comes to online engagement). It is this brief remark that I think is worth reflection.

Professor Lennox says,

‘when I look at you, I see someone who is of infinite value and made in the image of God’. And so what I say to you and think of you is hugely important to me’.

When we look at our interlocutors, or those with whom we are disagreeing and even those we think are dangerous to society, do we see in front us an image bearer of God?

In an age where there are mountain of disagreeable and concerning debate, and where hurtful mud fights are commonplace, it is very easy for us to resort to angry words. We shoot first and ask questions later!

Take a look at any given public debate where Christians are getting involved. Check out the Facebook group for many a group or follow the comments on discussion pages; they’re a toxic waste dumping site!

In the ‘Christian’ world of online discourse, gossip, slander, and malice have become normalised and even a measure of your orthodoxy. If you don’t speak with the same volume of rager as me, can we take you seriously? The online insult has become a form of art. But of course, rather than seeing these things as virtues, the Bible warn us for not only does it rot our own soul, it defames the name of Jesus.

‘You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices’ (Col 3:7-9)

Like the musician who plays every note at Triple Forte, far too much Christian online engagement is a turn off. It may appeal to your fellow headbangers, deaf to their surroundings yet nodding along with arrhythmical movement. but everyone else has walked away.

This is one reason why social silos are so unhelpful. You meet a group of people who shout at the right causes just like you, but then to be heard you need to shout even louder so they can hear you and so that you feel justified. It does nothing to win people over to the Christian faith.

John Lennox’s approach is nothing less than being simply Christian and the simplest starting point. It’s not a sophisticated methodology, it is viewing people as God does.

‘I see you as an image bearer of God’. To see such, and to say so, is really important. To see people as God’s image bearers, even those with whom we have profound disagreement, is to view them at the lowest possible common denominator. This isn’t aiming high, but setting our view of another human being any lower, is egregious. And the thing is, while that bar is low, it is profoundly Christian and it is the Christian faith that sets the bar.

The imago dei isn’t the only anthropological details that informs us of another person and that feeds into the what and how we speak to them. The Bible also insists upon human sinfulness. Evil is a category which informs our conversations and how we speak with people. And the Bible won’t let us start or stop with viewing people as sinners. We cannot read the Bible without looking to the culmination of the ages, the one to whom all Scripture points, namely the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

“God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Surely, this will inform how I speak of and toward other people. If I have been embraced by such Divine love, how can I pull out an arsenal of derogatory name-calling and judgemental insinuations?

Don’t get me wrong, there is profound evil in our society and remaining silent and never calling it out, can make us as complicit with that evil. The cross calls out evil with far greater clarity and condemnation than any word from my lips.

Too many Christians want to be the next John Knox, Mark Driscoll or Christian Nationalist. I want to suggest, a far better example is John Lennox. He saw in an unbelieving sceptic, someone who bears the image of God.

If we want to help people see the wonders of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and see the character of God, we must not overlook or downplay that most basic of common denominators, you are made in God‘s image and therefore you are of extraordinary worth and dignity.

The atheist may think all human beings have inherent worth, but they cannot explain why that is the case. Buddhists, Hindus and Muslims do not believe that every human being has equal value and dignity. Christians do. If your agenda isn’t to win arguments but to win people, and you really do want to see even your enemies knowing God, this is one of the greatest apologetics we can offer to people.