God converts,

not me.

But this is something I had been forgetting in many of my chats with my non-Christian friends. There are two people in particular that I often walk away frustrated from because sometimes I can't answer their arguments, and at other times when I do, they just seem to refuse to accept it.

However, I was reminded of God's irreplaceable role in evangelism when a visiting preacher at our church used a Bible verse to show that the Bible is God's Word. "Hold on," I asked him afterwards, "isn't that a bit of a circular argument?!?!?!? If I wanted to start a cult and wrote a book, of course I would say it's the Word of God!"

To my complete surprise, the minister agreed. But then he pointed out that that's why God has to change your heart to see that the Bible is really His word. This is not saying that we need to throw out our brains- even though the argument for the authority of the Bible might be circular ("The Bible is the Word of God because it says it is the Word of God"), there are many intersections it makes with the real world, and it does stand up to rational investigation. However, this doesn't mean that rational arguments will convince anyone - it is the work of God to ultimately convince.

For those who are now getting worried about the authority of the Bible being based on a circular argument, another minister I asked this same question pointed out that there are many other things in life based on circular arguments. (Which didn't really comfort me that much more). But then he added that you can then check out other claims that the Bible makes e.g. internal consistency - the OT prophecies certain claims which the NT records as having been fulfilled etc.

Now I'm tired of typing, so you (i.e. The Sultan of Sound, quite possibly my one and only reader) can come up with some more.

PS I'm trying to think of other circular arguments and thought that love might be a good example? You should believe I love you because I say I love you. But then this is observable in tangible forms e.g. the way I treat you. Make sense? Not so much?