Not everything an atheist says is wrong, but I would be very slow to follow his advice with regard to walking with God or in witnessing to other people about God and the things of God.Certainly not. Although, a certain atheist made the following statement: If I believed as Christians say they do, I would tackle people in order to try to get them to see my pov that they could go to hell if they don't believe. It would be like if a blind and deaf friend were walking in front of an oncoming bus. I would physically do something about it. He might complain that I laid my hands on him, but I wouldn't care about that. I would be saving his life.
That is my paraphrase of what Penn of Penn and Teller said after having an encounter with someone who actually had the guts to witness Christ to him.
On the other side, not everything a believer in Christ says is right, so we should let the Holy Spirit in us help us sift through what he says.
Then again remember always these words:
"Lay hands suddenly on no man..." I Tim 5:22
What we should be doing is waiting on God. Sometimes we, believing we've got this [understand this], move out ahead of God and take hold of that man in the midst of his troubles/trials and effectively shake him [sometimes even physically], to set him straight.
"Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD." Psalm 27:14
Amen! And when it comes to leading men to God grabbing them forcibly by the arm and dragging them to the altar of God will NOT usually be God's Way.But of course, all we can really do is lead a horse to water. We can't make him drink; that is entirely up to the horse.
This is our best witness to all of the people around us who see us and our ways regularly. Then sometimes as a result God will open a door and it will time to open our mouths and speak.However, if we retain our saltiness as believers, we will be a thirst-producing factor in other people's lives. They will want to drink because they are thirsty and also realize that there is living water flowing from within us.
I hear what you are saying. You won't be wrong so long as you know how to wield the sword... or you know when to ask God for help. Don't get ahead of God.The Lord spoke to me recently and told me that His word is like a two-edged sword. And therefore all I have to do is apply it to myself in a public manner; and it will cut to the quick on the other end those people to whom the scripture also applies. It deals pretty concisely with my tendency to be the judge of other people. If I take the beam out of my own eye, I will be able to see clearly to take the speck out of my brother's eye. This is how we become salty again: by applying the word to our own lives in front of other people and letting the Holy Spirit transform us from the inside out.
"I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me." John 5:30