{"id":520,"date":"2022-05-24T03:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-05-24T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/?p=520&2022"},"modified":"2022-05-19T18:01:20","modified_gmt":"2022-05-20T00:01:20","slug":"inviting-the-skeptics-john-1-35-51","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/inviting-the-skeptics-john-1-35-51\/","title":{"rendered":"Inviting the Skeptics: John 1:35-51"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"spoiler spoiler-style-2\"><div class=\"spoiler-title\">Focus Passage: John 1:35-51 (CEV)<\/div><div class=\"spoiler-content\">\r\n<p><sup>35\u00a0<\/sup>The next day, John was there again, and two of his followers were with him.  <sup>36\u00a0<\/sup>When he saw Jesus walking by, he said, \u201cHere is the Lamb of God!\u201d  <sup>37\u00a0<\/sup>John\u2019s two followers heard him, and they went with Jesus.<\/p> <p><sup>38\u00a0<\/sup>When Jesus turned and saw them, he asked, \u201cWhat do you want?\u201d<\/p><p>They answered, \u201cRabbi, where do you live?\u201d The Hebrew word \u201cRabbi\u201d means \u201cTeacher.\u201d<\/p> <p><sup>39\u00a0<\/sup>Jesus replied, \u201cCome and see!\u201d It was already about four o\u2019clock in the afternoon when they went with him and saw where he lived. So they stayed on for the rest of the day.<\/p> <p><sup>40\u00a0<\/sup>One of the two men who had heard John and had gone with Jesus was Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter.  <sup>41\u00a0<\/sup>The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother and tell him, \u201cWe have found the Messiah!\u201d The Hebrew word \u201cMessiah\u201d means the same as the Greek word \u201cChrist.\u201d<\/p> <p><sup>42\u00a0<\/sup>Andrew brought his brother to Jesus. And when Jesus saw him, he said, \u201cSimon son of John, you will be called Cephas.\u201d This name can be translated as \u201cPeter.\u201d<\/p> <p><sup>43-44\u00a0<\/sup>The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. There he met Philip, who was from Bethsaida, the hometown of Andrew and Peter. Jesus said to Philip, \u201cCome with me.\u201d<\/p> <p><sup>45\u00a0<\/sup>Philip then found Nathanael and said, \u201cWe have found the one that Moses and the Prophets wrote about. He is Jesus, the son of Joseph from Nazareth.\u201d<\/p> <p><sup>46\u00a0<\/sup>Nathanael asked, \u201cCan anything good come from Nazareth?\u201d<\/p><p>Philip answered, \u201cCome and see.\u201d<\/p> <p><sup>47\u00a0<\/sup>When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said, \u201cHere is a true descendant of our ancestor Israel. And he isn\u2019t deceitful.\u201d<\/p> <p><sup>48\u00a0<\/sup>\u201cHow do you know me?\u201d Nathanael asked.<\/p><p>Jesus answered, \u201cBefore Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree.\u201d<\/p> <p><sup>49\u00a0<\/sup>Nathanael said, \u201cRabbi, you are the Son of God and the King of Israel!\u201d<\/p> <p><sup>50\u00a0<\/sup>Jesus answered, \u201cDid you believe me just because I said that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see something even greater.  <sup>51\u00a0<\/sup>I tell you for certain that you will see heaven open and God\u2019s angels going up and coming down on the Son of Man.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"passage-read-more\">Read <a href=\"http:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=John 1:35-51&amp;version=cev\" title=\"Read the passage on BibleGateway.com\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"hyperlink-underlined\">John 1:35-51<\/a> in context and\/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!<\/p><\/div><\/div>\r\n<p>When facing skeptics, many times Christians don\u2019t really have a good response. Sometimes, Christians enter into a head-to-head debate and challenge the skeptic, while other times, Christians simply back away or run from the challenges.<\/p>\r\n<p>Both responses have done more harm to what the world thinks of Christians. The popularized minority groups of Christians are the arrogant, hate-others-who-have-a-certain-label Christians <em>(who are not at all Christ-like)<\/em>, the always have a Bible-based answer Christians who have a verse for everything but who never share it in a loving manor <em>(this also isn\u2019t Christ-like)<\/em>, and the na\u00efve timid Christians who seem to follow their group like blind sheep <em>(and though this may surprise some people, it is also not Christ-like).<\/em><\/p>\r\n<p>None of these stereotypical Christian groups really match the model Jesus shared. Jesus did not hate those who were not like Him \u2013 instead He chose to hang out with them. Jesus didn\u2019t quote the Bible as a weapon except when the religious people had brought Him a challenge, and even then, Jesus never shared truth outside of the context of compassion. Instead, Jesus chose to always share a truth that would help the heart of the person hearing it, and He always did it in a way that uplifted those present. Jesus did not ask people to follow Him blindly \u2013 instead, He invited them to come and see what He was doing, then left the decision up to them regarding whether to follow.<\/p>\r\n<p>In our passage, we meet the first skeptical disciple, Nathanael. Philip was open to following Jesus, but Nathanael had doubts. The last portion of this passage gives us a model for responding to skeptics:<\/p>\r\n<p><strong>Philip then found Nathanael and said, \u201cWe have found the one that Moses and the Prophets wrote about. He is Jesus, the son of Joseph from Nazareth.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<p><strong>Nathanael asked, \u201cCan anything good come from Nazareth?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<p><strong>Philip answered, \u201cCome and see.\u201d <\/strong><em>(v. 45-46)<\/em><\/p>\r\n<p>Nathanael wasn\u2019t as much skeptical of Jesus Himself as he was about where Jesus came from. This tells me that when Jesus arrives, or when He sends help when I need it, the help may come in a way that I did not expect.<\/p>\r\n<p>But the answer for the skeptic is not debating, avoiding, or running away from the challenge; <strong>it is instead an invitation to \u201cCome and see.\u201d This invitation says, \u201cTry it for 3 months or 6 months, and test it from the inside.\u201d It is easy to criticize something from the outside, and skeptics are masters at this. Only experience can shift a skeptic\u2019s heart \u2013 and even then, only after the skeptic has accepted the invitation.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<div id=\"aj-wrap-up--520\" class=\"aj-wrap-up\"><p><em>This thought was inspired by studying the <strong>Walking With Jesus<\/strong> \u201cReflective Bible Study\u201d package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, <a class=\"underline\" href=\"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/\" title=\"Check out Reflective Bible Study!\">click here<\/a> and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!<\/em><\/p><p><em><a class=\"underline\" href=\"javascript:void(0);\" onClick=\"rbs_aj_inline_subscribe(this, '520');\">Subscribe<\/a> to this blog and never miss an insight.<\/em><\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When facing skeptics, many times Christians don\u2019t really have a good response. Sometimes, Christians enter into a head-to-head debate and challenge the skeptic, while other times, Christians simply back away or run from the challenges. Both responses have done more harm to what the world thinks of Christians. The popularized minority groups of Christians are [&hellip;]","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-text"],"nelio_content":{"autoShareEndMode":"never","automationSources":{"useCustomSentences":false,"customSentences":[]},"efiAlt":"","efiUrl":"","followers":[],"highlights":[],"isAutoShareEnabled":false,"networkImageIds":[],"permalinkQueryArgs":[],"series":[],"suggestedReferences":[]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Inviting the Skeptics: John 1:35-51 - Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/inviting-the-skeptics-john-1-35-51\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Inviting the Skeptics: John 1:35-51 - Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When facing skeptics, many times Christians don\u2019t really have a good response. Sometimes, Christians enter into a head-to-head debate and challenge the skeptic, while other times, Christians simply back away or run from the challenges. Both responses have done more harm to what the world thinks of Christians. The popularized minority groups of Christians are [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/inviting-the-skeptics-john-1-35-51\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/reflectivebiblestudy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-05-24T09:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Cam\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@godstruthhisway\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@godstruthhisway\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/inviting-the-skeptics-john-1-35-51\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/inviting-the-skeptics-john-1-35-51\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Cam\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6aa6c062baad6d28cd49429d13dee5e3\"},\"headline\":\"Inviting the Skeptics: John 1:35-51\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-05-24T09:00:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/inviting-the-skeptics-john-1-35-51\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":848,\"articleSection\":[\"Written Journal Entries\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/inviting-the-skeptics-john-1-35-51\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/inviting-the-skeptics-john-1-35-51\\\/\",\"name\":\"Inviting the Skeptics: John 1:35-51 - Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-05-24T09:00:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6aa6c062baad6d28cd49429d13dee5e3\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/inviting-the-skeptics-john-1-35-51\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/inviting-the-skeptics-john-1-35-51\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/inviting-the-skeptics-john-1-35-51\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Inviting the Skeptics: John 1:35-51\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/\",\"name\":\"Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure\",\"description\":\"Your Life. God&#039;s Truth. His Way.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6aa6c062baad6d28cd49429d13dee5e3\",\"name\":\"Cam\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/avatars\\\/2\\\/b94b7ad9f3de7c191324b19a0e9c49a1-bpfull.jpg\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/avatars\\\/2\\\/b94b7ad9f3de7c191324b19a0e9c49a1-bpfull.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/avatars\\\/2\\\/b94b7ad9f3de7c191324b19a0e9c49a1-bpfull.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Cam\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Inviting the Skeptics: John 1:35-51 - Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/inviting-the-skeptics-john-1-35-51\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Inviting the Skeptics: John 1:35-51 - Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure","og_description":"When facing skeptics, many times Christians don\u2019t really have a good response. Sometimes, Christians enter into a head-to-head debate and challenge the skeptic, while other times, Christians simply back away or run from the challenges. Both responses have done more harm to what the world thinks of Christians. The popularized minority groups of Christians are [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/inviting-the-skeptics-john-1-35-51\/","og_site_name":"Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/reflectivebiblestudy\/","article_published_time":"2022-05-24T09:00:00+00:00","author":"Cam","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@godstruthhisway","twitter_site":"@godstruthhisway","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/inviting-the-skeptics-john-1-35-51\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/inviting-the-skeptics-john-1-35-51\/"},"author":{"name":"Cam","@id":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/#\/schema\/person\/6aa6c062baad6d28cd49429d13dee5e3"},"headline":"Inviting the Skeptics: John 1:35-51","datePublished":"2022-05-24T09:00:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/inviting-the-skeptics-john-1-35-51\/"},"wordCount":848,"articleSection":["Written Journal Entries"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/inviting-the-skeptics-john-1-35-51\/","url":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/inviting-the-skeptics-john-1-35-51\/","name":"Inviting the Skeptics: John 1:35-51 - Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/#website"},"datePublished":"2022-05-24T09:00:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/#\/schema\/person\/6aa6c062baad6d28cd49429d13dee5e3"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/inviting-the-skeptics-john-1-35-51\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/inviting-the-skeptics-john-1-35-51\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/inviting-the-skeptics-john-1-35-51\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Inviting the Skeptics: John 1:35-51"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/#website","url":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/","name":"Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure","description":"Your Life. God&#039;s Truth. His Way.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/#\/schema\/person\/6aa6c062baad6d28cd49429d13dee5e3","name":"Cam","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/wp-content\/uploads\/avatars\/2\/b94b7ad9f3de7c191324b19a0e9c49a1-bpfull.jpg","url":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/wp-content\/uploads\/avatars\/2\/b94b7ad9f3de7c191324b19a0e9c49a1-bpfull.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/wp-content\/uploads\/avatars\/2\/b94b7ad9f3de7c191324b19a0e9c49a1-bpfull.jpg","caption":"Cam"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=520"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}