1 Peter 3:13-17
Always Be Prepared to Answer the Non-Believer
13 Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? 14 But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear their threats; do not be frightened.” 15 But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, 16 keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. 17 For it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.
St. Peter wrote that in our hearts we should love Jesus as our LORD and be eager to do good...He writes we should always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks us for the reason for our hope that we have...We should answer in a way that shows kindness, gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against our good behavior in Jesus may be ashamed of their slander...
There is a good reason St. Peter wrote this...If we are prepared to answer the non-believer, we can give him this feeling of hope of eternal life with the Father and Son that we have...If we know the Bible and the gospels and are ready to give good solid reasons for to the unbeliever's questions, then he is more open and ready to listen...But if we say nothing and have no hope in the LORD, then he is still in his unbelieving belief and nothing has changed, at all...So over time through more discussions of hope and meaning of life, the unbeliever would better believe that Jesus is our Savior and gives meaning to life...
William Lane Craig in his book On Guard for Students: A Thinker's Guide to the Christian Faith says: “But apart from examining the arguments for and against God, how can the atheist justifiably make such an accusation?...How does he know that God does not exist?...Shouldn’t we at least look at the evidence?...That is surely correct...Some philosophers have even argued that if the evidence for these two options were absolutely equal, a rational person ought to choose to believe in God...That is, if the evidence is equal, it seems positively irrational to prefer death, futility, and destruction to life, meaningfulness, and happiness...As Pascal said, we have nothing to lose and infinity to gain...But my aim in this chapter is more modest than that...I only hope to have gotten you to think about these issues, to realize that the question of God’s existence has profound consequences for our lives and that therefore we cannot afford to be indifferent about it...What I’ve at least done is to clearly spell out the alternatives...If God does not exist, then life is futile...If God does exist, then life is meaningful...Only the second of these two alternatives enables us to live happily and consistently...Therefore, it makes a huge difference whether God exists, a difference we should care about...Who cares?...You should.”...
Craig goes on to add: “The point is this: If God does not exist, then life is objectively meaningless; but man cannot live consistently and happily knowing that life is meaningless; so in order to be happy he pretends life has meaning...But this is, of course, entirely inconsistent—for without God, man and the universe are without any real significance.”...