2 Peter 3:5: For They Deliberately Overlook This Fact, That The Heavens Existed Long Ago, And The Earth Was Formed Out of Water And Through Water By The Word Of God

2 Peter 3:5

[5] For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, (ESV)

There are facts being overlooked. When you consider who Peter is talking about there should be no surprises that facts are not treated as being relevant. These false teachers, scoffers, mockers of God, have no intention of yielding their lives to God or following the truth. As the Apostle rightly points out, the facts are deliberately overlooked. 

We continue to encounter people like this today. Perhaps you have had a conversation with a co-worker, neighbor, or even a family member. You have done your homework. You know their objections to Christianity all too well. You engage the person with a thoughtful collection of data. Does the person you are speaking to listen to you? Not at all. They deliberately ignore the truth.

This is a constant frustration for those of us who are trying to share the truth of the Gospel with people whom we care about. In 2 Corinthians 4:4, the Apostle Paul tells us, "In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God."

There is something helpful for us in the Apostle Paul's words. If we know that the unbelievers' minds are blinded to the truth of the gospel then it helps us to know how to strategize. We should be more focused on praying that God would open the unbelieving friend's eyes to the truth. Salvation is a work of God. We cannot argue people into salvation. However, we can ask God to do a work.

Are you engaging a person in conversation who is deliberately ignoring the truth of the Gospel? Perhaps you should spend more time talking to God than to your unbelieving friend. He can open their eyes. Ask him.