If you had to pick one basic Christian truth to emphasize in today’s society, what would it be, and how would you suggest a Christian should convey it to the non-Christian community?

This text is from a transcript of a talk by David Gooding, entitled ‘God is on the Throne and in Control’ (1998).

If I had to give one truth, what should I say? That's a difficult question to answer because, if we observe the way the Lord Jesus approached people, he talked to them in different ways according to their need. To the learned rabbi in John 3, he talked about the new birth. To the woman at the well in John 4, he talked about the Holy Spirit and the satisfaction of the great thirst-quenching water of salvation. So our Lord talked to different people in different ways.

If I was in Russia, I would say the first great thing to talk about is God. But then I would want to explain what I meant by 'God'. Their idea of God is the God represented by the superstitions of the unreformed medieval church, all its accumulated riches and very often its despising of the poor, its denial of being sure of salvation, and all those kinds of things. So I would very soon want to explain something of what God is as revealed in Jesus Christ.

In our modern world I would want to start, perhaps, with God as creator. At school many children have been taught that science has made it impossible to believe in God. So I would have to start where Romans 1 starts and talk about the evidence for the Creator; and then some would need to be taught about God's law and his holiness. What's the good of telling people that they need to be forgiven of their sins when they don't understand what sin is. They need to be taught about God and his holiness so that they might see the need of salvation. If you want to sum it up in a word: God; and then God revealed in Christ.