How to Convert a Hellenist Heathen
This view can be roughly described under a modern version of Hellenism. The main agenda to preach this person should be to prove that the revelation of the Jewish Messiah (i.e. Christianity) fulfils the Greco-Roman propositional philosophies concerning the reality. The religion of the Bible stands in harmony with the Greek philosophy, and the Greek sages prophetically paved the foundation upon which Christian or Western philosophy is based on. We should show parallels and common grounds to draw a heathen to the real monotheistic God, through the revelation of Jesus, by clearing his modern misconceptions. The Greeks should naturally be curious and open-minded to receive the message of Christ, as seen in Acts 17. Luke T Johnson writes in Among the Gentiles Greco-Roman Religion and Christianity (2009):
The Acts of the Apostles places Paul on Mars Hill in Athens, where he declares, "Men of Athens, I perceive that in ev ery way you are very religious [deisidaimonesterous]. For as I passed along, and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, 'To an Unknown God' " (Acts 17:22-23). But Paul's acknowledgement (rhetorically a captatio benevolentiae) simply serves as the basis for a correction of the Gentiles' explicit beliefs: "We ought not to think of the deity as like gold, or silver, or stone, a representation by the art and imagination of man" (17-29)
Follow Philo
The first source to study for a Heathen Greek should be the great Philo of Alexandria. Britannica Encyclopedia states,
The key influences on Philo’s philosophy were Plato, Aristotle, the Neo-Pythagoreans, the Cynics, and the Stoics. Philo’s basic philosophic outlook is Platonic, so much so that Jerome and other Church Fathers quote the apparently widespread saying: “Either Plato philonizes or Philo platonizes.” Philo’s reverence for Plato, particularly for the Symposium and the Timaeus, is such that he never took open issue with him, as he did with the Stoics and other philosophers.
in the mid-20th century H.A. Wolfson, an American scholar, demonstrated Philo’s originality as a thinker. In particular, Philo was the first to show the difference between the knowability of God’s existence and the unknowability of his essence. Again, in his view of God, Philo was original in insisting on an individual Providence able to suspend the laws of nature in contrast to the prevailing Greek philosophical view of a universal Providence who is himself subject to the unchanging laws of nature. As a Creator, God made use of assistants: hence the plural “Let us make man” in Genesis, chapter 1. Philo did not reject the Platonic view of a preexistent matter but insisted that this matter too was created. Similarly, Philo reconciled his Jewish theology with Plato’s theory of Ideas in an original way: he posited the Ideas as God’s eternal thoughts, which God then created as real beings before he created the world.
Parmenides ontological exclusivity of the way to truth should easily be seen in Jesus, (Jn 14:6).
The Unwritten Law of the Conscience
The Greek concept of the "unwritten law" and "living law" coincides with the Biblical teaching that God has written the eternal moral code on our hearts, cf. Romans 2. The Bible also teaches that God created man good, and thus, they are responsible for their virtue and vice (Ecclesiastes 7:29, 2 Pet 1:5-11). That person's misconception should cleared by making sure he is correctly representing Christianity, and not being misled by tradition of men. For example, Jesus Christ and the New Testament has nothing to do with Gnosticism. Essenes were not Gnostics, but righteous Jews; and the doctrine of original sin which turns the moral transgression of the law into a metaphysical stain on the soul is actually Gnostic.
After showing the concept of unwritten law of the conscience, and the objective morality, we can demonstrate that the heathen too has the concept of sin which is violation of the divine law. He may simply be using another term for it. If there is a divine law, then man should be humble in repenting back to righteousness.
Demonstrate How My Religion is Better than Yours: While the Greco-Roman would call the emperors and gods as the living law, the Biblical view of giving that role to Moses, Patriarchs and ultimately to the Christ suits better, as we can demonstrate these figures far superior to the counterparts. (See Hellenization Revisited
Shaping a Christian Response Within the Greco-Roman World, Wendy Helleman, 1994)
Objective Morality
This person's biggest error is the belief in moral relativism, which is either due to simply being mistaken, or following a selfish ethics that may exploit others by harming innocents. Explain to such a person using Dr Craig's materials on morality being objective, not relative. Use examples like sins against innocent such as children and women should be condemned regardless of situation, and are objectively called evil regardless if majority anyone's or the majority's opinion. And, as the Bible or the Spartan story teaches, we should annihilate such wicked evildoers or nations. Self sacrificial love should be rewarded. The modern European secret practice of sexual sins against children (especially among the elites) clearly seems to be a product of the Greco-Roman immoral culture. Compare how the Jews proves to be perfect in sexual purity, protecting the natural law or gender virtues in this regard (Genesis 19), as they also destroy the wicked surrounding nations which practised sexual wickedness and human sacrifices. The culture of sexual sins against children is a sign of demonic oppression that develops a cycle of sexual depravity, which is very difficult to break. This is to wake his moral duties and sympathy for mankind, away from a selfish view. Also see comparison of the Greek gods justice and morality with the Biblical God, The Justice of the Gods in Homer and the Early Greek Plays, Journal, 2017, which writes,
The ancient stories of Greek gods often seem inconsistent. What Sophocles writes as fate, Homer
might write as the gods; in one story Zeus is aloof and distant, while in another he might care intimately
about the characters. This inconsistency often colors the gods as fickle, narcissistic rogues. When one
takes into account, however, the different perspective of ancient Greek culture, the human characteristics
of the Greek gods, and their lack of obligation to mortals, what is left is a picture of godly justice that is
appropriately humanistic and aloof. Maria Kip writes in “The Gods of the Iliad and the Fate of Troy,”
“The poet needed these gods to open the way for our pity and our awareness of the human condition.
When we try to make them just and moralistic in spite of their creator, we dehumanize his poem” (402).
I believe contrary to this, however, that when we understand the justice of the Greek gods through the
lens of ancient Greek society, we do not dehumanize Homer, but rather, we humanize the gods who
become tools to further understand both Homer and the human condition.
Natural Theology Refutes Pantheism: Cosmological evidences suggest that God is outside the universe, thus, it is more likely that a one supreme transcendent God created the world rather than creation being eternal. Theism is a far reasonable position than pantheism. The personal conviction and encounter with the living God is more reasonable than pantheism, which is nothing but a postulation.
Theurgy and Occultism
The purpose of theurgy is to invoke supernatural powers. This person should be introduced to the wonders and miracles by Christians under the power of the Holy Spirit. When God has himself revealed himself to us and allows his spirit as our counselor and protector, we shouldn't seek occult, mysticism and witchcraft to seek any worldly powers. God destroys the earthly powers and spirits through the name of Jesus, delivering the world from the captivity of evil spirits. When this heathen can fulfil the holy union with God through Jesus, he should fulfil his theurgical henosis desires in the living God. Focus should be on the living and experiential faith which fulfills the purpose of life, where God can work in your life; in contrast, the Heathen religion turns out to be human wisdom depending on eloquence of poetry and rhetoric (1 Cor 2).
By contrast Propositional religions are those belief systems, which ask their potential followers to accept the validity of their truth claims without offering objectively verifiable evidence to validate those claims. Thus, they remain mere propositions. This is not to say that Propositional religions do not attempt to offer any evidence for the validity of their claims, just that the evidence that they offer is not objectively or historically verifiable. Rather, religions of this type depend upon personal or subjective experience as the means of validating truth claims. (biblestudying.net)
Conclusion
This person should be taught the true Biblical theology and philosophy, which are truly based on evidence and reason. We can show that his heathen philosophies are actually merely postulations and his motivation to hold the ancient religion maybe simply due to counter culture tendencies which aligns with the ancient Gnostic anti-realism. Heathenism is easily demonstrated as either evil, or a matter of rebellion to God's revelation, thus a faith alone religion, which is described as satanic in the Bible. He thinks that Christianity is faith alone, void of reason, when logos or reason is used as a metaphor for God. After having a conversation to find out his need for God we should move forward in preaching him the Gospel of Jesus, otherwise, if one does not even feel thirst, there is no reason to unnecessary give him water. In other words, traditional dogmatic tactics of guilt trapping someone erroneous doctrines that forces religion should not be used, but an open-minded, practical and spiritual message about the divine work of God should be preached according to his needs. The righteous heathen should quickly embrace the mystery Christ as the revelation and fulfillment of the prophetic hopes and philosophies of the ancient sages.
