How many are sicker (perchance) than I, and laid in their woful straw at home (if that corner be a home), and have no more hope of help, though they die, than of preferment, though they live! Nor do more expect to see a physician then, than to be an officer after; of whom, the first that takes knowledge, is the sexton that buries them, who buries them in oblivion too! For they do but fill up the number of the dead in the bill, but we shall never hear their names, till we read them in the book of life with our own. How many are sicker (perchance) than I, and thrown into hospitals, where (as a fish left upon the sand must stay the tide) they must stay the physician’s hour of visiting, and then can be but visited! How many are sicker (perchance) than all we, and have not this hospital to cover them, not this straw to lie in, to die in, but have their gravestone under them, and breathe out their souls in the ears and in the eyes of passengers, harder than their bed, the flint of the street? that taste of no part of our physic, but a sparing diet, to whom ordinary porridge would be julep enough, the refuse of our servants bezoar [i.e., antidote] enough, and the offscouring of our kitchen tables cordial enough. O my soul, when thou art not enough awake to bless thy God enough for his plentiful mercy in affording thee many helpers, remember how many lack them, and help them to them or to those other things which they lack as much as them.

Apostles’ Creed (written mostly in the early 2nd Century; originally used as a profession of faith during baptism)

I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
the Creator of heaven and earth,
and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord:

Who was conceived of the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried.

He descended into hell.

The third day He arose again from the dead.

He ascended into heaven
and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty,
whence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and life everlasting.

The Nicene Creed (381 AD, formulated to explicitly set forth the divinity of Jesus Christ)

I believe in one God,
the Father Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
and of all things visible and invisible;

And in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the only begotten Son of God,
begotten of his Father before all worlds,
God of God, Light of Light,
very God of very God,
begotten, not made,
being of one substance with the Father;
by whom all things were made;
who for us men and for our salvation
came down from heaven,
and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost
of the Virgin Mary,
and was made man;
and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered and was buried;
and the third day he rose again
according to the Scriptures,
and ascended into heaven,
and sits on the right hand of the Father;
and he shall come again, with glory,
to judge both the living and the dead;
whose kingdom shall have no end.

And I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, and Giver of Life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son;
who with the Father and the Son together
is worshipped and glorified;
who spoke by the Prophets.
And I believe one holy Catholic and Apostolic Church;
I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins;
and I look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come.

The Definition of Chalcedon (451 AD, explicitly teaches that Jesus Christ is both God and man)

Following, then, the holy fathers, we unite in teaching all men to confess the one and only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. This selfsame one is perfect both in deity and in humanness; this selfsame one is also actually God and actually man, with a rational soul and a body. He is of the same reality as God as far as his deity is concerned and of the same reality as we ourselves as far as his humanness is concerned; thus like us in all respects, sin only excepted. Before time began he was begotten of the Father, in respect of his deity, and now in these “last days,” for us and behalf of our salvation, this selfsame one was born of Mary the virgin, who is God-bearer in respect of his humanness.

We also teach that we apprehend this one and only Christ-Son, Lord, only-begotten — in two natures; and we do this without confusing the two natures, without transmuting one nature into the other, without dividing them into two separate categories, without con- trasting them according to area or function. The distinctiveness of each nature is not nullified by the union. Instead, the “properties” of each nature are conserved and both natures concur in one “person” and in one reality. They are not divided or cut into two persons, but are together the one and only and only-begotten Word of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Thus have the prophets of old testified; thus the Lord Jesus Christ himself taught us; thus the Symbol of Fathers has handed down to us.

The Athanasian Creed (Probably dating from the 5th Century, a very explicit and clear statement of  definitions of the Trinity and the Incarnation)

Whosoever will be saved,
before all things it is is necessary that he hold the Catholic Faith.
Which Faith except everyone do keep whole and undefiled,
without doubt he shall perish everlastingly.
And the Catholic Faith is this: That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity
in Unity,
neither confounding the Persons, nor dividing the Substance.
For there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son,
and another of the Holy Ghost.
But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is all one,
the Glory equal, the Majesty co-eternal.
Such as the Father is, such is the Son,
and such is the Holy Ghost.
The Father uncreated, the Son uncreated,
and the Holy Ghost uncreated.
The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible,
and the Holy Ghost incomprehensible.
The Father eternal, the Son eternal,
and the Holy Ghost eternal.
And yet they are not three eternals,
but one eternal.
As also there are not three incomprehensibles, nor three uncreated,
but one uncreated, and one incomprehensible.
So likewise the Father is Almighty, the Son Almighty,
and the Holy Ghost Almighty.
And yet they are not three Almighties,
but one Almighty.
So the Father is God, the Son is God,
and the Holy Ghost is God.
And yet they are not three Gods,
but one God.
So likewise the Father is Lord, the Son Lord,
and the Holy Ghost Lord.
And yet not three Lords,
but one Lord.
For like as we are compelled by the Christian verity to acknowledge every
Person by Himself to be both God and Lord,
so we are forbidden by the Catholic Religion, to say, there be three Gods,
or three Lords.
The Father is made of none,
neither created, nor begotten.
The Son is of the Father alone,
not made, nor created, but begotten.
The Holy Ghost is of the Father [and of the Son],
neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding.
So there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons;
one Holy Ghost, not three Holy Ghosts.
And in this Trinity none is afore, or after other; none is greater, or less
than another;
but the whole three Persons are co-eternal together and co-equal.
So that in all things, as is aforesaid,
the Unity in Trinity and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshipped.
He therefore that will be saved
must thus think of the Trinity.

Furthermore, it is necessary to everlasting salvation
that he also believe rightly the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ .
For the right Faith is, that we believe and confess,
that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and Man.
God, of the substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds;
and Man, of the Substance of His Mother, born in the world;
Perfect God and perfect Man,
of a reasonable soul in human flesh subsisting;
Equal to the Father, as touching His Godhead;
and inferior to the Father, as touching His Manhood.
Who, although He be God and Man,
yet He is not two, but one Christ;
One, not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh,
but by taking of the Manhood into God;
One altogether; not by confusion of Substance,
but by unity of Person.
For as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man,
so God and Man is one Christ.
Who suffered for our salvation, descended into hell,
rose again the third day from the dead.
He ascended into heaven, He sitteth on the right hand of the Father, God
Almighty,
from whence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
At whose coming all men shall rise with their bodies
and shall give account for their own works.
And they that have done good shall go into life everlasting;
and they that have done evil into everlasting fire.
This is the Catholic Faith, which except a man believe faithfully,
he cannot be saved.

Jewish folks will often respond to witnessing attempts by saying that Christians have persecuted their people practically forever, and asking why they would want to join the ranks of their oppressors. It’s a valid question, and shouldn’t be blown off. Sometimes the conversation will go something like this:

Jew: Christians killed six million of us in the Holocaust [Jewish folks often don't distinguish between Christian and non-Christian Gentiles].

Christian: Those were Nazis, not Christians. Real Christians wouldn’t do something like that.

Jew: Oh yeah? What about the Catholic kids in my neighborhood who used to beat me up, calling me “Christ Killer”?

Christian: They were ignorant kids — you can’t generalize to all Christians based on the behavior of kids!

Jew: And their parents egged them on!

Christian: OK, so their parents were ignorant idiots too.

Jew: And what about the Inquisition? When we wouldn’t convert, we were murdered in the name of Christ. When we tried to escape, we were chased and persecuted everywhere we went, even to the New World!

Christian: But they were Catholics! They weren’t even necessarily Christians!

Jew: Luther wasn’t Catholic. He hated us too. In fact, the Nazis used his anti-semitic comments to justify what they did.

…and the conversation just keeps on deteriorating.

Here’s the thing, and this applies to pretty much any witnessing experience: Our brothers and sisters sin and act like jerks. Sometimes it’s just the ordinary folks who get caught while doing wrong — your neighbors or coworkers, for example. And sometimes it’s the big names, like major church or political leaders. Regardless, these sinners are still our brothers and sisters and we have to relate to them as such. In the context of witnessing to those whom our brothers and sisters have offended, we need to admit their sin and own them as family members — otherwise we end up constantly setting the bar higher and higher as to who is really a Christian. And the reality is this: How do you, or I, or anyone other than God know who is or isn’t a believer?

I could easily list a number of fairly well known folks whose historical or recent actions have made Christians look pretty bad, but what the heck — let’s go for the big names.

Torquemada, Luther, Clinton, and Bush: Our sinning brethren and fellow jerks

So how should we relate to someone with as evil a reputation as Torqemada, who was personally responsible for the deaths of thousands of Jews? Well, I can’t say much good about him — he appears to have been a vicious, cruel man. On the other hand, those who wrote about him at the time seemed to have a high opinion of him and his work. Or take Martin Luther, whom most evangelicals revere. His anti-semitic tract The Jews and Their Lies is shocking to read; in it he tells as many lies as the title attributes to the Jews. How do we deal with these men? We can certainly say that their beliefs and actions were typical of their time — tolerance was not a virtue in the 15th and 16th centuries. But do we accept them as our brethren? I know that most of us expect to see Luther in Heaven, but it would not surprise me if we were run across Torquemada as well.

Let’s make a jump to modern times. I know of very few American evangelicals who have positive feelings toward Bill Clinton — most of us (me included) consider him to be an unscrupulous, immoral, politically motivated jerk who couldn’t keep his fly zipped. But when he was caught in his sin, he met with two pretty highly respected evangelical pastors, Tony Campolo and Gordon MacDonald, for counseling and restoration. And Philip Yancey, a respected evangelical journalist, seems convinced of the authenticity of Clinton’s faith, as indicated by his articles in Christianity Today and statements in his book What’s So Amazing about Grace. I don’t necessarily trust either of the two Clintons, but I think it’s likely that I’ll see them in Heaven as well.

It will come as no surprise to anyone who knows me reasonably well that I am not a supporter of Bush or his policies. It is my firm belief that he has squandered what political capital and moral high ground that the United States had by prosecuting an unjust war and by his administration’s mistreatment of prisoners taken during that war and through other questionable means. It is my view that in so doing he has sinned against God and the American people. But he’s still my brother in Christ and I am obligated to love him as one.