Equally, as a young Christian (in spiritual terms), I've found that many life-long Christians are under the impression that Atheists and Agnostics are fully aware of all sides of the "faith" argument, and based on that complete data, they have made a decision to reject the idea that God is real, and that Jesus is His only son, and belief in Him is the only path to Heaven.
Now, this may be the case with an infinitesimally small percentage of them, while the vast majority suffer from pure ignorance. That sounds harsh, but hear me out. I know this is the case because I was one of the ignorant for decades.
When I say, "young Christian", I mean that I did not (a) realize and (b) accept the Truth until only a few years ago. But 4-5 years ago, I set my sites on determining how some highly intelligent people I knew could believe the myths and fairy tales of the Bible. Why would they subject themselves to ridicule? Surely they couldn't be that brainwashed, could they?
Most know the arguments against such blind faith:
- If there is a God who apparently cares, why is there suffering in the world? He must be either cruel, or He simply doesn't exist.
- Jesus was probably just a nice guy with some good advice, nothing more. Heck, I hear that he really never even claimed to be the Son of God. The early Christians just made that up.
- Christians believe in God and Jesus because they're not very smart, or because their parents and grandparents believed it and they never questioned it themselves, or because they don't understand science, ...
The list goes on.
But the flaw in the argument is two-fold:
- If you ask a true Christian about their faith, you'll learn quickly that it is anything but blind.
- The naysayers of faith and, specifically, Christianity think they truly have all the data ... but they do not.
There is a practice that has been studied for thousands of years called "Apologetics". You've likely heard the word and just dismissed it, assuming it was a way for Christians to apologize. Nope. Actually, it's a study of the completely logical and rational answers to the "arguments" I brought up above, and many other arguments just like them. It's the knowledge not just of God's existence, but who He is, why He is, where He is, and His character. It's solid, factual, and historical support for Jesus and his deity.
We as a people ALL used to know all of this.
We all had that data. But now many of us don't.
We don't have that data because it's been taken out of the public square. In an effort to ensure we did not offend anyone who didn't like the Truth or agree with the Truth, we eradicated Truth from every public place, and were left to figure out why we exist, how this whole thing started, what our purpose is, and so on without the most obvious and logical answers. Answers that had factual backing.
It's as though we were arguing about how automobiles run. Let's assume that the idea of gasoline-powered combustion engines somehow offended some sub-group in our society, so we completely stopped teaching kids that cars ran on combustion engines in schools. Phew - thank goodness we're not offending that sub-group anymore. But now, time has passed, generations have come and gone, and there is this group of millions of people throughout the world who insist that there is this magical mechanical marvel under the hood that is fed by gas, lubricated with oil, uses electricity to start, controls many recurring explosions and, well, makes the car go.
"Ridiculous!" the non-believers say. "I say it's a large bear under the hood that can run at incredible speeds. Yeah, that's it. That's why you hear the growling sound. And that is the only acceptable theory we'll teach in schools." Not knowing that, if you teach just one theory, kids will grow up believing that is the truth.
When the believers attempt to explain the ACTUAL Truth (about combustion engines), the non-believers freak. "No! None of that talk in our public schools and Universities! Stop being so intolerant!" Translation: "I don't want to hear it and I don't want to know it. I am pretty sure I know about your 'theory' and I'm not buying it".
"But ..." the believers say again. But the non-believers scowl and sneer, and make sarcastic, arrogant jokes. THINKING they are quite smart - above these idiotic Combust-istians. But they never actually study the facts outside of what they want to believe.
I use the term "ignorant arrogance" in another of my blog entries entitled "A Skeptic's Epiphany". I am referring to myself when using the term, before I researched the subject extensively. Before this, I knew a lot about science, math, physics and so on. Straight A's - it came naturally to me. But - in essence - I knew the "non-believer" data set only. In retrospect, I had no idea about the other data ... because it was never really even exposed to me or offered to me as a theory, so I could make a decision on what was actually true. And leaving that data out, I learned what this new limited data set was telling me. But then it hit me that I may not know everything ... yeah, crazy talk.
So, I started out (begrudgingly at first) studying. Honestly, I was embarrassed that I was even looking into this hogwash. But the more I studied, the more I learned what I never knew. Turns out, it's a combination of the data that paints the whole picture.
I was convinced that I had all of the information ... that my conclusions were solid. But we all know from the CSI type shows, 8 pieces of evidence can make it seem quite obvious what the truth is, until you add a 9th and 10th piece of evidence, which completely changes the picture from back to white.
So, here's the deal. Here's why I'm writing this.
After having looked into it, I now have all the data. And to be clear, all of the data is important - science, physics ... AND the truth of the Bible. And it points quite directly at God and His Son Jesus. Period.
I'm not asking you to take my word for it. I AM asking that you look into it FULLY.
If these silly believers are right, we're talking about an eternity of joy (starting here and now on Earth, then continuing on past physical death) versus an eternity of pain, desperation, suffering ... If these silly Christians are right, then this matters, doesn't it? More directly - can you think of anything that matters more? And you only have until your body dies.
Heavy material going into the weekend, I know. But I tell you that it does not need to be hard. Simply look into it, study, ask questions ... hard, blunt questions. Then once you start seeing the picture more clearly, accept the gift. That is what is being offered ... to ALL people.
- We are ALL sinners. The only measure for good and bad is God's measure. So, "I'm a pretty good person" doesn't cut it. Sorry.
- We can not "good" ourselves onto God's good side. That's not how it works. And besides, we could never live up to His standards for "good". Only one person has done that in history - Jesus.
- Jesus died for all those sins. Sins of the past, present and future. He was sacrificed to pay the price ... because a price HAD to be paid. God is a good and fair judge.
- And here is the good news: Jesus offers the gift of grace and forgiveness for all of those sins if you simply accept Him into your life and acknowledge that you need Him to save you from yourself and from this world.
Study, learn ... and once you know, accept.
It's been the best decision of my life, and it will be the same for you. Trust me.
Correction - trust Him.
No comments:
Post a Comment