Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Why Do Christians Bother?



Apologetics has been around ever since the first skeptic swore to the mythology of the Holy Bible. Christians have always been able to take the dark sides of the skeptical arguments and show them mostly spiritual folly.


The war that Christians fight has never been a physical war. Oh, yes, Christians have gone to war to protect the faith against the scourges of religiosity and atheism. Christianity has never really been about religion. Many religions have been formed in the name of Christ, but many of these do not hit the mark spiritually.


We see the problem is man, interposing himself into laws reserved for God’s judgment. Somehow a man will not see the severity of sin and suggest that God has special types of punishments that aren’t very severe; matching in some way the severity of the sin.


All of that kind of thinking is wishful thinking. The scriptures treat even the least of sin as guilt against all the law. Until men realize that even the smallest transgression is as punishable as the greatest sin they will continue erring on the side of spiritual ignorance.


Those who would write about the ignorance of Christians just because they don’t trust certain sciences to save their spirit don’t know what they are talking about. When they begin their debates and arguments by first denigrating those they disagree with it will never matter what follows from their mouth or their pen. Their heart is known and the hatred is apparent. One should never try to debate through anger.


Again, the war of the Christian is not in the physical plane. The warfare is always in the realm of the spiritual. To forget that and go into the physical realm to try to prove any point of faith to someone who does not believe is folly. God deals with souls on a spiritual level. The scriptures remind Christians that we do not “wrestle with flesh and blood” but with “principalities and powers” God is very familiar with.


The words and thoughts of the wisest human are never equal to those of God. God is the creator and the sole authority of everything that exists. The scriptures tell us that everything in the world “consists” because God permits that. God makes that happen. We who stand in belief do not have to prove an observable fact. When was the last time you saw any man capable of speaking the dead back to life, or the ill back to wellness?


The accomplishments of Jesus are well attested. The witnesses to the events of the life of Jesus were simple men who simply reported what they observed and heard from the only person ever to be resurrected.


The Apostle John wrote of his experiences that he had seen with his eyes, heard with his ears, and handled the Son of God and the Word that had become flesh.


Truly this is the only testimony a Christian needs to counter the skeptic. Paul used such testimony in every city he visited. The history of the birth, death and resurrection of God in the flesh is verifiable in the lives of those who have received and believed the testimony God gives of his son. Belief is not an act of ignorance. Belief comes through knowledge and acceptance of knowledge.


Christians bother to counter the arguments of the ignorant because they are prompted by a Spirit that resides with them. Since God is not willing that any man perish that too should be the thought of a Christian who has secured his relationship with Jesus. We also counter such debates because it is important to the lives of those who struggle with belief. No Christian wants to be charged with the blood of anyone. It is better to give the word and allow those without faith to be responsible for their own standing before God.


And that is the bottom line. Will Jesus say to you “well done” or will he say “depart from me.” One day we will each have that answer.

Written by me under my pseudonym Samuel Sandbaugh for www.useless-knowledge.com December 2005

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