Glenn wrote (part snipped)
....Presbyterian Preacher. He too lost his faith because he couldn't see any
>reason to believe the Bible especially given the apologetical choices.
>Now, my question to this group is, who is at fault? Is it those who lose
>faith, or those who failed to supply reasonable answers?
While I completely agree with you that having "reasonable answers" is a
crucial part of evangelizing and spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, I
also firmly believe that "intellectual objections" of any person are only
part of the real reason he/she rejects Christ as their Lord and Savior. Many
an atheist or agnostic with intellectual objections have come around to
become devoted and zealous followers of Jesus (CS Lewis, for one). I believe
what is critical is to allow those non-believers to see the spirit of the
living God alive within every believer's life, to show kindness and respect
above and beyond what is normal in the world, and to invite nonbelieving
acquaintances to "come and see" as Phillip said to Nathanael when telling
him that he had found the Messiah.
If the life of a follower of Jesus isn't truly different from the "rest of
the world" than what attraction does it have? Often the way nonbelievers
first come into a relationship with God is through a relationship
(friendship, etc) with someone who has the Spirit of the living God (the
Holy Spirit) shining through! I strongly believe that if we engage even in
petty arguing about "disputable matters" using sarcasm, subtle jabs, etc at
other believers than how can that be following Jesus? What "outsider" would
look up to that and see the love of God? (I'm not pointing any fingers for
the current conversation! I haven't even been following it actually until I
happened to see this message - which is an interesting topic to me)
Anyway many people with intellectual objections have other issues they are
not yet willing to relinquish control of - whether they are unwilling to
accept the forgiveness and grace of God, or whether they do not want to
forgive someone who has wronged them, or whether they do not want to believe
God would allow such-and-such to happen or whether they have certain sins in
their lives that they aren't willing to give up -- and these are real,
difficult questions which deserve discussion and attention, but they are
certainly not without adequate answers - but no amount of force feeding
answers will do it. Every person ultimately must come to the acceptance of
the Truth themselves.
Anyway that is just my thoughts FWIW.
Wendee
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Wendee Holtcamp -- wendee@greendzn.com -- http://www.greendzn.com
Environment/Travel/Science Writer -- Poet -- Photographer
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But the child's sob curses deeper in the silence than the
strong man in his wrath. -- Elizabeth Barrett Browning
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