I do agree with your comments that personal witness is the only way to
convince people in today's society. However, for every "good" witness there
ample of examples, for instance on TV, that make our work rather difficult.
I believe in miracles but what I see on TV is too staged to be true. I have
my serious doubts about most of what I see on so-called Christian TV. The
effect of the latter can undue much of the good work that Christians are
done in the world.
Moorad
-----Original Message-----
From: Wendee Holtcamp <wendee@greendzn.com>
To: asa@calvin.edu <asa@calvin.edu>
Date: Thursday, March 09, 2000 9:02 AM
Subject: intellectual objections/was ID etc.
>[Note: I posted this yesterday evening but didn't see it show up - I think
I
>sent it to the wrong email address, but if you've seen it before, my
>apologies]
>
>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
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Wendee Holtcamp -- wendee@greendzn.com -- http://www.greendzn.com
> Environment/Travel/Science Writer -- Poet -- Photographer
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> But the child's sob curses deeper in the silence than the
> strong man in his wrath. -- Elizabeth Barrett Browning
>
>
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