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Even though this thread is in the Christianity forum, it’s really aimed at those who see Christianity as utter nonsense and can’t fathom how anyone could believe it. It was inspired by a book I’m reading about the uneasy relationship between secular reasoning and Christian faith.
My posts may have suggested I went through a lengthy, multi-faceted quest and arrived at Christianity by a process of rational analysis. Something like: “OK, after a long quest I now assign an 8% probability to atheism, 16% to Hinduism, 24% to Buddhism and 52% to Christianity. Voila, I’ll be Christian – at least until something causes those percentages to change.”
This really isn’t accurate.
As I’ve described, I had a startling, completely unanticipated “born again” experience when I was 20. Alone in my dorm room at 2 p.m., Christianity and the possibility of becoming a Christian weren’t even on the radar screen of my life. I wasn’t in despair or searching for answers. By 3 p.m., still alone, I was a born-again Christian.
With 50+ years of hindsight, I have no doubt this was a genuine call by God. He reached down and claimed me at a critical juncture where my life was likely to take a very different turn and I might never have responded to his call at all.
The experience was so out-of-the-blue that my subsequent quest was an effort to understand what had happened and either confirm or reject the reality of it. I pretty much started from scratch. Sometimes it took me far from Christianity.
But the decisive moment was that afternoon in my dorm room. That's when the eyes and ears of faith were opened.
I don’t believe that coming to Christianity is ever a process of convincing yourself it’s true. Famed Swiss theologian Karl Barth had disdain for Christian apologetics for this reason. He believed Christianity is solely a matter of God’s revelation and call, not human reasoning. I agree.
I cringe every time I hear smug apologist Frank Turek (I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be An Atheist) screech at the beginning of his weekly podcast “Know why people are so easily talked out of Christianity? BECAUSE THEY’VE NEVER BEEN TALKED INTO IT!!!” This misses the mark by at least 179 degrees. People may become more receptive to Christianity via apologetics, but they aren’t talked into genuine faith.
Throughout the Bible there is a key theme that is captured by what Paul says in 1 Corinthians: “For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. … For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness …”
This basic theme is found in both the OT and NT. God’s wisdom is folly to humans and vice-versa. God is known in humility and trust, not in clever reasoning. The Gospel is foolishness to the unsaved. God calls and the Holy Spirit prepares the individual to receive the Gospel.
God’s call can certainly be resisted and rejected. Jesus was under no illusion that the Gospel message would sweep the world and usher in some Christian utopia. “Many are called but few are chosen.” “For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.” “They will hand you over to synagogues and put you in prison, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name.”
The Gospel is indeed foolishness, or at least absurdity, when viewed in purely human terms. The all-powerful Creator of the universe incarnated as a helpless baby. He appeared as an obscure First Century teacher whom history barely mentions. He was exactly the opposite of the Messiah the Jews expected. He defeated evil by yielding to it. He accomplished cosmic justice by paying the price himself. He allowed himself to suffer the very form of death that was understood by his own people as the ultimate sign of God’s disfavor. His resurrection – the very linchpin of his message – is pretty thinly attested. He relied on a band of fumbling disciples and their successors to be the keepers and spreaders of his message.
Really?
A very legitimate human response is: “Utter nonsense. You’d have to be an idiot to believe that.”
Yes, you would - unless and until God prepares you and calls you. Then the foolishness resonates as truth. The fact that it's so utterly counterintuitive only adds to the weight of conviction. This is a phenomenon every sincere Christian has experienced.
As Augustine said, “We don’t understand to believe. We believe to understand.”
The reality is, those who rely on human understanding, who demand to be convinced by scientific evidence and philosophical arguments and whatnot, will never grasp Christian faith or understand what it means to be a Christian. Those who resist and reject God’s call will never grasp these things. Even the faith of a mature Christian who can defend it with logic and reason will seem like folly. “Irkle’s obviously a smart guy, so how did he come to believe such stupid things?” Because it all starts with a response to God’s call, a leap of faith. Then the understanding comes.
None of this is going to sway a nonbeliever. THAT’S THE WHOLE POINT. It’s merely an explanation as to why Christian faith seems like folly to nonbelievers. They are on the outside looking in at something they can't possibly fathom so long as they remain outside.
The reality is, those who rely on human understanding, who demand to be convinced by scientific evidence and philosophical arguments and whatnot, will never grasp Christian faith or understand what it means to be a Christian. Those who resist and reject God’s call will never grasp these things. Even the faith of a mature Christian who can defend it with logic and reason will seem like folly. “Irkle’s obviously a smart guy, so how did he come to believe such stupid things?” Because it all starts with a response to God’s call, a leap of faith. Then the understanding comes.
The only real problem I see with this is that you seem to feel that only your epiphany has any legitimacy. Anyone who has a spiritual experience that leads them to a different conclusion than yours led you to is simply full of it, in your opinion. How close am I to being right about that?
I was flopped on the bed in my dorm room on a snowy afternoon, bored and alone because my roommate was in class. For no reason apparent to me, I "just happened" to pick up his Bible. I knew NOTHING about the Bible, had no real interest in it.
I "just happened" to flip to the Gospel of John, easily the most intellectual and mystical of Gospels. As I began reading "In the beginning was the Word ...," a voice - I don't know if it was audible or purely inside my head - said something like: "This is IT. This is your ONE CHANCE. PAY ATTENTION." It was very emphatic and authoritative.
I read the entire Gospel before my roommate returned. Before I finished, I was blubbering like a baby, convicted that I had encountered Truth. When I finished, I prayed for forgiveness in Christ. No one was more astonished than I, with the possible exception of my roommate when he returned.
You would have to have known me then to appreciate how utterly unlikely and astonishing this all was.
Events that flowed immediately after this were also remarkable. A loner and introvert, I had gone on precisely zero dates in high school and had had one unsuccessful dating relationship in college. To test this God thing, I prayed that if he were real he would lead a soulmate into my life. Ten days later, Christian friends introduced me to a woman whom they thought I should meet. We were engaged a month later, married a year later, and remained married for 33 years until her death from breast cancer.
You may find it surprising that after all this I felt the need a year or so later to put the experience to the side and attempt to construct a belief system from scratch. This is precisely because I am extremely intelligent, logical, rational, and skeptical to the point of being cynical - I wasn't willing simply to take the experience at face value, even though I now believe it was entirely real. My stubbornly cynical nature is why I think God said, when I was 20, "I'm going to need to hit this one over the head with a hammer."
I "just happened" to flip to the Gospel of John, easily the most intellectual and mystical of Gospels. As I began reading "In the beginning was the Word ...," a voice - I don't know if it was audible or purely inside my head - said something like: "This is IT. This is your ONE CHANCE. PAY ATTENTION." It was very emphatic and authoritative.
So do you believe God gives each of us just one chance, or was that just how you think it was for you?
The only real problem I see with this is that you seem to feel that only your epiphany has any legitimacy. Anyone who has a spiritual experience that leads them to a different conclusion than yours led you to is simply full of it, in your opinion. How close am I to being right about that?
I believe, as Christianity teaches, that there are true and false epiphanies. I wouldn't use the term "full of it." I would use the term "deceived." The biblical warnings about deceptive spirits masquerading as angels of light are there for a reason. This is apparent to me not only from my Christian experiences and studies but from my paranormal experiences and studies as well.
I didn't start this thread to talk about me, and now I am done talking about me.
So do you believe God gives each of us just one chance, or was that just how you think it was for you?
By no means do I believe that God gives us all only one chance. I think God knew that this was the one time he could reach me and that if I didn't respond in this moment I never would. I don't recall if "ONE CHANCE" was exactly the phrase, but the message was clearly that this was a critical moment of decision.
I believe, as Christianity teaches, that there are true and false epiphanies. I wouldn't use the term "full of it." I would use the term "deceived." The biblical warnings about deceptive spirits masquerading as angels of light are there for a reason. This is apparent to me not only from my Christian experiences and studies but from my paranormal experiences and studies as well.
Okay, so yours are true and those that differ from yours are false. Got it.
Quote:
I didn't start this thread to talk about me, and now I am done talking about me.
By no means do I believe that God gives us all only one chance. I think God knew that this was the one time he could reach me and that if I didn't respond in this moment I never would. I don't recall if "ONE CHANCE" was exactly the phrase, but the message was clearly that this was a critical moment of decision.
Fair enough. Thanks for your response.
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