More Message Board

Here comes another longer post. I really enjoy message board discussion. Perhaps I will do a post contrasting it with verbal dialogue in the near future. But I wanted to blog an example of some message board interaction from this morning.

Originally Posted by AnonymousAtheist

Eventually, I really began to question my faith. It was blind faith after all, and the evidences of "creation" and "conscience" are not enough for absolute belief in the Bible. Those 2 evidences could be applicable to any belief system. A Muslim may have absolute faith in the Quran, and I know some that do, but I know that Christians will say that they are totally wrong. The Muslim will most likely say the same thing in return. Do you see the problem? To the point, I was afraid of losing my faith. That is why I bought numerous books on apologetics, and prayed constantly. Obviously, it was not that effective for me

Hey AA

I wanted to address the 4 underlined phrases

1. I don't think we can say Christianity is a 'blind faith' at all. Blind faith goes 'against' the evidence or, at best, goes in the absence of any evidence. But there is plenty of evidence for Christianity. The fact that there is a world points to a god. The fact that we have a conscience points to a god who holds right & wrong as distinct entities. We have quite a lot of evidence supporting the claim that Jesus rose from the dead verifying His claims (eye-witness accounts, a changed world, extra-biblical sources, etc). It's not a blind faith, serving God is our 'reasonable act of worship' once we've submitted to His rule in our lives.

2. Creation & Conscience certainly aren't enough for absolute belief in the Bible, I agree. They simply get us going in the right direction. And, by the way, a Christians mission isn't to have absolute belief in the Bible. A Christians mission is to have absolute belief in Jesus Christ. One is not a Christian by knowing the Bible cover to cover, one is a Christian by knowing Jesus Christ.

3. No accurate Christian says that Muslims are 'totally wrong'. In fact, Muslims are far more right than most other non-christian religions/worldiews in our time. Muslims are right about monotheism. Muslims are right about the need to submit our lives to that one true God. Etc. Christians and Muslims have much in common, they simply need Jesus.

4. Maybe it just wasn't effective the way you expected. Maybe in your early christian experiences faith was explained to you as a lack of doubt. And you left your faith b/c you couldn't rid yourself of that doubt. But I am telling you, this morning, that faith is not the lack of doubt, faith is obedience. And the opposite of faith is not doubt. The opposite of faith is disobedience. Most disciples experience doubts throughout their lives, but true disciples keep seeking the truth.

By discussing these issues on a message board, and, apparently, being open minded about them, you have shown a high level of interest in the truth. To me, that's a positive indicator that God is still speaking to you and that you haven't hardened your heart yet to Him.

God bless