Straight paths through crooked roads

The logical justification for choosing to not believe in Christ: reason # 12 to rebel against the faith.

I was chatting with an agnostic friend of mine about faith and logic.  He said something notable.  He spoke of logic and physical evidence as being the justification for what he believed.  People who choose to not believe in Jesus as the Christ and refuse to accept Him as their personal Savior and Lord and refuse to accept the Bible as the Word of God do so using human logic and physical evidence.

However, they do more than that.  They replace belief in God with something else.  They craft in their own way a personal view of the origin and meaning of life.  They select from many available sources their views on the subjects of religion:  ethics, eternity, personal worth and relationships, etc.

We could get lost in the volumes of information and arguments about evolution, socialism, humanistic self-esteem, and so on.  However, the common basis for all of these reasons is the individual person's choice to place personal pride over the choice to be humble before God.  Scripture refers to this personal pride as the "carnal nature" and it will be the subject of a future post. 

Pride shapes a personal god or view of the world as the individual would wish it to be.  This is the very nature of idolotry.  Idols in the ancient world were physical evidence to the idol worshipper of the reality of their beliefs.  Today, athiests and agnostics, and others have shaped a belief system that does not rely on the obvious falacy of physical idols but replaces them with invisible shapes much more difficult to refute.

The end of all these human efforts of logic and physical evidence is the desired result:  "I am not guilty before some God over Whom I have no control."  I seem to recall a statement attributed to Mark Twain, ( real name Samuel Clemens), that the most important two words in the English language were "not guilty".  Mark Twain was an athiest.  The end of the use of Darwin's theory of evolution is more than biology, it is the fundamental logic and physical evidence put forward to justify not believing in the God of the Bible.  It is the means to say that, "I am not guilty for my thoughts, feelings, and actions that run contrary to the Bible"  To Darwin's theory you can add many other religious beliefs and philosophical ways of thinking to use to come again to the same conclusion:  "I am not guilty."

At the end of life we are faced with the stark reality that whatever we have chosen to believe about life and eternity and God is about to be judged right or wrong.  It is a circumstance over which we have absolutely no control.  No logic, no physical evidence available will work to justify us when we face whatever it is that will confront us at the end of life.

It is Christ alone that offers us our "not guilty" plea.  It is not that we were not guilty of all that we had done or had failed to do.  It is that Jesus Christ, His blood sacrifice for us and His resurrection from the dead covers our sin. 

Humility shapes a faith in a God greater than ourselves.  Visit the 5th chapter of Matthew to review the "Beatitudes" to see the steps of faith that bring certain relationship with the real God of the universe. 

Their is no logic against God Who created truth.  There is no physical evidence that can be arranged to deny the existence of its ultimate creator.  There is no way to overcome guilt except by the blood of the Lamb of God.  Therefore, there is no justification for choosing to not believe in Christ.  Christ Himself said, "I am the way, the truth and the life.  No one comes unto the Father but by me."  John 14:6. 

My parents were too harsh and that caused me to rebel against Christ: reason to rebel #11.

We will all suffer offenses against our feelings.  Some are understandable, others are not.  Sometimes we take offense when really, we are just being too sensitive.  Other times, we are genuinely and deeply offended.  We cannot determine everything that happens to us but we will automatically choose as to how we will react to what happens to us. 

"Oh, no!", someone might say.  "You cannot help but react a certain way when you are a child and you have been unreasonably punished."  Well, it is very hard to win an emotional argument with a logical reason.  So, let us respond emotionally in a logical way.

Can we agree that the person who feels offended does truly feel hurt?  I can accept the fact that they do feel that way.  Never mind, for a moment at least, the logical reasons why they might not choose to feel that way.  Instead, let us deal with the fact that they do feel hurt and there is no getting around that genuine feeling.

Further, can we agree that the hurt feeling is unwelcome?  Can we agree that the offended person desires to be rid of this sorrow?  Can we reason together that to carry a hurt forward into the future just creates emotional "baggage" that we would rather be rid of?  If not, if the offended person chooses to hang on to the hurt feelings, then the wound will become hatred.  The hatred will become a destructive burden to the one who treasures their anger.  The hatred will motivate foolish and self-destructive behavior in the future.  No, let us not volunteer for failure in our emotional and spiritual health.  Let us at least come to agreement that the hurt is unwelcome.

If we do not wish to harbor the hurt, let us get rid of it.  Let's trade it in for something better:  healing.  The healing may come quickly and thoroughy.  Or, it may come slowly and in measured amounts over a period of time.  How do we unload this emotional weight?

We bring it captive in our spirit to the One who loves our very soul-Jesus Christ.  If you wish, you may emagine wrapping the hurt up in a brown paper cover and tying the package up with a small rope.  Then, in prayer, you present it to the Savior and tell Him, "Here!  Please take this away Lord.  I don't want it anymore.  Please do not hold anything against the other person for my sake.  Please help me to forgive them."  Then, trust him to heal the offense. 

Once the hurt is dealt with, then it is easier to deal with the logic of whether or not the offense was truly an act of disobedience to God or not.  Whatever the reasoning might be, it is the right thing to get rid of the emotional burden of hurt feelings.

Children will respond to discipline in different ways depending partly on their temperment, partly on whether or not the parent punished them in anger or in calm and measured actions.  Children will determine in their own minds whether or not the person punishing them has earned the right to do so.

However, using offenses to justify rebelling against Christ Who is the Savior of your soul just doesn't work.  Rebelling against Christ is a choice to refuse to accept Christ's call to live in relationship to Him regardless of the difficulty you may have in relating to your parents or caregivers.  Working with Christ through the Holy Spirit will serve to heal hurts and restore relationships.  When we are weak, then He can prove Himself strong on your behalf.  Sincerely give Him the chance and you will find, once again, that it is the blessing of God to give benefit and to add no sorrow to it.