I often think about how non-Christians view Christians and the church in general. What do they think when a Christian says, "I have Jesus in my heart", or, "I am completely surrendered to Christ", "I am in love with Jesus", "I would die for Jesus", and other sayings of similar nature?
Each of these sayings above, I personally claim, and I do so proudly and unashamedly; but at the same time I definitely understand why a non-Christian might get "wierded out" by such statements.
I was thinking about this last night while driving in the car on my way to hockey, and I came to the realization that many non-Christians find these things odd due to the fact that they don't fully understand what it means to have a relationship with God. They don't understand the excitement, the joy, the fullfillment of it. The reasons why I can boldly make statements like those listed above is because I am experiencing a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and the love and joy that comes with such a relationship leads to me saying these things about Him does not come out of obligation, but because it is how I actually feel. Having a true, meaningful relationship with God leads to such joy, and so while it is hard for non-Christians to understand, Christians definitely understand, and are excited about all that they are experiencing.
I shall provide a quick rebuttal from the non-believer.
ReplyDeleteWe agree that the behaviour of Christians is baffling to the non-believer. But I must disagree with your conclusion. The assumption that the feelings of joy, fulfillment, excitement and devotion derived from Christianity are alien to the non-believer is rather narrow-minded. Believe me- the passion you feel for Jesus is equalled in other parts of life from others. Some are devoted to their nation, community, cause, studies or loved ones. There are many things one can live, love and die for.
Christianity is baffling for a different reason: the problem of evidence. There hasn't been one argument put forward that shows the validity of Christianity (trust me- I've looked for quite some time). Life is so precious to me, that I cannot reason why someone would organize their lives around a doctrine that is categorically unreliable. I define this as the problem of probability.
My rambling (at times incoherent- it appears I understand god as much as I understand grammar) full length response is found here:
http://www.achalms.blogspot.com/2012/03/god-post-i-dont-know-and-neither-do-you.html
Please comment and discuss. I love debates and talking about this stuff.
Hey man! Just wanted to send a quick note to let you know I will be commenting back....just in the states right now on vacation. When I get a moment to sit down and write a proper response I'll do that....looking forward my friend. Sorry I haven't had a chance yet.
ReplyDeleteHey man, I've written a response, it was too long to post in the comment section so I made a blog entry in my own blog. It's under "Response to Alex's Blog"
ReplyDeleteor
http://jc-againsttheflow.blogspot.com/2012/03/response-to-alexs-blog.html
Let me know what you think...I too enjoy the discussion :)