Christian Apologist Says Church is Producing Atheists

faith_hope_love »

Tue Aug 07, 2007 9:22 am Agree: 3   Disagree: 0

The Church's failure to adequately address people's intellectual questions is indeed one of the reasons for the defection of people such as Richard Dawkins. But it isn't the only reason. A second reason is that a lot of professing Christians have done a lousy job of demonstrating the fruits of the Holy Spirit in their own lives.

Of the two reasons mentioned in the preceding paragraph, I'm inclined to think that the second reason gets to the heart of the matter more often than not. We can have the greatest arguments in the world, but if we fail to treat one another with the love of Christ on a consistent basis, it won't go very far in terms of persuading people to commit their lives to Christ.

In all fairness, though, it should be acknowledged that there's nothing we can do to guarantee that people "raised in the church" will adopt the beliefs of their parents. Ultimately, each person must make the individual choice to follow or reject Christ. We should do everything possible to insure that Christianity is portrayed in the best possible light, so that we do not become stumbling blocks who prevent people from fully understanding the message of Christ, but we also need to understand that there will always be some people who will reject the gospel in spite of our best and most conscientious efforts.

All we can do is to do our best, and then leave the rest up to God.

'God Talk' and Politics

faith_hope_love »

Tue Aug 07, 2007 8:56 am Agree: 0   Disagree: 0

Mark Earley is right. "God talk" may seem impressive superficially, but the real question is whether or not that talk translates into action with regard to issues that most committed Christians care about.

This isn't the first time that liberal Democrats have claimed to be good Christians. Jimmy Carter said he was "born again". Perhaps he was and is. But genuine Christians sometimes do stupid things which are not consistent with their professed beliefs. As much as I admire Carter for his involvement with Habitat for Humanity, his presidency was an absolute disaster insofar as its effect on the pro-life cause was concerned. One of his "special advisors" was Sarah Weddington, the attorney most responsible for legalizing abortion in the United States. Not surprisingly, Weddington helped to appoint Ruth Bader Ginsburg to a federal judgeship. (Ginsburg has been openly supportive of so-called "abortion rights".) I voted for Jimmy Carter in 1976, but I now greatly regret having done so, having learned some things which I wasn't aware of at the time.

There is something strange about the belated attempt of Democratic candidates to hop on the faith bandwagon once again, given the fact that they have spent several decades denigrating pro-life activists by claiming that religion has no place in politics. Their latest moves therefore come across as insincere pandering, not as honest professions of principled belief. But even if I'm mistaken about that, the fact remains that Christians have a moral responsibility to vote for the candidates who are most likely to enact laws and policies which are in the best interest of the United States. In my strong opinion, that includes voting for principled candidates who are strongly committed to the goal of ending the national tragedy of legalized abortion.