5 highlights from John Lennox on 'Diary of a CEO': AI, transhumanism and Christ
3. ‘You become a Christian by trusting Christ;' not a ‘merit-based religion’
During the interview, Lennox reflected on his own path to faith and emphasized that Christianity is rooted in personal trust in Jesus Christ rather than religious tradition.
“You see, my parents taught me quite clearly that I wasn’t born a Christian,” he recalled. “You become a Christian by trusting Christ.”
“To have somebody born or made a Christian by some ceremony is absurd to my mind,” Lennox asserted. He acknowledged that he “didn’t have any great feelings or anything else” as a child but came to “really believe this stuff is true” as he got older and attended college.
As he began publicly sharing his faith, he said his confidence grew stronger over time.
“It was when I began to stand and share with others that a great deal of the underpinning came in and the certainty came cumulatively. I’ve never had these big flashes of anything, but I have had several experiences of what I can only put down to direct divine guidance.”
Lennox added that he doesn't “regard myself as religious, particularly.”
“Most religions prescribe a moral way that you try to follow and you’ve teachers, gurus, imams, all the rest, priests to keep you on the way, and then you come to a judgment at the end,” he added. “I usually draw a scale of justice. And if your good deeds tip over the bad deeds, then you get into whatever it is: Heaven, nirvana, all the rest of … That’s religion. It’s not Christianity, though many people think it is.”
Lennox pointed to the refrain that “I do my best and I hope that God will be kind” as “the exact opposite of Christianity” and instead “a merit-based religion.” He noted that “in a human relationship, we don’t base our affection and relationship with someone on the basis of their merit.”
“God does everything, and if we trust Him, He is the one who gives us certainty. So, it’s not arrogance to accept it from Him. It’s arrogance actually to reject and say, ‘Oh no, no, I’ll go my own way, and I’ll try my best and hope that you will accept me,’” he concluded.
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com
