Defending the Faith by John Monday

I recently read an online Newsweek article by Jerry Adler. The article was an initial reaction to an upcoming book written by Dinesh D’Souza that claims to provide proof that there is an afterlife. I haven’t read the book, only the article. The writer of the article clearly did not hold a traditional Christian view and was fairly dismissive of the book. The article itself was OK, but nothing particularly great.

What interested me was the reaction to the article. It was posted as an MSN.com front page article and, as a result, got hundreds of comments within a few hours. I didn’t read them all, but I did sample a large portion. There were Christians and religious adherents of many varieties making comments, as well as a large number of people that either hold to no particular religion, or hold all religion in disdain. Sounds like a great venue for an interesting conversation, right? Wrong.

The comments were, by-in-large, harsh short attempts to compel someone else to adopt the commenter’s view. There was little logic, little reason, and little sensitivity. There were a number of anecdotal statements, but very little reasonable discourse. It appeared that few people were interested in hearing what someone else thinks, feels or believes but rather wanted to judge, belittle and correct everyone else. Sadly, many of the most judgmental, dogmatic, harsh and – yes - stupid comments came from those professing a Christian orientation.

I may be more critical of the Christians’ comments than others; I do expect a higher standard from my people, but there’s more to it than that. Many of the Christians seem to have little desire to speak kindly or intelligently. Simply saying to someone that I’m right and you’re wrong carries no weight. Saying, “well the bible says…” to someone who doesn’t believe in God will never move a heart or a mind. Telling someone that they’ll find out just how wrong they are sometime after death displays none of the love personified in Christ. More importantly, these methods do not honor the God of the Bible, the God who says, “Come let us reason together,” the God who says love your neighbor, and love your enemy, the God who from the foundations of the world arranged all the order we see in the universe, the God who hung on a cross and said, “Forgive them.”

I think I know where some of this comes from; it’s a war mentality. In war, every soldier knows that the outcome could be dependent on his actions. Whether it’s his personal heroic efforts or the combined effort of the platoon, company, or division (read denomination), my efforts matter, and if the enemy won’t surrender, then he must be destroyed. We have a deep-seeded sense that, if we fail in this battle, all might be lost. If we don’t defend God, who will?

We forget that the war is already decided, and God wins. We need never lob another grenade or ambush an unsuspecting atheist, Jew, Mormon, Buddhist, Baptist, Catholic, Secular Humanist, Adventist, Congregationalist, Episcopalian, Pagan or Presbyterian again. We have the best deal going, since the war is won and the matter is decided. Then all we need do is love people, listen to them, and tell them the reason for the hope within us. All of our success and failure is absorbed in Christ’s victory. We have total freedom to love without fear of loss, and drop our defenses without fear of defeat. If Christ is true, then we can’t lose; and if Christ isn’t true, then we can’t win.

C’mon guys, we can do better. If the God that we bear witness to actually exists, then He is the most reasonable and intellectual being in the universe. God is the author of reason and knowledge. We can listen to and love anyone with no fear that the truth will be lost. While we must stand ready to share our hope, we need never be defenders of the faith. To be a defender of the faith insinuates that the faith may be in peril if we do not adequately defend it; not so. Christ is our Defender, we are not His. Christ’s purpose will be carried out with or without our help. GOD WINS! He allows us to participate in victory and life with Him; He’s not quivering in his fortress hoping that we will prevail. We are free to listen, discuss, learn, teach, help, be helped, sympathize, empathize, comfort and love a world that desperately needs us. Let’s raise the bar and remember: God Wins.

John Monday