The Christian Faith Needs No Defense

There is an online message board I enjoy visiting and periodically even posting comments to. I have a username on it that is very fitting for me and it is 'Baldguy.' This board is primarily a sports board, yet it has several users that enjoy debating politics and they get just as nasty in their partisanship as the real politicians.

One day awhile back, a user who seemed to be or at least was portraying himself to be a hard-charging athiest was demanding that some of the other Christian posters defend their faith. He was literally screaming, it seemed, in his text and daring them not to run away from this challenge. This individual and another continued on by questioning why we weren't stoning our neighbors for working on the Sabbath if the Bible was to be deemed correct. Also, they asked why the Bible condoned slavery. Also, the continuous saga of whether the Creation was really done in seven days or not came up as well. I try to avoid these discussions a lot of the time, but felt this was a moment I needed to step in and give a reply. The following paragraphs contain the main points in my response. I have added bits to it that I thought about later.

I started out by simply saying that my faith gives me hope. It is part of that "believing-without-seeing" reward that Christ even talks about shortly after he showed Thomas the nail marks. This faith, or belief, is a choice that people have. And because it is a choice and not manditory, Christians really do not have to "defend" their faith at all.

As for sharing Christ with others, I am more than willing to do this, and teach about Him as well. However, if someone doesn't want to hear about it, I won't force it on them. If they choose eternity in a hot lake, then I can't lose sleep over it. I might pray for them a little bit, but I won't lose sleep. If the critics question how I can be so sure of this, I have to say we Christians don't have a full understanding of how it works either. Scripture even says that as well (for those of you who seem to "study certain parts of it"). That is what faith is all about. You are willing to take the risk and seize the hope. This goes back to another poster's response, one that is common from Christians to non-Christians in this debate, and it says. "If you're right and I'm wrong, what do I lose; if I'm right and you're wrong, hmmm."

Now, for those of you that ask about the rules regarding stoning and other consequences, if you would get out of the Old Testament and into the new, you will see that Christ ended that aspect. You ask how He did that; He took the "killing" himself, so people wouldn't be stuck having to do that anymore. I don't think it would be pleasant to kill your neighbor. Those rules were set to show God's standard for holiness. He didn't want the neighbor killed; He just didn't want him working on the Sabbath, to have faith that he could rest and God would still provide His needs. And the neighbor knew the consequences for his actions. It goes back to believing. Yet, people could not master God's standards, so He sent Christ to take care of it, and all people have to do today is believe. The main purpose of the Bible is Jesus Christ, and everything in it is ultimately trying to point the readers into His direction. Again, just believe. Christ does want us to do our best to love God and love people (if you truly believe, you'll be trying to do this). I can't explain the actions of certain ones who call themselves Christians, yet do continue pursuing actions that hurt others, except maybe they aren't what they think they are.

As for the slave question, how else was the world economy ran when the scriptures were written? It was an owner-slave, lord-servant system during that time. Also, there were no printing presses in that era and most people did not have their personal copy of the scriptures, unlike today, where an individual may have several different versions of his own. In that time period, the Word was presented to the people in public readings, and it had to be presented in a way that people could understand it. Fortunately, times can and have changed, and I like to hope that it was partly due to Christ's yearning that we love one another. Slavery overall seems a thing of the past, although there are still sad, little pockets where it does exist in the world, but at least it is now deemed evil by a large majority.

For the ones asking how long each day was in the creating of the heavens and the earth, all I can say is who knows? We measure a day by one earth spin, yet the earth was being made at this time, so was it spinning yet? I believe that God has no limits, and He can do anything in any amount of time He wants. He could have made all of this in a second or in millions of years. I sometimes wonder if the Creation story in the Bible isn't proof that God has a sense of humor, or maybe He wanted to keep it more mysterious so it would give the critics something to mull over rather than having them target and try to destroy the real purpose of the Book.

Now, I doubt my answers to the questions had a major impact on the ones who asked them, but I didn't back away. Yet, if those critics feel enough self-righteousness to judge God, then I'll let that be between them and God. I have a good feeling I know who will win.

As for Christianity, again it is basically believing. It doesn't need defending, because it is not threatened. It doesn't have to be sold in the world marketplace in order for us to survive (and I'm thankful for that). It is simply a choice that people have. God loves you enough to give you this freedom; you can pursue it or not. You can choose to be in a relationship with Him or not. A key thing to remember though, is the results are eternal. The "defense" rests, your honor.