I was chatting with a friend who asked me how one who sincerely believes he is born gay might come to repent of his sin. In essence, her question was: If being gay feels natural to him, why would he believe it's wrong, abnormal or believe there's a need to change? Read on for my response.
Ummm...That Ain't in My Bible: Stuff Lukewarm Christians Say (Part 2)
Welcome to the second installment of "Ummm...That Ain't in My Bible". If you've had a chance to read Part 1 of this series, you know my entire goal is to examine and tear down some of the things non-believers and lukewarm Christians have been known to say when discussing or explaining matters of the Christian faith. I was inspired to write this piece because even I uttered some of these falsities and half-truths until I grew more committed to my walk with Christ and got serious about studying God's word.
So, in an effort to begin to speak the truth (and to help us graduate from lowly lukewarm status), in this installment I'm debunking a couple of phrases that tend to misrepresent God's attributes and Jesus's purpose.
Questions from my Atheist Friends: Part 2 (God, Jesus + Heaven)
As I noted in Part I of this series, I chose to engage this discussion after discerning the exercise would help offer atheists a better understanding of people of Faith. I certainly received more clarity on what atheism is and isn't. Yet, I noticed that as our conversation transitioned from debating science to my imparting more spiritual truths, my atheist friends seemed to back off. By the time we began speaking not only about the existence of God, but about Jesus Christ and the concept of eternity, I was down to only about two attentive "opponents", whom I gathered were actually more interested in what I was sharing than a desire to prove it wrong.
Here are the remaining top questions posed by my atheist friends.
Questions from my Atheist Friends: Part 1 (God, Science + Hell)
Recently, I somehow found myself in the midst of a theological debate with some "umpteen" atheists, most of whom I gathered were intellectuals. They seemed to enjoy whittling God down to merely an “imaginary friend” and more than a few of them called me everything but a child of God (pun intended).
Perhaps I should have just ignored them. Perhaps I shouldn’t have even given them the satisfaction of a response.
But as mature as I’d like to think I am, I’m still a teeeeeeeeeeennnny weeeeeeennny bit PETTY! (I’m working on that.)
Since I was rather intrigued by the exchange, I collected some of their best questions and statements...and I've decided to expound on my responses in a two part series for your ease of reading. This part covers questions about God, Science and Hell. Part II (not yet published) will cover questions about God, Jesus Christ and Heaven.
God certainly helped me wade my way through this experience, so please feel free to shelve some of this theological goodness. Who knows? Maybe one day you, too, will find yourself in the midst of a random Twitter battle with umpteen non-believers. Enjoy!