I’m ashamed to say that in my country of origin-the United Kingdom, the only “sin” is to be sure about your faith in the God of the Bible, and in Jesus Christ. “How can you be so sure?” people ask, rhetorically, not really wanting an answer, or sneering as the words spit out of antagonistic, mocking mouths.
I’m also saddened to say that the nation, along with a multitude of others, is destined to never, ever be led or governed by anyone with strong political convictions and backbone, because that’s “extremism”. That’s “fascism”. So, the man or woman who actually stands up for anything other than dithering non-committal, middle-of-the-road bluster will not be the one to get elected.
In the matter of faith, even people in the church will upbraid you for being sure of what you claim to believe. If you believe in an almighty God, who created all things, and who sent His one and only Son, who died for all our sins and rose from the dead, and who will come back again and rule over all; and if you claim that there’s evidence for these things and good reason to believe, you are, even in the church which names the name of Jesus Christ, an extremist and even a bit of a nut.
From the day I committed myself to Jesus, I couldn’t understand anyone wanting to loosely associate themselves with the gospel message but not accept what it claims. Some might call me a “fundamentalist”. Well, if being sure of what you believe is fundamentalism, it’s a valid and a welcome label-even if they misinterpret what those beliefs are-and nothing to be ashamed of. Why is there such fear in being sure of something in our time? Why this post-modern determination to diminish all truths or all claims to an equally low-value level: the lowest common denominator of thought and reason?
Corrupt politicians run our nations and our cities because no-one has the stomach to confront them (except Donald Trump). No-one wants to be accused of being an extremist, or of being a nut, or of being racist (which has nothing whatsoever to do with conviction).
If it’s about what tickles your fancy, forget it: I have other things to do with my time. If it’s true, give your life to it. If it’s not, take up yoga or newt breeding or stamp collecting. If you aren’t all that sure, search for the evidence which will give you that surety. But I’ll give you a warning in that regard. If you go and ask Nancy Pelosi or CNN if Trump was a good president, you aren’t likely to get an entirely unbiased answer. If you enquire of Chinese Communist party leader Xi Jinping what makes free-market capitalism so productive you’re likely to receive his own slant on the subject. And in the same vein, if you ask an atheist or a sceptic for evidence that the Bible is trustworthy, don’t expect a balanced reply. That’s logical, isn’t it?
A very polite and pleasant atheist took me to task on my blog. He suggested that I learn something about evolution so that I could have the correct view of life, the universe and everything. I assured him that I attended a secular school and a secular college where I was taught evolution. I’ve been bombarded all my life with evolutionism on secular TV and radio. I listen to secular science podcasts where evolution is preached, and from where I build a picture of just how unproven evolution is, despite the swagger of its proponents. I’ve been to look for evidence of evolution at museums (and found only artists impressions of what they were told happened) and I’ve done plenty of my own study on related issues.
I’ve watched life live, and never seen anything turn into anything else. It’s time now, now that I have given my heart to Jesus and the God of the Bible, to search out evidence which further confirms my conviction that the Bible really is the inspired word of God. I want to know and enjoy what God has done for me, not what man chooses to believe as a poor alternative.
Concerning scripture, John wrote this:
I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life (1 John 5:13).
The God of the Bible wants us to know Him, not to try to explain Him away, or just hope that there’s something there that we can’t see.
The apostle Peter wrote this in his second letter:
For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge (2 Peter 1:5).
Knowledge is not sinful, if fact we are to pursue it. With genuine knowledge we can beat back the lies promoted in our world; we can defend the faith and help to convince others. This is another of the best reasons to gain that knowledge:
Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have (1 Peter 3:15).
This isn’t easy in our present age. Many people, and the institutions they have commandeered, have steered our society away from the God of the Bible. To be blunt they hate what God stands for, and the fact that they would have to change their ways under a Christian worldview They want you to hate it too.
There is no neutrality in our world, which is why Jesus said, “He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad” (Matthew 12:30, NKJV). It’s also difficult to confront someone who has been adequately brainwashed and educated in the philosophies which oppose our faith. We can’t know everything-but we can know something, and that something may be all that’s required to make a difference in our world. Jesus called us to be witnesses, not know-alls.
We are living in a post-truth age, in which Truth in the objective sense is a non-issue, but where lies and deception are perfectly acceptable-so long as they are entirely woke, of course. We have been taken from a Christian society, where, yes, nothing was perfect and human nature was still human nature, to a paganised society, where Jesus Christ and holiness and righteousness are ignored or hated.
So if we want our faith to grow; if we want to know that surety and to be secure in our faith, and if we want to honour our God instead of risking calling Him a liar, we need to augment our faith with knowledge and reason.
I’ve shared a few resources recently with those of you who would like to sure up your understanding of creation over the religion of our time-religion, evolutionism. In the past few days I’ve been enjoying a terrific video called “Is Genesis History?-Watch the Full Film”, viewable free in its entirety on YouTube. It has had 1.7 million views. It’s a little technical in places, but definitely a faith-builder. In the very near future, I intend to similarly share with you some information on the origin and reliability of our Scriptures.
This post is an augmented version of a post I wrote called “On Being Sure”. Please take a moment to share this post. Comments are welcome, even from atheists. Thanks for reading!
Fuel for Faith 