I spent a long time as a Christian. I’m able to look back on much of that time very fondly. I loved my fellow brethren, and I truly wanted to learn more about God’s will and do my best to follow it. But there was also a deep fear tied to my belief. I think that’s fairly common among fundamentalists, but it may apply to more moderate Christians as well.
Where did this fear come from? There are certainly a number of passages that talk about God’s love for mankind:
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. – John 3:16
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? – Rom 8:31
For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. – Rom 8:38-39
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. – 2 Pet 3:9
But despite his love, God can get angry too. And you wouldn’t like him when he’s angry:
For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. – Heb 10:26-31
The scariest thing about this is that facing God’s wrath will be a complete shock to some people. There are those who think they’re doing what God wants, but are completely missing the mark:
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’” – Matt 7: 21-23
What if you believe in Jesus and love God, but aren’t doing God’s will? Is your sincerity enough? This was a thought that plagued me when I believed. If some people would get to Judgment Day only to find that they weren’t acceptable, then why couldn’t such a thing happen to me? How did I know my beliefs were the correct ones? My brother and I used to talk about this a lot. Through study, he and I both began to think that a couple of the doctrines we had always been taught in the Church of Christ were incorrect. Coming to that conclusion was extremely difficult. Were we reading and understanding our Bibles correctly?
As an illustration, consider a minor passage: 1 Corinthians 11. The beginning of this chapter says that women should have their heads covered when they pray. But the passage is confusing. Paul says that since women have long hair, they should also wear a covering when they pray or prophesy. He spends several verses giving reasons why a woman should cover her head, but then in verse 15, he also says that her long hair is given to her as a covering. So do they still need a separate one? Most confusing at all, verse 16 says:
If anyone is inclined to be contentious, we have no such practice, nor do the churches of God.
What does that even mean? Does it mean there’s not a practice of being contentious? That sounds like a crazy thing to have to say. So maybe he’s saying that the head covering is not supposed to be a practice if anyone makes a fuss over it. But that doesn’t make sense either. I mean, what other doctrines are given that caveat? Did any of the 10 Commandments have such an escape clause? The whole passage is confusing. What are Christians supposed to do? Either God wants the covering, or he doesn’t, but that passage can be read any number of different ways.
And of course, that’s far from the only vague passage. When you’re raised in a denomination, you’re taught to read the Bible a particular way. “Predestination” means something very different, depending on who you’re talking to. Who’s right? And what if you were raised in one of the groups that thinks they’re right, but to whom God will say “depart from me, I never knew you”? My brother and I realized how difficult it is to unpack all those preconceptions in order to clearly see the scriptures for what they really say. It’s scary.
Here’s the Point
But eventually, I realized that my fear was needless. The Bible says that God is fair, he doesn’t play favorites, he loves us, and he wants us to find the truth. Jesus said “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you” (Matt 7:7). If those things are true, then there’s no reason for us to be so worried about getting it wrong, as long as we’re sincerely seeking the truth.
It’s important to realize how significant that point is. If we’re really looking for the answers, then no question is going too far. So if we dig into the Bible and think “it doesn’t make sense to me that God would send people to Hell,” we shouldn’t run from that thought — we should investigate it. It’s okay for us to ask why God would command genocide in the Old Testament. It’s okay to wonder why he seems so hidden. It’s okay to ask why he would inspire people to write a message, but not protect the originals or ensure its accuracy. If God supports our search for truth, then all of these questions are valid. In fact, the people who pursue these questions obviously take the issue seriously. Wouldn’t that be more pleasing to God than those who never question what they’ve been told?
If you believe in God, then have faith in his character. Have faith in his promises. And take him seriously enough to challenge those who claim to speak for him (the writers of the Bible). Don’t let people tell you that you can’t question God whenever you express doubt about a passage. The Bible is not God. So show God the respect he deserves and critically examine the Bible before you accept the claim that he inspired it. If he’s real, he’ll be much more pleased with an honest seeker than with someone who’s too scared to ask the tough questions.
Finding Truth 
Reblogged this on James’ Ramblings.
LikeLike
Loved the post, Nate! One of your best!
LikeLike
Hi Nate, I appreciated this post also. I always enjoy reading about the experiences and previous lives of people I know, as it helps understand how they feel even if I cannot agree with what they think. SO the path you and your brother followed was interesting.
And I agree with you wholeheartedly, that we shouldn’t be afraid to question our beliefs, the Bible, even God. I often say that doubt can be the gateway to new understanding.
Which made me start to ponder this question. What advice about questioning their beliefs would you give to non-believers?
LikeLike
Not Nate, here – as you’ve obviously gathered by now – but my advice would be, if someone presents irrefutable evidence, by all means, consider it.
LikeLike
Arch,
Since by definition God is omniscient, God changing his mind is an indicator of liberty (free will). Liberty is an indicator of justice.
See how that works?
While you, the atheist, are hallucinating biased smallness, the Bible is teaching great ideas.
.
LikeLike
William,
Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog.
Mostly I try to offer secular arguments based on natural law that coincide with Judeo-Christian teachings.
I think you would be safe in characterizing me as a Christian from my comments defending the Bible.
I try to model my thinking after St. Thomas Aquinas who used reason and systematic thinking to explain the ideas of presented by the Christian faith.
LikeLike
First of all, thank you for not calling me by Arkenaten’s name – I don’t like it and he charges me every time it’s used in error.
Could you possibly point me to that definition? Say, book, chapter and verse? Or possibly it can be found in some book of science – Neil deGrasse Tyson perhaps?
I have a verse of which I’m especially fond – it has to do with the Tower of Babel fable – Gen 11:5:
Wall, color me skeptical, Pilgrim (my best John Wayne!), but why would an omniscient god need to go ANYwhere to see what was going on, when he should have already known it was going to happen?!
Plus, it’s clearly obvious that you don’t get the full implications of “omniscient” – you mention that he would have left room for free will, but even so, an omniscient god would have foreseen the subject’s use of “free will,” so once again, there would be no need for omnipotence, as there would be no need to alter anything – whatever was to happen, would have been foreseen in advance to have been going to happen.
Your serve —
LikeLike
Arch,
Let’s try a little reasoning even though I know that’s impossible for you. I’m not being rude. I’m just stating the requirements of atheism.
To be an atheist one must give up the ability to reason. For to believe that everything came, all by itself from nothing, is to believe the absurd.
For those of us who value reason, however, it is obvious that everything must necessarily have been created.
That Creator is God.
So reasoning further, in order to create everything, or all things, the Creator must by all-powerful.
To know how to create all things, the Creator must be all-knowing.
Consequently, God is all-powerful and all-knowing.
LikeLike
Wow! The worn out, old Kalaam cosmological argument – again. So much nonsense, so little time —
Let’s try a little reasoning even though I know that’s impossible for you. I’m not being rude. I’m just stating the requirements of theism.
To be a theist one must give up the ability to reason. For to believe that everything came from an invisible entity that created itself, is to believe the absurd.
Why?
Purely assumptive, based on non-existant data. But to pretend to entertain your nonsense, why must that conclusion be reached? And if a god or gods, which god or gods, and why that/those, not another? Proof, please —
A priori reasoning is an interesting philosophical exercise, but in the absence of empirical evidence, hardly proof of ANYthing.
LikeLike
Arch,
I attempt reason and you respond like a pre-programmed parrot.
You didn’t name yourself after a bird for nothing.
LikeLike
Arch,
you give me the impression that discussing these things is kind of a sport to you. Like its a debating game. A game to win. I could be wrong about you feeling this way. I apologise if I am. It was just an impression I’ve had for a while when I read your posts. Fair enough if debating interests you. I like debating certain topics with my friends as well.
I just wanted to point out though that these topics are not sport for some people. These considerations regarding faith is a real concern for some people. What is discussed is not merely a topic to debate or to win, for some people.
LikeLike
Again apologies if I’ve misread you Arch.
People gravitate to discussions for different reasons, it just seems to me like you see discussion as a competition to outdebate people for fun. Like I mentioned I debate for fun too. What I’ve realised though is that whether or not someone out debated an individual, it has little relevance regarding whether something is actually true or not. Debate and conversation are two different things with different goals. Debate seeks to win its case, whatever it may be. where conversation seeks to understand where other people stand and what is actually true. That’s what I think anyway
LikeLike
And Arch, I’ve debated with people on here too, so it’s not like I can talk though 🙂
LikeLike
ie. Slavery, incest, genocide, lies, cruelty, general debauchery, non-drug induced hallucinations are okay,(thank you Paul of Tarsus) misogyny, homophobia, infanticide,rape, etc oh, and something about shellfish.
And these are just a few that the god God is cheering from the sidelines about.
Gotta love Yahweh and his Book, right? lol….
LikeLike
Lol….classic ”Smarmy Git’ line from William Lane Craig’s Number 1 card carrying member of the Reasonable Christian Hypocrites.
I’ll have a stab at this….
That if there is a god worthy of worship is sure as Hades isn’t the one who got himself nailed to a tree and then wondered why his dad left him there and then came back to life after a short weekend just in time for the Easter Egg hunt.
LikeLike
Actually, Si, the archaeopteryx is a proto-bird, an evolutionary transitional form leading from ancient dinosaurs to modern birds, with characteristics of each – something your Genesis fables do not permit you to consider, just as my own reasoning powers do not allow me to realistically envision unicorns, dragons, and talking snakes and donkeys such as your Bible describes.
LikeLike
Portal, this is an atheist website, much as Answers In Genesis is a theistic one. Anyone, as I gather from Nate’s comments, is welcome here to freely express their views and opinions, but for a theist to come onto an atheist website and make a claim, common sense decrees that they be prepared to support it. I would expect to do the same if I were to comment on AIG.
LikeLike
A prime example, Portal, is Captain Courageous – sorry, Captain Catholic – who often comes here with claims, which we challenge – he seems to enjoy the mental masturbation, as do we, no one gets upset, and why should they? While I agree that it’s not a game, it IS an exercise in futility, as you are never going to change our opinions without evidence, which you lack, and we are never going to change your beliefs with logic and reason, so we might as well relax and enjoy the conversation.
LikeLike
It’s all good, Portal – I never get more than semi-serious about anything —
LikeLike
See, Si? THIS is Ark! Not me, the funny looking one —
BTW, Ark, you left out hamhocks – which reminds me, have you read George Carlin’s last book, When Will Jesus Bring the Porkchops? Funny stuff!
LikeLike
Arch,
If someone makes a claim it’s expected that they are prepared to support it, fair enough 🙂
Have a good one
LikeLike
U2
LikeLike
Thanks Kent!
@unkleE
Great question, unkleE! And thanks for the comment. My advice to everyone, whether they’re religious or not, is to keep an open mind and follow the evidence to the best of your ability. Don’t have any position that you’re unwilling to question. And beware your own biases.
LikeLike
Dear oh dear…. Christians keeping an open mind?
If they do that , Nate they become atheist.
You are living proof of what happens when a religious person begins to think about what they have been dragged up to believe.
LikeLike
Ark,
You believe that evolution is fact, right?
And you claim absolute knowledge that God and religion are falsehoods and fabrications.
Does that make you closed minded?
You see, like all atheists, you condemn in others the very same condition found in yourself.
In the hood your kind of people are called hypocrites.
LikeLike