This is a short series on a few of the stumbling blocks that keep many from meeting God and entering His kingdom! I’m sure it won’t be exhaustive. I just want to touch on some things and put them in proper perspective.
You can read Part 1 of this series here and Part 3 here.
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
John 11
We have all heard the phrase “It’s a matter of life and death”. Typically we reserve its use to the most urgent and terminal of matters or we use it in the negative and refer to casual matters as “not a matter of life and death.” When it comes to eternity and whether we live or die, as addressed in the aforementioned quote from Jesus, without question this would definitively fall into the camp of a matter of life and death.
So the question I’m pondering is what would cause us to treat something like this with such apathy? I recognize many have not heard the true gospel, and that is a separate and equally urgent matter. However, in a “post-Christian world” as some would say we inhabit in the west, it is implied that ‘yeah, we’ve heard about Jesus and the gospel, we just don’t want what He has to offer.’ If that sounds harsh or inaccurate, I would say there are many flavors and variations of arguments but many share the common view that ‘yes we’ve heard, but the answer is no.’
I regularly talk with people who say they were raised in the church, a christian home, or they used to go to church, but then the story ends there. There are so many rabbit holes I could go down here that I’m trying to avoid but I just wanted to discuss a few specific arguments I hear regularly that seem to be stumbling blocks for some. I want to preface this by saying, in most cases, I don’t actually think these specific arguments are stumbling blocks but rather, convenient sources for confusion, in other words, excuses not to dive deeper into the life and death matters that Jesus proclaimed regarding decisions every human will face; namely to follow Him or not.
Argument #1: All Roads Lead to Rome
This comes in many forms such as:
- “Well I believe there’s one God and it’s the same God whether you’re christian, muslim, jewish…
- “Don’t all religions point to the same God?!”
- “I believe all religions are really just the same.” or “All religions are just man made anyways.”
- “I think there are many paths to God/heaven; not just one.”
Argument #2: Self-Sufficiency
Here are some examples:
- “What has God ever done for me?”
- “I don’t need God.”
- “God is just a crutch for the weak and it’s good for them if they need that but I don’t.”
- “What do I need God for?
Argument #3: To Each His Own
- “Well that’s your opinion.”
- “I don’t tell you what to believe and you shouldn’t tell me.”
- “There are many religions/gods, what makes you so certain yours is the right one?”
- “That’s great if you found god…”
- “I feel like everyone is entitled to believe whatever they want and none of us should tell others what we should believe.
- And my personal favorite: “No thanks, I’m not very religious.”
If you’ve spent any time sharing your faith with others, you have most likely encountered some or all of the aforementioned arguments. Feel free to share your personal experiences and questions in the comments.
For the sake of keeping short and sweet, I will discuss each of these over the next few days. Suffice it to say that if there was one key takeaway for today, it is simply that in sharing your faith, or for those searching, you will sometimes come across questions and opinions that are used as an excuse not to dig deeper to search out the truth. In some cases these convenient confusions are legitimate questions that need answering. In others, they’re simply an excuse to stay ignorant. I find that the easiest thing to do is address these concerns directly to remove any chance that confusion becomes a stumbling block to belief.
Exposing the lie will in turn expose the true motives and help you decide if the discussion should be pursued further or whether you are wasting your pearls.