On the days I work I do little else...but I usually read my Bible, and there are a few Christian writers/bloggers that I keep up with, James Michael Smith being one of them.
Today James Michael wrote an
article about Ricky Gervais' essay explaining "Why I am an Atheist" In the essay, Ricky Gervais says:
Why don’t I believe in God? No, no no, why do YOU believe in God? Surely the burden of proof is on the believer. You started all this. If I came up to you and said, “Why don’t you believe I can fly?” You’d say, “Why would I?” I’d reply, “Because it’s a matter of faith”. If I then said, “Prove I can’t fly. Prove I can’t fly see, see, you can’t prove it can you?” You’d probably either walk away, call security or throw me out of the window and shout, ‘’F—ing fly then you lunatic.”
and I like how James Michael replies:
Again, I can't help but appreciate Gervais' honesty and his refusal to settle for subjectivism. Sadly, having been in ministry for the past decade or so, I would say that the vast majority of Christians would be hard pressed to come up with an answer to this challenge on the spot (I know, because of the countless emails I've gotten on this very subject!). For many, their belief in Jesus is almost entirely unexamined and culturally transmitted (as Ricky Gervais' childhood faith was, by his own account)
This entire concept of people not being able to defend their faith or really know what they even believe in is something that has been weighing on heavily on my heart lately. Recently I've challenged several people with the comment: "How is God working in your life right now?" and holy cow the reactions I've gotten!
People who profess to be Christians, people who should be seeking after God with their whole heart, get highly defensive when asked this simple question. Personally, I believe that every Christian should be able to answer this question, and if you can't then something isn't right with your relationship with God. Now I'm not pointing fingers and I wasn't trying to challenge anyone with this. I originally asked it out of pure curiosity and was astounded to find that there is an overwhelming number of Christians that immediately feel attacked or uncomfortable when they're asked about their relationship with God...which is sad to me, and I don't really understand that feeling. Ask me about myself and I may seem insecure and uneasy, but ask me about my God and I will delight in telling you about his love and mercy and how he uses each day and the most random situations to teach me new things and reinforce old lessons.
I really want to understand why people feel that they can't answer this question. In my opinion, even an "I don't know" is an answer, so how can you just not answer?
I've decided that I'm going to continue to ask people this oh so challenging question, starting with whoever is reading this:
How is God working in your life right now?
