A Sign of the Times

While searching to see if my place of employment would be cloed due to ice on the roads, I read this news story at a local TV station's website: Local Religious Leaders Respond to Atheist Bilboard. It's also been reported on by other local media outlets.

I'd not heard about the billboard before reading the article, but the sign reads, "You KNOW they're all SCAMS," and depicts symbols from a variety of religious faiths, also showing a date for a "Southeast Regional Atheist Meet." Several religious leaders were interviewed and they shared a variety of thoughts and observations.

Is any response warranted from the Christian community? (This is the only group to which I can speak because I belong to it.)

I've noticed a growing sentiment among both atheists and Christians, from personal conversations to local and national news stories. It's interesting to me that each group believes that the other has gained serious traction in both government and in the media; enough to be alarming. The same kinds of stories and situations my Christian friends see as evidence of bias or even persecution have been cited by atheist friends as indicators that religion has a large -- and problematic -- influence on our culture.

Very interesting.

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Agnosticism and the Church - Part II

You need to read this post first, if you haven't already.

To summarize, in the event that you don't read or re-read it , I've seen a number of people leave the fellowship of the church and turn to agnosticism or atheism. In most cases it's because the Church never addressed what seem to be apparent difficulties in resolving the Scriptures with real life. I offered some hypotheses as to why it is that these things are not addressed many times, and I believe it boils down to fear.

I'm not suggesting that my church fellowship or yours is guilty of this. If it fits you, however, you'll probably know it. Also, be aware that not everyone feels the need to have these difficult questions answered. I'm not particularly suggesting that we need to make people start questioning things that they've never questioned before.

I said this in the post: "I'm asking for practical, real-life things that I can do in Madison or Huntsville, AL. And I'm asking for your participation, if you desire."

I got one specific response to that solicitation, by friend and fellow blogger Preston N. He said, "I have also been thinking and praying about doing some 'Open Air Evangelism'. This is where Christains go out to college campuses, public events (concerts, fairs, etc) and engage people about the gospel. Instead of having people come to us - we go to them!"

Anyone else interested in pursuing something like this?

I've found that while Preston and I differ on some theological issues, that does not hinder our relationship as brothers in Christ, or our love for Christ and for people. And it doesn't scare me that he has a different viewpoint. What does alarm me is that often Christ-followers are more interested in arguing with one another about the theological implications of our beliefs rather than representing Jesus Christ to the world. (I suppose I should note that I'm not saying, "We're all part of God's great big family, and it doesn't matter what someone believes as long as they're genuine!" -- that's a false statement.)

Since I like cans of worms, here's a question I'd like for you to address in the comments -- I want to hear your perspective. As agnosticism goes, this is probably The Big One:

Why would a good God allow natural disasters and destruction in the world?

It's not a short answer, but you can be as brief or as long as you like. For Pete's sake (whoever Pete is), people have been discussing this one for thousands of years. I'll bet we won't find the perfect satisfactory answer in the comments of a blog. But I'm interested in how you'd answer that if an agnostic asked it of you. If you offer a counter-point to another commenter, please be respectful.

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Agnosticism and the Church

"'What sorrow awaits the leaders of my people—the shepherds of my sheep—for they have destroyed and scattered the very ones they were expected to care for,' says the Lord." (Jeremiah 23:1, NLT)

Just the other day I was told of yet another young friend -- someone who grew up in a "church" environment -- who's embracing agnosticism. My purpose at this point (in this post, anyway) is not to bemoan a falling away, but to note that this person is seeking truth, and doesn't believe that it was found in anything the Church presented.

Why is that?

What are we doing?! In one way the "sheep" mentality works -- we're supposed to be shepherding people. On the other hand, we can't see people simply as sheep who'll blindly go wherever we lead them (or fail to lead them, especially). I wonder if this is what we Christ-followers do. We have an answer that we know to be true, and expect others to embrace it just the same as we do, and to do so without question (or that they'll take the simple, Sunday School answers), and honestly, it just doesn't work that way all the time.

I have observed that we in the Church are scared -- yes, scared -- to allow people ask "tough" questions in the church, because we're afraid that we can't let them do so in a controlled enough environment, and that others around may hear them and question the validity of the beliefs that we've presented. Or that they might come up with some theology that is not Baptist (for instance) in nature.

This fear and the sweeping under the rug of serious and valid questions leads to the thing I noted above -- people leaving the fellowship of the Church and seeking to find answers to their questions elsewhere.

And really, I think I've had quite enough of that. I'm interested in discussion. I'm interested in talking to people about why I believe it's logical to have faith in the God of the Bible. I'm interested in finding the answers to the difficult questions people ask. But I'm not interested in steering people toward a religion of rules or a denomination, frankly. I'm interested in steering them toward a relationship with Jesus Christ.

One argument against this is the one that says, "You can't argue someone into following Christ." I'm not claiming that I can. But I am implying that this very argument is at the foundation of the problem: "I won't argue my point, therefore I'm completely unwilling to listen to yours."

So... where shall I start? How do we engage people in conversation and discussion? It's not going to happen at a church building -- the people I'm talking about have no interest in and no use for church buildings and assemblies of people they see as blind followers of a set of rules. Whether they're right or wrong, this fact remains.

Again, where do I start? I'm asking for practical, real-life things that I can do in Madison or Huntsville, AL. And I'm asking for your participation, if you desire.

"So we keep on praying for you, asking our God to enable you to live a life worthy of his call. May he give you the power to accomplish all the good things your faith prompts you to do." (2 Thessalonians 1:11, NLT)

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