Imagine with me two different parenting styles: Type A and Type B. When these two types are scientifically compared to one another, and the outcomes of each approach to children are carefully measured, a wide difference emerges. Furthermore, the differences are controlled for factors such as race, age, sex, rural vs. urban residence, region, parental education, number of siblings, whether the mother works, and the presence of a father or male guardian at home.
Searching for God
Searching for God
Christian Hypocrisy and Unbelief
The problem of Christian hypocrisy is a major reason for unbelief. As Ghandi perceptively noted, “If Christians would really live according to the teachings of Christ, as found in the Bible, all of India would be Christian today.” In the same line of thought, one …
The Problem of Blind Faith
In talking with skeptical students around Boston, I have learned that few things drive them as crazy as Christians with a blind faith. They are perplexed: “How can your core convictions be completely divorced from reason and logic?”
Three examples, just from the past year, illustrate the problem:
If you were born in another country, would you still be a Christian?
One very common question about Christianity goes like this: “If you were born in another country, a place like Saudi Arabia, Egypt or Iran, would you still be a Christian?”
The presumptive answer, from an honest look at the demographics, is simple: it would be very unlikely. (Though you might be surprised to learn that in 2000, 60% of all Christians lived in Africa, Latin America, or Asia).
Why Are Christians So Crazy?
Depending on where you grow up or currently live, it is possible that all or nearly all the Christians that you know strike you as crazy. For instance, they might:
- Be opposed to science
- Be hypocritical
- Make racist or sexist comments
- Treat people with different beliefs in a mean-spirited way
- Know less about the Bible than you do
- Take dreams, numerology, angels, demons, or “signs” way too seriously
- Loudly share abrasive political opinions
- Love comforting lies and wishful thinking
- etc., etc., etc.
If the Christians you know act like this, it is probably enough to drive you a bit crazy too! There are at least three reasons for this:
- Crazy is bad.
- Expectations are high.
- We’re fed up.
Arguments that Hurt
Our experiences, perhaps more than anything else, powerfully shape our lives and our beliefs. There’s a reason “love at first sight” is a cliché, but “love after multiple, rational deductive tests” is not.
If you’ve been hurt by a church or by Christians, you know what I’m talking about.
Is God an Unknowable Mystery?
The search for God can seem so puzzling and so difficult that many people feel like, “All that God-stuff is a mystery, and no one really knows what’s true.”
If this is how you are feeling, it makes sense to dig into this instinct and see if this objection to faith can withstand a rigorous investigation. Let’s start by considering some of the main reasons why the search for God seems strange and even impossible.
How Can We Know If Christianity Is True?
According to some estimates, there are about 2.1 billion Christians in the world, or around a third of the world’s population. Whether you are a Christian questioning your faith or simply curious about the world’s largest religion, you’ve probably asked yourself: how can we know if Christianity is true?
Does Christianity make you arrogant?
Today I’d like to look at a very commonly held idea regarding religious belief. It is often expressed somewhat like this, “It is arrogant to say that Christianity is true and that all other religions are false.”
We need to thoughtfully consider this statement, because if is true, it means that being a Christian is, to some degree, an inherently bad thing.
The Absurdity of the Cross
“And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified Jesus, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left.” – Luke 23:33
Historically speaking, there’s nothing special about crucifixion. Perhaps tens of thousands were crucified throughout the Roman empire. Before the time of Jesus, in 87 B.C., a Hasmonean ruler named Alexander Jannaeus crucified 800 Jewish rebels in Jerusalem. During part of a siege of Jerusalem in 70 A.D, the Roman military crucified as many as 500 Jewish people a day. Under these circumstances, to speak against the government, or worse, to actually revolt, could lead to unspeakably horrible consequences.