One of my friends who is an atheist (yes, I have friends who are atheist. And agnostic, and Jewish, and Muslim, and a million other things) once posted a meme showing a man with an incredulous/amused look on his face with the caption "My face whenever someone with a college degree tells me they believe in God." The implication is pretty easy to read - only stupid people believe in God. Then there's the ever-famous "Religion is the opiate of the masses." In this day and age, so many people see being a Christian (or other faith) as being a crutch for the weak - something we lean on because we're not smart enough to figure out the science behind the world. Because we don't want to take responsibility for ourselves. Because we are horrible people who only act decently at the threat of Hell. Pick any of the above - I've heard them all.
I certainly don't deny that there's an amazing comfort in the belief that God is there for me. That I am watched over, and kept in His hands. But having recently been born again after years of not really having a relationship with God, I can tell you that so far, it's harder to be a Christian. And I don't just mean the early Sunday mornings.
Let's start with the fact that I am called to love my fellow man - including my enemies. I'm sure most of you know how difficult it is to so much as stomach someone who has been unkind, abusive, etc to you or someone you care about. If I didn't believe, I could write these people off as awful and go about my business without a second thought. They don't care about me - why should I care about them? But I can't. I struggle daily with seeing everyone as God's child rather than simply judging them by their actions toward me or my loved ones. This isn't to say that non-believers don't strive to love their enemy. But to them, it's not weighted as a command.
Then there is the part where we are supposed to be following the path of God, not of the world. As John Bevere says in his series "Good or God?" (which I highly recommend), the world pulls at us. There are so many temptations that can take our focus off of God. Replace him as our priority. This could be something as small as a football game (seriously, watch "Good or God?"), or as large as an addiction.
And some of the time, we don't even see that it's what we're doing. I'm starting a non-profit, as I've mentioned before. But I didn't start it for the glory of God. I started it because I needed a way to cope with all of the crazy emotions that go along with a baby having heart surgery. I needed something bigger than myself, and I went directly to something I could create, rather than to God. That doesn't mean my non-profit is bad. But it does mean that something I saw as 100% GOOD wasn't being done for the right reasons. Even a ministry can become "of the world" if I put my focus on recognition, or what I'm doing rather than what He is doing through me. Look at it this way - Adam and Eve literally knew God directly. They walked with Him, talked with Him, and saw His hand work. And they still felt the pull of the world so strongly that they disobeyed. How much stronger, then, is that pull in us, when we won't see Him directly until we die?
And I'll tell you this - I have not even remotely reached a place where I truly feel that I put Him first over my husband and child. If God gave me the same command He gave to Abraham, I'd die before agreeing to sacrifice my child.
That's another struggle. We know what we're supposed to do. But it isn't always intuitive. I look at what I just typed in the paragraph above, and it seems right to me. When I read Kierkegaard's "Fear and Trembling", which posits that Abraham was being tested and chose incorrectly by agreeing to sacrifice his own child, that resonated with me. Who agrees to kill their child? Common sense dictates that anyone who does that may as well be one of those moms or dads who snaps and says the voice of God commanded them to drown their babies in the bathtub.
Then there are the debates. I don't debate God's existence. I'm not Bill O'Reilly (I had to watch his show for a school project and didn't like it one bit, if I'm honest), and I won't ever try to offer any form of scientific "proof" of God. If you're an atheist, you have science to lean on. Proofs, experiments, tests, and studies. I have my faith, and a book. I will never "win" a debate because someone who is scientific and atheistic won't accept my faith as proof. And I believe science and God co-exist just fine, so their arguments will never convince me that He isn't real.
Let me say this - I know that atheists can struggle with temptations, etc as well. I'm not saying it isn't difficult. I absolutely cannot fathom not having God's love in my life. And that brings me to my last point. We are called on to share the gospel. To baptize the nations. And I have no issue with being an example. But I know that directly speaking the Word to someone may cause rejection, hate, resentment, and a myriad of other emotions from their end. The calling to save souls is not for the feeble. And I don't mean someone who walks up to you and tells you why you're going to Hell and throws a pamphlet at you (please see my first post - those are NOT what I consider Christians). I mean truly trying to change hearts. I want you to have what I have - the sense of peace and purpose that can come with it. But I don't want to sour you on faith by pushing you too hard. It has to be between you and God, though I am here if you question or need guidance.
Perhaps the most difficult part of being a Christian is how we are saved. We have to acknowledge that we are sinners. That we are not better than anyone. That we cannot do it on our own. I always tried to do everything on my own. I didn't want to burden others. I was so driven in my desire to take care of my own issues that I wouldn't even pray about things that I didn't deem "worth" God's time. I am fiercely independent, and I have to battle that "me"-ness every day.
I'm still friends with the person who posted that meme. I still love them, and still miss them (they live out of state). And believe me - I'm just as down on memes that make fun of other religions, atheists, or agnostics. I don't condone name-calling and finger-pointing as a means to move others. It doesn't work - it just makes them dig in. I just want people who may not realize to notice that faith is not the antithesis of intelligence.
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