Hello All,
We Christians can be terribly critical of those who question their faith or leave it for some other belief or even atheism. With our blinders on and in the confines of our tunnel vision, we may miss the fact that such a person is not actually rejecting Jesus, but rather a god that is absolutely un-Christlike. Turning from a false image, according to Scripture, is an important decision: It's actually called repentance and worship. What if we, as Christians, are hindering others from finding and worshipping the real Jesus when we hold them to our view of who Jesus is, especially when what we believe about him looks more like a child-sacrifice-demanding god like Molech, rather than the exact image of a loving Father who self-sacrifices rather than demands sacrifice? Consider the following:
"When [Charles Darwin's] precious 10-year-old daughter, Annie, died in 1851, it broke his heart and crushed his faith. Darwin could hold the good purposes of God and the suffering inherent in natural process in healthy tension until he had to endure the terrible suffering of his little girl. It was too much. Whatever Darwin had believed about God, that belief could not survive his grief.
I wonder...the real culprit may actually be an un-Christlike image of God. Which is to say, not God at all. If so, I’m inclined to agree with Walter Wink, who affirmed such atheism as a first step toward true worship, because it represents the rejection of an idol. That is, people like Maher and Darwin might be turning from — i.e., repenting. The next step, which I don’t pretend they have taken, is a turning toward — i.e., faith. I say a Christlike God is worth turning to." - Dr. Brad Jersak
Grace=Peace,
Jeremy
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