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Dialogue with an Agnostic |
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Christian Asks: Do you believe in God? |
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| Agnostic Replies: | Yes, but not the way you Christians believe. You are so self-assured and think that you alone have the truth. I think that is arrogant. |
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| Christian: | Do you believe the Bible? |
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| Agnostic: | How can I believe it when I've only got the word of Christians and their sympathizers that it is genuine? It could be a hoax for all I know! Did you read the novel – The Word? |
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| Christian: | Yes, but let me tell you of some of the truths the Bible speaks of. The Bible presents a picture of the Creator as infinite, loving, and morally perfect. | ||
| Agnostic: | What do you mean by 'morally perfect'? |
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| Christian: | The Bible says that God is love. That is, love on an infinite scale, and love that is unconditional and utterly unselfish. | ||
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| Agnostic: | I could go along with that, but you Christians are always condemning others, and write off all other religions and philosophies about God. | ||
| Christian: | I can't answer for other Christians, but I know what the Bible teaches. Paul preached to the leaders of Athens that we all live and move and have our being in God. If there is a God, this is the one with whom we have to do. | ||
| Agnostic: | OK! But, why do you Christians think that you have a monopoly? |
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| Christian: | Friend, the Bible, in both the Old Testament and the New Testament regards Abraham as a key figure and presents him as a prototype of the life acceptable to God. Let me tell you about him. | ||
| Agnostic: | Why shouldn't we all be acceptable to God if we try our best? | ||
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| Christian: | Imagine that this line is the level of God's acceptance [drawing a graph with a horizontal line]. That is, of a life in harmony with His own – a life lived in selfless love for others. | ||
| If you were to live at that level of perfect love always, and then for one moment on a certain day you contradicted God's love-standard, what could you do to make up for the one wrong act on that one day? Nothing! Because your whole life – for every moment of every day – should have been lived in love anyway. To continue perfect for the rest of your life does not provide anything extra to compensate for that one wrong act. If I owe you £100 and repay you £90 claiming that my debt is cancelled, is it cancelled? | |||
| Agnostic: | No! I see what you mean, but that means no one, not a single Christian, is acceptable to God! | ||
| Christian: | That's right! | ||
| According to what we deserve the Bible teaches that everyone has fallen short of God's glory, God's standard. | |||
| Now, let me tell you about Abraham... ... | |||
