Engaging Ideas

BreakPoint with Chuck Colson recently profiled a new book, Is Belief in God Good, Bad or Irrelevant?. Co-authored by Preston Jones, assistant professor of history at John Brown University, a Christian and Greg Graffin an atheist punk rocker (Graffin also has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology). The book chronicles the dialogue of these two disparate personalities as they wrestle with life's most challenging questions from two very different world views.

I was intrigued by the genesis and nature of this relationship. As the leader of the punk band, Bad Religion, Graffin's lyrics seem to be an earnest attempt on his part to wrestle with questions of evil and suffering in a universe that to him is utterly indifferent to humanity. At least this was what drew Jones' interest, compelling him to write to Graffin. This resulted in a lengthy series of e-mail exchanges with each man presenting answers to the questions from their respective viewpoints that ultimately formed the basis of their book.

At one point in the book Jones states that he has "sometimes . . . felt more at ease with thoughtful atheists than with Christians, because atheists often come to their beliefs after asking difficult questions about evil, suffering and the seeming indifference of the universe." On this point I had to shout Amen! Too often, I encounter "thoughtless" Christians who frankly know little or nothing about what they believe and why they believe it and worse have little interest in changing that condition. I am not even sure they ever even give these larger questions a second thought. Instead their faith, it seems, is often based on a common set of propositions called "Christianity" with which they agree. In other words they believe in God, Jesus, the Bible, etc. but they scarcely know or demonstrate how these "beliefs" should impact their lives. This is precisely the kind of "faith" that James is addressing in chapter two when he writes, "You believe there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that and shudder."

James' point is that mere intellectual assent to belief in the things of God is not saving faith. Faith is active, given by the Holy Spirit and it includes an inclination to obedience. Real faith produces obedience; acting upon these truths that you accept by faith and submitting to the authority of Christ in every area of your life and thinking. Unfortunately, the seemingly more common brand of Christianity which rejects obedience is nothing more than a cultural construction that has little to do with historic orthodox Christianity.

I say "cultural construction" because in some parts of this country being "Christian" is more a matter of birth right than conscious submission to the Lordship of Christ. It's as if one were to say, "Of course I'm a Christian; what else would I be? I am not Jewish!"

William Wilberforce confronted this same condition in his day more than a century ago when he wrote:

"With Christianity, professing Christians are little acquainted. Their views of Christianity have been so cursory and superficial that they have little more than perceived those exterior circumstances which distinguish it from other religion. These circumstances are some few facts, and perhaps some leading doctrines and principles, of which they cannot be wholly ignorant. But of these consequences, relations and practical uses of these principles, they have few ideas - or none at all."

I too have a friend who is a committed atheist that I regularly hear from, often in response to one of my weekly articles. We continually engage in vigorous debate and dialogue over issues of evil, origins, human nature, the existence of God, the efficacy of religion, moral theory and numerous other subjects. Sometimes these dialogues get a little "frisky" as there is depth of passion on both sides and the issues with which we are dealing are arguably among the most important facing humanity. When things get too heated we both agree to take a break in the discussion and remain friends never wanting to descend into personal attack. Admittedly, these dialogues can be very taxing and sometimes leave me discouraged but I do not do it for me but instead for him and ultimately for Him and thus I want to be prepared - I would be so ashamed if my willful ignorance brought shame upon my Savior!

I respect this friend enormously because he takes seriously the ultimate questions of life and he is endeavoring to make sense of his world and I believe he respects me for similar reasons. While there are many times we end in disagreement there are those rare occasions where he can find agreement with the Christian perspective on compassion, humility, consumerism and careerism, for example. While I completely disagree with my friend's world view I cannot condemn it as being "thoughtless." He has invested tremendous energy and effort into trying to understand and work out his perspective of life and the world. I fear more so than many professing Christians.

Furthermore, my friend remains willing to engage in spirited discourse that constantly challenges his beliefs, something that far too few Christians are willing to do even with each other despite the fact that Scripture calls on us to 'exhort one another daily.'

The absence of such interest on the part of so many Christians only impoverishes the witness of Christianity and gives comfort to the "cultural" Christian. And I would add; this intellectual sloth serves to reinforce rejection of the Christian faith on the basis that it is for the non-thinking and somehow inadequate when answering life's great questions; thus supporting what Lenin called the "opiate of the masses."

Christians should absolutely and always endeavor to grow in truth and knowledge. Especially in light of the fact that such intellectual apathy dishonors the Lord and may contribute to a culture of unbelief. The prophet Hosea delivered this charge against apostate Israel, "...my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests..." (Hosea 4:6) Hosea later issues a general warning that, "a people without understanding will come to ruin!" (Hosea 4:14)

I pray that the Holy Spirit would renew in all of us a desire to be equipped; to grow in knowledge and understanding and be willing to engage opposing ideas and those who hold to them in both dialogue and friendship!

Copyright S. Michael Craven 2006

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S. Michael Craven is the Founding Director of the Center for Christ & Culture, a ministry of the National Coalition for the Protection of Children & Families. The Center for Christ & Culture is dedicated to renewal within the Church and works to equip Christians with an intelligent and thoroughly Christian approach to matters of culture in order to recapture and demonstrate the relevance of Christianity to all of life. For more information on the Center for Christ & Culture, additional resources and other works by S. Michael Craven visit: www.battlefortruth.org

Michael lives in the Dallas area with his wife Carol and their three children.