7/19/13 Jonathan about 28
Eddie
- another believer from a sister location of our church – and I wanted to get
to know each other better before an upcoming mission trip to Mexico, so what
better way to do that than to reach out and share the Gospel together here in
Chicago? We met at a local park and one
person we talked to was a young man named Jonathan, a doctoral student who
claimed that he didn’t believe in God or any sort of afterlife. He was open-minded enough to consider the
possibility that there might be a higher power to whom he will be accountable after
he dies, but he chose not to be concerned about this possibility for three
reasons: 1.) He felt that it would be unfair of such a God to judge him for not
following Him since he didn’t believe in Him in the first place. 2.) He believed he shouldn’t be accountable
to follow His rules since he didn’t know them.
He basically thought that his ignorance would save him, but when asked
if he thought that ignorance would be a good enough excuse for someone seeking
to avoid responsibility for obeying traffic laws, for example, he easily agreed
that it would not. I went on to explain
how the Bible says we are not ignorant of God’s existence since the very fact
of Creation is evidence of a Creator (Romans
1) and no one is ignorant of God’s laws since we all have a conscience, the
knowledge of good and evil written on our hearts since the Garden of Eden
(Genesis 3). Jonathan tried to show exceptions
to the idea that there is a God-given sense of morality but I pointed out that
the very fact that we feel we need excuses shows that we are aware of God’s
laws and universal morality in the first place.
Finally, Jonathan used his “emergency back-up plan” in case the first
two reasons didn’t protect him: 3.) Deep down, though he isn’t perfect, he
makes sure he is “good enough” for heaven, and he truly believes he is, at
least in comparison to other people.
This is where it is important to use God’s law, such as the Ten
Commandments, in order to show him his true state according to God’s standards
rather than other people. Despite all this, Jonathan went on to say “I’m glad
that Christianity works for you guys, I really am. But it’s not for me. I’m very happy just the way I am.” I believe he is. But if God’s law does its job, he won’t be
for long. That is my prayer.
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