Some years back, a popular secular website published a piece about Jesus, pointing out several times in the Bible when his actions were not very much like…well, like Jesus. I can think of no better way to illustrate one of the main problems with the unbelieving culture than this. It only takes a little thought to have you scratching your head wondering what the author was thinking. To take one part of the very document that describes to us the character of Jesus and pit it against another is to ignore that the entire document tells us who he is, not just the parts with which we agree.
And apparently, the author only agrees with the parts that paint Jesus as a sweet and pleasant teacher – a man who goes on about nothing more than love and kindness. But the whole of the Bible paints no such picture. The whole of the Bible really does have Jesus flipping tables in the temple and talking about the coming judgement. And when you see that, it would do you well to actually read the rest of the book to figure out why this shouldn’t be surprising.
I wrote yesterday about evangelizing the unbelievers of today, briefly mentioning Tim Keller’s observation of the “inoculated Christian.” Here we seem to have a good example. A man who thinks he knows enough about Jesus to safely reject him as anyone of any value other than as a good teacher who says a bunch of things to make us feel good.
In the end, it’s a matter of commitment. But what commitment? There’s a commitment that blindly rejects alternatives without explanation or exploration; but there’s another commitment that continually weighs the evidence and issues before making the final decision. This isn’t a matter of “your side is the former while mine is the latter.” Both sides of the Christian/non-Christian divide have each kind for sure. But, as in all other things, it’s not something that some critical thought might not work to answer…or at least strengthen one position or the other. In my case, while my faith was a sudden experience, I have since been blessed to have done the digging to back it up. I can say confidently after a quarter of a century of doing this that I’ve landed in the right spot. I’ve been through the questions and objections. Some of them are indeed a struggle, but most are quite easily answered.
Peter writes in his first letter, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.” “Be ready” means asking and answering the question yourself first – “what do I believe and why do I believe it?” It is incumbent upon every Christian to get this far with their faith. Then when someone comes to you with the likes of “Jesus didn’t act very much like Jesus,” you should have no problem answering them…gently and respectfully.