Cute Critters theme is designed by Thoughts.com and coded by Web Hosting Pal.
s p l a t » Blog Archive » Most American Christians Do Not Believe that Satan or the Holy Spirit Exist
In our Wednesday night youth group meeting, I end up fielding a lot of questions that stem from the kids’ confusion about seemingly contradictory portions of scripture. “How can the Bible say this, when it also says this?” Oftentimes, I don’t even have good answers to these questions. But this article helped me to realize something I think I already knew. The Bible is actually far more consistent and understandable than we make it sound. I’m not saying the Bible is easy, but I do think that most of of what we think is contradictory is just us not understanding what the Bible says. How can a majority of Christians read all that the Bible has to say about The Holy Spirit, and not believe that He exists, you know? It blows my mind, and it’s easy for me to be judgmental, but it’s oftentimes easier to just dismiss something from the Bible than it is to try and understand it.
That’s why I encourage the youth group kids to keep asking tough questions about the things they find inconsistent or troubling about their beliefs. It helps them and me to keep growing in our faith. The Word says, “My (God’s) people perish from lack of knowledge.” If I expect to flourish as a Christian, I think I had better be willing to spend more time in the Word than I do now.
Wow. This article simultaneously shocks me and doesn’t surprise me at all. What I mean is, “Seriously, how can we miss this?” and “Well, I understand this can be confusing stuff.” Even more than confusing, I think it’s the kind of stuff a lot of people would rather just ignore… “maybe God’s okay and even gives us a little moral grounding, and Jesus seems like a nice guy, so yeah, I’ll sign up with him… but let’s not get too deep or spiritual about it. And don’t even start with the notion of the guy with the horns and cape… he gives me the heebie-jeebies, so let’s pretend he doesn’t exist.” We live in a culture of oblivion and distraction… the apparent goal being to skate through life grasping for as much fleeting happiness as we can amass. And then what?
If I sound frustrated, it’s because I am. I’ve had a couple of these sorts of conversations over the past week and I’m a little–no a lot–sad about the whole thing. Now these conversations were with non-believers who were pretty much rejecting spirituality in general (beyond a vague belief that there’s “some sort of god out there”), so it’s somewhat expected (but still heartbreaking). I have a harder time understanding how a Christian, one who arguably professes belief in Jesus as Christ, has difficulty making the leap from belief that God can raise the dead to belief in the Holy Spirit. It’s that whole cafeteria mentality… “I’ll load up on that part of the bible about salvation, but I think I’ll have to pass on the Satan thing.”
So how can I move from a place of frustration to productivity on this issue? What would God have me do? Well for one thing, I think it’s helpful for me to remember that I’ve had just as much confusion and just as many questions on things the bible has to say as the next person. Empathy is good, so I’ll start there. Not gonna do much good on my high-horse. Next comes bravery. If God has revealed truth to me, I believe it’s my privilege and charge to share that truth in a loving way. This isn’t easy, and as I experienced this week, it can even be painful when the message isn’t well-received. But we don’t give up. We pray. We pray that eyes and hearts will be opened. And we read. As John said, spending more time in the Word and asking God to teach us these truths is the best way we can be ready to share with others when the Holy Spirit (who does exist!) prompts us to, even when Satan (who also exists), would rather keep the world in a state of oblivious distraction. It can seem like an overwhelming, daunting task, maybe one we don’t feel qualified for–but it’s a life or death matter. Speaking the truth you whole-heartedly believe (in a loving, non-judgmental way) might step on some toes, but standing by in polite silence could result far worse ramifications.
I think you both hit on a very fundamental issue concerning Christian faith–its basis, its foundation is the Bible. There is a popular idea that involves taking a splattering of different religious ideas, spiritual truths, historical writing, cultural wisdom, etc. and forming a worldview–often labeled “Christian.”
The only problem with this is we forget: the Bible is the ONLY way that we know who God does and what he is like.
Sure human reason, general revelation, religious culture, etc fill in the gaps, but we must remember we haven’t a clue who God is without the Bible. With so much improvisation about the nature and character of God, we must not forget we KNOW nothing about God without the special revelation concerning himself in his WORD.
July 7th, 2009 at 11:04 am
In our Wednesday night youth group meeting, I end up fielding a lot of questions that stem from the kids’ confusion about seemingly contradictory portions of scripture. “How can the Bible say this, when it also says this?” Oftentimes, I don’t even have good answers to these questions. But this article helped me to realize something I think I already knew. The Bible is actually far more consistent and understandable than we make it sound. I’m not saying the Bible is easy, but I do think that most of of what we think is contradictory is just us not understanding what the Bible says. How can a majority of Christians read all that the Bible has to say about The Holy Spirit, and not believe that He exists, you know? It blows my mind, and it’s easy for me to be judgmental, but it’s oftentimes easier to just dismiss something from the Bible than it is to try and understand it.
That’s why I encourage the youth group kids to keep asking tough questions about the things they find inconsistent or troubling about their beliefs. It helps them and me to keep growing in our faith. The Word says, “My (God’s) people perish from lack of knowledge.” If I expect to flourish as a Christian, I think I had better be willing to spend more time in the Word than I do now.
July 18th, 2009 at 7:05 pm
Wow. This article simultaneously shocks me and doesn’t surprise me at all. What I mean is, “Seriously, how can we miss this?” and “Well, I understand this can be confusing stuff.” Even more than confusing, I think it’s the kind of stuff a lot of people would rather just ignore… “maybe God’s okay and even gives us a little moral grounding, and Jesus seems like a nice guy, so yeah, I’ll sign up with him… but let’s not get too deep or spiritual about it. And don’t even start with the notion of the guy with the horns and cape… he gives me the heebie-jeebies, so let’s pretend he doesn’t exist.” We live in a culture of oblivion and distraction… the apparent goal being to skate through life grasping for as much fleeting happiness as we can amass. And then what?
If I sound frustrated, it’s because I am. I’ve had a couple of these sorts of conversations over the past week and I’m a little–no a lot–sad about the whole thing. Now these conversations were with non-believers who were pretty much rejecting spirituality in general (beyond a vague belief that there’s “some sort of god out there”), so it’s somewhat expected (but still heartbreaking). I have a harder time understanding how a Christian, one who arguably professes belief in Jesus as Christ, has difficulty making the leap from belief that God can raise the dead to belief in the Holy Spirit. It’s that whole cafeteria mentality… “I’ll load up on that part of the bible about salvation, but I think I’ll have to pass on the Satan thing.”
So how can I move from a place of frustration to productivity on this issue? What would God have me do? Well for one thing, I think it’s helpful for me to remember that I’ve had just as much confusion and just as many questions on things the bible has to say as the next person. Empathy is good, so I’ll start there. Not gonna do much good on my high-horse. Next comes bravery. If God has revealed truth to me, I believe it’s my privilege and charge to share that truth in a loving way. This isn’t easy, and as I experienced this week, it can even be painful when the message isn’t well-received. But we don’t give up. We pray. We pray that eyes and hearts will be opened. And we read. As John said, spending more time in the Word and asking God to teach us these truths is the best way we can be ready to share with others when the Holy Spirit (who does exist!) prompts us to, even when Satan (who also exists), would rather keep the world in a state of oblivious distraction. It can seem like an overwhelming, daunting task, maybe one we don’t feel qualified for–but it’s a life or death matter. Speaking the truth you whole-heartedly believe (in a loving, non-judgmental way) might step on some toes, but standing by in polite silence could result far worse ramifications.
July 24th, 2009 at 8:52 am
I think you both hit on a very fundamental issue concerning Christian faith–its basis, its foundation is the Bible. There is a popular idea that involves taking a splattering of different religious ideas, spiritual truths, historical writing, cultural wisdom, etc. and forming a worldview–often labeled “Christian.”
The only problem with this is we forget: the Bible is the ONLY way that we know who God does and what he is like.
Sure human reason, general revelation, religious culture, etc fill in the gaps, but we must remember we haven’t a clue who God is without the Bible. With so much improvisation about the nature and character of God, we must not forget we KNOW nothing about God without the special revelation concerning himself in his WORD.