Living Like Agnostics
Mary Jo, an outstanding Christian apologist, has a new post on her website, Confident Christianity, in which she concludes that many Christians do not live as if they truly believe what Christianity teaches, but rather live like one might expect an agnostic to live. Why does Christian behavior not match up with Christian belief? Mary Jo suggests:
One reason for this behavior that I have noticed over the years is not all Christians understand God to be a real being. I do not mean a real idea or a real teaching, but a real being like your parents, spouse, children, or friend. It would be extremely difficult to go to church with your family and then go home and act as though your family does not exist. However, some Christians go to church and then go home and act as if God does not exist. Embarrassingly, some Christians even act as if God does not exist while they are at church. This is such odd behavior for the body of Christ who claim to have the most powerful, intelligent, and loving being dwelling inside of them…
Yet, I see so many defeated Christian lives. In fact, this behavior reminds me of the agnostic view about God; that perhaps there is a being that created everything, but we cannot really know that being. The agnostic view would explain a behavioral pattern of going to church and then going home quite unchanged and indifferent. Christians, on the other hand, do not believe in a nebulous creator that cannot be known. In fact, the New Testament writers affirm the certainty with which believers can know the reality of God…
These authors viewed God as a real being, and Jesus Christ as his real Son. They are essentially saying, “I was there and I saw these things with my own eyes.” No wonder they were able to suffer and die for God, because they had a reasonable understanding that God was real! So I am wondering if we would see a notable difference in the behaviors or attitudes of the body of Christ if all believers could articulate why they believe that God exists (apart from the answer of “the Bible says so”)? At the very least, would Christians be able to better prioritize what is petty from what is important in life if we could grasp hold of the reality of the God who indwells us?
What one believes does impact what one does. If one’s actions are not consistent with what one believes, perhaps one doesn’t really believe it.