For Those Ready to Eat

Note: This is a long post. I wrote it because I promised a reader, and I plan to return to my shorter, spunkier, (apparently offensive) posts about marriage, parenting, and politics after this one. BUT, I just wanted to let you know, Aunt Bonnie, that you and your short attention span don't have to read this one. :)

Nothing is more frustrating for a comedian than the sour-faced man in the center of the room—arms folded—with an obvious “Make Me Laugh” attitude. No matter how good the entertainer, if someone is determined to remain unimpressed, there will be no convincing them otherwise.

Similarly, no parent/teacher can force a small child to eat his breakfast. Believe me—I’ve seen it attempted hundreds of times. A mother of a former student used to bring her son in every morning with the same, worried look on her face and the same story: “He only ate, like, two bites of his cereal at home! So I brought a PopTart and a banana with us. Could you please make sure he eats it?” Then, she would set her son up at the table and plead. “Please eat! Come on, eat a bite for Mommy! You’ll be hungry!”

No matter how many times I informed her that the boy wasted everything she ever brought from home, no matter how many times I suggested that he would eat if he were hungry, no matter how many times I suggested the attention he gets from her begging actually contributed to the problem rather than convincing him to eat, she still put on the same show every day. She was sure her baby would starve if she couldn’t find a way to CRAM the nutrients into his throat.

But, here’s my attitude about the one who refuses to laugh and the one who refuses to eat—it’s their loss. Why should someone spend hours trying to persuade them to do something for their own good? At some point, shouldn’t a comic or a mother (even a loving one) shrug their shoulders and say “Suit yourself”? Eventually, the grouchy man will realize he’s only wasting the price of his own ticket by not taking advantage of a chance to have fun. And the child will notice his stomach rumbling…. But, even if they DON’T see the light—even if they insist on remaining stubbornly opposed to your wishes—there will never be a point where you can MAKE them laugh or eat regardless.

This is what I’m learning about the defense of my beliefs. Many Christians, like a concerned mother, fall into a similar trap with Atheists—begging, pleading, and insisting that the Atheist do what is good for them rather than recognizing some never will. The Bible says the road to God is narrow and few will find it. It says that repeatedly handing Truth to those who don’t know what to do with it is like throwing pearls to pigs. AND, the apostles were told to walk away, knocking the dust off their feet, if they failed in their mission to deliver the good news to an obstinate and unrepentant city. (This advice is the biblical version of “Go on, brush your shoulders off.”)

I realize the life or death message of the gospel is FAR more important than enjoying a show or eating your breakfast, and it breaks my heart when people turn the whole thing into a fight about who's right rather than grasping the eternal consequences. But the concept remains the same. We can’t make somebody do what’s best for them. In fact, a Christian’s heart-level plea for a sinner’s salvation usually is misconstrued even worse than a mother’s concern, which is merely “annoying.” Many Atheists believe a Christian’s motive is actually hate-filled and self-righteous, totally missing the Christian’s underlying craving to help them find important answers.

This isn’t surprising, since Jesus said, “You will be hated because of my name.” In fact, it also compares those without the truth to somone “sleeping,” and this makes sense to me considering how cranky some people are when you try to wake them up. My husband is one like this, and it makes me worry about his safety if there were a house fire, Would he scream at me to leave him alone rather than hear my frantic insistence that HE’S GOING TO BURN? I don't know. But there is no rationalizing "it's for your good" with an unconscious person…

You can’t make anyone laugh. You can’t make anyone eat.

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NOW, on the other hand, what if the man in the middle of the room just didn’t get the joke? What if he bought his ticket, intending to have a good time and truly ready for a laugh—but he missed the punch line? Well, by all means, I will explain it to him! Questions aren’t a problem, if you are confident in your talent as an entertainer—or, say, if you know you’ve found the Truth in the Bible. I don’t mind offering valid reasons why I'm a Christian, just like I don't mind telling a toddler why breakfast is important.

And this is why today’s post contains a brief summary of the contents of the Bible, why its reliable as the Word of God, and several links to other websites which deal with biblical apologetics—all because an anonymous friend asked, “Why should I believe it?” It’s important to show that faith is not irrational. It isn’t inconsistent. You don’t have to leave your brain behind to discover truth, and—in fact—when you study honestly, you’ll discover that not eating DOES make you hungry, and Mom was right! (Oh, and you’ll find there IS a God who reveals Himself in the Bible.)

Just don’t gloat that nobody can make you eat. I freely admit as much.

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If you haven’t read my post about The Letter, you may want to start there. It’s a quick analogy I threw together regarding the position all humans find themselves in when confronted with reality.

All of us have been thrown into the “field” of this world, and we are left with the obvious questions of “Why are we here?” and “What do we do now?” We can see there are those sitting by themselves, marching to the beat of their own drum and not even TRYING to participate in finding answers to these queries. You might call them the “delinquents” of society, like criminals who break rules intentionally and pot-stirrers who generate discord. OR, those bench people from the story might simply be comparable to those who live day to day as if there isn’t a big, complicated situation to explain. They go to work, eat, laugh, and love, but they never ask the tough questions.

Then, we can see there is a man (symbolic of Christians) who claims to have the answers. He says the Field Master wrote the rules and sent instructions for how to follow them, which is found in “The Letter.” Apparently, we must jump, spin, and flap our arms at certain times…but the man also alludes to “another way,” meant for those actually willing to read what the Letter says for themselves.

The Letter—or the Bible—is actually a collection of narrative stories, poetry, history, and prophecy, which we divide into the “Old Testament” and “New Testament.” Most people recognize it is full of "wise sayings," and major religions (such as Judaism and Mormonism) even recognize it for being God's Word, too, though Mormons have an additional message from God called the Book of Mormon. But the idea that the Koran or the Baghavad Ghita are equally important comes from a basic misunderstanding because even the books themselves do not claim to be God’s Word. This makes the first part of the investigation easy: we don’t need to worry about which of the “letters" we should read to start with—there is only one which even claims to be composed directly by Him.

Here is a link which offers three suggested tests for determining whether some document really was authored by whomever it says it was. You might say they are tests to see whether “the Letter” really came from the Field Owner. But the link uses a slightly different story—comparing God to a King who, though estranged from his son, sends information regarding a way to cure him of a disease… How does the son know the remedy actually came from the King/Father, when the Son has never met his dad? How do we know the Letter came from the Field Owner, when the man in white never actually met him?

Next, I would encourage those examining the authenticity of the Bible to question whether its reliable, from a reporting stand point. This link talks about the way historians determine the events of history, and how the Bible lines up with other ancient records. (Spoiler alert: if you think Plato said some pretty wise things, then you have to believe that Jesus existed—and that he said wise things, too.) But, keep in mind, Jesus claimed to be God in the flesh. So, he can’t just be “another wise guy” or “another prophet.” Either He was God in the flesh, or he was a lying, manipulative, or otherwise crazy…

Next, check out some of the Letter’s scientific accuracies. Any time the Bible speaks definitively about a piece of scientific truth, it has been discovered totally correct.

Next, consider that the “rules” of the “field” (or the laws of the Bible) line up with what our consciences tell us. AND, when followed as a life guide, the Bible never leads anyone astray—suggesting the same One who Created life to begin with also authored this Book of How to Navigate Life. If the King sent a remedy and, upon taking the medicine, the boy gets better, that remedy was authentic… But if the son never reads the prescription and follows the instructions, he can sit around asking “Did this really come from my Father, the King?” forever.

Finally, I’ll speak about the Bible’s internal consistency, since a reader asked why we don’t kill our disobedient children (as it instructs in Leviticus). The Old Testament contains the Law of God, and what it takes to be perfectly holy in His eyes. In fact, the entire book of Leviticus was written to the Israelites—God’s people—for how they should serve Him and make amends for their sins in order to continue living under His love and protection. In other words, it’s the moral AND CIVIL law for a tribe which already had a relationship with God. They didn't even have a human king at the time. They listened to God's voice strictly, and He told them everything to do. But, because they were establishing their own government, not every rule in the book was meant to be observed by all men for all time. God is very clear about which laws are which. We are told in the New Testament that “you must be circumcised” was a civil law, which not everyone follows today. Yet, the Ten Commandments apply to all men everywhere, even today.

Another reason the New Testament is important: it tells us the Law (including the Ten Commandments) was designed to make the Israelites realize how imperfect they were. Nobody could possibly follow all of the rules. (As my story said, nobody could jump over every stick and wave their arms every time the wind blew in the field.) But, God never intended for the Law to be the final plan. He sent Jesus as a bridge between God’s Law and sinful man, so that even imperfect people could have a way to spend eternity with a Holy God. According to the Bible, there really are TWO ways to get to Heaven: be perfect (which we know we can’t do) OR accept that Jesus lived a perfect life—never breaking the law—and then offered to carry us into Heaven with Him.

Anyway, my final suggestion for anyone trying to find errors in the Bible is to start by reading books by CHRISTIANS, who usually ask better, harder questions than non-Christians because THEY’VE ACTUALLY READ THE BIBLE. In fact, an interesting number of Theologists are former Atheists, who set out to disprove the Bible at some point and ended up being convinced of its Divine origin. Check out Lee Strobel, C.S. Lewis, and Ray Comfort, all of whom are former doubters who probably could argue with themselves better than most unbelievers argue against them. But because their questions were pure, all of them woke from their sleep. Eventually, their searching brought them to the God of the Bible. (Also look for Mark Mettelberg's best-selling books “The Reason Why” and “Questions Christians Hope No One Will Ask,” in which he first builds the case against Christianity, before offering explanations.)

But, keep in mind, studying is for the child asking, “Is breakfast really good for me?” or the man saying, “I don’t get the joke!” You will find plenty of thoughtful, patient, well-read people who are ready to help you understand. Yet, if you’re hoping these links will make you eat or make you laugh, they won’t. Everyone still has the personal responsibility to figure out if the Bible’s claims to be God’s word are true, and nobody can force another to accept it.

It's just a very difficult, emotional subject because the consequences for refusing are much worse than a miserable night in the comedy club or a hungry belly.