Dinner with a Side of Doubts

Chapter Three

DIGESTING THE MEAT & POTATOES

The meal was a hit. Aside from the kitchen duties, I knew I still had my work cut out for me—God’s work.

Conversation never ran dry and we covered a nice variety of topics, including politics. The government was one entity we all agreed would not be ideal in which to place our faith. One thing we all had in common was sarcasm, and politics brought out plenty of it. If this group could manage discussing world affairs and leaders, then surely more talk of God was not going to be problematic over dessert.

The earlier dialogue had Krystal’s mind reeling, and she wasn’t ready to drop it. “So, Stu, you put your trust in God. You truly believe all the stories in the Bible?”

“Absolutely,” I answered. In the beginning—the first three words of the Bible. No problem. It’s the fourth word—God—that brings many to a dead stop. With over 700,000 words in any given version of the Bible, I had a long way to go with Krystal.

George took over. “We’re a mixed bag of Christians, atheists—or maybe agnostics, and who knows what else. Will we make it through dessert if we stay on this topic?”

Betty and I were thrilled that our dinner guests had quickly warmed up to one another and shared a sense of humor. They were openly inquisitive regarding the significant topics dominating the focus of the night’s conversation. Talk of God was revving up again, and that was fine by me.

“Like you, I imagine, George, even though I became a Christian many years ago and continually study the Bible, I respect other positions. The only frustration I have is when someone wants to get into a spiritual discussion and they tell me how inaccurate the Bible is or that it’s just a collection of fables and myths written by storytellers. That leads me to ask whether they’ve read it. The answer is generally ‘no’—as even my old friend Jason admitted earlier.”

I sensed that at least a couple of our guests became somewhat uncomfortable at what I had just expressed. Oh well.

Seriously, though, how can anyone have a healthy debate on a topic to which they have devoted zero study time? I had well surmised that George, Betty, and I were the only ones in the room who had read the Bible—at least to any great extent or on any sort of regular basis.

• • •

I’ve discovered there are those who trust in the Bible, regardless of how much or little of it they’ve actually read. That speaks to pure faith. There are also those who deny the Bible as the truth, despite having never opened it. That speaks to fear of accountability.

I like to compare it to a scale. As long as we don’t step on the scale, we don’t have to face the reality of the dreadful number and can keep on overindulging. People are generally afraid to see what the Bible says, because they might have to admit the truth found in it. Admitting the truth would press them to change some of their ways. The Bible explains the consequences of sinful actions, and it’s in our sinful and selfish human nature to avoid accountability.

People ascertain no need to devote time and effort to studying God’s Word. It’s easier to base beliefs on whatever floats one’s boat on smooth waters and exercise independence (which is God-given, by the way). It’s even easier yet to just listen to an idol on television and go with whatever floats that celebrity’s yacht. Fall in line, go with the flow, and follow the crowd or trend. Can we say Easy with a capital E?

It’s a natural tendency to surround ourselves with people who share our philosophies. It’s our human nature to want to be right and accepted. In a crowd holding similar philosophies, we don’t have to contend with being told we’re off our comfortable rockers. Among familiar and consoling company, we don’t have to defend ourselves.

Rather than seek out the truth, people formulate beliefs based on their perception of ideas presented by others—media idols, friends, and family. They do so haphazardly, without looking at all the possible alternativesparticularly the Bible. It’s far too often left in the dust—way up high, on someone else’s shelf. Decisions are based merely on what is convenient and perceived to be the truth of the moment.

We hate to be proven wrong, but when it does happen—and it happens to everyone now and again, it’s likely we’ll make excuses for ourselves. It’s understandable, then, that when we do decide to reference the Bible, we often quickly negate anything in it that goes against what we believe or desire.

The truth makes people uneasy. Consequently, it is frequently denied. This preferred behavior kicks in when we’re children and we discover the ease of lying or covering up the truth. This is all in order to get what we want when we want it. We don’t see the benefit of the truth, since we are more focused on our selfish desires.

Ravi Zacharias, a renowned Christian theologian of today puts it this way: “A man rejects God neither because of intellectual demands nor because of the scarcity of evidence. A man rejects God because of a moral resistance that refuses to admit his need for God.”

• • •

Something compelled Rob to speak up next. “I formulated my belief at an early age.” He beamed with pride. “And while I haven’t read it from cover-to-cover, I have glimpsed at passages of the Bible. I highly doubt many people have truly read it in its entirety! Anyhow, I’m familiar with some parts. I know enough to know it’s hard to believe.”

He went on hemming and hawing. “When I look around and see people who work hard at doing good in the world come down with some devastating illness or, say, lose their job, I feel that if there is a God—and I say if in order to lend a small possibility, he is certainly unjust. I know you clarified earlier that we live in a fallen world, but I don’t think I want to believe in someone who is unjust and allows bad to happen. Really, why would anyone give credence to the existence of such a God or why—if he does exist—would we want to place any confidence in him?”

Curiosity was shrouded in his condescending words. I seized the opportunity to express my belief that the argument Rob brought up could go both ways. Some doubt the existence of God, sharing his argument that if God existed he would not allow bad things to happen. My argument is that without God, nothing would exist. Period. Good and evil only exist because God has allowed them to exist. God gave us the Bible to help us determine that which is good and that which is evil.

In his book Better, Tim Chaddick clarifies, “It is not human beings who give meaning to this life; it is God and God alone.”

Rob acted as if he wasn’t buying any of it, but I had much more to offer. “Rob, it goes back to what I was saying earlier when we were talking about Sara. What we are experiencing is the consequences of sin in the world. Sin is missing the mark. Sin is what God abhors and does not tolerate. Sin occurs when we live by our standards and not by God’s.”

Rob gave me more of the same. “Stu, you also mentioned believing in the person of Jesus—God’s Son. So, if believing in Jesus can wash our sins away—and that’s basically how I’ve heard it put, then that leads me to another question: Why are Christians subject to the same trials and tribulations as everyone else?”