In Response to our argument about Jesus ...

I think the problem and disconnect between Christians and the rest of the world is this:

For those of us who have been "saved" we often go through a period of time in our lives when we feel Jesus calling us to Himself. Over the course of say a couple of months that call becomes clearer and clearer until we know with certainty within ourselves that it is Jesus calling us. Finally we submit to him and we get saved. We are not made perfect just yet, but we are "saved" .. or converted from our old nature of ignorance and disbelief to believing that God the Father and Jesus both truely exist. And when you are converted like that, the reality of sin and why Jesus came down from heaven and died on the cross becomes immediately obvious.

Then we start going to church and start reading our Bibles. And although we are still in an imperfect state, we have the truth of the knowledge of God in us somewhere. And it begins to grow. And by the way, this imperfect state that we are in is still very similar the imperfect state that you are in: judging people, becoming angry, lustful, pushy, eating too much etc etc.

So two things are actually at war within us: one is the truth of God that has been given to us, and the other is our old nature which once we begin to see how that old nature compares to God, we begin to see that that old nature is really, really currupt and evil. So we know that the evil still operates within us but we are not humble yet enough to admit it to ourselves or you either.

And even though, that evil nature seems to take over most of the time, we still have the Spirit of God, namely Jesus within us doing His will. And His will is to use us (Christians .. e.g. His body now) to reach you. Because, although I didn't mention it above, often times there is some other human (perhaps an aunt, uncle, boss at work, whoever) pushing us to Christ. And before we got "saved" we though they were pretty pushy and annoying also. So the Spirit of God within us moves us to reach out to you. Some times our "evil nature" causes us to judge you. Not our intent, but unfortunately that is sometimes the outcome.

Have you ever seen a child being corrected by his mom or dad .. especially when that child was upset? As you watch the child calming down, you can almost see in their eyes how they are trying to compute in their brains and process what their parents are telling them. So while they have this rage and anger going on inside them, they want to please their parents by calming down. And you see the war within them. Same thing here with Christians. We've been touched by God our Father and want to please him but we haven't calmed down enough just yet. You see this as inconsistency in the things we say and do. We think we are doing you a favor and become offended (and more pushy) when you turn us down. Even though we turned down that aunt/uncle/boss at work/friend that led us to Christ many many times.

So in terms of getting some one to come over to the Faith two things are at work: one is a fellow human (me or your annoying aunt/uncle/boss at work/friend), who is willing to stick his neck out and tell you what he believes. And the other is God going to work by response of that person's faith. So it is God who leads you to Christ, not the human being. But this whole process that I mentioned at the beginning of this post starts off with someone being willing to tell you about Christ. Its a chicken and the egg sort of thing.

If you consider yourself a student consider this. The Bible teaches us that the carnal mind - e.g. that evil nature that i mentioned before - is at emnity with God. Basically, that is saying that people hate God ... and irrationally at that. Have you ever noticed that someone can say God all day long and nobody gets offended? Ever go out of your way to make someone of another religion feel comfortable about their religion? Or ever "give in" on some point when having an argument with a Hindu or member of another religion? Ever do that with a Christian? I'm betting if you are being honest while reading this, that you have been much more critical of Christians than any other group. The Word of God is true.

For me it was my girlfriend who led me to Christ. She would explain Christianity to me very simply and ecourage me to pray. And while she was doing this, I would reallly get hot with her. I would say things to her like, "how do you dare tell me that I'm going to hell when you and your friends always talk about going to church every Sunday, them come monday morning you all stab each other in the back on your climb up the corporate ladder!!?" I tell you honestly, that I was very very offended at first when she "started in on me". But do you know what? Her persistence paid off. She asked me point blank one night, "are you ready to give your life to Jesus Christ?". And I told her that I think I've already made my decision. God heard that, and for 3 days I couldn't stop crying because I felt like Jesus was pulling on my heart telling me how much he loved me.

Good grief, even now as I write this, the tears are swelling up in my eyes thinking about how much He loves me.

Hmmm. So you know what friend? I and others in the Body of Christ have been given a knowledge of the truth. That may sound arrogant, but its true. And our call is to tell you. You'll get offended. We'll feel rejected. But a seed will get planted in you.

Finally, I would challenge you or anybody to this: If you don't think that Jesus and Christianity is real, prove us wrong. Give yourselves say three honest months to seek Him. Pray to Jesus .. you have to pray ... specifically Jesus ... and ask Him to reveal Himself to you. Get yourselves a Bible (NIV or whatever translation.. don't get hung up on that) and read it as much as you can. Then after that, after you've made an sincere effort to seek Him, come and tell the world He doesn't exist. If you do that, and He doesn't answer you have the right to tell the world that this all a bunch of hogwash!

Its always the ones who start out with the most honest prayers like, "God, I'm not sure if you really exist but If you do ..." that become the greatest men of God!!!

OH please start praying to Him friend, the world needs what Jesus will turn you into!!!