Semikkah7

07/17/2021 – Saturday Apologetic Series – “Divinity of Christ” – 3 of 3 / Motives for Unbelief

I think I’ll start out here mentioning a motive for unbelief that Kreeft and Tacelli do not note. That being that God has “blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts.” (see John 12: 37 – 43 and Isaiah 6:10) The list of dreaded “pre-destination” verses is lengthy, even mentioning the specific word. Revelation 13:8 makes reference to “names that are written in the book of life since the foundation of the world.”

I have been accused by fellow Christian brothers of being a “calvinist”. Some adjectives I have heard with the term include: “flippin” / “arrogant”. Have you heard the term: “the frozen chosen”. But don’t assume I am passing on “The Great Commission”. God forbid that I should grieve the Holy Spirit. At any rate, I think we should look at fellow souls as either current Christians or future Christians, knowing that there will be souls cast into hell. And only God judges a human heart, we use those two categories only for a gauge as to how we witness to our brothers and sisters.

On a serious but also humorous brother fellowship bonding moment: I recall being in a theological debate with my next door neighbor and a close friend. I told them I didn’t believe I could even take credit for my own faith, that it also was a gift from God. They gave me that incredulous look. So, I added: “Gentlemen, I recognize our difficulty in getting our heads around how free will works in tandem with God’s sovereignty. But forced to choose, I’ll choose God’s sovereignty every single time. And , saved or not, we all face a judgment before Almighty God. So I am taking a huge risk that I am giving God too much of the credit!” I got a healthy laugh out of both of them.

Here then is what Kraaft and Tacelli provide, eight motives:

“Why , then, are many not compelled?:

1. Not for rational reasons. No reason has ever been brought forth against Christianity that has not been refused (see Chapter two) The vast majority of those who disbelieve in Christ’s divinity disbelieve for other reasons, no because they have confronted the arguments.
2. Often, the thing hated and rejected is not Christ but Christians. Chesteron said, “The only good argument against Christianity is Christians.”
3. “Often it is fear of the Church, and its teachings and authority that scares people away. …” (Jimmy note – sorry guys – I am discounting this one is today’s world…)
4. The reluctance is usually moral. To admit that Jesus is divine is to admit his absolute authority over your life, including your private life, including your sex life. Can a drug addict think clearly and objectively about moral turth, when it comes to drugs? Why should a sex addict be different? We are all addicts to something – to selfishness, at least. That is the meaning of sin, the very disease Jesus came to cure. Of course the cancer is going to fear the surgeon. That is exactly what you would expect. This is not a reason to disbelieve the surgeon’s claim to be the specialist. Just the opposite. The old self in us is no fool. It sees that Christ comes to kill it. It knows Christianity is not a harmless theory but something alive and dangerous.
5. Some people are afraid of the mysterious and uncontrollable. If God did such a strange thing as becoming a man, then reality vastly escapes the neat and comfortable little boxes that some of us like to stuff it into.
6. There may also be simple pride, refusal to lose control of the reins of our lives.
7. It is also not at all intellectually fashionable to believe in Christ as anyting more than a human teacher.
8. Finally, Americans’ deepest religion is often equality. The notion that Christ alone is God and that all religions are not equal offends our real religion of equality, which makes no demands on us to discriminate and choose one and to justify that choice (see chapter fourteen).

None of these eight causes of unbelief is a reason, only a motive; that is, they are subjective, not objective; psychological, not logical.”

Soli Deo Gloria!