Agnostic? Or Willfully Ignorant?

In between talks with Cardinals fans last night, I ran into a guy who said that he was an agnostic and didn't want to talk about Christianity (after I had gotten him through the Good Person Test). I kept talking, and he kept responding.

One thing that amazed me is that he kept assuming that we know now more that people did "back then" about the universe, when, in fact, that is not the truth. The Bible contains many things that scientists did not know about the universe in startlingly accurate detail--but only startling to those who believe that the Word of God does not come from Him. (See the page Science and the Bible from the Living Waters website).

In the end, and as I suspected, it really didn't matter to him if I could prove the scientific accuracy of the Bible, or the historical or archaeological authenticity, he wasn't going to accept that "God commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness." He simply rejected it all.

Sadly, he had, as a child, been raised in a church where he had prayed a prayer after being frightened by a film on the end times. Instead of meditating on his sins and the dreadful state they put him in, he was simply scared by possible future events into making a "decision." He never did turn away from sin toward God and put his trust in Jesus sacrifice to provide eternal life on Judgment Day. Jesus said, "Except you repent, you will all likewise perish." This man was never told that (until now), and now has such a bad taste in his mouth for Christianity, I doubt he ever will.

Ultimately, though, Jesus said that the real reason that people reject Him, is so that they can continue in sin: "And this is the condemnation: that Light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone who practices evil, hates the light, and refuses to come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed." (John 3:19-20). What a sad thing to hold the short-lived pleasures of sin in lieu of the eternal life that God offers in Heaven. What an awful tragedy to hold on to sin that drowns a man in perdition. May we stop filling the church with false converts via man-made methods. May we preach the Gospel as revealed in Scripture that men may turn away from their sins to serve the Living God before they have to face Him on Judgment Day.