{"id":3696,"date":"2011-04-03T09:10:29","date_gmt":"2011-04-03T13:10:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/?p=3696"},"modified":"2011-04-07T18:45:55","modified_gmt":"2011-04-07T22:45:55","slug":"difficulty-trusting-christians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/difficulty-trusting-christians\/","title":{"rendered":"Difficulty Trusting Christians"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chris at Cognitive Discopants<\/a> (I love that name!), wrote a revealing post on his blog yesterday about why he has difficulty trusting Christians. I am at a different place than he is on some of the issues he raises, but I think he is right on target with his concerns.<\/p>\n

Here is some of what he wrote:<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a few years since I began to see my truth filter for what it was. I\u2019ve come out the other side like a Boy Scout after a geomagnetic reversal \u2013 my compass now points the opposite direction. In the same way that I once distrusted non-Christians, I now distrust Christians. That\u2019s not to say that I think the average Christian is likely to lie to me. On the contrary, I find that most Christians do prize honesty and usually try to be truthful, at least on a personal level.<\/p>\n

The problem is our willingness to lie to ourselves.<\/p>\n

It isn\u2019t the secular world that force-fits everything into its anti-God worldview. It\u2019s evangelicals who have taken fields of study, such as biology, archaeology, and biblical studies, and mutilated the square pegs to make them fit into their round holes. They rigidly adhere to a belief structure (typically stemming from a prior commitment to biblical literalism and innerancy) that can countenance no doubt or uncertainty. Thus, when evidence comes along that calls their paradigm into question, they have no choice but to deny, ignore or distort the data to make it fit.<\/p>\n

Those who are the best at denying, ignoring and distorting the evidence are heralded as apologists for the faith. And evangelicals love apologists because they do all the hard thinking for them, while invariably arriving at faith-affirming conclusions. Their books fly off the Christian bookstore shelves dispensing whatever ad hoc explanation or special pleading might be required to salvage the evangelical belief system from the perils of uncomfortable fact.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I know exactly what Chris is talking about, and respect him for being willing to take the plunge and see how deep the rabbit-hole goes. My only advice for him (and others in a similar situation) is — be careful. You’re liable to get branded a heretic, and if you have a ministry job, you will get fired.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chris at Cognitive Discopants (I love that name!), wrote a revealing post on his blog yesterday about why he has difficulty trusting Christians. I am at a different place than he is on some of the issues he raises, but I think he is right on target with his concerns. 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