—OBJECTION: You Christians think you know it all. You’re just a bunch of arrogant bigots.
—RESPONSE: My apologies if I gave that impression; we don’t know it all. Other than truths about life in a fallen world, we don’t generally know why, for instance, a miscarriage happened or why that loved one passed away so soon. Yet, what you mistakenly call arrogance and bigotry is likely a firm commitment to what is written. A Christian’s boldness is rooted in their confidence about what God has revealed in His word. As Moses declared to the Israelites before they reached the Promised Land, “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law” (Deut. 29:29).
Based on that, I’d like to challenge your application of what constitutes arrogance. Which is truly arrogant: (A) a person that believes and makes proclamations about God based on a historical collection of writings (the Bible) containing eyewitness accounts and fulfilled prophecy, or (B) a person that looks around at the world, using only their senses and physical evidences available today, who stands on nothing other than their own intellect and reason and says, “This is what God is like!”? (Of course, I’m pointing you towards the latter.).
What’s more, society doesn’t have much tolerance today for absolute claims, especially regarding faith-based beliefs. However, the Christian Bible states that Jesus said He is the only way to eternal life (Jn. 14:6). One could argue that this is an arrogant claim if (1) it were false (but it’s not) and (2) if He didn’t have authority to make it (but He did. See Jn. 10:25-30). So, when Christians express this truth in an effort to dissuade people from clinging to a false religion or ideology, they’re merely sharing what the Scriptures say, not what they conjured up in their head in an effort to become an elite and exclusive group.
I’m not saying Christians have never sinned nor presented truths with arrogance (when it happens, it’s regrettable), but the Christians I know would never claim to “know it all.” That which they do know—God, specifically through the Person of Jesus Christ—they are striving to know more deeply, more intimately. In addition to that, Christians, true Christians, desire to see others come to faith and repentance. They (I) desire that others run to Jesus Christ, who died for their sins in order that they might be forgiven and live forever with God.
That is my sincere desire for everyone with whom I come in contact. I pray that you would do the same. On that note, would you consider yourself a good person? Let’s test it out. The Good Person Test.
#MMApologist #SoliDeoGloria