JENNIFER B. ASKS THE $64,000 QUESTION

"But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God:  for they are foolishness unto him:  neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."  (I Corinthians 2:14)

This morning I noticed an interesting question which had been posted on Facebook by one of my Facebook friends.  I'm not sure if she'd want me using her whole name or not, so I'll call just use her last name's initial and call her "Jennifer B."  I have something like two hundred and fifty Facebook friends.  There are probably not many more than twenty that I'd consider fairly close friends, although I have met Jennifer B. one time a few years ago.  It was at a venue where I was the guest speaker.  Here's her question, exactly as she worded it:

"Why do people find God so offensive!?  I don't believe in lots of things or behaviors so I go on with my life.  Why can't OTHER PEOPLE do the same when it comes to God?"

My sister has asked me a similar question at times, although my sister's "question" is more of a statement.  She often says, "I can't understand why so many people want nothing to do with God.  I just don't get it!"

I know my Adult Sunday School class is far away for many of you.  (It is at Bread of Life Church in Westminster, MA)  Ironically, during last Sunday's class we discussed something along the line of why people just ignore God, don't take Him seriously, and don't want anything to do with Him.  (The class right now is on Ezekiel, which is kind of a tough book, and the lesson was on God's judgment falling.  Yeah, a tough topic, but we actually got into a really interesting discussion!)  Jennifer B. got thirty-one "likes" for her post, and if my count was correct, she got sixteen comments.  I was one of the people who commented.  I wrote that many people want to be totally free and independent.  The idea of a Supreme Being to whom they're supposed to be accountable makes them very uncomfortable and they recoil at such a thought.  Many also see "religious" people as "repressive" and "trying to ruin their lives" etc.  I closed my comment by saying they fail to understand John 3:16!

If you want to understand what I mean about John 3:16 I recommend you go to the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association's website (you can find it pretty easily with any online search) and watch any one of Billy Graham's sermons.  They all pretty much have the same theme:  That God is actually not some horrible cosmic jerk.  Rather God is love.  He loved us so much that He sent His Son to pay the penalty for our sins and purchase our eternal salvation.  I know.  Most modern sophisticated Americans and Europeans don't want to hear that message.  They tend to recoil at the idea of a bloody dead Savior dying on a cross as, (to use a word that the late Senator Robert Byrd made famous in a Senate speech) "barbaric!".  In fact, as one song puts it, "There is No Greater Love".

I know that born-again Christians sometimes do "turn people off".  Sometimes Christians can be loud, obnoxious, negative, and condemning.  They mean well, but I know it can be hard to take.  Honestly, I've been a born-again Christian for over forty-seven years, and I probably spent almost twenty of those years as a hand wagging, condemning legalistic Christian.  I'm so sorry for that!  I meant well, but I forgot about God's love and focused on sinners being punished, etc.  Ironically, a fellow Assemblies of God minister had a little talk with me one evening about my legalistic ways somewhere around 1991, and that little talk caused me to "do a one-eighty" in how I approached "unbelievers"! 

It's not at all my purpose to make this a long boring lecture, so I'm about to wrap it up.  But Jennifer B.'s question really resonated with me today.  Those who have received Jesus Christ as their Personal Savior and Lord and who have had their lives transformed by Him are so eternally grateful!  Sometimes, we just have a very hard time understanding those who frankly don't seem to care about God's love or their eternal destiny.  So, I decided to write about that today.