Following from my last blog Salt and Light of the World -Us??? I came across this statement, written in the 1970s:
If a man who is a Communist was to arrive at your community, you will know about him within a day.
If he is a Socialist, then you will know after several days, maybe after a couple of weeks.
If a Christian arrives, you may not be aware of his faith for several years.
It makes me wonder how true this statement is. I, for one, would not want to keep my faith a secret. But I must admit that at times I can feel embarrassed to say that I belong to Christ. In my job as a self employed domestic window cleaner in which I work alone, I sometime wonder just what my client thinks of me, my workmanship, my prices and most important of all, my moods and how I feel when communicating. If I feel a little grumpy, perhaps because it's cold and damp (typical British weather), or because a client is never at home to pay his fee, feeling anxious about tax, or simply morning blues, to say I have joy in Jesus Christ would not be well backed up by personal reality, would it? Neither if my client dithers in payment, makes excuses to delay or avoid paying, or the nadir of them all, to be told that it is not worth cleaning his windows - it looks like rain this afternoon. Like the time when one gentleman wearing an England tee-shirt deliberately looking over my shoulder to scan the sky behind me when he answered the door. At least I kept my cool the moment I wanted to say something nasty to him. Then adding loss of customer due to selling up and moving away - with the new occupants disliking door tradesmen as rip-off merchants or a waste of money, time and space. Or the death of a long-standing client who had been loyal and faithful for many years.
Maybe you too find the workplace to be the most challenging area of your life to be a witness for Christ. Maybe after conflict with a colleague at the office, being told off by your boss or criticized by a supervisor, you think that testifying of your holiness in Christ would not go down well in such an environment, or it would seem out of place. In a world of push and shove, you may still feel the need to evangelise, not so much for having a heavy heart over their eternal destiny, but because your church leader, pastor, elder or minister had once said that keeping quiet about Christ is almost on the par with denial. So the feeling is as if you are pushed into a corner.
Looks familiar?
That was my Christian experience for many years. In fact I did, and still have the desire to share Christ in me. But what is hindering me? I believe it's the fear of ridicule, mainly because my lifestyle may not mirror the testimony, therefore in a way, disgracing God. For example, if I was impatient with someone, I would feel embarrassment in telling him how he should become a Christian.
And there are other issues too, modern education is one of the greatest barriers blocking my attempt to share Christ. One of the chief connections with the testimony of Jesus Christ is the conflict between the Bible's revelation of a six-day, young-Earth Creationism with Darwinian Evolution. On this site I have dealt with this issue. I have demonstrated the impossibility for one living cell to have evolved. The cell is such a complex unit that even atheist mathematician Fred Hoyle had calculated that for just the basic enzymes in the cell to have evolved by chance would be one in one, followed by forty thousand zeroes! This means that the entire age of the Universe, up to the present day, would not be able to accommodate the time span needed for evolution of the cell to even have gotten a start. The evidence of the cell, the building block of all living organisms, is crying out for a Creator.
But it is much easier for the one unsaved to believe the testimony of one atheist professor than to examine the facts for himself. I am referring to Professor Richard Dawkins, the author of the book, The God Delusion. In it, Dawkins provides what looks to be the most undeniable proof that the Earth is very old and all life evolved as first declared by Charles Darwin. This undeniable proof is Plate Tectonics, the slow movement of the plates making up the Earth's crust and responsible for the drifting of the continents, often known as Continental Drift. Dawkins insist, for example, that South America is moving away from Africa at the same rate as the growth of a fingernail, which is 3-4 cm each year. If the rate of movement had remained constant, it was calculated that the Americas would have taken roughly 180,000,000 years for them to have moved from Europe and Africa since the split of the original supercontinent of Pangea. Furthermore, under the Atlantic Ocean, between the Eurasian and the American continents, regular magnetic strips running north/south along the Atlantic seabed indicates the polar magnetic field flipping at regular intervals, so that in one era, the Magnetic North is over Antarctica while at the next interval, the Magnetic North is over the Arctic icecap, as it is today. Information gathered by measuring these lines seems to add further evidence of a very old planet.
Therefore, Dawkins holds out the undeniable proof the our planet is much, much older than what the Bible allows for. This is very appealing to the unregenerate heart, which would go through great lengths to deny the truthfulness of the Bible to the point that the Scriptures are held to the point of fictitious ridicule. The end result is that any Christian who holds on to the belief of a young-Earth Creationism is looked upon as fantasist at best, a quack, or a lunatic at worst. Indeed, education can impede the sharing of Jesus Christ to others, unless the conviction of sin by the Holy Spirit takes place in the recipient's heart in readiness to receive Christ.
Yet true Christians must have some impact on both the intellectual world and the common population. Educated professionals such as who I call the Big Three - Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and the late Christopher Hitchens have all written books belittling or denying the existance of God and advocating as well as defending Darwinism. Alongside these three, TV presenters such as David Attenborough, Andrew Marr, Brian Cox (all of the BBC) and others have defended Darwinism to the nation. It seems odd to me, if Evolution, supported by Plate Tectonics is so factual, to see these authors convey the idea that such a theory appear to be under threat. And under threat does Darwinism seems to them, despite that here in the UK, the percentage who believes in Evolution is most likely more than 90%. of the whole population. Dawkins has indeed, became a household name, even spoken from the pulpit of churches right across the country.
Richard Dawkins
As for myself, who believe that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God, a revelation of Himself to us, and a believer of a young-Earth, literal six-day creation - I will admit that Plate Tectonics is a massive embarrassment to my faith. On the outside it does look as if Dawkins and his ilk were right after all. And there is nothing I can do to change their minds, and for that matter neither the minds of the unregenerate who accepts Darwinism as scientific fact.
But my own experience seems to testify that I am a light in the world, without conscious effort on my part. Let me share a couple of examples with you:
I was at a warehouse at a nearby town of Reading back in 1980, having taken up a temporary job there just prior to becoming self employed. One fellow staff worker approached me and asked if I was a Christian. Although I replied in the affirmative, the remarkable thing about this incident was that I never spoken a word about my faith to anyone - I did not like the job at all and I felt depressed much of the time I spent there. Yet, against all odds, the light shone - as it did in 1990 when I was sitting at a bar and engaged in a conversation with a gay fellow and his partner who also called at the venue. I kept my faith hidden, as I believed back then that it was incompatible with my liking of him. His tone of voice was so soft, gentle and uplifting - something many Christians can learn from! He then assured me that he was aware of my "religious faith" and that he too goes to church, and furthermore, gives voluntary assistance to the pastor. No prompting from me, it just happened.
As was more recently, one of my clients whose windows I was cleaning, came out of the house and called up,
Who was the brother of Moses?
Correctly believing that his wife was doing the crossword, I answered,
"Aaron - Double A, R-O-N!"
I was amazed. I cannot recall saying anything to this guy about my faith, yet he knew. Not many would know by heart the name of the brother of Moses for this guy to have asked. Again, the light of Christ shone without the effort of my part.
We who are believers are lights of the world. There is nothing we can do to make the light shine. It just happens.
And I still believe in the inerrancy of the Bible. Even if Plate Tectonics seems a threat to the truthfulness of the Scriptures. While cycling home from church this afternoon, I was pondering on this matter, when I remembered about the testimony of two or three witnesses needed to convict a wrongdoer in Court. Moses wrote that the two or three witnesses must fully agree with each other before a trial can take place. If there is disagreement, then the case is void.
Charles Darwin then came into mind. But not one accused, rather one whose theory was in need of verification. Two witnesses were needed to verify Darwin and his theory of Evolution. Two witnesses did arrive. One was the Cell. The other was Plate Tectonics. Plate Tectonics said Yes, Darwin is genuine. But the Cell denied this, saying that it was mathematically impossible to have evolved.
The case had to be thrown out. The two witnesses disagreed.
But the testimony of Jesus Christ Crucified and Resurrected will always stand the test. No witness is able to stand against Him. Darwin tried, and his followers are still trying. But Darwin lost the case and if so, so will his followers. The testimony of the Bible will stand for ever. So will the Light of Christ shine out of us forever, too.
If a man who is a Communist was to arrive at your community, you will know about him within a day.
If he is a Socialist, then you will know after several days, maybe after a couple of weeks.
If a Christian arrives, you may not be aware of his faith for several years.
It makes me wonder how true this statement is. I, for one, would not want to keep my faith a secret. But I must admit that at times I can feel embarrassed to say that I belong to Christ. In my job as a self employed domestic window cleaner in which I work alone, I sometime wonder just what my client thinks of me, my workmanship, my prices and most important of all, my moods and how I feel when communicating. If I feel a little grumpy, perhaps because it's cold and damp (typical British weather), or because a client is never at home to pay his fee, feeling anxious about tax, or simply morning blues, to say I have joy in Jesus Christ would not be well backed up by personal reality, would it? Neither if my client dithers in payment, makes excuses to delay or avoid paying, or the nadir of them all, to be told that it is not worth cleaning his windows - it looks like rain this afternoon. Like the time when one gentleman wearing an England tee-shirt deliberately looking over my shoulder to scan the sky behind me when he answered the door. At least I kept my cool the moment I wanted to say something nasty to him. Then adding loss of customer due to selling up and moving away - with the new occupants disliking door tradesmen as rip-off merchants or a waste of money, time and space. Or the death of a long-standing client who had been loyal and faithful for many years.
Maybe you too find the workplace to be the most challenging area of your life to be a witness for Christ. Maybe after conflict with a colleague at the office, being told off by your boss or criticized by a supervisor, you think that testifying of your holiness in Christ would not go down well in such an environment, or it would seem out of place. In a world of push and shove, you may still feel the need to evangelise, not so much for having a heavy heart over their eternal destiny, but because your church leader, pastor, elder or minister had once said that keeping quiet about Christ is almost on the par with denial. So the feeling is as if you are pushed into a corner.
Looks familiar?
That was my Christian experience for many years. In fact I did, and still have the desire to share Christ in me. But what is hindering me? I believe it's the fear of ridicule, mainly because my lifestyle may not mirror the testimony, therefore in a way, disgracing God. For example, if I was impatient with someone, I would feel embarrassment in telling him how he should become a Christian.
And there are other issues too, modern education is one of the greatest barriers blocking my attempt to share Christ. One of the chief connections with the testimony of Jesus Christ is the conflict between the Bible's revelation of a six-day, young-Earth Creationism with Darwinian Evolution. On this site I have dealt with this issue. I have demonstrated the impossibility for one living cell to have evolved. The cell is such a complex unit that even atheist mathematician Fred Hoyle had calculated that for just the basic enzymes in the cell to have evolved by chance would be one in one, followed by forty thousand zeroes! This means that the entire age of the Universe, up to the present day, would not be able to accommodate the time span needed for evolution of the cell to even have gotten a start. The evidence of the cell, the building block of all living organisms, is crying out for a Creator.
But it is much easier for the one unsaved to believe the testimony of one atheist professor than to examine the facts for himself. I am referring to Professor Richard Dawkins, the author of the book, The God Delusion. In it, Dawkins provides what looks to be the most undeniable proof that the Earth is very old and all life evolved as first declared by Charles Darwin. This undeniable proof is Plate Tectonics, the slow movement of the plates making up the Earth's crust and responsible for the drifting of the continents, often known as Continental Drift. Dawkins insist, for example, that South America is moving away from Africa at the same rate as the growth of a fingernail, which is 3-4 cm each year. If the rate of movement had remained constant, it was calculated that the Americas would have taken roughly 180,000,000 years for them to have moved from Europe and Africa since the split of the original supercontinent of Pangea. Furthermore, under the Atlantic Ocean, between the Eurasian and the American continents, regular magnetic strips running north/south along the Atlantic seabed indicates the polar magnetic field flipping at regular intervals, so that in one era, the Magnetic North is over Antarctica while at the next interval, the Magnetic North is over the Arctic icecap, as it is today. Information gathered by measuring these lines seems to add further evidence of a very old planet.
Therefore, Dawkins holds out the undeniable proof the our planet is much, much older than what the Bible allows for. This is very appealing to the unregenerate heart, which would go through great lengths to deny the truthfulness of the Bible to the point that the Scriptures are held to the point of fictitious ridicule. The end result is that any Christian who holds on to the belief of a young-Earth Creationism is looked upon as fantasist at best, a quack, or a lunatic at worst. Indeed, education can impede the sharing of Jesus Christ to others, unless the conviction of sin by the Holy Spirit takes place in the recipient's heart in readiness to receive Christ.
Yet true Christians must have some impact on both the intellectual world and the common population. Educated professionals such as who I call the Big Three - Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and the late Christopher Hitchens have all written books belittling or denying the existance of God and advocating as well as defending Darwinism. Alongside these three, TV presenters such as David Attenborough, Andrew Marr, Brian Cox (all of the BBC) and others have defended Darwinism to the nation. It seems odd to me, if Evolution, supported by Plate Tectonics is so factual, to see these authors convey the idea that such a theory appear to be under threat. And under threat does Darwinism seems to them, despite that here in the UK, the percentage who believes in Evolution is most likely more than 90%. of the whole population. Dawkins has indeed, became a household name, even spoken from the pulpit of churches right across the country.
As for myself, who believe that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God, a revelation of Himself to us, and a believer of a young-Earth, literal six-day creation - I will admit that Plate Tectonics is a massive embarrassment to my faith. On the outside it does look as if Dawkins and his ilk were right after all. And there is nothing I can do to change their minds, and for that matter neither the minds of the unregenerate who accepts Darwinism as scientific fact.
But my own experience seems to testify that I am a light in the world, without conscious effort on my part. Let me share a couple of examples with you:
I was at a warehouse at a nearby town of Reading back in 1980, having taken up a temporary job there just prior to becoming self employed. One fellow staff worker approached me and asked if I was a Christian. Although I replied in the affirmative, the remarkable thing about this incident was that I never spoken a word about my faith to anyone - I did not like the job at all and I felt depressed much of the time I spent there. Yet, against all odds, the light shone - as it did in 1990 when I was sitting at a bar and engaged in a conversation with a gay fellow and his partner who also called at the venue. I kept my faith hidden, as I believed back then that it was incompatible with my liking of him. His tone of voice was so soft, gentle and uplifting - something many Christians can learn from! He then assured me that he was aware of my "religious faith" and that he too goes to church, and furthermore, gives voluntary assistance to the pastor. No prompting from me, it just happened.
As was more recently, one of my clients whose windows I was cleaning, came out of the house and called up,
Who was the brother of Moses?
Correctly believing that his wife was doing the crossword, I answered,
"Aaron - Double A, R-O-N!"
I was amazed. I cannot recall saying anything to this guy about my faith, yet he knew. Not many would know by heart the name of the brother of Moses for this guy to have asked. Again, the light of Christ shone without the effort of my part.
We who are believers are lights of the world. There is nothing we can do to make the light shine. It just happens.
And I still believe in the inerrancy of the Bible. Even if Plate Tectonics seems a threat to the truthfulness of the Scriptures. While cycling home from church this afternoon, I was pondering on this matter, when I remembered about the testimony of two or three witnesses needed to convict a wrongdoer in Court. Moses wrote that the two or three witnesses must fully agree with each other before a trial can take place. If there is disagreement, then the case is void.
Charles Darwin then came into mind. But not one accused, rather one whose theory was in need of verification. Two witnesses were needed to verify Darwin and his theory of Evolution. Two witnesses did arrive. One was the Cell. The other was Plate Tectonics. Plate Tectonics said Yes, Darwin is genuine. But the Cell denied this, saying that it was mathematically impossible to have evolved.
The case had to be thrown out. The two witnesses disagreed.
But the testimony of Jesus Christ Crucified and Resurrected will always stand the test. No witness is able to stand against Him. Darwin tried, and his followers are still trying. But Darwin lost the case and if so, so will his followers. The testimony of the Bible will stand for ever. So will the Light of Christ shine out of us forever, too.
