Featured How to make Christianity relevant today?

[Scooter]

It’s very easy to explain why adultery is wrong by using the Bible. You simply open the scriptures and read it to them and explain that sin is offensive to God. That is all a believer is required to do. It is the Holy Spirit that brings conviction to a person involved in sin. If a person won’t respond to the Spirit of God, they won’t respond to me either.

 

[AgnosticBoy]

It’s very easy to explain why adultery is wrong by using the Bible. You simply open the scriptures and read it to them and explain that sin is offensive to God. That is all a believer is required to do. It is the Holy Spirit that brings conviction to a person involved in sin. If a person won’t respond to the Spirit of God, they won’t respond to me either.

I get your point however I'm also wondering if a convincing view/argument can get someone to the door to where they give serious consideration to your point. For instance, I'm an agnostic and I admit that the Christian side has some good arguments/points like the moral argument or even the cosmological argument. While these may not be enough to make someone "saved", but I think they can serve as something to get the attention of non-believers.

 

[Scooter]

If the resurrection of Jesus won’t bring people to Him, nothing will. I cannot offer anything more compelling than Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection. I cannot offer stronger evidence than eyewitness testimony. I cannot present anything more real than the lives Christ has changed through the new birth. Faith is a choice and no amount of evidence will convince someone who chooses not to believe.

 

[AgnosticBoy]

@Scooter

I'm seeing that you and I would have a different approach then. What I would do is not simply tell a non-believer that adultery is wrong because the Bible says so or bringing up Jesus's death and resurrection after that, but I'd also ask the person why don't they take such information seriously. If they tell me it's because the Bible is unreliable or that there's no good arguments for God's existence, then at that point you would have to do more than just share the Gospel. You would have to get into a discussion about the reliability of the Bible, etc.

I don't even intend to change your mind. Just showing the differences in our approach.

 

[Scooter]

I appreciate your take AB! Let me clarify: To start with, if I was talking to a nonbeliever about adultery, I probably wouldn’t even bring the Bible into the conversation. I don’t believe I need to quote scripture to emphasize the harm adultery causes. There is a difference in talking to someone about an issue they are in and leading someone to faith in Christ. Now, the conversation can go from adultery into faith in Christ. However, the last thing a person wants is for someone to beat them over the head with the Bible when they are going through a hard time in their life. If they bring the Bible into the discussion and why I believe adultery is wrong, that's when I would read the verses to them and let the Holy Spirit convict them. Perhaps I misunderstood your question.

 

[Pancho144]

A buddy of mine is looking into starting a Christian podcast that deals with social issues and life, in general. He wants to tailor it to a young population (late teens up to early 30's). Of course, a challenge of that is being relevant since it seems that more of younger generation seem to have little interest in Christianity.

I figured one way to get Christianity to be relevant is by bringing up the problems of society. And of course, there are lots of societal problems, from mental problems, to marital problems, corruption all over the place, all the cheating going on, school shootings, etc. He can make a show explaining how all of this fits within the Christian worldview and offer a resolution for those problems. That's just one idea.

For Debate
Is Christianity relevant to today's society? If so, why are people losing interest in Christianity?

Belief systems are enjoyed by a wide majority of souls on the planet for a multitude of reasons but is gradually losing its audience for a variety of concerns. Christianity's allure is waning in the US do to an ever-attenuated malaise of instant gratification and enlightenment. Some of the ills that be failed the many great empires that graced antiquity with their magnificence.
On a personal note, I was raised in a Roman Catholic and Southern Baptist atmosphere while attending Presbyterian wordship services of which I never have completely understood.
As a young adult Lutheranism became my choice and of which I became Baptized as well as my children. My activity increased in St Mark's church including a Choir Soprano and teaching a young adult Bible class.
During my quest for religious material to enlighten my tutelage I began browsing the Pastor's library where I, to my dismay, discovered that very little agreement in Scripture could be found. Which spurred more research of ancient writ.
Subsequently, my conclusion morphed into a state of disbelief so lo and behold, agnosticism.

 

[Pancho144]

While there is ample evidence for Biblical authority, Christianity is faith based and not evidence based. Believers walk by faith and not by sight. No where are believers instructed to prove Christianity through evidence. We are simply to present the gospel and let people decide for themselves. If they demand specific evidence to satisfy their curiosity they will never believe. However once a person does believe they will see all the evidence as plain as day.

Just because someone is a good debater or orator does not mean they are correct. So regardless of who “won” the debate of evolution vs. creation, evolution takes more faith to believe than creation. There is simply no evidence to support evolution.

WHAT? No evidence? Fossils, fossils, Fossils...

 

[Pancho144]

I think the biggest hit that Christianity has taken is from science and on social issues, especially issues involving LGBT. In many cases, science has shown that the Christian beliefs are wrong on the origin of the Universe and on various issues relating to LGBT.

I couldn’t disagree more. Neither science nor any other discipline has shown the Bible wrong on any issue. In fact, creation is the strongest evidence for God. Life cannot come from non-life. For every effect there is a cause. And God is the cause for creation. If the Big Bang is true, something had to cause the bang. Even a stick of dynamite will not explode on its own. Something has to set it off.

As far as the LGBT movement is concerned, homosexuality is a choice people make. Science has never produced a gay gene that would prove people are born gay. Science fails to support homosexuality as anything other than a choice.

So the issue then is young people are being taught these falsehoods instead of the truth. They are being indoctrinated instead of educated. Why trust the Bible when the professor gives “evidence” that the Bible is wrong? The truth is the professor is being deceitful and leading many young people astray. Evidence does not teach nor suggest anything. It is man’s interpretation of the evidence that suggests certain positions.

You are anthropomorphizing my friend. The Universe's have always been extant and will be for eternity. You see birth and death and use that as a concept to a paradigm of such magnitude and quintessential complexity.
The observable Universe we are familiar with is estimated to be is almost 14 billion years old. Which means that it is older because it has taken that long for the photons to be visible. Also, the number of universe's are in fact, well, innumerable.

 

[Scooter]

The observable Universe we are familiar with is estimated to be is almost 14 billion years old.

So where did the universe come from 14 billion years ago? What started the formation of the galaxies? What started the planets spinning? If your answer is the Big Bang, I have to ask, what caused the Big Bang? Every effect has a cause, so what caused the universe as we know it?

 

[Scooter]

WHAT? No evidence? Fossils, fossils, Fossils...

Sure there are fossils, but there is no evidence of evolution. Fossils just mean there were creatures. Many creatures have become extinct, but there is no evidence that frogs became giraffes or fish became wombats. Evolution is a fairy tale.