No More Apologies

It is with a very red face that I sit down to my trusty keyboard to post once more. Ah, I had such good intentions - a weekly prayer request and a monthly blog, and, yet, here it is three month later without so much as a peep from me. Truly the saddest tale is the one that might have been.

At any rate I'm back... let the banners fly and the bells ring out... or not....

This summer has been eventful, wonderfully so. I had the rare privilege of seeing three people give their heart to Jesus at Bible camp. It was beautiful to behold! A puddle of snot and tears on the altar, but, hey, the peace and joy on their faces was worth it all.

And it was seeing the look on the faces of those new baby Christians, and hearing their testimonies that has swept aside any lingering doubts I've had about my faith. My doubts recently haven't really amounted to anything, but the last stray cobweb of doubt has been whisked away to wherever it is that old doubts go.

Jesus saves. He satisfies. He forgives sin, and He gives peace. And all the atheists, agnostics and skeptics of every sort can't change my mind.

This last experience, and two other things have convinced me that atheism & agnosticism are mistaken perspectives. Upon studying the atheistic and agnostic writers, one thing became glaringly obvious. So many atheists and their ilk have an attitude problem. As gently as I know how, let me say, that their attitude stinks. If Christianity is up for questioning because of the attitude of some of its proponents, then what's sauce for the gander is sauce for the goose. Atheism is rife with prideful, arrogant philosophical snobbery, and it has turned my stomach. Thanks, but no thanks. I'll take Jesus - the meek and the lowly any day.

As an illustration, I was reading an atheistic posting on the Internet one day, and they had the nerve to ask that nobody debate with them unless the would-be debater had at least college education. Sheesh, Louise. As if the world of academia has the corner on intelligence and brilliant discoveries!

The final nail in the atheist coffin, was the lives of the atheist/agnostic philosophers themselves. When I read of the shenanigans of Sartre, Russel, and Nietzsche, and I couldn't help but echo with the Good Book, "Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my end be as their end!" As John Wesley said so poignantly about the early Methodists, "They may not like our theology, much less our enthusiasm, but they cannot deny, we die well!" Charles Templeton said that when Billy Graham chose to preach the gospel without reservation and to accept the word of God by faith alone, Billy Graham committed intellectual suicide. But when I compare Billy Graham's life with Chuck's, I say if that be intellectual suicide, then I will gladly commit it!

So, away with doubts and a fig for the old croakers: God is still God. Faith brings meaning to life, hope to the hopeless, strength to the weak, comfort to those who mourn, and help to the helpless. And most of all, Jesus still saves.

"Give the winds a mighty voice:
'Jesus saves, Jesus saves;'
Let the nations now rejoice:
'Jesus saves, Jesus saves!"
Shout salvation full and free,
Highest hills and deepest caves;
This our song of victory:
'Jesus saves, Jesus saves!'"


Happy with Jesus,
Pastor Chelle