The Christian scholar Larry Taunton launched a nationwide campaign to interview college students who belong to atheistic campus groups. After receiving a flood of enquiries, Larry and his team heard one consistent theme from these young unbelievers: they often expected but didn't find more spiritual depth from their Christian neighbors. Larry writes:

 

Some of these young atheists had gone to church hoping to find answers to tough questions about faith. Others hoped to find answers to questions of personal significance, purpose, and ethics. Serious-minded, they often concluded that church services were largely shallow, harmless, and ultimately irrelevant. As Ben, an engineering major at the University of Texas, so bluntly put it: "I really started to get bored with church."

 

In contrast, these young atheists expressed their respect for those ministers who took the Bible seriously. Larry writes,

 

Without fail, our former church-attending students expressed positive feelings for those Christians who unashamedly embraced biblical teaching. Michael, a political science major at Dartmouth, told us, "I really can't consider a Christian a good, moral person if he isn't trying to convert me .... Christianity is something that if you really believed it, it would change your life and you would want to change the lives of others. I haven't seen too much of that." 

 

If we look at this study (on its face,) we can come away with some very definite discoveries:

 

1.  Most inquiring atheists often didn't find spiritual depth with self-professed Christians.  The question of "why" comes to mind when I read findings like these.  The answers to that question vary.  Shouldn't we (at the very least,) know about what we claim to believe?  

2.  Most inquiring atheists have positive feelings towards those who claim Christianity...and then go about actually LIVING what they claim.  Our job as Christians is not always to merely have a quick-witted answer to any question that is thrown at us, but to actually LIVE what we claim.  

 

"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."  Mark 5:16

 

The above passage of scripture is just as valid today as it ever was.  LIVING our message is important!

 

Have a great day and God bless!

 

 

 

Pastor Mike / The Open Word