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One of my favorite bloggers/[tag]pastor[/tag]s, [tag]Mark Batterson[/tag], just wrapped up a message series entitled “[tag]The Elephant In The Church[/tag].” I love his approach to honesty. I watched the intro video to the sermon. A phrase splashed onto the screen:

Everybody’s thinking it…but nobody is saying it.

As I often remind my friends/family, I have been blessed/cursed with the inability to ignore the “Elephant.” I acknowledge the “nobody is saying it” part. I study the “nobody is saying it.” I say the “nobody is saying it.” I just have to!

Many [tag]Atheists[/tag]/former [tag]Christians [/tag]have written about “The [tag]Friendly Christian[/tag] who is about to walk away from Christianity.” They are reminded about the time that they “started asking the hard questions only to uncover the falsehood of [tag]Christianity[/tag].” Let’s get something straight, my faith is stronger than it’s ever been.

I want to challenge you to join me in not taking an idiot’s approach to Christianity.

Let me explain:

Let’s say you are in the market for a new vehicle. Do you head over to your local dealership, close your eyes, spin around, point, and sign the papers on whatever vehicle you randomly pointed at? No! You do your homework. You learn about warranties. You look at things such as gas mileage, reliability, how well the car holds it’s value, etc. You make an informed decision.

I feel that our approach to Christianity should be the same. Study! Challenge yourself! Allow yourself to ask the tough questions. Allow [tag]God [/tag]to do big God things.

If you’ve ever honestly approached the Bible or God, you’ve come across things that bothered you. Why did God kill “innocent” people in the [tag]Old Testament[/tag]? Why didn’t God answer my [tag]prayer[/tag]? Why does the church spend money on itself rather than giving it to the community? Why do bad things happen to good people? Why does God seem so hypocritical? The questions/concerns could go on forever.

Ask the tough questions! The elephant is in the room. Acknowledge it. You’re already acknowledging it in your head. Why continue to lie with your lips? Christians: God knows your thoughts, right? Who are we trying to fool??

Listen, I’m all about faith, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that there’s gonna be a rational explanation for everything presented in the Bible. I love the fact that God can/will do some things have absolutely no human explanation.

I also understand that this is the way that I think, not necessarily the way that all Christians think. I’ve had this discussion with large groups of Christians before, only to realize that most believers don’t feel as strongly about this as I do. More specifically, many believers don’t ever even think this way…which is literally beyond MY rational way of thinking.

So whaddya think? Blessed or cursed?

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