Wandering Crusader #285 Inconvenient Truth

And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled, and answered, Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee. Acts 24:25

Paul was in prison (again) for being a troublemaker. The charge, as it should be for every Christian, was true. His preaching upset the established order from the synagogue to the councils of the church to the throne room. Paul’s defense struck a chord with Felix, and that is always the source of the trouble.

Christianity often doesn’t get a hearing. You may recall the seed that fell by the wayside in Jesus’ parable. There is a strong prejudice nurtured by Christianity’s opponents that our faith is blind obedience to an organization and blind faith in its preaching. However, any blindness that exists belongs to those who reject reason in favor of a convenient clinging to preconceived notions that lack a foundation beyond hearsay.

Paul reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and the judgment to come. Faith, whether it be in science, experience, metaphysics, or authority, is reasonable. It involves collecting evidence, weighing evidence, and then making a rational choice based on the evidence. Where many go wrong is that these steps should be undertaken with an eye to disproving our ideas rather than proving them.

It was only after my objections to Christianity floundered under a critical examination that I accepted Christianity. An editor once told me that a scene I had written was unbelievable because the character had no motivation for his action except to make the story turn out the way I wanted. That may seem to be the whole idea behind fiction. But good fiction must be crafted so that the reader does not notice where it departs from a reasonable reality.

Righteousness, temperance, and concern for the judgment to come are the heart and soul of Christian faith. They embrace the core of Jesus’ summary of the law and the prophets. Thinking on those subjects will drive the reasoning and choices of anyone seeking a good life, whether they are a Christian or not.

Reasoning that produces righteousness, temperance will prepare us for the judgment to come if it is built on the truth that confronts our natural tendency to choose ourselves. I’ve heard folks reason that marijuana is natural, made by God, so its use must be morally right. I’m not here to debate that, only to show the fallacy of the reasoning involved by pointing out that arsenic is also natural, yet regular partaking of it will not produce a good life.

Reasoning about righteousness made Felix uncomfortable. The gospel truth will set you free, but first it will offend you. The Bible admits to that and tells us it is because, As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. If we were not given to sin, it would not be reasonable to speak of what we “ought” to do. What we actually do would be the whole story.

Maranatha