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What is our motivation?

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Nathanael G., Australia, asks,

Now I have no idea whether this is the case or not, but it is just a concern.
Do you think that perhaps, when trying to prove the existence of God, the God of the Bible, or His creation, that you totally lose sight of the real goal? That perhaps proving God’s existence or proving a young earth becomes more important than God Himself. That our relationship with Christ becomes less important than proof of His existence.

Lita Sanders, CMI-US, responds:

Dear Nathanael,

I suppose it is possible that for some people, the creation/evolution debate and its associated arguments and proofs could take precedence over a relationship with God. But that certainly isn’t the case personally with myself, or with any of my colleagues that I’m aware of. In fact, our motivation is to help believers. There is such an onslaught against Christians in today’s culture, and evolutionary propaganda is so pervasive, that many Christians start to doubt whether the Bible is really true. Our speakers often hear how their messages have answered questions that people have had for years. And we receive the same sort of testimonies about the resources we offer on the web.

The reality is that while it sounds spiritual to ‘just have faith’ and not worry about answering skeptical attacks, having a sound intellectual basis for one’s faith allows us to help struggling believers. There’s a spiritual battle going on around the issue of creation, and we have to be equipped to do our part. And we do this because we love God and have a relationship with Him, and we don’t want evolution to be a stumbling block to other people coming to Him.

I hope this is helpful.

Sincerely,

Lita Sanders


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R. E., Mexico, asks:

Hello, CMI. My atheist step-brother friend asked me 2 questions I can’t respond:
Why pray to God if we got all the things we have by ourselves? And why thank God for someone having cancer cured if the chemotherapy did all the job?

Lita Sanders, CMI-US, responds:

Dear Ray,

First, a Christian acknowledges that all things come from God. For instance, I may have bought food with money I earned at my job, but God gave me the ability to work, a place to be paid for my work, and He sent the rain that allowed the food to grow that I buy and eat. If God did not send rain and all the crops shriveled, it would not matter how much money I had. So to refuse to thank God for food overestimates our ability as humans, the stability of the environment and our income, and underestimates how much we depend on God.

In the same way, God provided the skill of the doctors and the availability of the cancer treatments, so it is certainly suitable to thank God when cancer goes into remission. And how do we know that the chemotherapy did everything?

So the answer has to do with believing that every good gift comes from above (James 1:17). Because God created the world and continues to sustain it, we receive many good things, even though the world is fallen. We don’t deserve anything good from God, but God gives even the most hardened atheist pleasurable things in this life.

Sincerely,

Lita Sanders

Published: 3 May 2014