2 posts from 2009

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Christian agnosticism?

This morning I was wrestling through the (admittedly strange) question - "What is the real difference between agnosticism and the Christian faith?"


The typical first 'obvious' response to this question would be that the agnostic declares he does not or can not know or believe that God exists because of a lack of sufficient evidence, whereas the Christian declares that he does believe in God's existence.

My response to an agnostic would be that his world view is also a form of faith - namely a faith in his mind to be able to decide that there is not enough evidence. Put differently: the agnostic trusts and puts his faith in his own mind telling him the evidence is not enough to trust in a God.

But here is where I started to wrestle through something: how different is that from someone who decides there IS enough evidence to trust in a God. Aren't both in the end trusting in their own minds to weigh the evidence to decide who or what to trust in? If not, why not?

I didn't really come to a conclusion until a bit later when I was reading in 2 Corinthians and I came across the following passage:

For our reason for confidence is this: the testimony of our conscience, that with pure motives and sincerity which are from God – not by human wisdom  but by the grace of God – we conducted ourselves in the world, and all the more toward you.

- 2 Corinthians 1:12


Here's what hit me: Our minds can not be trusted unless we have pure motives and sincerity. According to the Christian world view, nobody has pure motives and sincerity, but rather these are given by God's grace, as Paul emphasizes here. This exposes a fundamental difference between the heart attitudes of an agnostic and a Christian.

A Christian is not an agnostic who has received enough evidence to finally make the step of faith. Rather, what we are called to do is to have a heart that honestly says something along the lines of "God (if you exist), grant me pure motives in seeking you, because I need them." An agnostic praying this prayer with a soft heart to an "Unknown God" (see Acts 17), is truly "not far from the Kingdom of God" if you ask me.

The major problem is that this attitude is not an easy one to have, because it hits at the heart of Adamic pride, i.e. the desire to be our own God, to declare ourselves innocent and our motives pure.

3 comments Tags: faith, agnosticism, 2 corinthians 1, acts 17

The Second Coin

And he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums. And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. And he called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”

  • Mark 12:41-44

I've heard this story pretty often, but I have to admit I've always overlooked the significance of the detail that the widow gave two coins. Jesus lets us know that the widow gave all she had to live on. Giving one coin - half of all she had to live on - would have already been an amazing sacrifice. But after giving the one coin, she then went on and gave the second coin as well. Amazing!

The longer I'm a Christian the more I realize that all I have to offer God is really pathetic compared to what He deserves, compared to what He's given me. It's like giving a penny toward a temple worth millions. But this is exactly what this woman did and what Jesus stopped to point out to his disciples so they'd never forget it.

The question that challenged me that I wanted to share with you is: Am I giving God both coins? After all - he more than deserves it, seeing as how He gave everything for me.

"For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich."

  • 2 Corinthians 8:9
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