Ricky Gervais, Lee Strobel, faith, and Jesus of Nazareth

I just saw this in my Facebook feed. It's worth reading. I believe every point Strobel is making. My faith stands or fall on the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and I believe it's a reliable historical fact. Strobel's book The Case for Christ goes into more detail about it all and is well worth reading too.

But I would equally argue that Ricky Gervais' posts about his atheism (here and here) are well worth a read as well. I commend his honesty, and I feel sad for him that he lost faith in the Jesus he loved as a child:

"I loved Jesus. He was my hero. More than pop stars. More than footballers. More than God. God was by definition omnipotent and perfect. Jesus was a man. He had to work at it. He had temptation but defeated sin. He had integrity and courage. But He was my hero because He was kind. And He was kind to everyone. He didn’t bow to peer pressure or tyranny or cruelty. He didn’t care who you were. He loved you. What a guy. I wanted to be just like Him."

This is the Jesus I love and build my life upon.

Gervais also makes very good points when he blames some Christians for seeing faith as a get-out-of-jail free card. He is absolutely right to criticize that, and Strobel doesn't even address it in his reply. 

Jesus didn't come to give us a get-out-of-jail-free card. He came to redeem us from selfishness and sin, and transform us into new people - people who can partner up with him to transform the world. Too many Christians wallow in self-loathing, crying over what terrible sinners they are. I don't think Jesus is interested in that. I think he washed the past away so we could roll up our sleeves and act. Be agents of change, peacemakers, merciful people, not in order to earn God's love, but as a response to it.

And that is what Ricky Gervais doesn't get. He ticks the Ten Commandments, he says. I won't go into how whenever we love something or someone more than God, we effectively break commandments one and two - read any Evangelical book on the topic and they'll be quick to - rightly - point that out. Ricky is also right that using God's name to support hatred or gloat over one's enemies is what using God's name in vain is really about - I agree with his assessment 200%.

But what Ricky doesn't get is that Christianity isn't about ticking boxes and obeying rules. It's about responding to God's love, displayed throughout Jesus' life and death. Love so great that he gave his life for us. In the face of such love and grace, I am filled with awe, gratitude, and love. So of course I want to please God and do good - but not in order to win his love or approval. Instead, I want to do this because I know he loves me, and I want to love him back. Right living comes from gratitude and love, not from fear.