I occasionally find myself straying into discussion forums, and today found one discussing the “Top 10 Signs you’re a fundamentalist Christian”, copied from a post by a fundamentalists atheist on “Facebook”. You can find it here.

As usual I grinned and grimaced at the combination of wry, too-near-to-the-truth statements and crass, ignorant caricatures. The responses also drew the same combination of reactions from me …the usual suspects queued up to refute the slurs and in many cases simply reinforced the point by the things they said and the way they said them (one of the curses of the digital age is that we can be so very ‘brave’ in print, and I’m not immune to that either). I also have to say that the more recent discussion is a bit different from the original stuff…

The combination of well-thought out arguments and tired dogma from both sides made me sad, and reminded me why I so rarely get involved in this sort of “discussion”. Above all, I was reminded of Jesus words, which seemed so apt as a description of those seeking to stand up for their faith...“Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.” Mark 2:17 (NLT).

Many of us Christians show just how much we are “sick”…self-righteous, angry, argumentative, less-than-perfect, etc…all too often. We need the divine doctor!

Surely this is the starting point for all us Christians…we are not great people but God loves us anyway, we frequently get it wrong but God still goes on loving us, and surprise, surprise, God loves other people who may disagree with us too.

I can already hear some of you sharpening your pens (or whatever the equivalent digital metaphor would be…’poising your fingers’?…to tell me that we are told “if someone asks about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it.” 1 Peter 3:15 (NLT).

Very true…but read on…what does it say next?