James & Carolanne

We have often talked about how there are so many people who come to our websites for help or with serious questions about life and faith, but hearing numbers just isn't as effective as hearing the actual stories of people we interact with. I received this note recently from our director and though it might be something you would be interested in hearing as well.

Earlier today “AwesomeAtheist” came into our chat room and began a rather interesting conversation with Warren, who is part of our staff team. AwesomeAtheist (AA) shared how he had challenged God and God hadn’t listened.

He wrote, “If god exists I would like a confirmation that he exists, don’t throw that faith crap at me because I need empirical evidence for god’s existence. I cannot blindly believe in god. It’s the way I am.” After making these statements, he then asked, “Does God get mad when I see no evidence that he exists or something? I have searched all my life.”

Warren shared some scripture with him. AA asked “how do you know its the word of god? I mean no offense or anything, I’m just looking for evidence. ”

In the course of the conversation, Warren asked AA “So let me get this straight. You want God to answer you but you don’t want to believe anything he says in the Bible, is that right?”

It’s an on going conversation. Please pray for AA and for Warren. Pray that God would give Warren the right words and that AA would come back to continue the conversation. Pray with us that he would find God. So often we see conversations go on for weeks and then when the time is right for them, they receive Christ.

As believers, there are times that we struggle with talking about our faith. There can be a feeling that people don’t want to talk about it but often times, outside of the church we see that’s not the case. Earlier this week, Larry King had no issues asking Lady Gaga about her faith.

When he asked her about her religious upbringing she said, “I believe in Jesus. I believe in God. I’m very spiritual. I pray very much, but at the same time there is no one religion that doesn’t hate or speak against or be prejudiced against another racial group or religious group, or sexual group and for that I think religion is also bogus. So I suppose you could say I’m a quite religious woman who is also very confused about religion.”

Her view point is becoming a very common one. Increasing numbers of people identify as ‘spiritual but not religious’. How can we talk about God to people who feel burned out by the church? Find out at http://bit.ly/dykDcq

God is at work! Thank you so much for your involvement. It’s a privilege to minister with you.