Six months ago, you simply could not have convinced me that, before long, I would create a website devoted to sharing my faith and the evidence which underlies it. No way. No how. Not me. That would be too far out of step with the mainstream -- too weird.
Yes, I considered myself a Christian. But my faith was my business, a private matter between my God and me. I could not identify at all with those folks who always talk about Christ and how He changed their lives. You know the type. You may consider some or all of them a bit strange. I know I did.
Given my own experience, I ought to have been less surprised by some of the initial reaction to HIS EVIDENCE.COM. In particular, one family member suggested that I was “bold” to share my story on the Web. Another called it “courageous.” A thoughtful priest commended me for “trusting that God’s ways are not our ways [and] that God’s way may win us the misunderstanding or derision of the world.” While grateful for these words of encouragement, I did not fully appreciate them. Sharing my thoughts on the Internet is “courageous”? Certainly not compared to what others are doing for God and/or country: there are American service personnel at home and abroad risking life and limb for their country in the War on Terror; there are Christians, this very day, literally putting their lives at risk by preaching the Gospel in hostile environments around the world.
Then I was reminded this week about the old me and how I probably would have reacted to this website six months ago. Not only would I not have publicly defended the worldview it reflects, I very well may have joined in some good natured but irreverent mocking. After all, I might have rationalized: we live in a secular world; the norm of our postmodern, pluralistic culture is that we “live and let live”; many people may be put off by the “exclusive” claim that Jesus is not “a way” to God but “the way”; and many of those people may be former, current or future colleagues in the D.C. legal community (not to mention prospective clients!).
With that memory in mind, I am more cognizant of the fact that you are visiting this site because someone you know has found its content (A) commendable or (B) worthy of derision. I respectfully offer the following thoughts in response.
