The Difference God Makes in Our Lives Part 2

Today I bring you the second part of the series “The Difference God makes in your Life” Ray was an atheist friend of mine who was also one of the nicest, most generous people I knew. He didn't believe in God and, even if there was a God, Ray didn't see the reason for church, and religion. This conversation that I had with Ray brings up some very fundamental questions:

If religious belief and church attendance don't necessarily make you a good person, and nonattendance and rejection of religion don't necessarily make you a bad one, what is the point of being religious? What does the religious person get out of his or her faith that the nonreligious person has to do without? Is there something we would all be better off having, or something that only some people - the weak and the insecure, the spiritually inclined - need, and the rest of is can do without? For the religious mind and soul, there is no question about the existence of God, but the question, really for the atheist, agnostic, and Christian, is what difference does God and religion make in the way that we live our lives?

Last week I spoke about the moral guidance that God gives us. Grounding cur moral response to the decision we face in day to day life gives us confidence that there is something profoundly right and correct in what we do. Also, when we waver in our commitment, when we are on the verge of backing away from doing what we believe is good and right because it is hard, inconvenient, unpopular or expensive, we need to know that our path is also God's path.

Another gift that God and this church gives us is the gift of community. More than any other human problem, loneliness, the absence of meaningful human connection, drains the joy and the sense of purpose from our lives. It explains why people go to shopping malls who have no intention of shopping - they just need to be someplace where other people are. More and more people are suffering from this situation. The reasons for this are our culture and our attitudes. This is a result of individualism, independence, and competitiveness.

As for individualism, the family is no longer a unit in our society. It is a collection of people living under the same roof. We have men and women with two different careers, different shifts, different times and different demands. This ensures that they have very limited time with each other or their children. We have people eating at different times of the day as they dash off to different activities. The table no longer is the place of rest and conversation where our different lives intersect, it is the place people grab fuel as they pass through. When people are home together, they all have their can rooms, with their own televisions, telephones, DVD players and computers. What we have isn't really family; we have a series of people each with their separate working, sleeping, eating, and recreation schedules. With individualism being forced on us from our very birth, we grow up only thinking of ourselves and our own needs and become blind to the needs of others. Love and sex become areas of conflict and conquest rather than sharing and intimacy. As such, even those within a family can be very lonely.

As for independence, growing up as a Canadian we grow up believing that at a certain age, you leave the security of your family behind and set out in search of fame and fortune. Many of us send our children to university or trade school to become educated and then find that either can’t be employed in our town or village and end up leaving for the big city far from the place they knew as home. This has led to some impressive results, but it has also led to a rootless, lonely and detached society. We move away from our families and our support systems and then look for ways to fill the hole that has been left. We join Elks clubs, Rotary, dart teams, etc. But these are artificial bonds. We know that we can leave them behind any time we want and they don't fill what we have left behind. Further, when we mess up or make mistakes, or need something, we feel that we are on our own. We feel that to turn to others for help or understanding is to admit our lives are a failure. This is the isolation and loneliness that our independence has given us.

Another thing that our society does to leave us isolated and lonely is the competitiveness in which we live our lives. We have been taught to see life as a race in which prizes are given to people or teams, like the Montreal Canadiens, that finish first. As a result, we tend to see everyone around us as a potential rival, seeking to cheat us_e or take advantage of us somehow. Our gain means someone else's loss and vice versa. Look at the tendering system. Look at the way scholarships are given out. Look at the way we dole out love to our children. We hold up the ones that achieve but make excuses for or plain out hide the one who do not. "Why can't you be more like your brother?" Has anyone here heard that before? This causes us to see other people as adversaries to be beaten and obstacles to be overcome. This prevents us from seeking the contact that we need from people. If you have to worry about a husband, child, elderly parent, they may distract you just enough to let someone else win the rat race we are all in. Can you think of a more effective attitude for creating a nation full of lonely people?

In our word for today from Ephesians 2:21 "We who believe are carefully joined together becoming a holy temple for the Lord." Why did God choose a building as an illustration of what it means to be spiritually connected?  Why did He choose a building to demonstrate what the church is like?

Because in a building, all the connected parts support each other.  Beams support other beams.  Walls support other walls and the roof holds the walls together, the walls hold the roof up.  When the rain falls, when the lightning strikes, and when the winds blow, all the bricks and beams stay fast. They're all connected and they're all supporting. 

That is one of your deepest needs in life is  support. You need the support, like being a brick in a building. You need emotional support.  You need physical support sometimes.  You certainly need spiritual support.  Where are you going to get it if you're not connected?  Who's going to hold you up in the tough times? Your bowling team? The guys at the bar?

Fortunately God has designed a custom-made support network just for you.  That is called the church.  Church is not something you go to.  Church is not an event you attend.  Church is a family that God meant for you to be connected to, to be a part of.  He wants you to have relationships and connections and fellowship in the body of Christ, in the family of God. 

God and our church fights against this plague of loneliness. God calls us to love our neighbour. God calls on us to consider the thoughts, feelings, and the situations of those sitting next to us. God calls on us to love each other, not to use each other. By teaching us to treat our neighbours as ourselves we learn to focus on the needs of others and not just be focused on our own. The funny thing is that when we are not fixated on our own loneliness, but on the needs of others, that is when our loneliness is satisfied. God teaches us how to be a true friend, to be concerned with alleviating the loneliness of others, learning to hear their cry instead of wondering why no one hears ours.

What does God and our church offer that we lonely souls need? It offers community. Our place of worship offers us a refuge, an island of caring in the midst of a hostile, competitive world. In a society that segregates the old from the young, the rich from the poor, the successful from the struggling, the house of worship represents one place where the barriers fall and we stand equal before God. It promises to be the one place in society where my gain does not have to mean your loss. In the house of the Lord you are not black or white. You are not old or young. You are not rich or poor. In the house of the Lord, and only because of God, that we can approach each other as brothers and sisters, all equal in God's sight. You are not a nurse. You are not a lawyer. You are not a fisherman. You are not a social insurance recipient. You are my brother. You are my sister.

This is why I don't agree with people who say I believe in God but not in going to church. This is why I don't like televangelism that gives us an excuse to stay home. This is why we have church services at certain hours. It is not because God has office hours. It is because God doesn't just want to bring people to Him. God wants to bring people together with each other. This is a purpose of God. This is the function of religion. This is the work o the church. Any church that excludes people is not doing the work of God. It is doing the work of Satan.

I think it is blasphemous if a church's members spend all their time worrying about the heat, the lights and the sound system but no time about how they make people feel when they enter into their sanctuary.

My friends, it is through God and his church that we learn to relate to each other, and to belong to each other, in truly human ways. In the brightest of days or the darkest of nights God is always with us, and if we learn what our Saviour taught us we can be there for each other as well.

This is just one thing that the Christian gets out of their faith that the nonreligious person has to do without. This is just one difference that God has made in our lives.

 

 

 

 

WHAT IS GOD CALLING US TO DO PART:1

WHAT IS GOD CALLING US TO DO PART:1

 

Today we are continuing our series called “What on Earth am I here for?” We are having this series because this is the most profound question that we all have to deal with. For the atheist the answer to this question is “nothing.” For the atheist we have come from nothing and we are going nowhere, but for the Christian it is different. For the Christian we believe that we were created with intentionally and with purpose. Last week that God has a unique calling for every life based on our skills, talents, and experiences. I can’t tell you what that unique calling is, that is between you and God, but what I can tell you is that are 5 things that God wants each and every one of us to do. We are going to talk about the first one today. But before we do I want to tell you a little story.

A few years back Ruth and I were contacted by Children’s Aid and asked if we could take in a pregnant teenaged girl … well I guess it would have been really something if we were asked to take in a pregnant teenaged boy … Apparently this teenaged girl was living in a group home, had no parents or any family support and they wanted to us to take her in so that she would have a calm environment to have her child and solid mentoring and help as she started caring for the child. We had never done anything like this before and quite frankly Children’s Aid hadn’t done anything like this before. The only guideline we were given was that we couldn’t take care of the baby ourselves, this was to be mom’s job, we could assist and show her how to do things, but mom had to take care of the child herself.

This all sounded good in theory but in actuality it was a massive disaster. The poor soul just couldn’t look after the child and wasn’t tending to its needs. She wasn’t feeding the child enough, it took her over 10 minutes to change the child (which meant it was getting cold and cranky), and I won’t even try to describe her using a breast milk pump. There were times at night the child would cry until Ruth got up and went into the room. The mother was emotionally overwhelmed and it Ruth had to take more and more control over the baby’s care. This experiment ended when the mother started hearing voices and was afraid that she was going to hurt the child. She was admitted to the psychiatric ward and was diagnosed with post-partum psychosis. All this happened over a span of 2 weeks, but it seemed like forever.

That left us with the baby. As we cared for the child we became more and more concerned. The child seemed to be growing well but that was all it was doing. Other than eating and sleeping he just lay there like a lump. He wouldn’t cry out for attention or to be picked up. He wouldn’t seek to play with any objects or toys. He wouldn’t look for anyone to pick him up. He wouldn’t even follow your hand or an object if you waved it across his face. At the age of 4 months we had him assess and at the age of 4 months he wasn’t doing what a 2 month old could do. The assessor told us that she had never seen a child fail the assessment so badly. We had a Children’s Aid supervisor leave our house in tears after interacting with this child because of his lack of reaction to any stimulus. We thought this child was going to have some major cognitive issues. But then something happened.

Ruth’s father was going to receive a special award for his service and work with local fish hatchery. Ruth went back to Cape Breton to be part of her  father’s special day. She took the child down with her. Ruth’s sister-in-law and niece love babies and in true Cape Breton form the child was subject to a weekend of intensive cuddling, attention, and snuggling, and what a difference that made. 

When Ruth came back from Cape Breton she came back with a different child. It seemed like every day he was developing or learning something new. When he was finally adopted at the age of 8 months, the little boy who had failed the 2 month assessment at 4 months and had a CAS supervisor leave in tears had completely caught up to where he should have been and, we are told, is now advanced for his age.

We asked the specialist, who had been working with this child, about his remarkable turn around and we were told that the turnaround happened because the child finally learned that he was loved. He said that even in the womb a child can feel loved … when you speak to the baby or read to the baby in its mother’s tummy the baby can sense this and feels loved. That didn’t happen to this child and when it was born and its needs were being neglected and not being met he learned that he wasn’t loved. He learned that there was no need to cry out because there was no one to see to his needs. There was no need to look for anyone because there was no one out there who would come. He wasn’t learning or progressing because he didn’t trust or feel safe with anyone to learn from. It took us 4 months and a weekend of intensive cuddling for us to undo the lesson he learned in two weeks, but when we did, he cried out because he knew we would satisfy his needs, he looked for us because he knew he knew we were the providers of good things, and he learned from us because he felt safe and he trusted us to teach him things that he needed to know and that were good for him.

You might be wondering why I am telling you this story. The reason is that this is the number one thing that God is calling you to do … to be loved. God is calling you to receive His love.

The first purpose, the first reason you were created is to be loved by God.  God made you to love you. Let that sink in a little bit.  The first thing God is calling you to do is not to serve Him. The first thing God is calling you to do is not to trust Him. The first thing God is calling you to do is not to obey Him or even to love Him. The first thing God is calling you to do is let Him love you.

God didn’t create you in the first place to do something.  He created you in the first place to receive something.  If you understand this revolutionary truth it’s going to transform your life.  That my number-one purpose in life is not to do something for God; it’s to receive something from God.  To receive His love.  You were made to be the receptacle, a receiver, a benefactor of God’s love.  Let that sink in!

 

This is taught all through Scripture.  In Jude 1:1 “This letter is from Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James.  I’m writing to all who are called to live in the love of God the Father… [Called to do what?  Called to live in the love of God…]  The love of God the Father and in the care of Jesus Christ.”

The number-one calling in your life is not to a role, it’s not to a responsibility, it’s not to a bunch of rules, it’s not to regulations, it’s not to ritual, it’s not to religion.  It’s to a relationship.

What kind of relationship does God want you to have with him?  Does God want you to be his slave?  No.  Does God want you to be his servant?  No.  Does God want you to be his soldier and fight his battles for right and wrong in the world?  No.  Does God want you to be his worker?  No.  Does God want you to be his employee?  No.  Does God want you to be his minion?  No. 

God wants you to be his son or his daughter.  He wants you in his family. Romans 1, “Dear friends in Rome, [this is Paul writing] God loves you dearly, and he has called [There’s that word called again.] you to be his very own people.” 

My friends, when you understand that our number-one calling is not to do something for God; it’s to receive something from God … his love … that will transform your life. How will it do that? How will understanding that there’s no moment that you’re not loved unconditionally, deeply, and eternally by God transform your life? Let me give you some ways …

1. You will feel accepted rather than ashamed.

And that will change your life.  I told you a bit of my personal story last week. My mother abandoned me when I was about 13. She took the cat but didn’t take me. My father didn’t want me and when I did spend some time at his house his wife treated me pretty shabbily. I felt unloved and unwanted. I felt like my life was nothing but a burden on others. I felt ashamed and that my life was worth nothing. Growing up I kept people at a distance because I felt if they knew the real me they would reject me and walk out of my life like my parents did. I never pursued relationships with women because, again, I felt that I was unlovable and I didn’t want to be a burden to anyone else and I didn’t want to be rejected anymore. It wasn’t until a Good Friday service when God spoke to me and said “JD you have gone through your entire life thinking that no one loved you, but I love you. I love so much that I died for you.” And my friends, Jesus Christ is saying the exact same thing to you today.  

A lot of people go through life carrying the burden of other people’s words or actions. They carry the burden of being told they weren’t good enough. They bear the scars of not being loved enough. I have known men and women who have lived in abusive relationships because they didn’t think that they deserved any better. And if you are one of those people let me tell you right here and now that you are loved and that you deserve better.

Other people carry the burden of past mistakes. They feel ashamed.  They feel guilty.  They feel under condemnation.  They feel judged.  They feel criticized.  They think, “look of what I have done … look at the mess I have made of things.” They think God is going to turn His back on me just like everyone else has … and I wouldn’t blame him.  

But listen to what the Bible says in 1 John 3 says: “When our hearts make us feel guilty, we can still have peace before God. God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.”  The Lord knows you and He loves you and He accepts you completely, totally, and unconditionally. In fact God loves us even more than we love ourselves … He is greater than our heart.  What did Jesus say “I have come not to condemn but to save.”  My friends, that is the kind of love that can cut through shame and enable us to reclaim our lives. That is the kind of love that will transform your life.

2. I am bold in bringing my needs to God.

I’m bold in my prayers.  Why?  Because I’m a son of God.  I’m a daughter of God.  I’m a child of God.  I’m a member of the family.  So I know God loves me unconditionally.  And when I pray to him I can talk to him about anything, because I’m his son. 

When your kids were little I’d bet they would come to you for everything. They thought you had everything, knew everything, and could afford everything.  We know that’s not true for you and me, but it is true for God.

Romans 8 says, “All who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God!  So, you should not be cowering, [like] fearful slaves. You should behave instead like God’s very own children, adopted into his family–calling him ‘Father, dear Father.’

The Bible says that when you come to God in prayer, you come to him as you would come to a loving Father.  You don’t come to him with some fancy phrase.  When Amy or Allison need money they don’t go to Ruth and say “O thou most gracious progenitor and matriarch of the Kennedy family.  Thou wonderful observer and keeper of all the family funds.” They don’t say that they say “Ma! I need cash.”  Real straight forward.  Very bold. Why can they be sold bold? Because they know Ruth loves them, that Ruth cares about their lives, and that Ruth will do what she can to help them along life’s pathway. This is the kind of love God has for you.   

The Bible says you can come to God saying Father … I need some help. I messed up. I am in a bad spot. Dad, I need cash. Why can you do that? Because God loves you, God cares about your life, and God will do what He can to help you along life’s pathway. Do not be afraid to go to Him with your prayers. Hebrews 4:16 “Let us then approach the throne of grace [that means prayer] with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”  Be bold in your prayer.  You’re a son of God.  You’re a daughter of God.  You’re loved unconditionally.  Jesus said you can ask anything in my name. 

The third thing that happens when I know I’m totally loved by God…

3. I gain the courage to take risks.

When somebody believes in you, you are capable of accomplishing things you would never be able to accomplish on your own, just because they believe in you.  It gives you additional power.  It gives you additional energy.

When someone believes in you unconditionally the way God does and when you experience that it releases you.  You have dreams that have gone unfulfilled in your life because you have been scared to death to go after them.  What if I fail?  You’re going to die with unfulfilled dreams unless you key in to the love of God.  And you let him give you that confidence that comes from him believing in you.  I don’t care what stage of life you are in, God loves and God believes in you. 

Nine-year-old Malachi Paul was just a young little kid who auditioned for the television show Britain’s Got Talent.  Malachi Paul came out and the place was packed. When he saw the crowd he got stage fright and he choked.  He started singing and it was coming out all bad, really bad.   He got so embarrassed at his own work, he froze on stage and just stopped and started crying.  His mom was standing in the wings and she runs out and she hugs him. He calms down and when he sings again he blows the judges and the crowd away.

That my friends is unconditional love turning a loser into a winner. This is the kind of love that God has that will transform your life. The Lord said in Joshua 1:9 Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.   

That is the kind of love that enabled a skinny kid named David to stand up to a Goliath. It is the kind of love that enabled an 80 year old shepherd to stand up to Pharaoh and say “Let my people go.” It is the kind of love that enabled a man named Joseph to marry a woman who was pregnant with someone else’s baby. It enabled a 30 year lawyer to leave his life behind and become a minister. It is the kind of love that will enable to face your fears and chase your dreams. It is the kind of love that will transform your life.

You have no idea how many times your heavenly Father has wanted to reach out and grasp you in his arms when you have felt like, I just blew it!  Maybe you blew it publicly, maybe you blew it privately.  But your heavenly Father says, It’s okay.  We’ll start over and this time we’ll do it together. As the Bible says in Phillipians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

For some of you, God has been waiting for this moment your entire life.  He’s been waiting for this moment where you, for the first time, would get a little inkling of how much He loves you.  Your problem is not that you don’t love God; your problem is you don’t know how much he loves you. 

My friends, God didn’t create you in the first place to do something.  He created you in the first place to receive something. His love and it is His love that will transform your life. As we end our time together I leave you with Paul letter to Rome  “Dear friends in Rome, God loves you dearly, and he has called you to be his very own people.”

The Difference God Makes in our Lives: Part 1

When I went to Law School in Halifax, I lived in an apartment of campus. When I moved in I discovered that a fellow living in the apartment directly above me was in law school and, indeed, was in all my class. As such, we became fairly close friend and every night around 9:00 pm when I had finished my studies, I would travel that extra floor to have a gab session with him. Now it just happened that one evening I was up with Ray watching a baseball game on a Saturday night. After it was over I said goodnight and got up to leave. Ray asked why I was going, that this was just the first game of a double header and that we had another 9 innings to look forward to. I told him that I had to go, that I had to get up for church tomorrow. That was when Ray made his big revelation. 

"I don't believe in God or organized religion" he said. "I believe in being kind to people, treating them right, not hurting the. I believe in trying to make the world a better place. When I worked I sponsored 3 foster children. But even if there was a God, I don't see why we need to go to church. Why do we need all those fancy buildings that are always in need of our money? I don't see why you need all those professional clergy, prayer books, organized services, rules and ritual that nobody understands. Why isn't it enough to just tell everyone to be nice to each other?"

Ray and I were good friends and we still maintain contact with each other today. During my life here on Earth I have met many nice people who are atheists or who only give religion lip service. They never darken the doorway of any church. They don't believe, or don't care, if there is a Supreme Being. They never pray; and in some cases I am not even sure if they know what it means to pray. Yet, they are good, caring, honest people, sensitive to the needs of others, generous with their time, their love, and their property. And then there are people whom I have met who come to church on a fairly regular basis who turn out to be small souled people. They are insecure, judgmental, and quick to find fault. However, that only makes the question even more pointed.

If religious belief and church attendance don't necessarily make you a good person, and nonattendance and rejection of religion don't necessarily make you a bad one, what is the point of being religious? What does the religious person get out of his or her faith that the nonreligious person has to do without? Is there something we would all be better off having, or something that only some people - the weak and the insecure, the spiritually inclined - need, and the rest of us can do without? For the religious mind and soul, there is no question about the existence of God, but the question, really for the atheist, agnostic, and Christian, is what difference does God and religion make in the way that we live our lives?

One thing that God gives us that has to be constantly taught and reinforced by our churches is a moral standard or code that is from an authority higher than ourselves. Not everything has a moral dimension to it. There is no moral dimension to how long a man's hair or a woman's skirt should be. But how we relate to other people and how we learn to control our basic instincts are subject for moral guidance. This is one thing that God has given us.

Without God, what makes something that I do wrong? The government? If that is the case then everything Hitler and Saddam Hussein did would have been perfectly okay. Hitler's government took great pains to make sure that their extermination of the Jews, the Gypsies, and other ethnic minorities was perfectly legal in Germany.

What makes something I do right or wrong? Science? We look to science for a lot of things and truly it has given us insights into the workings of God’s creation; however, all science can do is tell us how we could, not if we should. Science can tell us how a fetus can be aborted, not if it is right to do so. Science can tell us how to make nuclear bombs, but not if it is right t do so or if we should use them.

What makes something that I do wrong? It may be distasteful to you. It may hurt people who don't deserve to be hurt. But if I feel good doing it, if I see other people doing it, what makes it wrong?

The moral relativist, the person who believes that something is right if you feel that it is right, may feel free in his rejection of absolute standards of good and bad, but his freedom is the freedom of a sailor at sea without a compass. He is free to choose to travel in any direction he fancies, precisely because he has no way of knowing which direction the harbour lies in. Should we envy or pity that form of freedom?

God's law, the message and the example of Christ, doesn't make us divine, but it allows us to be human. It enables us to say “no” to our basic instincts and allows us to treat one another with love and respect no matter. When someone is down, God’s law compels us to take notice of their plight and then commands us to do something positive about it. God guides us to the realization that there are greater callings and higher satisfactions in life than making more money, partying on the weekend and constantly looking out for number. Just as this world would be unlivable if not for the law of gravity, so would this world of social relationships be unlivable if not for God's law - standards of conduct as being right and necessary even when we do not feel like living up to them.

God has given us this law, these standards of conduct, in two forms. The first is through direct and indirect revelation. Without pretending to understand the process, I believe that the authors of the Bible captures God's will like no other document. I believe that this is where the consciousness of humanity and the will of God meet. This is God's first word on the subject of moral conduct, but it is not God's last.

Beyond revelation, we have tradition. This is the thousands of years of insight, experience, thought and meditation carried out by people of profound spiritual sensitivity and caring. The Christianity of the New Testament is not the same as we worship today. We have added the fruits of centuries of experience to the Scriptural base. We are guided not only by our own voice, but by the voice of the millions of Christians who came before us.

My friends, God's law has set the standard by which we live. It has been the same since the beginning. Throughout our individual lives as ordinary people and throughout our history as the human race it has stood there, guiding us, challenging us, and calling to us. As we mature and gain wisdom as ordinary people, and as we mature and gain wisdom as the human race, God's revelation continues to work on us. As the law stands there calling, guiding, and challenging our behaviour, we gain greater insight into what God truly meant. Issues of slavery and the dignity of women, children, the handicapped and the physically and mentally frail, issues of freedom of thought and belief, are clearer to us now than they were a century or two ago.

Finally, grounding my moral response in God gives me the confidence that what I am committed to is not only my opinion, the opinion of my parents, my teachers, or some childhood hero. There is something profoundly, permanently right about it. When I waver in my commitment, when I am on the verge of backing away from doing what I believe because it is hard, inconvenient, unpopular or expensive, I need to know that my path is God's path. That it is indeed the best way and even though it may be difficult, that God is there with me every step of the way.

When we accept God’s rules into our lives; when we try to live by those 10 Commandments, when we try to embody the beauitudes, when we accept the wisdom of Proverbs and try to follow the example of Christ in our lives we will be transformed. We will be transformed on the inside as, over time, following God’s Commands will shape our character, our values, and our priorities. We become different people. We become better people. It transforms us on the inside, but it transforms our lives on the outside as well. It transforms our lives on the outside too because they transform the decisions that we make. When that Good Samaritan reached out and helped that traveler, he had no clue who he was and had nothing to gain, yet at great cost to himself he reached out and a life was saved. This is how God’s law transforms your life on the outside. By affecting your decisions God makes your life a blessing to others and to you. By living a Christian lifestyle we are equipping ourselves to live fully and meaningfully in a world that isn’t always kind, gentle, peaceful, or fair. It enables us to be human in a world that is often not humane.

This is just one thing that the Christian gets out of their faith that the atheist has to do without. This is just one difference that God has made in our lives.