Bad behavior by someone professing the Christian faith doesn’t disprove Christianity …

If you’re a Christian, your experience with other believers may be a lot like mine.

In my walk with Christ, and fellowship in His church, I’ve known some wonderful people whose lives were a consistent demonstration of selfless, sacrificial love toward others.

Then there were others …

Others who professed to be followers of Christ, but their lives were a loud contradiction of that profession.

Your experience may also be like mine in that it has been common for non-Christians to point to the bad behavior of some who profess to follow Christ and use their behavior as an argument that Christianity itself, then, must not be true. Apologist and blogger Joel Furches, in an article entitled “If Christianity Is True, Why Do Christians Behave So Badly?” seeks to correct the illogic of such arguments. At the root, he suggests, is the anti-Christian bias which tries to inexorably tie the behavior of the Christian with the validity of the faith:

“If it could be shown, then, that Christian behavior is overwhelmingly reprehensible, and that Christians get away with acting this way while claiming to be followers of God, it is only reasonable that people see this as evidence against the truth of Christianity, and of the Christian God.”

Furches then sites some of the favorite examples anti-Christians use to disprove the “truth” of the Christian faith — things like the Crusades, the Inquisition, the cruelty of John Calvin, and the bigotry of Martin Luther.

“The truth of Christianity does not stand or fall on who believes it, their motivations for believing it, or their personal behaviors. Either Christianity is true or it isn’t. That certain people embrace Christianity and then behave in a despicable manor does not somehow prove that Christianity is untrue. This same person doubtlessly holds a number of other beliefs that are in fact true. They probably believe that the earth is round, that exercise is good for the body, that rain comes from clouds, and that when they strike another person, it will hurt that person. These things do not somehow become untrue if the person believing them behaves badly.”

Furches concludes his argument with this: “”Christianity stands or falls on its own merits. If Christianity is true, those who believe it will be held accountable for how they have represented those beliefs to others. If it is untrue, their behaviors have not made it untrue.”

Fortunately for all of us, the truth of Christianity doesn’t depend on the behavior of Christians, but on Jesus Christ, who boldly stated that He is the truth!

“Jesus told him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me,” John 14:6.

However, just because we’re off the hook for being the proof of the Christian faith doesn’t mean we’re off the hook regarding our behavior, which should be something that is appealing rather than repulsive …

“You are the light of the world — like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father,” Matthew 5:14-16.

Is the way you live a light in a dark and sinful world? Or do unbelievers see a contradiction between the faith you claim and how you live?

Scotty