The Case for My Uncle
So, my uncle…have I told you about my uncle? He’s called Dave in this post, “Religious Debate”. Pretty much everyone on my mom’s side of the family was raised Catholic, but of all his siblings, he’s the only one who stayed with the church. Actually…my aunt (his sister) is catholic as well. Forgot about that. Ah, well. That’s still three out of five (two uncles and my mom) who are now something else. Anyway, he’s quite devote, and usually never even thinks of questioning anything. He’s not a hateful or spiteful person in any way. He’s very caring, despite never being very involved in my upbringing like some other family members. I see him as your average, middle class joe. A supervisor at GM, a nice suburban house, a wife and two kids (both grown and gone now). He lives a sort of 1950s American dream. But anyway, he knows that my family and I aren’t “believers”, and he worries. When he was a child and even a young man, Hell seemed a perfectly acceptable idea. Certainly no one he knew was going to hell. Hell was a place for the other people. Different people, not like normal people. Faced with reality however, he is frightened. His own sister, burning in hell! Two young boys, his nephews! So he tries to convince us sometimes, as evidenced by the first post I introduced him in. I feel kind of bad for him, so wanting all his beliefs to be true, while desperately trying to save us from the very punishment they created for us. I saw him almost cry once. And yet, at the same time, I’m a little angry at him. Frustrated. I know I shouldn’t feel that way, but I do. Still, he’s my uncle, and he’s a good man.
He dropped off a book today, filled with Christian apologetics. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of it, “The Case for Christ”, by Lee Strobel? I’ve read it before. It’s complete and utter drivel. Strobel has written several books in this same vein, with “The Case for Faith”, “The Case for a Creator”, and whatnots. They’re all very similar. I haven’t talked to him yet, but I was thinking about what I might say to him. This is what I’ve come up with: Strobel was a Christian when he wrote this, for more than 20 years. He’s a pastor who’s authored a bunch of pro-Christian books, and he has a son who’s a biblical studies graduate. When you go on a search for the truth, you shouldn’t be convinced you already have the truth. Then, I plan to point him to what Strobel says in part of his conclusion, after insisting the Jesus is our Lord and Savior for a few pages.
“maybe questions still linger for you. Perhaps I didn’t address the objection that’s uppermost in your mind. Fair enough. However, I trust that the amount of information reported in these pages will at least have convinced you that it’s reasonable — in fact, imperative — to continue your investigation.”
I will then ask him, “How about you? Have you investigated? Or just accepted what you’ve been told? Ask questions. Maybe the answers will surprise you.”
I’m positive that he has not actually read this book. He doesn’t need to. He already agrees with the premise. My uncle’s never been a reader.
