Beyond Argument
Love Speaks Louder Than Words
Article was added
to FaithandValues.com in May 2004.
By Charles Moore
Alan and I met years ago at college. A physics major,
Alan was both intelligent and articulate. How he managed his studies, however,
is still a mystery to me; Alan was virtually blind. He could get himself from
one place to another all right, but when it came to reading, that was a
different story. I can still see Alan, his face two inches away from some text,
arduously pecking away at each of his assignments. Alan not only got straight
A’s, but he later returned as a physics instructor.
Although Jewish in background, Alan was extremely skeptical
of anything religious, especially anything Christian. He was well-read and
well-versed, and he argued his doubt like a scientist. Alan believed that
Christianity was unable to pass the methodological requirements of science. He
therefore pled agnostic—there simply wasn’t enough evidence to warrant belief
in God.
As a Jew, Alan interpreted prophecy
differently than I. As a skeptic, he pointed out how even among New Testament
scholars there were disagreements and different interpretations. As a
scientist, he challenged the possibility of miracles, and pointed out the
problem of innocent suffering as counter-evidence to God’s existence. Alan was
not merely argumentative. If being religious meant decisiveness and commitment,
then he wanted the assurance of truth, not a blind leap of faith.
Despite our differences, Alan liked to hang out with my
Christian friends and me. He would tag
along with us to the beach, or come with us on our recurrent midnight runs to
Taco Bell. We tried to include Alan in anything we were doing.
One evening something happened. We were all at the
beach to enjoy the sunset and a roaring bonfire. Unbeknownst to us, Alan gave
his life to God. The next day he told me what had happened.
“But Alan,” I said, “what made you believe?”
“While everyone was singing around the fire,” he told me, “I
found myself being happy. In fact, whenever I am around you and your friends I
am happy.”
“But Alan, I thought you were never going to become a
believer unless there was first enough evidence?”
“Yes,” he replied, “I still require this. But this is
precisely why I now believe. It’s your love for each other. I never considered
that evidence before.”
Alan’s keen mind, along with his heart, did a complete
about-face. Although he had many more questions to ask, there were no more
arguments. What was seemingly lacking before now took on a completely new
force. The evidence of God’s love not only awakened a transformation in Alan,
but everywhere he looked he was now able to see with new eyes the fingerprints
of God.
This experience with Alan has never left me. Even though
I was to go on to graduate studies in philosophy, what I learned from Alan
never left me: “It was your love for each other. That was evidence enough for
me.”
Today the battle of ideas furiously rages. Competing
ideologies, philosophies, religious beliefs, and worldviews abound. It is
difficult, yet important, to sort these out. However, we mustn’t forget that
the best avenue to—and defense of—the truth lies outside the mind. As Stanley
Hauerwas writes, “What is crucial is not that Christians know the truth, but
that they be the truth.”
The distinction between “having” an apologetic and “being”
one is not trivial. The strongest arguments for Christianity’s truthfulness are
the lives it produces. Jesus was quite clear about this when he said, “All people
will know that you are my disciples if you love one another” (John 13:35). What
the world needs most is not words, but living testaments—people who embody the
power of his love. Only the unity of Christ’s followers will convince the world
of his reality (John 17:22-23). The medium and the message are one.
We should never underestimate the role that embodiment—faith
in action—plays in the task of defending Christian belief. Arguments, evidence,
and truth can be seen as well as heard. Francis of Assisi once said, “Declare
the gospel at all times; when necessary use words.” In fact, the best test of
the Christian truth lies in the kind of lives it produces. Just as scientific
theories are tested by their ability to generate further discoveries, so the Christian
story of God saving the world in Christ is ultimately judged by the way it
changes lives and the world. The Apostle Peter’s “apologetic” exhortation must
be read in this light:
Even if you should suffer for what is right, you are
blessed. “Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened.” But in your hearts
set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who
asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with
gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak
maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their
slander. (1 Peter 3:13-16)
Setting forth a reasonable case for faith, as Peter calls us
to do, is not just a verbal exercise. Peter’s command only makes sense if we
have hope. By “hope” I don’t think Peter means merely some invisible, illusive
posture of the heart. Hope means acting with certainty, doing good despite
slander and suffering.
This is why we don’t need to intellectually prove God’s
existence. Instead, we are to answer for “ourselves,” for why we live in peace
and love everyone despite persecution. We are to live in such a way, as
Cardinal Suhard once put it, “that one’s life would not make sense if God did
not exist.”
To show the truthfulness of Christianity involves defending
with our lives that Jesus is Lord, that he has defeated the principalities and
powers that enslave this world, and that a new order, a radically new life—in
the power of God’s Spirit—has begun among those who have given Jesus their
allegiance. Genuine Christianity is not preoccupied with the possibility of
God’s existence, or with the miracles of the past. Rather, faith is “present
tense” in that it realizes God’s future now.
When the Spirit descended at Pentecost, something
from God—not just a word from God but something from God himself—manifested
itself in the first believers and grabbed the crowd’s attention. “With great
power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus,
and much grace was with them all” (Acts. 4:33). Thus when Peter and John healed
the crippled beggar, there was nothing the skeptics could say (Acts 4:14). The
early Christians didn’t just give answers, they were the answer: God’s power to
make things brand new.
With tongues of fire, God created a new language, a language
that was more powerful than words—the language of resurrection. The early
Christians did not just have a story to tell, they were the story being told.
Only through such a witness could the world know with certainty the truth of
the gospel.
In his book, The Substance of Faith, Clarence Jordan
highlights the significance of what the early Church experienced, not just what
they told other people: “The crowning evidence that Jesus was alive was not a
vacant grave, but a spirit-filled fellowship. Not a rolled-away stone, but a
carried-away church.” Such people were the direct evidence that the “kingdom of
God” existed here on earth.
By being evidence of Christ’s rulership of love and peace,
by validating the saving power of the gospel in everyday life, we confront the
world with an “argument” that cannot help but provoke amazement. Whenever the
skeptic or critic encounters this drama first hand, he or she is confronted
with truth’s inherent power to vindicate itself.
We should never underestimate the power of a life well
lived. My friend Alan understood this. He was able to dispense with the
arguments, but he was unable to explain away the activity of God’s love in
those of us who believed. This was evidence that impacted his life directly. It
made a difference, not in theory, but in actuality. The argument of Christian
love, in the end, was irrefutable. Seeing people live truthfully, freely,
consistently, and sacrificially both awakened and confirmed Alan’s longing for
meaning and purpose. This is our task: to be the sort of people and community
that are a real option for others. Apart from living the truth, no real option
exists.