The Wanderer

Carl Trueman finds an atheist who gets the truth and demands of the gospel better than many professing Christians:

We unbelievers are entitled to regard the Bible as magnificent literature. More is demanded from the faithful. Yet these days, even some soi-disant Christians would claim that the miraculous elements of the New Testament are only metaphors. To me, that is agnostic slop. Faith is more than literature. Faith is an epiphany of abasement, ardour and rigour, in the hope of grace, redemption and joy. But there is an entrance fee. If you do not believe in the literal truth of the Incarnation and the Resurrection, you are not a Christian.

Whenever we consider the glories of the incarnation – whether at the end of December or at any other time – we do well to consider that this is not a matter of taste and inclination, but of truth and conviction. Jesus is Immanuel – God with us – and that is simply not negotiable.