Hume’s framing of his altar call to the wayward golfer raises at least two other debatable points.
One is the purpose of Christianity: It is eternal salvation through belief in Jesus Christ. That is the entry point, the foundation of it all. Christian belief should lead believers to behave in upright ways, to sacrifice themselves totally, and to live as Christ did. But if that happens, it is really a welcome result of belief. In his remarks, Hume almost sounds like all those Christian “life coaches” and prosperity gospel preachers who see Christianity as a means to a happy and successful life. Christianity is more about what has been called “the sanctification of failure,” namely through Jesus on the cross. In that sense Tiger has plenty of opportunity to be a witness.
The other problem with Hume’s comments is that they are contradicted by so much evidence. Anecdotally, one need look no further than the sanctimonious Christian pols-turned-philanderers, or the many high-profile pastors who turn out to have feet of clay. Statistics also show that Christians are as likely to divorce or abort as everyone else, and Bible Belt states often have much higher rates of marital breakdown and teen pregnancy than other regions.
David Gibson via Patrol (via portraitoftheartistasayoungman)
I’m disappointed you’d propagate this. If there was any doubt about Hume’s sincerity toward Tiger and toward the gospel in his original statement (and I don’t think there was), his further discussion has definitely clarified it.
And the oft-cited polling about Christians being no different from everyone else? That’s only if you include people who call themselves Christians, not those who actually live it, attend church regularly, etc. Drill down to specifics, and the data looks way better than the rest of the culture.
Not that we’ve got it down, obviously.
