Changing your mind Luke 11:29-36
Why do people find it so hard to become Christians when there is so much evidence that it is true?
There is evidence from science that there has to have been a mind behind our creation. Who set the constants of the universe? Who designed the DNA system and code? How is it that our earth has exactly right properties that enable man to live on it? There is the evidence about Jesus and his life, teaching, miracles, his death and resurrection. There are the many Old Testament prophecies that are fulfilled in him. What changed those early disciples so radically that they turned the world upside down within a generation? Philosophically we know that if our arguments start with man we have nothing certain to live for or by but if we start with God we can find coherent answers. Furthermore all humans have inherent spiritual instincts. We instinctively recognise that love, kindness, honesty, beauty and duty are real values although they cannot be proved. If we came accidentally from primordial soup, such values are artificial but if we are created in the image of God they can be explained and are real. However in spite of such evidence, and there is much more than this, few people want to become Christians.
David McRaney, a psychologist, has written a fascinating book, ‘How Minds Change: The Surprising Science of Belief, Opinion, and Persuasion’. In this book he argues that people’s beliefs, whether political, economic or religious are seldom based on a cold evaluation of the facts, rather they are formed from the tribe we come from or the society we surround ourselves with. It seems that we are biologically hard-wired to keep believing whatever we already believe. He feels that facts rarely change people’s minds. He describes an experiment where they put E.E.G electrodes on people’s heads before they became engaged in a political discussion. When the arguments were going strongly against them they wouldn’t change their minds, they just mentally clammed up and stopped listening.
It seems we are biologically wired up to keep believing what we already believe. Yet the Christian gospel calls on people to change their minds radically. ‘Repent’ literally means to ‘re-think’, to rethink the direction of our lives. The Greek word for ‘repent’ is metanoia which literally means ‘a change of mind’.
What more is needed that will persuade people to recognise the significance of Jesus Christ so that lives are permanently changed? Will it be spell-binding rhetoric in our pulpits, the ambiance of packed meetings or even irrefutable apologetics, a brilliant disclosure of the evidence that the message about Jesus is true. Even if such methods may have short-term effects Christian conversion is something much deeper – it is utterly life changing. Christian conversion is much more than hearing and agreeing, it is the doing that keeps on being done that matters. Jesus said,
“Blessed are those who hear the word of God and obey it.” Luke 11:28
What a disaster it is when people, who say they believe, live in ways that deny their so-called faith.
Jesus was quite willing to state publicly why many people would not believe in him, he says it is because we all have stubborn sinful hearts. What stops our faith is not a lack of facts or information.
“As the crowds increased, Jesus said, “This is a wicked generation. It asks for a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah. For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so also will the Son of Man be to this generation. The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with the people of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom; and now something greater than Solomon is here. The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and now something greater than Jonah is here.” Luke 11:29-32
The wicked will always want more evidence
In the original Greek the phrase, ‘It asks for a sign’ is in the present continuous tense so it literally means, ‘It keeps asking for a sign’. Up until this point in Luke’s record of the life of Jesus he has described some of the many miraculous signs that Jesus had performed. He had calmed the storm, showing he was Lord of the natural world, he had healed the deaf and lame, raised the dead and cast out demons, showing he was Lord over Satan. What more did his critics want. Even when he rose from the dead, as he had frequently foretold, many still would not believe in him.
Jesus encouraged people to look at the evidence supporting his claims, it is the abundance of this evidence that convinces us that his message is true. In John’s gospel there are three major sections where Jesus urges people to look at the evidence and these passages are worth studying (John 5:31-47, John 8:31-59 and John 10:22-42).
This crowd kept on asking for more and more evidence when the reality was standing there before them. How much evidence did they need? There is a Chinese proverb that says,
“Man stands long time with mouth wide open waiting for roast duck to fly in.”
The real reason they wouldn’t believe was because they recognised that faith would necessitate radical changes in lifestyle. It was their wickedness that controlled their thinking.
Aldous Huxley was an avowed atheist author who wrote the great twentieth century dystopian novel ‘Brave New World’. In his collection of essays, ‘Ends and Means’ he very honestly explained the rationale for his atheism.
““I had motives for not wanting the world to have a meaning; and consequently assumed that it had none, and was able without any difficulty to find satisfying reasons for this assumption. The philosopher who finds no meaning in the world is not concerned exclusively with a problem in pure metaphysics. He is also concerned to prove that there is no valid reason why he personally should not do as he wants to do. For myself, as no doubt for most of my friends, the philosophy of meaninglessness was essentially an instrument of liberation from a certain system of morality. We objected to the morality because it interfered with our sexual freedom. The supporters of this system claimed that it embodied the meaning - the Christian meaning, they insisted - of the world. There was one admirably simple method of confuting these people and justifying ourselves in our erotic revolt: we would deny that the world had any meaning whatever.”
Thomas Nagle, an American Professor of Law and Philosophy wrote a book in 1997 called, ‘The Last Word’. This is a philosophical defence of atheistic rationalism but it reveals that his motives are not basically rational. He wrote,
“I want atheism to be true and I am made uneasy by the fact that some of the most intelligent and well-informed people I know are religious believers. It isn’t just that I don’t believe in God, and naturally hope that I’m right in my belief. It is that I hope there is no God. I don’t want there to be a God. I don’t want the universe to be like that. My guess is that the cosmic authority problem is not a rare condition.”
This is precisely what Jesus said, it is our determination to live our lives as we want that controlled how we assess evidence. Aldous Huxley had an open marriage and many mistresses!
The Sign of Jonah
Here in Luke’s gospel the ‘Sign of Jonah’ was the fact that the evil city of Nineveh repented when they were challenged by Jonah’s preaching – they repented and turned back to God. In the British museum there are some carvings that portray the wickedness of the people of Nineveh. They would spear their enemies, chop off their legs, flay them alive and chop off their heads!
The Ninevites were certainly a pagan, cruel, and utterly evil people yet they could repent wholeheartedly at the message of judgment! Jesus says that these men of Nineveh will stand up at the final day of judgment and condemn the Jews for not believing in the need for repentance, for turning back to God.
Jesus frequently compares the behaviour of the Jews, God’s chosen people with that of outsiders and he then gave another example. If a foreigner, the Queen of Sheba, could recognise the wisdom of Solomon, could travel a very long way to ask him hard questions, could so learn about God, and could end up persuaded, then what is stopping the Jews, a more privileged people from discovering the truth. Sheba was the combined region of Yemen and Ethiopia so the journey would not be easy.
The message of Jesus remains the same today. Whatever our past anyone can start a new life as one of God’s people, empowered by His Spirit, to live lives for his glory. Jesus had already set his heart on going down to Jerusalem where he knew he would be arrested and killed by crucifixion. Yet he was determined to go through with all this so that he could be the Saviour of the world. He would be cut off from God so we could be reconciled with God – such love. He would rise from the dead to prove his claim to be the very Son of God.
We may not know everything but we all know enough especially about ourselves to know that we need to be forgiven by God if we are to have any future with him.
The light is not hidden
The wicked may claim that they do not have enough light to see the truth but Jesus rejects this claim.
“No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light. Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are healthy, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are unhealthy, your body also is full of darkness. See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness. Therefore, if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be just as full of light as when a lamp shines its light on you.” Luke 11:33-36
Jesus repeatedly claimed to be the light of the world that is not hidden.
To be in he dark is a miserable state to be in. We lack knowledge, we are outsiders, we cannot see the right way to go. When I was speaking at a student conference in Denmark the organisers decided to take us all on a late night walk through a local forest. It was totally pitch black, we couldn’t see anything. The only way to move forwards was to hold onto the clothes of the person in front of you. It was eerie and most disorientating. When the military want to break a captive it is common practice to place them in a pitch black cell as this tends to separate people from reality.
Jesus says that this is our natural spiritual condition. We are vulnerable and are liable to take wrong paths. This light of God is not just for the religious, he is available to all. This is why he is repeatedly described as ‘a light to the Gentiles’ (Isaiah 42:6, 49:6, Luke 2:32 and Acts 13:27). Jesus did what the Jews kept failing to do – to bring god’s light to all people.
The suggestion that Jesus was hiding his light is bizarre. He deliberately went to Jerusalem so everyone could know about him and his sacrificial death. What is necessary is for people to go to where that light is,
“. . . so that those who come in may see the light.” Luke 11:33
Culpability for not seeing the light remains on those who refuse to go to the light. Didn’t Jesus say,
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” Matthew 7:7-8
I have just been watching some videos on YouTube of blind people who have been able to see after modern surgery. The thrill on their faces was wonderful – they can see after living in the dark for years.
Why cannot everybody see how everything fits together in Jesus? The facts about him are clear. He explains why those innate instincts within all of us that life has a purpose, that there is right and wrong, that sin matters, that values such as honesty, courage and beauty are real. He gives those of us who are getting older both hope and security. It all makes sense but people do not want to see this.
At my medical school I had a friend who asked me why I was a Christian. We spent a long time going over the evidence that had convinced me and he had no answers to the arguments. However when I asked him whether he would be willing to commit himself to Christ he replied after a pause,
“No, I’m sorry , but I see that it would mean great changes to the way I enjoy living now.”
It was as if he had blinkers over his eyes, like a cart-horse and can only have a limited perspective.
The responsibility for seeking and obeying God’s truth is ours. Jesus said,
“Blessed are those who hear the word of God and obey it.” Luke 11:28
“See to it then to see that the light within you is not darkness.” Luke 11:35
If anyone wants to know whether what Jesus is saying about himself, they need to understand that the block is not in a lack of evidence about him, it is an unwillingness to obey what God has said. Elsewhere he said,
“Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out whether my teaching is of God.” John 7:17
What will persuade people about Jesus?
No matter how hard we try or how many arguments we present, ultimately only God can persuade a person that the Gospel is both true and for them. Jesus said, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him” (John 6:44). People are spiritually blind. I became a Christian because I saw that the Christians around me had something different about them that was admirable. They had a purpose and a morality that I instinctively knew to be right. It was the light in them that led me to look at their Jesus. Without seeing that difference, the arguments would have had much less impact.
This is why the most important thing we can do for our neighbours is to pray for them. Right now, they doesn’t believe there is any need to have their sins forgiven – and therefore they doesn’t believe they need Christ. They may think that they are relatively ‘good’ – but cannot see that in God’s eyes they are rebel’s against his rule. Pray that they will face up to their own spiritual emptiness, and that God will convict them of their self-righteousness and need for Christ. The Bible says the Holy Spirit “will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment” (John 16:8).
Christians need to ask God to help us be a witness to others by the way we live – including the way you react when things don’t go the way you wish they would. Anyone can be at peace when things are going well – but how do you react when things turn against you? The Bible says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness” (Galatians 5:22). It is these characteristics that make Jesus attractive and can lead them to respond to our invitations to investigate the truth of the claims of Christ, who alone can give hope for this life and the next.
Jesus wants all his people to be full of the light of the Spirit of Jesus in us. It is as if a spotlight is shining on us that others will see. Hidden sin in us will prevent this light shining. Jesus concluded,
“Therefore, if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be just as full of light as when a lamp shines its light on you.” Luke 11:33
A student wrote to his tutor,
“I’m not coming back next term. I’m taking time out to find myself. I feel I am the product of what my family, society and school want me to be, but I want to get to the core of my being and find myself.”
Such people seem to think they are like an onion and if only they can peel off the layers, the socially generated skins they will find themselves at the core. Such thinking suggests that all of us have a true self waiting to be found. This is not true self is something waiting to be created by what we commit ourselves to and live by.
This is why Jesus is both ‘the sign of Jonah’ and the ‘lamp of the body,’ he alone embodies both intellectual truth and can give us an experience of reality.
BVP
November 2022
This article is based on a talk given by Andy Palmer at Christchurch Balham
