They're bold!  They're Brazen!  They're preposterous!  They have nerves of steel!  Their claims are wildly speculative, ... fantastic!  Beyond the realm of imagination.  They are,...

The Bold.  The Brazen.  The Preposterous!

Let's face it... If you name yourself among the disciples of Christ, you are choosing a road that will inevitably lead to ridicule, criticism, insults, and, eventually... one day... hopefully not too soon... persecution and harm.  The Lord promises it for all who dare follow Him.

You have no proof to offer.  You have no "intellectual arguments".  In the face of a progressively intellectually dishonest population, your fallback is only "blind faith".  Yes... the very thing that our minds reel against; being considered a simplistic, non-"intellectual", ie, stupid "mere believer with blind faith"... that's your only recourse.

What did you think it might mean when Paul warned that we are to be "counted as fools for the name of Christ?"

We face a population ever more eager and willing to simply ridicule, and ever less willing to reason honestly.  I never really felt as though I understood what Jesus was facing in the presence of the Jewish councils and courts of men.  But I'm starting to understand it now.

Each passing day, I get more and more examples of the real depths to which people are willing (yes, willing) to sink in order to continue their godless lives free of any charge of conscience.

And then, here we come.  And what do we have to offer?  Help for the poor?  A casual reply of "The poor you will always have, you will not always have me."  Relief of suffering and oppression in the world?  "I say that unless you repent, you will ALL likewise perish!" Relief from wars?  "Think not that I have come to bring peace to the world.  I come to cause division..."

And it's not like "religion" is lost in the world.  In fact, I'd say, religion has never been more popular.

And then... there are the disciples of Jesus Christ.  Beaten.  Defeated.  Beset on all sides.  If any group of people looked more defeated right now, it is the true Christians.  having no political power.  Having no worldly power.  being pretty much at the disposal of worldly governments for a long time, we now find ourselves even at the disposal of our neighbour.

And what is our defense?  Are we empowered to win intellectual arguments in the esteemed halls of academia?  No.  In truth, they are not "intellectual" arguments at all.  We are faced with our own "blind faith" up against their own "blind faith".  Except they now outnumber us thousands to one.

What do they have to offer?  The comfort of like company.

And what do we have to offer?

"Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish."

As a Christian, we face the criticism of a world who looks at us and says "you are no different than me".  And you know what?  They are absolutely right!

I am no different.  Christians seem to see the need to point out how everyone else is a sinner, and yet, if they are honest with themselves, they know that they are every bit as much the sinner as the worst the world has to offer!

So what makes us different?

We claim the name of Christ and hold out faith in Him; not in ourselves.

It's much more than it sounds.  Actually believing, and trusting Him is far more difficult than you might imagine in the face of the world's criticism.  Actually emptying yourself of ALL self-trust, ALL self-worth, and ALL hope is a much easier thing to say than to do.

So, when the world says "You are no different than me, why is your way better than mine?..."

My answer is simple.  I say with 100% assurance, "I am saved", because He has promised he is able to save to the uttermost, and I have absolutely no doubt whatsover about His ability to do it. 

None 

Our claim is preposterous.  It's brazen.  We claim that evil sinners that we are, yet we are saved because of something HE does.  Not something WE do.