Where Is Your Hope?
The first time I heard it was at a Word of Faith church when I was only a teen. The pastor said words to this effect about the Christian life: “Even if none of this were true, I would still live this way, because it works.” It makes sense that a promoter of the prosperity “gospel” would think this way. After all, the whole focus is on living the good life, with all its material blessings, now. But I heard it again a few years ago from an evangelical friend: “Even if I die and there is no God, I will be so thankful for the joy of having believed and for having enjoyed ‘Him’. . . I will not regret having believed even if I find out I was wrong.” This statement so disturbed me that I am still thinking about it four years later. Yes, there is the logical problem of thinking there will be any thinking at all, let alone any opportunity for evaluation and gratitude, after death if there is no God. But there’s a deeper problem. My friend’s statement suggests that knowing Christ and some