13. It works!

"Whatever Works" was the title of a Woody Allen Movie. Like many a movie in recent years its theme was for us to not get so hung up on Judeo-Christian values – we should just live with "whatever works", no matter how unusual or perverted.

So am I to follow the current trends in thinking and give up on a Christian world view for whatever works? Well Christianity works! I have found over many years (25 years in fact) that living a Christian life works! So here is the nub of the problem: what if one of those "whatever" ways to live actually says there are absolute values? Our society is all for tolerance and accepting any view:  "There are no absolutes except the absolute that there are no absolutes!" There is an obvious problem there – nobody can live without absolutes. All views cannot be valid because there is at least one view that says there is only one basis on which to live rightly (though it can look very different for different people).

Recently, I have been asking a number of people about why they are a Christian and how confident they are that they are right. People gave a diversity of answers. Many referred to the historical evidence for Jesus. Quite a number said that their questions and doubts they initially had diminished over time as they saw first hand the Christian view "working". Many referred to the lifestyle and the answered prayers among other things.

Living a life of Christian virtues is a happier way to live: love, joy peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, self-control. Do we really won't those with whom we are in bed and those with whom we are in business to live by "whatever works"? Would we prefer if they upheld honesty, truth, faithfulness? Dishonesty and unfaithfulness may "work" very well. We may never know that large quantities of our money was skimmed off the profits illegally. But hey, if it worked for the other guy, then why should we worry?

I think Christianity really does work, rather than "whatever works" which doesn't.