Why Not A Christian?

By: Helen L. Morse

  1. I expect to be sometime.—“Choose ye this day who ye will serve.” Josh. 24:15. “Boast not thyself of to-morrow.” Prov. 27:1.
  2. I cannot give up the world.—“The world passeth away, and the lust thereof; but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.” 1John2:17; also 1Peter 1:24 25; James 4:4, 14; 1Cor. 7:31
  3. It will interfere with my worldly success.— “What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul.? Mark 8:36
  4. I know nothing about the future, and am willing to meet it.—“God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing. whether it be good, or whether it be evil.” Eccl. 12:14; also Heb. 10:31; 9:37; 2Cor. 5:10; Matt. 12:36; Gal. 6:7
  5. It is too hard to serve God.—“My yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matt. 11:28-30
  6. I am ashamed to confess Christ.—“Whosoever shall be ashamed of me,… of him shall the Son of man be ashamed.” Luke 9:26; also Mark 8:38; Matt. 10:33; Rom. 1:16; 2Tim. 2:12.
  7. Among so many sects, all professing to take their creeds from the Bible, how can I tell which is the right way?—“I am the way, the truth, and the life.” John 14:6. “Search the Scriptures.” John 5:39; also Isa. 8:20; Eccl. 12:13.
  8. Christians do not live up to their profession; I am as good as they.—“Every one of us shall give account of himself to God.” Rom. 14:12; also 2 Cor. 5:17
  9. I have tried, and have become discouraged. —“Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings.” Jer. 3:22. “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow.” Isa. 1:18. “Whosoever will.” Rev. 22:17; also Luke 15:20; 1:37.
  10. That those who urge the forgoing or other objections to the service of God, may be led to examine themselves in the light of his word (“For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged,” 1Cor. 11:31, 32) is the prayer of the writer.

The Advent Review And Sabbath Herald Oct. 17, 1882