Facing the Morally Bad Future

[FallentoReason]

Personally, were I to encounter a long-time "Christian" friend who no longer believed in God, my first thought would be to wonder whether they were ever truly a Christian at all.

I'm not surprised. The quicker you can justify the No True Scotsman fallacy, the safer one feels about one's faith. That's how I felt every time I heard of well known people leaving the faith. Such people included Bart Ehrman.

The Church is populated with all kinds of people that read their Bibles, attend church, and even teach Sunday school that aren't genuine regenerate believers.

Would a genuine believer do these things(?):

Being a member of the worship team at church, being a member of a Christian-only band with aspirations to make it big, missionary work, dreams to start a family that lives for God, bible study group member, 'life group' member... every last detail about me relies on the Bible.

However, there is no way that I or anyone else would be able to argue that person back into the Kingdom.

There is so much you can do. Take Drich as an example. He has stated that he's here to clear up any misconceptions about Christianity. That would go a long way to turn someone around and make it easier for them to have faith again.

...if you are determined not to believe in God, there is very little that anyone can do, no matter how well intentioned they might be.

I know this is the last thing you want to hear, but I don't have an agenda. My belief in God would be a choice not based on what I want to be true. I'm a free thinker. Show me why scripture is reliable and I'll have no choice but to accept that as truth. This is my only intention in life; to get a hold of what's true.

Someone who is more interested in the truth than anything else might be able to come to some useful conclusions, but typically, human beings don't like the truth.

Again, I know you don't want to hear this, but I was only after the truth when I began searching for answers to questions that church wasn't providing. And yes, you're right, we don't like the truth, but that cuts both ways doesn't it? Do you think I converted overnight after finding an 'excuse' to 'finally' have to stop believing? I was training myself up to be an apologist and I was defending the faith across all frontiers. I wasn't going to give up on the truth at all because it was my life, it IS my life (hence this thread).

They'd rather conform the truth to their own predispositions than conform their own views and attitudes to the truth.

Does it seem like someone in my position has done that? I had everything to lose by doing research and knowing for myself what's true. God was my source of life.