Being raised as a good Lutheran, I was told that the only way you can accept God is through the Holy Spirit. He enables you to embrace God... because. It was never really explained to me why this matters.
One thing I can't help but notice is how certain regions seem to be more predisposed to have a certain religion. Sure, there will be people of different religions all over the place, and cultural hubs and large cities will have lots of diversity, but the region on average will be one religion. Now, we know this is mostly because it's how the people were raised and it's what their culture reinforces.
So, the Holy Spirit must be really lazy or otherwise ineffective, since it consistently has trouble overcoming predictable demographics. Does it just not spend as much time in northern Africa, the Middle East, and part of Asia as it does in Europe and the Americas? Why does it have such a hard time? Do those people have "hard hearts" or something? At the end of the day, it seems really unfair to judge a person raised in a Christian country the same as you'd judge someone who was raised from a child to believe that Allah is the one true god while living in a country where apostasy is a capital offense. How is that second person supposed to receive the message in any way that is compelling and not simply dismissed as "a trick from Iblis"?
Whatever it is, the Holy Spirit is having a demonstrably harder time overcoming upbringing and culture.
On a related note, if the Holy Spirit is necessary for this, why did Jesus and the disciples perform all those miracles? The Bible states more than once that they performed miracles so that people would believe:
John 4:48
Mark 16:20
So, which is it? The Holy Spirit alone, or do we need signs and wonders to believe? If it's the former, why all the miracles? If it's the latter, why did all the miracles suddenly stop? The only "miracles" we see now are just random personal experiences people have that feel miraculous (surviving cancer or seeing their baby for the first time), which are... a far cry from walking on water and transmutation.
One thing I can't help but notice is how certain regions seem to be more predisposed to have a certain religion. Sure, there will be people of different religions all over the place, and cultural hubs and large cities will have lots of diversity, but the region on average will be one religion. Now, we know this is mostly because it's how the people were raised and it's what their culture reinforces.
So, the Holy Spirit must be really lazy or otherwise ineffective, since it consistently has trouble overcoming predictable demographics. Does it just not spend as much time in northern Africa, the Middle East, and part of Asia as it does in Europe and the Americas? Why does it have such a hard time? Do those people have "hard hearts" or something? At the end of the day, it seems really unfair to judge a person raised in a Christian country the same as you'd judge someone who was raised from a child to believe that Allah is the one true god while living in a country where apostasy is a capital offense. How is that second person supposed to receive the message in any way that is compelling and not simply dismissed as "a trick from Iblis"?
Whatever it is, the Holy Spirit is having a demonstrably harder time overcoming upbringing and culture.
On a related note, if the Holy Spirit is necessary for this, why did Jesus and the disciples perform all those miracles? The Bible states more than once that they performed miracles so that people would believe:
John 4:48
Quote:48 So Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see [a]signs and wonders, you simply will not believe.
Mark 16:20
Quote:20 And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.
So, which is it? The Holy Spirit alone, or do we need signs and wonders to believe? If it's the former, why all the miracles? If it's the latter, why did all the miracles suddenly stop? The only "miracles" we see now are just random personal experiences people have that feel miraculous (surviving cancer or seeing their baby for the first time), which are... a far cry from walking on water and transmutation.
