So, I decided to let my friends ask me. One person did take me up on my offer and here's the question:
Why won't you accept Christ into your heart?
And here was my reply. Not really the best answer I could give given the time I had available, but it is a good enough summary of my outlook on life:
I probably already have, at least a good chunk of the stuff he represents as a model of what is decent human behavior.
I am just extremely hard pressed to believe the theological mythos surrounding Christ. It does not even matter to me if he was real. The time lapsed between his death and when the gospels first appeared seem, however, highly suspect. The evidence is also scant that the authors really were who they claimed to be. The fact that many other texts claiming to represent Christ's teachings did not make the bible also makes the modern accepted canon, well, dubious.
More importantly, I do not need Christ in my heart (I choose to stick with the established metaphor ... the truth is probably closer to some part of the brain governing emotion and dealing with the unknown/contradictions) to derive any meaning from my existence. If nothing goes wrong, I have approximately 30 years remaining. I would rather spend this time be spent being a source of comfort to my friends and the ones I love; being useful to humanity's continued existence; and allowing our fellow living creatures on Earth a chance to succeed if we are to falter. In the unlikely chance that Earth really is the only (or earliest) place to harbor life in the Universe, then I believe it is essential for us to learn to leave our cradle and to spread life elsewhere before Earth inevitably fails to be a suitable home.
