Many have been following the story of Abdul Rahman, the Afghan man on trial for his recent conversion to Christianity. Reinforcing the concept that Islam is in fact a “religion of peace,” many clerics are calling for Rahman to be put to death for his conversion.

It has recently been reported that Rahman’s case has been dismissed and that he has been transferred to a maximum security prison while he awaits further decisions. Both the ABC and MSNBC use the same terminology, stating that he will soon be released due to “a lack of evidence”.

I do not know Rahman, there are deep international politic tensions here and many factors mitigating his release and he has apparently begged for a Bible, so I am not here necessarily speaking of Rahman, but that phrase “a lack of evidence” has deeply troubled me since I read it and I’m thinking aloud more about the concept than anyone in particular. Could there be a true conversion to Christianity with “a lack of evidence” to prove it?

How convicting it is that such language can be used when discussing salvation. This is indeed a call to introspection. If I were placed on trial for Christianity, would there be sufficient evidence to convict me? I certainly hope so, but oh how deeply I feel those words “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate” (Romans 7:15) and “I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing (Romans 7:18-19).

To complicate matters, modern Americans live in a “low commitment” culture. We present religion as something akin to an outfit. Try it on, wear it around for a bit, but as soon as it begins to chaff, take it off for something else. American Christians sacrifice little for our faith, which makes the false professors even more convenient. While many rejoice in the fact that postmodernism “gives us a place at the table”, it robs our place of any significance and we become one choice among many rather than the only hope of life from death. Christianity ought to be urgent, and too often in America, it is anything but.
What would happen if (we we slowly seem to be) we lost our “religious freedom”? How many modern American professing Christians would be convicted and how many would be excused for “a lack of evidence”? The claim that the Gospel makes on our lives is not simple and it is not light. It requires all; our every allegiance, our every thought, love, passion and desire. To pursue anything above Christ is idolatry.

Too many churches have aided in handing out false assurance. While Dr. Yarnell of Southwestern Seminary chides those not giving altar calls, I respond that too many “altar calls” have produced assurance where there ought to be none. We’ve produced a generation of people who point to a one-time event as their assurance rather than a life devoted to Christ. Within the Southern Baptist Convention alone, there are 10,263,205 names on rolls who have gone missing. Ten million names on church rosters; church “members” who don’t set foot in church! More people are missing from the SBC than are present.

How have we come to this point of low-cost commitment and false assurance? The answer seems, at least in part to be that, at least in America, many “churches” don’t understand the Gospel because they don’t understand sin. Christianity is not about Your Best Life Now, it’s about salvation by God from God. Do you believe that “it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31)? Do you sense the urgency of the command “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:2)? Sadly, many churches, and many professing believers lack any sense of urgency because they have no sense of the Gospel because they have not sense of sin.

Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron in one of their Way of the Master DVD’s give the following analogy. Imagine two passengers on an airplane. The stewardess brings them each a parachute and tells them to put it on, but she tells them each two very different things. To the first she says “Put on this parachute because it will give you Your Best Flight Now, it will enhance your flying experience”. But, he begins to be crowded by his neighbors and a hot cup of coffee is spilled in his lap, the parachute begins to poke him in the neck and soon, he rips it off and throws it to the ground because it did anything but enhance his flying experience. The stewardess tells the second passenger “Put this on because you have to jump out of this plane and it is your only hope.” This man will willingly endure the lack of comfort because he knows that without the parachute he will die. Friend, without Christ, we die.

The fact that the mainstream media can speak of a “lack of evidence” regarding a conversion to Christianity serves as a stinging rebuke to us all. May God raise up a generation that overflows with “evidence” because we overflow with the Gospel.

• Read ABC’s coverage.
• Read MSNBC’s coverage.