[ul][li]To some it is called Blind Faith. [/li]James Kavanaugh called it Mental Suicide.[/ul]
Oh, and about understanding God.
Leslie Weatherhead said that from his study he had a view of the English Channel. He could walk down and dip a glass into the water and take that sample home and study it. He could find out several things: it is water, it is wet, it contains minerals, etc. However in truth he could find out very little about the English Channel in that manner. That is about all we are ever going to know about God, but we should continue to discover all we can.
[sup]Fairness dictates that I mention Rev. Weatherhead was a Methodist.[/sup]
The curious thing about the Christian God is his forgiveness does include everything, including far worse things than not reading the Bible. However, in my opinion, someone who claims to be a Christian without doing even the most basic reading is foolish at best.
Here are some questions for your friend’s sister:
[ul][li]Why don’t you read the Bible? (I suspect her answer may be something along the lines of “It’s boring.”)[/li][li]Do you believe reading the Bible is necessary for Christians?[/li][li]If not the Bible, where does your faith come from?[/li][li]Why do you believe the things you believe?[/li][li]In this world, you are going to come across people who attack you for your beliefs. How will you defend them?[/li][li]If she says she’s a Christian or she believes things because so-and-so tells her (I don’t know how likely this is), ask her how she can be sure he’s accurately reporting God’s word. [/li][li]If she doesn’t read the Bible because the language of the King James Version is difficult to read and understand, and it can be, ask her how she’d feel about using a different version, or even a study guide. [/li][/ul]
I’m not a Fundamentalist Christian, and I don’t know much about them, although I’m learning more the longer I hang around this message board. I’m sure she won’t take kindly to your telling her that her refusal to learn even the basics about the Bible is doing a disservice to Christianity, any more than I would take kindly to someone telling me arguing about Christianity here is doing a disservice to it. The fact that I believe the latter and not the former is irrelevant – she may believe the opposite.
In Christianity, all that’s required to get into heaven is to accept Christ as one’s Saviour, foolish and Pascal-ish as that seems. On the other hand, until that happens, we are called on to serve God and try to learn and do his will. How can you learn something if you won’t even crack open a textbook?
Good luck,
CJ