People cannot be argued into the Kingdom of God. What do I mean by this? It’s not by any human reasoning, or rhetoric that people come to find faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior. It is by the grace and power of the Holy Spirit alone that can soften the heart of a person to the point of humility; to the point of seeing and embracing the need for Jesus.
This doesn’t mean, however, that there is no room for logic in the Christian faith. In fact, logic and reason plays a crucial role in the Christian life. After all, Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. John refers to Jesus as the _logos_ (translated “word”), which in Greek is the unifying principle of reason and understanding that holds the entire created order together (Jn 1:1). Furthermore, God created human beings with the gift of logic and reason. Reason is an integral part of the image of God gifted to humanity. The heightened ability to reason is what sets humanity apart. It is the single most important tool needed to navigate the complexities of life. Without it, we cannot know God in the capacity that he intended for us.
At the same time sin has corrupted human thoughts and thought patterns.
Our thoughts are intricately linked to our experiences, and our emotions. There is a certain continuity that flows in-and-out of each of these. At the same time, the inherited human problem of pride infects the center of human existence to then work its way into all the various dimensions of human life, such as logic and emotions. Pride is the filthy film caked on the eyes of the human heart that perverts the way we perceive, process, and make decisions. In order for our full capacity to think to be realized, we have to look our sin dead in the face and be reconciled to God. This takes lots of courage. The Holy Spirit helps.
If someone were to reason their way into the Kingdom of God in the absence of the conviction of sin, then they would be in it for themselves, having a “What can I gain from this?” attitude. This is in contradiction to what it means to be a Christian. We only enter the Kingdom with the desperate desire and passion to leave our old selves behind; to become a new creation. To lose the old life marked by the sickness of sin in order to gain a life that is poured out for God.
This means that that the point of entry to the Kingdom of God is conviction of sin. Humility.
Until we humble ourselves, until we deal with the problem of pride and rebellion against God, the disease of sin will continue to wreak havoc on every one of these dimensions of our lives.
This is why we desperately need grace. This is why it is only the life-giving work of the death of Jesus on the cross.
