BONUS: Watch Your Minister, Pastor, or Priest

Marshall Brain states four marks that someone is a true Christian:

1. They pray quietly (Mt 6:5-8)
2. They live quietly (1 The 4:11-12)
3. They do not have wealth (Mt 6:19-21 and 19:21)
4. They are accompanied by signs and wonders (Mk 16:17-18)

Brain concludes that no minister lives by these, nor is accompanied by the appropriate signs and woders, therefore God is imaginary.

First, Matthew 6:5-8 was discussing praying for show. Earnest prayer, if prayed publicly by a minister, is reasonable to exclude from this proscription.

Second, this passage from 1 Thessolonians was addressed to average Joe Christian, not a pastor. The pastoral letters of 1 Timothy and Titus contain proscriptions for elders and deacons (and pastors by extension).

Next, we’ve touched on the wealth issue before. There is no conflict between accumulating wealth and being a Christian; Christ commands us to not depend upon that wealth.

Finally, those signs and wonders were given only to apostles, not to every Christian. We do not expect Christians, regardless of faith, to be able to drink poison or handle dealdly snakes.

The historical truth of the Resurrection of Jesus is the only thing that is necessary to prove Christianity. The ability of its members to adhere to every letter of the Bible is never part of the truth claims, nor any apologetic that I’m familiar with.