Understanding the TRUE and morally grounded God of Christianity

CNN has an article by John D. Sutter called, "Philosopher: Why we should ditch religion." In the article he draws comments from Sam Harris trying to make the case on why we should ditch religion. I will be examining some of the comments by Harris over the next couple of days. I watched the entire 20+ minute video presentation by Sam Harris on the TED web site. (There is a link to it in the link above if you want to see it.) Sam makes a passionate argument that we need to combat repression and pain wherever it exist and that we can determine what is morally right and wrong without the need for religion. Sam then goes on to point out problems with different religions around the world. The repression of women, the amount of energy being spent to combat gay marriage, the problem of the exploitation of women in a purely secular way. He sees these things as either wrong or a distraction from bigger issues like, "nuclear proliferation and genocide and poverty and the crisis in education," For the most part I would agree with Sam on many of these issues. Where Sam fails however is to point out a reasonable solution and moral basis on which we can make these kinds of decisions. Sam will always fail at this very point. The reason is that his decision making mechanism is driven largely by suffering and repression. Sam lumps all religion together and yet I would argue that the only answer to rationally deal with the issues of morality are found in the Christian God as revealed in the Bible. I would join Sam in arguing against repression of women in Islam. Why because women were created in the image of God just like men. I would also be able to argue against the exploitation of women in western society for the same reason. Unfortunately all too often people in the church are so busy defending their, "rights" and trying to shore up the, "Christian ghetto" that the world has given to them that they have failed to be salt and light to a world that is spiritually dead. Sam Harris along with many other atheist have taken their position largely on the outcomes that they see manifest in the lives of those who claim to follow God. We as a Christian community have failed terribly. When the divorce rate among the Christian community exceeds the rate in the world it is a sign of major failure. The failure is really a failure of our faith and teaching to really bring us to the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 12:1-2 calls us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. It is a call to seek the Scriptures and to seek God to understand what is good and acceptable and perfect. I fear that most churches are so busy trying to help shape scripture to meet the felt needs of the people that we fail to teach people how to study to show themselves approved unto God. Pastors/Elders should be intent on getting people to a place where they are coming to know and pursue a personal relationship with the God of the universe. This is transformative. This is the kind of thing that Sam Harris cannot begin to understand. I pray that some day God will have mercy on Sam and save his soul. Without God's revelation Sam will never understand. 1 Corinthians 2:14 says, "The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned." Yet when we look around at the proliferation of problems within the church it appears that many within the church who would call themselves Christians are in the same category as Sam. They do not accept the things of the spirit of God. Therefore they are not changed by that God to be discerning moral agents in the world. If people developed a God focused life centered on the true God of Christianity, the Lord Jesus, several things would happen. We would have more people compassionately being salt and light. We would have more lives changed by Jesus. We would naturally be addressing issues like genocide, poverty and education. (Nuclear proliferation is an issue of the state. However, the state would be influenced by a greater number of God focused Christians.) Christians living a God focused life would have an answer for the Sam Harris's of the world. The answer is God and His power to transform.