In spite of having it explained many times to him, Merle talks as though Christianity teaches that Christians are 'better than' non-Christians.
That isn't at all the point of the Gospel.
Uh, no you have not explained that many times. In fact, you have emphatically insisted that, after one has become a Christian, this causes him to become a better person. For instance:
It is the work of God, from first to last. As a result, they will do the things that mark them as his own. If they do not, they are demonstrating that they are not his own. Regeneration, Belief, Faith, Confession to God, Repentance, Obedience, Pursuing Christ, etc etc are results of the Spirit of God within the believer
So I am a little curious how you can say you have explained it many times that salvation does not cause one to become a better person.
On the surface, the unregenerate may be more honest, more consistent, more self-less, more sound-of-mind, more happy, more satisfied with life, even more pious, and even more prone to altruism. But in spite of the unregenerate's best efforts, every thing he does, is at the core, rotten. He is self-dependent, opposed to God and unable to submit to God's law. Many an unregenerate 'Christian' thinks himself to be submitting by his attendance to the rules, his conscience 'now defending, now convicting' him. But that isn't what God calls obedience.
Got it. Since I am not a believer, I am "unregenerate", at the core rotten, and unable to submit to laws against killing, stealing, or bearing false witness. But Christians are different.
But you are not saying Christians have become morally superior.
Huh?
The Gospel has God changing the core with new life.
As I described in the OP, Christians teach that the gospel changes them, and makes them become better people than non-Christians. But you say, "That isn't at all the point of the Gospel."
So do the saved become better than the unsaved or don't they?
Second, your description in your first two paragraphs (whether it is true that people have told you this or not) is full of what the Bible does not teach.
Got it. So when you said,
It is the work of God, from first to last. As a result, they will do the things that mark them as his own. If they do not, they are demonstrating that they are not his own. Regeneration, Belief, Faith, Confession to God, Repentance, Obedience, Pursuing Christ, etc etc are results of the Spirit of God within the believer.
this if full of what the Bible does not teach?
They say "...they just naturally do the right thing? ..it is not a problem for them??? Wow. As if!! Being born again does fundamentally change a person, and that will show on the exterior, but the judgement by even the changed person is not valid, compared to God's judgement, though they are told to examine themselves to see if they are in the faith.
As if being saved fundamentally changes a person! That's silly. Oh, and being saved fundamentally changes a person.
Wait, what?
The Bible uses that very term, "natural", to describe the unregenerate and 'the old man' within the regenerated person, and not to describe the born-again heart/mind.
Got it. Christians have become better than people like me, but they haven't become better than people like me.
Huh?
You also say that to consider ourselves as mere products of evolution is preferable —at least in theory; I assume by that you mean naturalism 'works for me'. "Works for me" is a temporary assessment, I hope you know.
"Works for the apostle Paul" is also a temporary assessment.
Lastly, I will quote your whole paragraph. "The healthy person sees the totality of what he is up against, and finds a way to moral success. The unhealthy person is bogged down with fixed moral absolutes, with disdain for one's own inner self, and with disdain for the inner selves of others. I choose instead the way to emotional health, the way that is free." How is anyone able to see the totality of what one is up against? Nobody has that ability.
Understood. Perhaps I should have said looks at the totality of what he is up against
as best he can. I was not saying people have infinite knowledge.
"Fixed moral absolutes" do not bog anyone down, unless one is committed to their opposite, or if one has false notions of what those moral absolutes are.
Read modern psychology. Fixed black and white thinking is not healthy.
