To The ex-Christian Who Rejects God

Recently I posted a reply to an atheist’s comment on a YouTube video. Though I had intended to quit wasting time trying to convince atheists that their presuppositions are illogical, this woman claimed she had been a Christian, but came to her senses and rejected the possibility of God’s existence because the God that Christianity professes wouldn’t practice such heartless things as genocide, as did the Old Testament God.
      I couldn’t restrain myself.
    Her reply asserted that she had been a “real” Christian, and that my critique of her presuppositions was unkind. My claim that atheism is a religion brought her spirited denial, and her claim that she rejected faith, and not just religion. She was very nice about calling me a bigoted Christian, though. So I’m posting this reply as an open letter to any atheists who were once “Real Christians.”

First, “Christian” is a generic term

      Labeling someone a Christian is like calling them a “Jew” or a “Muslim.” Despite the internal unity all religions claim, factions exist, often in the form of blood-feuds. Many atheists grab hold of that obvious phenomena as if they’ve uncovered some kind of religious conspiracy, then use that "insight" as support for their disbelief in God, or religion of any kind.
    Personally, I agree with many atheists’ observations about religion, though some of them are seriously exaggerated. No one should be too surprised, however, that atheists often can’t get their facts straight; adherents of all religions misrepresent all other religions’ beliefs and practices. Religious folks can’t see their lies as being sinful, because, after all, those people don’t have the truth.

Second, God is not a Religion

      He’s not a faith of any kind. Denying or rejecting faith is a personal decision that has no effect on God. He/She/It (that’s a discussion for another time) doesn’t wring His hands when someone decides He doesn’t exist; nothing surprises Him.

Third, God Doesn’t Change

      The God who wreaked havoc in the Old Testament is the same One who sent His Son Jesus, the Word incarnate, to the cross with our sin-guilt on His shoulders. Neither does God change His mind. For example, a loving parent might react to their child’s stinking attitude with, “I swear, I’m going to skin you alive!” (Raise "skin" about an octave for effect) Does the parent mean that literally? Of course not; they simply hope to change their little brat’s behavior with a threat, thoughtless and overstated though it is. God, however, never reacts to our stinking attitudes. Rather, He responds, by telling us what will happen if we persist. Here again, though our rebellious course of action doesn’t surprise Him, He allows us to disobey Him because He is just, and never clobbers us because of what we will do.

Fourth, God is good

      “A good god wouldn’t punish his creation for doing only what comes naturally,” the atheist will say, and I couldn’t agree more. In a very real sense, God doesn’t “punish” us at all. Rather, He simply allows us to enjoy the consequences that He’s already promised for those who disobey Him, and for those who obey him.
    “A good god wouldn’t allow the innocent to suffer.” God “allows” two classes of “innocents” to suffer: Unborn babies, and small children, both of whom haven’t had an opportunity to reject their parents’, and thus God’s, authority. Does that make God unfair or evil? Hardly, as humanity’s blatant rejection of God’s authority removed, even for the truly innocent, the protective umbrella He promised for His obedient children. And it wasn’t just one little apple that caused all the fuss; His people Israel regularly rejected His authority by violating all of His laws and statutes, opening themselves, and us, up to the consequences He promised for those who disobey. That includes you and me.
    The good God didn’t condemn humanity to perdition without giving us an alternative.

The Alternative

      Everyone’s heard John 3:16. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” What follows is also true:

"For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God."
(John 3:17-21 ESV)

    By that one sacrificial act, God fulfilled all the laws He gave Israel, and all the prophesies He gave them predicting humanity’s coming Savior.

“I Don’t Need Any Savior!”

      As always, our good God will not force us to accept His requirements, even when the primary one is His Son Jesus. Neither will He force us to take nourishment if we prefer alcohol or drugs to healthful food and drink. The choice is ours, and He will never take it away from us.
    Fact is, we are all born self-addicts, and though the solution seems extreme, it’s the same as for alcohol or drug addicts: We must kick the habit, despite all its withdrawal symptoms, and replace what doesn’t work with what does. Jesus works, and he did all the hard work for us. How we respond is up to us.

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What’s Wrong With This Picture?

What are my odds of finding these three happy souls demonstrating for disarmament on the corner of Chicago’s South Federal and West 54th streets? After dark. On a Friday night.

Simple answer: ZERO, because I wouldn’t be there!

Or, what are the odds of these peacenicks removing all virus and malware protection from their Internet-connected computers? That too is most assuredly zero, because, as naive as they are, they know the Internet is a dangerous place to be stupid.

That begs the question: With the Internet simply reflecting humanity’s predatory nature, how can these good folks be cyber-smart while remaining socially stupid? Perhaps they’ve been spared the ordeal of actually meeting a two-legged predator. As Detective Monk would say, “It’s a jungle out there.”

I love peace more than most, but I also know that true peace in this world can be found only by trusting the Prince of Peace, the Lord Jesus Christ. And that’s the peace that defies human understanding. If only those three—and millions more like them—would realize that simplistic, human answers can never solve the eternal, spiritual problem. It’s the “S” word that such humanists shudder to utter: Sin.

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I Dreamt I Loved a Woman

I dreamt that a woman whom I’d long loved finally declared her love for me. The new, joyful intimacy of knowing and trusting her love only deepened as the dream progressed. The unprecedented, blissful happiness lingered into my wakeful consciousness, and even when I realized its cause existed only in my dream, gratitude consumed me for having experienced it. My dream’s memories are now fading, but the long-delayed kiss we shared is still fresh and pure.

How joyful my Savior must feel when one whom He has loved with all His infinite being finally declares her love for Him. Even though Christ chose her before time began and foreknew that she would one day choose to love Him, that relationship’s final consummation gives Him such elation that all the heavenly host rejoice with Him.

While we consummate our unique, earthly love for another through the marriage bed’s privilege, our divine Husband desires only our obedience as our act of love, and consummates that eternal love by filling us with His Holy Spirit. Though we obviously cannot conceive and give birth to physical baby Christs through His Spirit’s infilling, He calls upon us to confirm our calling and election(2 Peter 1:3-11) as His new creations(2 Corinthians 5:17 and Galatians 6:15), by bearing the fruit of His Spirit described in Galatians 5:16-25.

 

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Substitute Needed

Today’s Our Daily Bread is titled “No Substitute Needed,” and their point was that our heavenly Father is always available to hear and deal with our every need, and he never needs to call on a substitute prayer-answerer.

In fact, God did provide a substitute when it counted the most; my substitute, my stand-in, my scapegoat, my whipping boy, the Lord Jesus Christ, who took upon himself my sin’s guilt—all of it. I can never thank my Savior enough for the perfect love he demonstrated by taking my just punishment on Calvary’s cross, but I can show my gratitude in the one way that really counts, by obeying his two-fold commandment:

Matthew 22:35-40 ESV
(35)  And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him.
(36)  "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?"
(37)  And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
(38)  This is the great and first commandment.
(39)  And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
(40)  On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets."

Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. (Psalm 2:11)

Those who don’t know by experience just don’t get it. This picture of a horizontal machining center at work, in a way, sums up the fear of the Lord. You respect its power, its abilities, its productivity, but you never take it for granted.

 

 

 

Imagine letting some part of your body get in the way of these spinning chuck jaws. God can be your best friend, or your worst enemy. In the Bible, Galatians 6:7-8 tells us, Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit, will from the Spirit reap eternal life. Don’t mistake God’s love for gullibility.

Our Daily Bread—Praying Friends

I had to blog this edition of Our Daily Bread as it is a powerful message. We Christ-followers can’t be reminded too often about the value of intercessory prayer.

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Our Daily Bread -- Praying Friends by Anne Cetas

Technorati Tags: prayer,friends,Bible,Apostle Paul

March 9, 2013

READ: 1 Thessalonians 3:6-13

Brethren, pray for us. —1 Thessalonians 5:25

I met my friend Angie for lunch after having not seen her for several months. At the end of our time together, she pulled out a piece of paper with notes from our previous get-together. It was a list of my prayer requests she had been praying for since then. She went through each one and asked if God had answered yet or if there were any updates. And then we talked about her prayer requests. How encouraging to have a praying friend!

The apostle Paul had a praying relationship with the churches he served, including the one at Thessalonica. He thanked God for the faith, love, and hope of the people (1 Thess. 1:2-3). He longed to see them, and asked God “night and day” that he might be able to visit them again (3:10-11). He requested that the Lord would help them “increase and abound in love to one another and to all” (v.12). He also prayed that their hearts would be blameless before God (v.13). They must have been encouraged as they read about Paul’s concern and prayers for them. Paul knew too his own need for God’s presence and power and pleaded, “Brethren, pray for us” (5:25).

Loving Father, thank You for wanting us to talk with You. Teach us all to be praying friends. —Anne Cetas

I need the prayers of those I love
While traveling on life’s rugged way,
That I may true and faithful be,
And live for Jesus every day. —Vaughn

The best kind of friend is a praying friend.

“Christian”

Christianos means "Christ-follower." How the use of that word has changed since Luke first used it in Acts 11:26. Now it is largely a generic term for anyone associated, however loosely, with the religion of that name. Far be it from any "Christian" to suffer for that name today, as we have become a religious country-club rather than extensions of God's power for salvation.

That is exactly why Christians have historically suffered for Christ’s name; the world doesn’t want to be saved, and would rather kill anyone who stands between them and perdition.

Would I be willing to suffer or die for Christ’s Name? I’d like to think so, but as I’ve seldom even been ridiculed for it, I honestly don’t know. Personally, I’d prefer to avoid even viewing pictures depicting Christians suffering and dying for their Lord, but that’s a preference of my residual fleshly nature, which, I pray, my Savior will eventually eradicate as He continues my sanctification. If that process takes me toward torture and death, I pray for His Holy Spirit to uphold me through it.

One thing I know with certainty: God is faithful.

 

 

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But It’s Not …

Here’s an interesting experiment akin to Pavlov’s dogs: During a conversation with a young person—defined as anyone under thirty, or maybe sixty, years old—mention one of these trigger words: Church; God(not in a profane sense); Jesus(again, not profanely); Christ(Get it now?); Grace; Salvation; Forgiveness; or worse, Abstinence. Observe the subject’s facial expression and body language. If the subject exhibits eye-rolling, squinting or shifting eyes as if searching for an escape route, a frown, condescending smile or screwed-up mouth, crosses his or her arms or leans back slightly, she/he/it is skeptical about anything vaguely religious-sounding.

Invite said young person to church, and the first words you’ll probably hear are, “But it’s not fun!” or “But it’s boring!” Which are the same thing. Add to that invitation the fact that they can’t take their iPod with them, and the reaction may reach critical mass.

Observing a reaction isn’t the same as understanding it or knowing what you can do about it. It’s as if the subject demographic has a severe aversion to things like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Actually, I doubt mild stuff like love and joy stimulate such hostility; the problem is with the expectation words, as if they translate to rules designed to spoil your good time. So, let’s briefly explore what those other words imply.

The Non-Rules

Peace isn’t passivity. It’s not about wearing boring, old-fashioned clothes, or about not wearing makeup or spiked hair. It’s not total withdrawal from stuff that gives you that adrenalin rush.  Peace is feeling at ease with other people, including God, and loving them because God does, even though they don’t deserve it. It’s looking for the best in others, rather than letting their faults get under your skin—I mean, everybody’s got faults, right? And peace is loving yourself, because Jesus loved the imperfect you, enough give his perfect life to buy you back from that scuzzbag Satan, who owned you lock, stock, and barrel. In other words, peace isn’t just a lack of conflict; it’s the quality that delivers you from conflict.

Patience can be problematic, as it’s one of the hardest character traits to get right. But that doesn’t mean having it isn’t worth the hard work of getting it. For one thing, patience leads to peace. You don’t like it when people are impatient with you, right? So how can you justify jumping all over others when they aren’t quick enough. Lots of people are naturally slow—I was born slow—and aren’t trying to exasperate you. Give ‘em a break, even if you are quicker than they are.

Kindness is kinda old-fashioned in this day of attitude. Somebody torpedoes you in the hallway and your armload of books and papers goes all over the place. You don’t expect anybody to stop and help you pick them up so you won’t be late for class, but when that rare, kind person pitches in, you really appreciate it. That kind person helped you, not because he had to, ‘cause you wouldn’t have known that he hadn’t. He did it because he wanted to, just like Jesus wanted to die for your sin. You can’t die to take away anybody’s sin, but you can lend a needed hand.

Goodness isn’t necessarily the opposite of badness. Lots of bad people act good for a purpose, so they can feel good, or to get on your good side so they can use you. Goodness also means high or satisfying quality, such as good-quality clothing, food, or even high-tech toys. But mostly, goodness is integrity, or doing what’s right even when no authority figure is watching.

Faithfulness is keeping your word. An old-timey phrase goes, “My word is my bond,” which means it’s as good as money in the bank, completely trustworthy.

Gentleness is the way you treat people, even those you don’t like. It’s doing your best not to hurt them, like telling the truth in a non-hurtful way, rather than jabbing them with it like a knife.

Oh, the hardest is, of course, the last. Self-control means going against what you want to do or say or be, just because you want to do or say or be what’s best—not what will give you the most personal gratification.

Impossible!?

Well … sorta. All those great character traits are impossible without God’s Holy Spirit coming into your life to help you bear His spiritual fruit. Thing is, no one wants to be a barren vine, good only for burning in the slash pile. But without God’s Holy Spirit tilling your soul’s clumpy, dried-out soil, and pruning all the useless suckers from your branches, you will bear only shriveled, worm-eaten fruit.

Yes, Jesus died and rose from the dead to give you eternal life, but if you’re a true Christ-follower, you will be and have so much more.

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Eye-Rolling Tutorial

You already know about the best defense against anyone who makes a point you don’t like: Eye-rolling. I mean, it’s not as strenuous as log rolling, or as stressful as trying to come up with a reasonable argument.

Eye-rolling tells your attacker that, in the grand scheme of things, they are unimportant, and the point they are making is absurd, insipid, and downright stupid, without even saying a word. But to truly cut off discussion, you need to know eye-rolling’s finer points.

First, know that eye-rolling conveys a similar message to the almost-stifled yawn, but choosing the correct gesture is vitally important. Executing an ER when the correct move would be an ASY might either fuel a fire you really don’t want to ignite, or fail to make the non-point you were trying to make … or not make … whatever! Did you catch that clever insertion? “Whatever!” is exactly the point you wanted to not-make.

Consider the photograph to the right: The girl is making two glaring eye-rolling errors: First, her rueful smile is too understated. Second, looking straight up may indicate she is praying for divine help toward enduring the situation, but that in itself is admitting someone has authority over her.

 

The next example, though of a younger eye-roller, shows a natural gift for showing disdain. Even in this still photo, one can discern the practiced unsubtlety, the implied cry for help, without admitting any authority over herself.

And our third example in this lesson shows the Mistress of Disdain, so well practiced on her whipped husband that even the elite, mainstream media is captured by her mastery. Study her example well, and you too may one day enter the rarified heights of the truly gifted intimidators.

 

Technorati Tags: rebellion,intimidation,disdain,whatever,Michelle,Obama

Why Revival Tents?

That’s an easy one.

Glad songs of salvation are in the tents of the righteous: “The right hand of the LORD does valiantly.”
(Psalms 118:15 ESV)

So, another question: Why do “revivals” have so little effect on culture, both popular and religious?

That’s another easy one. The word “revival” no longer means lighting God’s holy fire under the church, as it once did. Nowadays, Christian pew-sitters may invite their unsaved friends to glitzy Revival Crusades so they’ll “get saved,” while said pew-sitters take their prayer-warrior’s places next to their heathen friends to pray them into conviction and a trip down the sawdust trail.

Problem is, the Christians are so busy praying for their heathen friends that they fail to apply the message to themselves. Sure, they’re saved, but they’re also spiritually drowning in pop-culture and entertainment, too busy to allow God’s Word to wash their minds and hearts of all the cr … I mean, garbage … that prevents God’s holiness from shining through them as the bright beacon its supposed to be.

Not even God can “revive” what was never alive, as that’s not what the word means. But he does give life to the spiritually dead … as I was once … and restoration to those who are dying on the vine, if they really want it.

Bottom line? The church needs revival to do the work to which God called us. Pray for true revival, then be the first to show God’s YES.

 

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