Posted on 11/28/2006 9:53:53 PM PST by Mr. Silverback
Perhaps you’ve noticed a chill in the air this autumn. No, I’m not talking about the weather. Maybe you shared with a colleague your religious convictions, and in return, you received a look that would blow the leaves off a tree.
It doesn’t take a meteorologist to read the forecast. A quick glance at the New York Times’s bestseller list will do. High on the list is Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris. One reader describes the book as “a wonderful source of ammunition for those who, like me, hold to no religious doctrine.” Another reader jubilantly gushes, reading the book “was like sitting ring side, cheering the champion, yelling ‘Yes!’ at every jab.” The barrel of the gun and the sting of the fist, however, are aimed directly at Christians.
Further down the list of pugilistic bestsellers is Richard Dawkins’s The God Delusion, weighing in at 416 pages of hot air. Even Publishers Weekly rightly cautions readers, “For a scientist who criticizes religion for its intolerance, Dawkins has written a surprisingly intolerant book, full of scorn for religion and those who believe.” Publishers Weekly continues: “While Dawkins can be witty, even confirmed atheists who agree with his advocacy of science and vigorous rationalism may have trouble stomaching some of the rhetoric: [According to Dawkins] the biblical Yahweh is ‘psychotic,’ Aquinas’s proofs of God’s existence are ‘fatuous’ and religion generally is ‘nonsense.’”
In a recent interview with Wired News, Dawkins said, “At some point there is going to be enough pressure that it is just going to be too embarrassing to believe in God.” Certainly if books like The God Delusion succeed in heaping “fatuous,” “delusional,” and “nonsensical” epithets on believers, some Christians will choose to remain silent rather than face derision.
But it’s not simply the streams of the book market that are swollen with icy scorn for Christians. Recently the New York Times ran a week-long series on church and state. With titles like, “Where Faith Abides Employees Have Few Rights,” and “As Exemptions Grow Religion Outweighs Regulation,” there’s little doubt that Christians are in for a season of harsh criticism, if not outright scorn. So how ought we to prepare ourselves for what may be a long winter of cultural disdain?
First of all, the situation isn’t new, and neither is the answer. The Apostle Paul, a former Christ-scoffer, responded to pressures of his day by reaffirming: “I am not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the power of God for all those who believe: first for the Jew, and then for the Gentile” (Romans 1:16). In 1 Peter 2:15, a favorite verse of mine, Peter instructed us to silence the ignorant talk of foolish men by doing good.
The truth of the matter is that the ones heaping derision on Christians are probably the ones who most need our prayers. So, in the end, maybe the best way to prepare for this cold front is by fanning the coal of our own devotion to Christ through good works. If our lives are aflame with care for the least, the last, and the lost, the kind of thing we do here at Prison Fellowship, perhaps even the coldest hearts will thaw.
And don’t let this anti-Christian barrage intimidate you. Just keep making the case for a Biblical worldview ever more winsomely. And if you need worldview materials, visit us here at our website.
There are links to further information at the source document.
If anyone wants on or off my Chuck Colson/BreakPoint Ping List, please notify me here or by freepmail.
BreakPoint/Chuck Colson Ping!
If anyone wants on or off my Chuck Colson/BreakPoint Ping List, please notify me here or by freepmail.
bump.
"The truth of the matter is that the ones heaping derision on Christians are probably the ones who most need our prayers. So, in the end, maybe the best way to prepare for this cold front is by fanning the coal of our own devotion to Christ through good works. If our lives are aflame with care for the least, the last, and the lost, the kind of thing we do here at Prison Fellowship, perhaps even the coldest hearts will thaw."
Chuck Colson reaches out with such grace and compassion. His attitude serves as a good reminder to all Christians.
Yep. It humbles me.
I confess that I used to be one of those people, and I must caution everyone never to underestimate the depth of the malice and evil that drives them.
Why would an atheist write a 400-odd page book about a God that he doesn't think exists? You may think it extreme if you like, but it is because he is in Satan's vest pocket, and Satan's energy and evil animate him.
Indeed. And when they are offered a choice between decapitation or conversion to Islam, they will become the most fanatical about spreading that choice to the world.
Sort of like reformed smokers ...
Btw, just so you know...Sam Harris is a self-proclaimed narcissist. He actually advises others on narcissism and how to deal with it.
At least I can say this:
I cannot and will not be intimidated. The more they persecute the thing, the more it grows. And the reason it grows, is that a Christian's heart seeks to be like the Master. This is a concept unbelievers simply cannot grasp. Reason alone doesn't even come close to cutting it. The heart of Almighty God and simple faith provide the means to face the persecution. I would like to enlist the prayer support of all of you that I may never "...choose to remain silent rather than face derision."
Thank you!
Nancee
I've always thought of Dawkins as the Noam Chomsky of the origins and evolution debate -- long on heated rhetoric, short on facts, reasoning and, above all, intellectual integrity. His appeal is restricted to those who seek confirmation in their hatred and rejection of God. He tells them just the sort of lies they want to hear.
BUMP!!!
Huh? "How to deal with it"? Would that be how to conquer it or how to play it up for all it's worth? Just wondering . . .
BUMP!!
A lot of us are wondering.
The choice is not just between dealing with, conquering, or playing it up. Narcissism is a ticket to misery; sooner or later they start crying out for help, and that's when the real question comes up: what kind of help is good help?
Like Ingersoll of old. Funny thing though, few remember him, more remember the book that was a reaction to him (Ben Hur), and the Cross still stands.
Rather telling isn't it.
Telling of what, pray tell?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.