Posted on 02/05/2007 10:11:29 AM PST by Caleb1411
More than a month after atheists launched a campaign encouraging young people to blaspheme God in an online video clip, more than 800 people have done so, and a conservative analyst said the "boneheads" behind the initiative could only be pitied.
Fighting against what he calls "the mental torture that is religion," atheist filmmaker Brian Flemming created the blasphemychallenge.com website, asking teens to commit "the ultimate sin" in return for a copy of his movie, "The God Who Wasn't There."
The "ultimate sin," in his view, is denying the Holy Spirit, based on the biblical injunction, "Whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin" (Mark 3:29).
The site asks people to videotape themselves saying "I deny the Holy Spirit" and to post the videos on YouTube.
As of Friday, more than 875 submissions had been recorded.
"Give it your own personal touches," posters are urged. "Possibly add extra blasphemy or maybe even a background story as to why you feel the way you do." The site also suggests recording "your video in a church or outside of a church."
"These kids apparently think this is some kind of cute stunt," Matt Barber, policy director for cultural issues at Concerned Women for America, told Cybercast News Service.
"But to me, it's akin to dousing yourself with gasoline and running around screaming 'there is no God' while waving a sparkler."
"They're playing Texas Hold 'Em with eternity and are holding a lousy hand," Barber added. "You can only pity the attention-starved boneheads behind this wickedness."
He said of the young people making the video clips "the phrase 'methinks thou doth protest too much' comes to mind."
"By going to such lengths to deny God's existence, they implicitly acknowledge him, while arrogantly rebelling against his authority.
"Scripture tells us that the reality of God's existence is written on the heart of every man, woman and child," Barber added.
"Man's rebellion against the Creator is no new thing," he said. "It's a time-honored tradition among those who prefer to view the world through the prism of moral relativism."
Meanwhile, as a direct response to the blasphemy initiative a counter website called challengeblasphemy.com has been created and some Christian teens have been uploading clips to YouTube under the heading "Praise the Lord Challenge."
Peter Casarella, associate professor of systematic theology at the Catholic University of America, questioned the motives of the blasphemychallenge.com website. "It seems extremely manipulative," he said.
Casarella also questioned the premise of the site, saying its interpretation of the biblical reference was off.
"Blaspheming the Spirit is a sin, that's not up for grabs ... but they certainly can be forgiven," he told Cybercast News Service.
"Blaspheming against the Holy Spirit means taking the name of the Spirit in vain," Casarella added. "The Spirit is one who witnesses to the truth in the name of Christ within the gospels. A sin against the Spirit is clearly a sin against God."
But simply saying the words would not in itself ensure eternal damnation.
"The gospels in general - dealing in this case with blaspheming, but in general - look at the whole of the life, and individual acts are judged in the context of the whole of a life," Casarella said.
Flemming did not respond to requests for comment for this article. In a recent interview with Fox News, he said "if parents are going to terrorize their children with religious indoctrination, I think it's important to reach those kids and let them know that there is nothing to be afraid of."
He said the site "exposes the crock that is Christian doctrine and thus relieves the suffering of innocent children."
"Religious tyranny really has a hold on young people and they really are innocent victims," Flemming said, describing the gospel message of Jesus' death, resurrection, ascension and the notion of heaven and hell "psychological torture."
Pray for Brian Flemming.
"Religious tyranny really has a hold on young people and they really are innocent victims," Flemming said. That sounds a lot like Marxist doctrine to me. Mr. Flemming is in dire need of a visit from Dr. Freud. You have to wonder what his homelife and childhood were like.
Infinite love means creating a being who you know in advance is going to complain.
"These kids apparently think this is some kind of cute stunt," Matt Barber, policy director for cultural issues at Concerned Women for America, told Cybercast News Service.
**
Don't let these "kids" off the hook. If they are old enough to post their clips on a website they are old enough to know the difference between a stunt and such a despicable action. We should pray for all of these people, who apparently are much beloved by Satan.
No kidding, Satan has been orchestrating it for a few thousands years. Nothing new, not even original....
But Jesus still love you just the same.
Let 'em blaspheme against Allah ... that would prove quite interesting indeed.
A National Consensus of 84% of the people has been reached in the US that GOD exists. the science is in,debate over
Mark 9:42
From day one as I recall. (Eat it - you will not surely die, you will be like God himself.)
"Pray for Brian Flemming."
No, he's made his bed!
Militant
Brian Flemming is just looking for attention. That's all it is no matter what he tells his close followers. I don't get why MSNBC and Fox News feeds this man's ego on a non-story.
2) Anyone remember how Satan finally paid off Madalyn Murray O'Hair?
3) For everything you ever suspected about the Left, visit Wikipedia's List of Atheists.
I thought it merited posting.
One cannot blaspheme against the Holy Ghost unless one has first received the Holy Ghost. I doubt that many of the numskulls who blaspheme on that site have had any experience with the Holy Ghost.
1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus and said, "Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" 2 And He called a child to Himself and set him before them, 3 and said, "Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 "Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 "And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me; 6 but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.
Slightly off topic...but I'm struck by the fact that monumental spiritual/eternal matters are cast by caprice.
Do you believe in the Christian God? The Jewish God of the OT? The God of Islam? Krishna?
For all the fervor and certainty of everyones' opinions, the determinate factor is accident of birth. Were you born in Missouri, Israel, Pakistan or Bombay? Are your parents Christian, Jewish, Islamic or Hindu?
Thus it is we know and believe whatever it is we "know" and believe.
I would, but the Goddess thinks this is hilarious.
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