Posted on 05/13/2007 4:22:19 AM PDT by Kaslin
Paul (not the lead singer of the Beatles, but the apostle Paul) states that God has made Himself known, via creation, to all men. According to the apostle, God’s revealed Himself not just to Christians and to Jews, but to every one everywhere (see Romans 1:18-21).
This means that from Jo-Jo the Brazilian monkey boy, to the Cameroon pygmies, to the whiny lesbian agnostic smoking clove cigarettes at Starbucks, to the beer swillin’ dillweeds (What’s up, dudes? I’ll see after I pen this column! Keep ‘em cold.), to the brooding British atheists, all people know God exists—even if they can’t really put a finger on some of the finer points of His person.
Yes, through what has been made, God has plastered on the souls of earth’s citizenry the general revelation that He’s present. In addition, they also know when they’re being a jack ass and when they’re being cool (more on that next week).
I know the above 411 hurts the atheists to hear, seeing that they’ve staked so much of their imago on God’s non-existence. But c’mon, you know there’s Someone “out there,” so cut the crap, shave your goatee and find some other way to pick up chicks—okay, James Dean?
Look, if Paul’s right and people know that they know Him (even if it’s in some dull sense of the word), why do some trip over themselves and tie their brains in knots in order to curb this knowledge? Why do people go nuts looking for loopholes and supposed contradictions in the scripture, hypocrisies within the church and some shared semblance to an ape in order to convince themselves that God’s not here, there or anywhere and never has been nor ever will be?
Is it because . . .
They are Johnny Quest truth seekers looking to answer man’s $64,000 question?
They are evolutionary luminaries uncommonly endowed with more smarts than us poor cattle and are here to help us club foot our way up the Darwinian ladder and away from such primal fairy tales? Or is it simply because . . .
The existence of God, His standards and a day of personal accountability really, really, jacks with their efforts at autonomy and their chances of getting laid tonight?
The apostle Paul states it’s the latter.
Atheists, according to Santo Pablo, have suppressed the truth because God really cramps their style. It’s hard to persistently indulge the appetites of the flesh if there is a holy God to whom you must give account. The truth is that all men, who have not bowed their knee to God and His way, hate Him and are intrinsically geared against God. (I know that’s tight, but it’s right)
Jesus put it forcefully up fallen humanity’s tailpipe when He exposed why men reject the knowledge of God when He said, “Men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. For everyone who does evils hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed” (Jn. 3.19-20).
This is easy math, folks: A man who has no remorse and thus no desire to repent from his sins is probably not going to be a big advocate for the existence, person and work of God.
You know that all the various no-God arguments—which, to be sure, are fun to debate and write about and blah, blah, blah—actually stem from the root of the atheist’s refusal to curtsy to what he already internally knows is true. It is this denial and refusal to embrace the general knowledge of God given through creation that officially pisseth off the Lord thy God and puts the atheist in a precarious position. My advice to my atheist buddies is this: you’d better pray to God that you’re right and that He doesn’t exist—because if you’re wrong, eternity is going to be rough.
To be continued . . .
Doug Giles is the creator and host of The Clash radio shows, winners of seven Silver Microphone Awards and two Communicator Awards in the last three years, and a contributing columnist on Townhall.com.
You are free to try.
You said, in part: Now if believing in an invisable man in the sky had anything to do with being moral, As the country turns more secular wouldn’t the trends be going in the opposite direction?
***
No. Belief in God (or your invisible man in the sky) does not change human nature. We are still as rotten as ever. David believed in God and slept with Bathsheba while he sent her husband to the front lines of war to be killed. Acting in a morally acceptable manner is not the issue, true belief in God is.
You said: My youngest son likes to ask, “Whats the downside to believing in God?”
“Whats the downside to believing that Jesus Christ died for your sins?”
***
I believe in God and that Christ died for my many sins, but I don’t care for this formulation. True faith and belief can’t be just turned on that easily. For many (most?) of us belief in God comes naturally. To me, it is obvious from casual observation of the world. But that doesn’t get me all the way home to believing in “our” God and that Christ died for our sins. That takes a level of faith that can’t be (in my opinion) decided on the basis of “no downside.” I agree that there is no downside (except trying to give up sins, which can be pretty fun while being committed) to belief in God, but true faith and belief requires sincerity with oneself. Many seem to have trouble with this, for reasons I can’t yet explain.
Alright...
Well, humans certainly posess “logic and abstract rules of thought”.
There, I explained it...without using God as an explanation.
My sons questions are not directed at people of faith, they are directed at people who call him a “fool for his faith”.
Our whole family has a “True Faith” and it is beyond us, its supernatural.
I know. I have read as many of them as I could my hands on and found them wanting.
The big bang theory is well documented.
That is your best shot? That is assailing? 'In the beginning there was nothing, then it went KABOOM'?
If you want to fault it by asking where the bang came from, tell me where your G-d came from.
I do fault it. The description of the Big Bang does not follow the law of causation. In order to believe the Big Bang I have to make an exception to natural laws which current science does not allow. The universe as defined by physics is one of order where laws are in place constantly. There is no room in physics for "this is a comnstant, but this is the exception to that constant".
Now, in comparing the "natrual" event of the Big Bang, we have the 'comparing apples to oranges issue' applying that to God. Accepting the usual definition for God, we cannot imply that God is a "natural" being or a "natural" event. God is beyond natural, so to say that the law of causation does not apply to a being or event that is beyond the material universe is not necessarily fallacious. To say that God always was is not a violation of material physical laws, due to the claim that God is beyond the scope of those laws. Of course, measuring and classifying this being or event in a scientific or material sense is problematic also. So the only real "proof" or evidence for this beyond natural being is limited to inference. I recognize that a lot of people have difficulty drawing the correct inference. I did for years.
There is a big difference between the claim that a Roman politician was knifed by pretenders to the throne and the claim that a crucified man rose from the dead. If you wrote that you scrambled eggs this morning, I'd believe you. If you wrote that you had laid eggs this morning I would not.
Thank you for acknowledging my point. My next question is usually along the lines of "how much support for a claim, even one completely outlandish and fantastic, is needed until that claim has a measure of verification"? If two people that you trusted told you they saw me laying eggs this morning, would you believe those two? What if it was 5? Or 10? How many trustworthy people would it take for you to believe that claim?
How much inference for a claim, no matter how fantastic that claim, is required before some one finally steps back and says -- "You know, there may be something to this after all."
We had a bunch of teens at our church take a purity pledge a few years ago. It’s quite wonderful and I hope and pray they all meant it and were able to follow through. It’s hard to in these times of sex, sex, sex all over the media. Love, Mxxx
Faith is the essence of Christianity. We know He exists because of what the Bible tells us and because of what God has done inside of us, the many changes He’s made in me and in my family. You can see God in the creation, in the eyes of a child, especially at birth when this child is born with everything needed to sustain life. Yes, it IS a faith based religion. But people HAD seen Jesus so we know historically that He was real and that He is who He says He is.
Because I had caps on SAYS? Have you read Quix’s posts (LOL). Oh, goofed about Ginsburg. Thinking about today’s folks. Sigh.
Believers like to cherry-pick bits and pieces from the New Testament (and some from the Old Testament) that make them feel happy about God-- like how abused women find something to like about the abusive spouse. God is not a nice person and he isn't good at his job.
Why do you think he's a nice person? Why do you think he's done a good job?
Does it seem interesting at all to you that people of other religions throughout history and today would say the same thing about feeling the presence of the deity(ies) they believe in? I got teary-eyed at the end of Finding Nemo even though Nemo and Dory and Marlin don't actually exist, of course. You can't rely on your feelings because they can easily be manipulated. You can't determine anything factual just because of an emotional/spiritual response.
The innocent child believes all sorts of things that aren't true-- like in Santa or the tooth fairy or monsters. Children, even when presented with information that would lead adults to the correct conclusion about something, are lead to make the wrong conclusion. I heard a story about two young girls who were friends and one girl caught her father slipping the dollar bill under her pillow after retrieving the tooth and she promptly told her girlfriend the next day, with total confidence, that her father was, in fact, THE tooth fairy. And, her girlfriend accepted this information as fact, too.
LOL.
You haven’t explained it, you’ve just restated what we all know. I’m asking you how it is that humans posess logic and abstract rules of thought.
The issue is the exercise of faith. Sour adults have trouble with it but little children find it natural to exercise faith.
Both of mine followed through, thanks be to God.
It's all about the population sample. You never hear from the atheists who're comfortable with you being a theist. They don't have an ax to grind. Since the only ones you hear from are those who are those with the aformentioned ax it appears to you as though they are all dealing with anger issues.
I really feel badly about your obvious bitterness toward God. I have experienced His love. I’ve also experienced His silence, and I’ve grown spiritually through both of them. I don’t consider God a ‘nice person.’ He is the Almighty God; He’s an awesome God. He is king of kings and Lord of Lords. He’s NOT a nice ‘person.’ I’m sorry you feel so hard toward Him.
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