Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Angry Atheists

Image source: Freedom From Religion Foundation
Angry Atheists' Antics

Non-believers have been losing ground in the USA courts in their blatant attempts to separate Christian faith from the public arena. So they have decided to publicly display their own faith messages. Because they have no evidence for not believing in God, it is understandable that their message is lacking in integrity. Believers have evidence to back our faith in God. Atheists have only their circular logic and their feelings to back their arguments of disbelief. Atheists hate believers, as evidenced by their actions, because if God exists, they are in a heap of trouble. And in fact, they are hopeless of anything of lasting good coming of their lives. For them, death is the end of their existence. Or, as an atheist friend of mine once said, "Our lives are just dust in the wind."

So the atheists feel compelled to blaspheme the message of the gospel. They cannot successfully deny the death and burial of Jesus. The history of what happened is compelling, and established in secular history, and in the writing of eye witnesses.  His resurrection is also well established in history, and written in the blood of those who died because of their faith in the resurrection of Jesus. 

We should welcome the atheists to the platform of open examination of what each of us believes. Truth has no fear of examination. It is time we forced comparison of the doctrine of time and chance as the origin of life, pushed by the atheists into our public school curriculum, to the faith in creation by the God Who Is, the One who always existed. He is the source of all things, and the only rational explanation for the existence of the universe. 

The time has come for us to remove the lock that has been imposed by atheists upon the science of the existence of the Universe. We have stood by while they have endlessly changed their opinions about how things are, and watched as they proclaim from time to time what new thing they have discovered about the universe.

The more they discover, the more their ideas sound like the first chapter of Genesis. Now they have the universe starting with a unity, whatever they think that is.  The unity that the universe started with is the Great I Am.  

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

2 Now the earth was without shape and empty, and darkness was over the surface of the watery deep, but the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the water. 3 God said, “Let there be light.” And there was light! 4 God saw that the light was good, so God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day” and the darkness “night.” There was evening, and there was morning, marking the first day.

6 God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters and let it separate water from water.” 7 So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. It was so. 8 God called the expanse “sky.” There was evening, and there was morning, a second day.
9 God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place and let dry ground appear.” It was so. 10 God called the dry ground “land” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” God saw that it was good.


God's existence is proven by the existence and nature of the universe. The heavens declare His glory. 

The Heavens Declare His Glory

God's existence is proven by history. I challenge any atheist to explain the history of Abraham and the people who are connected with him  throughout history. The only logical explanation of Abraham is that he was called for a special purpose, to bring the One denied by the atheist, Jesus, into the world.  Jesus is the ultimate focus of the Abraham story, and the rock upon which the unbeliever has stumbled. 

Yes, Islam is part of the historical story involving Abraham. I am intrigued that atheists like Muslims better than Christians. Yes, their actions prove their affinity for anything that is not Christian.  But Islam demands submission to the Laws of the God of Abraham. Islamic militants hate what the unbelievers represent and teach. Given the opportunity, Islamic militants would cut off the heads of all the unbelievers who refuse to repent and believe, or at least force them to pay taxes for the right to live.  It is time for unbelievers to realize the terrible price they will pay where Islam returns to state power, and Islamic empire is re-established.

So how does the atheist explain this scripture?

Genesis 16:3 So after Abram had lived in Canaan for ten years, Sarai, Abram’s wife, gave Hagar, her Egyptian servant, to her husband to be his wife. 4 He had sexual relations with Hagar, and she became pregnant. Once Hagar realized she was pregnant, she despised Sarai. 5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “You have brought this wrong on me! I allowed my servant to have sexual relations with you, but when she realized that she was pregnant, she despised me. May the Lord judge between you and me!”

6 Abram said to Sarai, “Since your servant is under your authority, do to her whatever you think best.” Then Sarai treated Hagar harshly, so she ran away from Sarai.

7 The Lord’s angel found Hagar near a spring of water in the desert—the spring that is along the road to Shur. 8 He said, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?” She replied, “I’m running away from my mistress, Sarai.”

9 Then the Lord’s angel said to her, “Return to your mistress and submit to her authority. 10 I will greatly multiply your descendants,” the Lord’s angel added, “so that they will be too numerous to count.” 11 Then the Lord’s angel said to her,


“You are now pregnant
and are about to give birth to a son.
You are to name him Ishmael,
for the Lord has heard your painful groans.
12 He will be a wild donkey of a man.
He will be hostile to everyone,
and everyone will be hostile to him.
He will live away from his brothers.”

13 So Hagar named the Lord who spoke to her, “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “Here I have seen one who sees me!”14 That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi. (It is located between Kadesh and Bered.) 


It should be of interest that God promised to Abraham that Ishmael would be the father of twelve nations, and the Arab story becomes a profound part of the historical evidence of the God of Abraham. 

Yes, unbeliever, explain Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. Are they the result of evolution?  If they evolved, you should support their existence. If they have some other cause, you should examine the evidence of the Cause of all things.

Welcome, dear atheist, to the platform of fair examination of reality. Stop hiding behind your faith in the impossible.  Your faith is indefensible. Time and chance did not cause the universe. Such a faith is not rational.

Saturday, April 19, 2014

Faith of Our Fathers


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaPntncSK6s

 
Death in the Roman Coliseum


Frederick W. Faber wrote a song about the faith of the early Christians who were martyred by the Roman Emperors.  The words of his song call us to consider the faith of the first century Christians who laid down their lives for Christ. Consider the words of the song published in 1849 titled “Faith of our Fathers.”

“Faith of our fathers! Living still In spite of dungeon, fire, and sword. O how our hearts beat high with joy When-e’er we hear that glorious word! Our fathers chained in prisons dark, were still in heart and conscience free; How sweet would be their children’s fate If they, like them, could die for Thee. Faith of our fathers! We will love both friend and foe in all our strife, And preach Thee too, as love knows how, By kindly words and virtuous life: Faith of our fathers, holy faith! We will be true to Thee till death.”

Sadly, the faith of early Christians was soon upset over various issues of human philosophy, church tradition and proclamations of church councils. Christians in the West became dominated by the bishop of Rome, and Christians in the East became dominated by the bishops of Constantinople, Antioch, Alexandria, and other large churches of the East. Conflict between East and West opened the doors for Islamic expansion from the seventh century until the thirteenth century. Then the inquisition brought the horrors of persecution by the apostate Holy Roman Empire upon Jews and upon Christians of conscience who refused to submit to the traditions of Rome. The control of religion by the state enabled the persecutions.  State sanctioned Protestant churches practiced similar atrocities upon those who refused to submit to their decrees.
State Persecution of Dissidents

Christians today who live in nations where religion is controlled by the state may be subject to persecution if they violate the religious decrees of the state connected religion. When we resist the powers of false religion and come under persecution, it is a blessing. No power can suppress true faith in Jesus Christ. Even if we die, we will be blessed abundantly.         

Missionary to Ecuador Jim Elliot wrote the words which seem prophetic of his death at the hands of tribal people he was trying to reach with a message about Jesus. He wrote “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”


We cannot keep our physical lives, so we are blessed to give up our selfishness to gain eternal life in Jesus. There is a blessing in sacrifice for a just cause. The greatest cause to which anyone can dedicate his or her life is the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ. Whatever we give of the temporary means and circumstances of this life can not compare with the blessings promised to those who love and follow Jesus. As Paul wrote, “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs--heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.” (Rom 8:16-19, NKJV)

Faith of our fathers, holy faith! How sweet would be our fate if we, like them, could die for Thee! Jesus calls us to die to self and live for Him. Preach Jesus by kind words and virtuous life.


 


Acts 2:40 With many other words he testified and exhorted them saying, “Save yourselves from this perverse generation!” 41 So those who accepted his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand people were added.

The Fellowship of the Early Believers

42 They were devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Reverential awe came over everyone, and many wonders and miraculous signs came about by the apostles. 44 All who believed were together and held everything in common, 45 and they began selling their property and possessions and distributing the proceeds to everyone, as anyone had need. 46 Every day they continued to gather together by common consent in the temple courts, breaking bread from house to house, sharing their food with glad and humble hearts, 47 praising God and having the good will of all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number every day those who were being saved.