Atheists Will Tell You

Atheists will tell you that there isn't any war on Christians. Nevertheless, twice as many Christians were killed in 2013 as in 2012.

from Open Doors USA in its report “World Watch.”

Who Are We?

Modern secularists love to see present day humans as the pinnacle of evolution. In reality, human nature has change not one iota since Adam and Eve.

“We tend to have this idea of Neanderthals as these stereotypical cavemen that must have been different from us because they're not around today,” Riel-Salvatore said. “And what we’re seeing, in fact, is that the more we look at the record of Neanderthals ... the more their lifestyle appears to have been similar to those of modern humans at more or less the same time.”

“The big difference between them and us is shrinking by the day — literally, at this point,” Riel-Salvatore said. “And so instead of seeing them as this extinct offshoot on the human family tree, we should think of them more as extinct cousins, fairly close relatives.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/neanderthal-caves-organized-as-pleasant-places-to-live-1.2483451

Regardless of either option, monkey or man, Darwinists plead with us to believe that we are nothing more than a mass of chemical exchanges and firing neurons even as they, the atheists, display a whole range of personal thoughts, emotions and pseudo arguments when their beliefs in this area are challenged.

These people look at the human abilities of self-reflection, art, medicine, the enjoyment of music and say it comes from an illusory direction of will. In fact, they say that self-will or freewill choice are also an illusion. Even though the development of our vocabulary is enormous, our grammar complex and our conversations deep and meaningful, it all comes, say materialists, without purpose or meaning. These atheists look at the human ability to codify language, our unbounded creativity, selflessness, love, the exercising of our rational faculties, our ability to develop an argument, follow a line of logic, draw conclusions and frame hypotheses and call it the simple, random and unguided firing of neurons. 

Our strong spirit of enquiry, our research in the fields of astronomy, mathematics, medicine and physics while noteworthy for some, is nothing of lasting consequence to an atheist, for all will, according to atheists comes to an absurd and meaningless end. Yearn for meaning in life? It too is of no lasting import. It’s the same illusion that causes us to devote so much of our time to philosophy, theology and ethics. Or so the materialist world-view claims. Atheists say that our religious sentiments and practices and our intense and endless quest for meaning can be traced to some random mutation eons ago. 

The concept of atheism forces us to say that it’s only the illusion of the “I” that questions not only our origin but also our destiny. It’s only the illusion of the “I” that has a refined aesthetic sense that admires beauty and longs to be surrounded with it. When we cultivate a garden, put flowers in a vase, or hang up a painting, it’s the illusion of the “I” that is expressing a love of beauty and a strong creative impulse. Our poetry, painting, dance, drama and music, our weekly craft groups where baskets are woven, wool is spun, shawls are knit, and photo albums are covered, all this, says the ardent materialist, is carried out for no particular reason save to follow the command of chemical exchanges.

Reason, language, enquiry, wonder, longing, religion, morality, aesthetics, creativity, imagination, aspiration and humour, to such intangible but fundamental qualities, atheists like Bertrand Russel can only respond, and in the total absence of proofs or evidence, yet driven by a desperate desire to be free from all accountability to one’s Creator, they hope that you will agree: 

“That man is the product of causes which had no prevision of the end they were achieving; that his origin, his growth, his hopes and fears, his loves and beliefs are but the outcome of accidental collocations of atoms; that no fire, no heroism, no intensity of thought and feeling, can preserve an individual life beyond the grave; that all the labours of the ages, all the devotion, all the inspiration, all the noonday brightness of human genius are destined to extinction . . . that the whole temple of man’s achievement must inevitably be buried - all these things, if not quite beyond dispute, are yet so nearly certain, that no philosophy which rejects them can hope to stand. Only within the scaffolding of these truths, only on the firm foundation of unyielding despair, can the soul’s habitation henceforth be safely built.” 

The atheist’s philosophical and powerful emotional reaction to the fact of a universe with a beginning and to the impossibility of life arising unaided from non life shows that we are far, far more than a mass of chemical exchanges, more than mere thinking machines. Bottom line, we're a lot less simian than atheists would like us to believe.

From "Trolling for Atheists" Rod Holmgren

Atheists Fume Over Dalai Lama's Prayer

The Dalai Lama apparently said a prayer in one of the Houses of Government in the U.S, a few days ago. How dare that man bring religion into the political sphere?

Actually no. To the best of my knowledge, not a peep was heard from atheists regarding this prayer in the  public sphere. It's only Christian prayers that are raged against by the fickle hearts of atheists. 

However the prayer itself is of interest to me.

"Speak or act with a pure mind, and happiness will follow you like a shadow that never leaves"

Dalai Lama

That's true of course. 

The trick however is that according to Jesus, and any casual observer of human nature, who we are as humans precludes our ability to speak and act with a pure mind. So corrupt is human nature that even the teaching of Jesus, the most sublime philosophy on earth, becomes corrupted, leaving every generation shredded by those who claim to follow Messiah Jesus. 

What's He Trying to Prove?

Jesus was forever telling people, “The Kingdom of God is near.” Okay, but what did He mean? What exactly was He trying to prove when He said that?

Well, He actually didn't stop there. What He really meant was, The Kingdom of God is near AND here is what it will be like.

The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor.

Matthew 11:5-6

While the miracles that Jesus presented proved that He is who He said He is, they also showed in part, what the Kingdom of God will entail, in full, when He returns to judge the living and the dead.

In the Kingdom of God, there will not be any sickness, no more death, no more injustice, no more tears, no more suffering, grief and unbearable loss. In God's Kingdom peace will reign. There will be no more storms or dangerous waters. There will be more than enough food for everyone. In the Kingdom of God, people will know how to love one another.

When Jesus told people, “The Kingdom of God is near,” He was showing in striking detail the difference between life as we have chosen it to be on earth, and life as God will give to us if we will only humble ourselves before Him and admit that we cannot fix ourselves.

For people like atheists, that is simply too much to ask.

Friday's Thoughts on Marriage

This is number 9 in a weekly series begun on December 21^st/13 with a post called, “Married Forever?

“Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” Ephesians 5:21

Ah submission the dirtiest word in secular relationships. That's okay. Let them fight for their own rights. Let them demand change in their partners while demanding that their spouses accept them as they are. How functional atheists live their lives has nothing to do with us. On the other hand, I hope I'm getting the point across that our behaviours don't determine our character. Rather, our character determines our behaviours. When the Holy Spirit indwells us, when we abide in Jesus, our character becomes like that of Jesus. Humility and submission were two strong, strong characteristics of Jesus.

The fact is the ability to submit, the power and strength to submit our will to another is a sign that the Holy Spirit resides within. Submission to one another is a sign that you are being guided by the will and the wishes of Creator God. Humility (which the world wrongly associates with humiliation) along with the absence of pride (which the world sees as some sort of affliction) and a lack of self-will (which the world associates with social and economic suicide), is what allows couples in a Biblical marriage to show love to one another. In fact, the behaviours of love are actually the duties of husbands and wives in a Biblical marriage. It is only through a Holy Spirit guided ability to serve your spouse that you will be able to meet and overcome the hurdles that so often trip up marriages run by what passes for human wisdom.

Characteristics of those guided by the Holy Spirit are well known among those indwelt by Him: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-control. These are the characteristics of Jesus and if you think about these for a moment, you will quickly see how each one is indispensable to a strong and stable marriage. We must allow ourselves to be transformed into the character of Jesus if we are to live out and model marriage as God intends for us. Anything less makes a mockery of stating that we are followers of Jesus.

Even though the circumstances of life change, the character of Jesus does not. That is what creates the ever present stability in a Biblical marriage. With these characteristics present in each partner, it's easy to see that these are not two needy people looking to someone else to solve their own insecurities or to give them value and worth. That's because they already possess these things because of their relationship with and the indwelling Spirit of Jesus. 

We function at our best on the indwelling strength and power of God's Spirit. 

We do not draw life from our partner. Unlike secular lives which produce songs claiming to “need you,” “I can't live without you,” etc., a follower of Jesus has learned that the worship of our Creator produces a human who is fully alive. That is what allows us to be the kind of people that our spouse deserves. To not draw our strength from God causes us to demand from our spouses something that is impossible for them to give.

More on this next Friday.

Stalin > Dawkins et al. - A Straight Line

Atheists rage at the very thought of their being a straight line succession of thought from savages like Stalin to them. Believing themselves to be good people, they must fight any notion that if they were in power, they'd never ever try to eradicate Christianity by the means used by other like-thinkers.

“Individual atheists may do evil things,” says Richard Dawkins, “but they don’t do evil things in the name of atheism.”

No, atheists do evil because their atheism spawns a seething and irrational hatred for Christianity as demonstrated by Dawkins, Harris, Hitchens, Dennett, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Honecker, Castro, Ho, Marx, Engels, Lenin, Kim, Ceausescu and virtually every atheist that blogs about religion. The point of their agenda is, ‘Religion is harmful. Get rid of it and everything will begin to move toward civil society.’ Marx and Engels put it bluntly, “Abolish all religion and all morality.”

Richard Dawkins simply cannot bring himself to admit that atheism was the driving force from which atheists, directing governments made up exclusively of atheists were obsessed with spreading anti-God propaganda, and specialized in the murder of almost 100 million believers in the last century. Atheist Soviet rulers systematically and efficiently destroyed the majority of churches and killed the majority of religious leaders during a period from 1918 - 1941. This was not individual atheists perpetrating evil. This was individual atheists doing evil in the name of atheism. They were perpetrating evil, all according to the atheist driven agenda to eliminate Christianity from society.

Atheism is opposed to God and anything that smacks of His presence; especially the people who worship Creator God.

Because it is so absurd, I can only assume that Richard Dawkins finds the following comment amusing. When he’s confronted with the atrocities done by atheists in the name of atheism, Dawkins says with a straight face, “Well, Stalin also had a moustache. Maybe we should blame the death of Christians on people with moustaches.” Pathetic and pitiful more correctly describes Dawkins’ attempt to deliberately confuse the obvious. Dawkins and friends can’t even recognize how close they are to encouraging the Soviet experiment to repeat itself in the West. Like Russian atheists before him, in “Letter to a Christian Nation” Sam Harris bemoans, “the failure of our schools to announce the death of God in a way that each generation can understand.” He even goes on to say that some ideas are so dangerous that people may need to be killed simply for having those ideas. If you don’t see this as a dangerously secular idea, you are not an observer of history.

The fact is that in the 20^th century, a third of the world saw atheists pronounce the death of God throughout their nations. They declared it on billboards, in schools, government controlled publications, from speaker trucks roaming through the streets, over the radio and in secret jails where torture was used in an attempt to force Christians to deny their faith. Leaders in the underground Church in China spoke in our Church a few months ago. They told us that in today’s atheist China, secret worship services in homes, warehouses, and even groups meeting in the forests and fields are forcibly broken up. If caught, those who attended are beaten or killed or taken to reeducation camps, never to be seen again. The accounts they related made us squirm in our pews and wonder, “How would I do under such intense pressure?” Interestingly, these people didn't ask us to pray for an end to the persecution. Rather, they asked us to pray for their strength and courage to continue to spread the Word of God in spite of persecution.

In the 20^th century a hundred million people have been killed under the banner of atheism in its hatred of Jesus and the religion that worships Him. This pattern continues to this very day and there is no reason to expect that atheists who possess the needed power will stop anytime soon.

Once Upon a Time

Once upon a time there was a group of people who took stock of all that the earth possessed. They said to one another, “We're going to need some of all of this stuff, right? But there are other people on this planet who also want what we want. If we're going to ensure that we always have enough, we need to see to it that we have more than enough.”

So, even though they didn't actually need all the materials and minerals and information that they already had, they began to store 10, 50, a 100 times more of everything than they needed. And they used it. They used a lot of it. In fact much of what they used was simply squandered and wasted.

But there were those other people in the world who didn't have enough of what they needed. “Won't you share your knowledge of how to use these resources so that we too can have enough?” they asked the hoarders.

This scared the hoarders very much. 'What if our situation becomes like those who don't have enough?' they thought to themselves. 'We need to grab and keep even more of the world's resources for ourselves.”

“But we're dying!” pleaded the rest of the world. “Our children need what you have. Please don't abandon us!”

“We're not abandoning you,” shouted the hoarders. “We're taking care of our own. God helps those who help themselves to whatever they see.”

This made the dying very angry, both at the hoarders and at the religion the hoarders tried to teach those who were dying. So, in fear that those who were dying would demand that the hoarders share their wealth, the grossly wealthy began to build walls to keep out the needy, and they bought guns and more guns. And then they built missiles and warships to ensure the safety of their wealth.

Just as Jesus had warned, all this wealth and all these guns did nothing to provide for a feeling of safety and security. In fact, the hoarders grew depressed and anxious. They became fearful not just of the needy “over there.” They became fearful of their neighbours. Instead of enjoying comfort and contentment, their moods fluctuated wildly between grandiose thinking driven by a level of energy that seemed like madness, to depths of depression and hopelessness. They looked for people to blame and found no shortage of suspects; from those of a different skin colour, to those who spoke a different language, to those who voted differently and even to those who had sex in a different manner or who worshipped differently - and in the case of atheists, they grew fearful of those who worshipped at all. 

The hoarders tried everything they could think of to distract themselves from the mess they'd created. There arose such a demand for mood altering drugs that the laws were changed to legalize them. So too with every form of sexual distraction that could be imagined. Family breakdown was celebrated as something good, as were beauty and fame and violence. In fact, as entertainment the people watched lot's and lot's of violence and it made them feel powerful and aggressive - which was seen as a good thing.

Sadly the hoarders rejected the one source of advice that commanded them to share what they had. They tried everything but loving their neighbours. 

Why Me?

I remember watching a scene in a movie where a mother was feeling helpless in view of her young son's terminal illness. She was angry and she was taking this anger out on a young Pastor who had come to visit. The mother wanted to know why, why was her son sick when all over the neighbourhood young boys were laughing and playing and running around without the slightest thought of someday not being able to play because of illness. The mother said to the Pastor, “When young Bradly was well, I never asked why we deserved such good fortune. Now however, you're damn right I want to know. Why would God do this to us? I want to know!”

And so too, I ask, “Why me? Why do I have so much? Why have I always had so much. Why was I destined to be born in this country at this time in history when I have so much more of everything than I need to survive.

It’s weird how we never demand an answer from God as to why He gave us hands that work perfectly, picking up, turning things off and on, fixing, adjusting, caressing, creating and exploring with exquisite dexterity. It’s mind-boggling to watch how we don’t demand an answer from God as to why He gave us mouths with the ability to sound out words, taste foods, sense temperature and texture with extraordinary sensitivity; mouths and vocal cords that can moan, cry and sing. We never seem to consider the contradiction in how we don’t demand an answer from God as to why He gave us eyes that can communicate emotion and explore the majestic beauty of Creation, yet curse Him and demand all reference to Him be removed from the public sphere. 

We use the word creation without ever considering the Creator. 

We never seem to wonder why it is that we don’t demand an answer from God as to why He has allowed us to be born in an unimaginably huge and hostile universe on this little jewel of a planet. We don’t ever consider why we don’t demand an answer from God as to why He continues to allow us to take for granted the fact that we have more food than we can eat; as much money as we need, and a health care system that the majority of humanity cannot even conceive of. 

We don’t ever seem to wonder what kind of a person would take all of these gifts and still curse the God who gave it all to us.

Atheists especially don’t ever seem to think it odd that they don’t demand an answer from God as to why He is so good to them even when they hate Him, ignore Him, reject Him and hate those who love Him. Of course if a conversation goes in this direction, atheists will immediately yell "There is no God," since it doesn’t work so well to let God exist only when you want to blame Him for something.

Are You a Good Person?

If heaven existed, do you think that you should be allowed entrance based upon how good you are? Most atheists for example are adamant that they are good people. They have to believe that because their mantra is, "I don't need God to be a good person." But don't we have to ask, according to what standard should we measure ourselves to make our evaluation accurate? For example:

. How many lies have you told in your life? The average person tells at least five lies per day. What do you call someone who has told countless lies?

. Have you ever stolen something in your life? Have you taken something that doesn't belong to you? What do you call someone who steals?

. Have you ever used God's name in vain, or without respect? That's called blasphemy. What do you call someone who uses God's name lightly or in cursing?

. Jesus said, if you look at another person with lust in your heart, imagining having sex with that person, you are guilty of committing adultery. What do you call people who commits adultery?

Our Creator says that He is the standard by which we measure our level of goodness. Not Gandhi, no Hitler, not your neighbour and not yourself.

By your own admission you're a lying, thieving, blaspheming, adulterous person in your own heart, and that's only reviewing four of the ten commandments. How then can you consider yourself to be a good person, good enough to be allowed into the presence of a perfectly Holy Creator God?

A good Judge must see that justice is done, that wrong is punished and that those on the side of wrong are removed from those who long and choose to do right. Because the price for your sins were paid for by Jesus (God the Son), God the Father who is perfectly Just can legally dismiss your penalty.

Jesus said, “The price of sin, the wages of sin, the consequences of sin is eternal separation from God and everything and anything that is good. We call that separation “Hell.”

Because that reality is so horrific God put in place a plan, whereby the penalty of sin would be paid at His own expense. Jesus paid the price for you sins and He said that if you would seek His forgiveness and obey Him out of gratitude for His enormous love, you can avoid hell and spend eternity in heaven with Him.

What kind of a person would ignore and/or reject that kind of offer?

Jesus Goes Viral

“I am an historian, I am not a believer, but I must confess as a historian that this penniless preacher from Nazareth is irrevocably the very centre of history. Jesus Christ is easily the most dominant figure in all history.”

atheist historian H.G. Wells

Through a power surge of influence that knocked the socio / religious / economic and political world off it axis, Jesus wanted you know about Him and the Kingdom He came to represent. And indeed that's what happened.

When Jesus came to earth to tell about the radical social change that was God's Kingdom come, on earth as it is in Heaven, He wanted the whole world to know about it. So He chose as His messengers those people in whom this radical change would be the most visible: mostly the poor, the outcast, those on the fringes of society, those rejected by “good society” but in some cases the most visible change occurred in those who already considered themselves good people, even holy - the religious leaders.

“The doctrine of the Kingdom of Heaven, which was the main teaching of Jesus, is certainly one of the most revolutionary doctrines that ever stirred and changed human thought.”

atheist historian, H.G. Wells

Jesus took it to the streets and lived a Kingdom life; one of peace, and forgiveness and mercy – toward His enemies. He showed complete disdain for wealth and riches. He showed contempt for power. Pride and possessions, looks and intellectual accomplishment were ridiculed by Jesus. Jesus turned His back on nearly everything that most people consider indispensable for a “good” life.

And when His followers showed that we really can live this counter-cultural life and live it abundantly, His message went viral.

Jesus gets billions of hits, not just daily, but throughout each and every day.

In North America, many who self-identify as Christians are so culturally identical to the society around them, where Jesus is merely worn as an accessory to their worldly life-style, that Jesus is rarely recognized, and when He is acknowledged, it is often as the butt of jokes and ridicule. For example, in this video Bill Maher describes much of Christianity in North America today:

http://infidel753.blogspot.ca/2014/01/video-of-day-christianity-is-unworkable.html

Yet, where ever a demonstration of God's Kingdom in action is being lived out, still by small bands of misfits, Jesus changes history.

The indwelling of His Spirit leads each Christian (“You will know them by how they speak and act” Jesus), to carry on that challenge. To feed the hungry, to end oppression and discrimination, to enrich the poor, to take care of orphans and widows, to clothe the naked, to heal the sick and to bring the good news of forgiveness and reconciliation to the world.

As atheists and functional atheists know today regarding followers of Jesus, those in power then (the religious elite), also knew,

“It's either the death of Jesus and His message, or the end of society as we know it.”

Then as now, Christianity and the teaching of Jesus that is its source must be done away with if the pleasures of this world are to be maintained.

If you're interested in the difference between a true historian (eg. H.G. Wells) and a typical “brute beast” atheist (as G.K. would call him), check out the video at:

http://winteryknight.wordpress.com/2014/01/13/did-jesus-exist-agnostic-historian-bart-ehrman-debates-infidel-guy/

Friday's Thoughts on Marriage

The 4th in a series:

“If you're kind to me, I'll be kind to you.” I heard that today, from a woman talking to her husband. Makes sense – right? Why would anyone be kind to someone who is not kind back? Well, maybe because that is the type of love that Jesus demonstrated for us and then He said, “Follow Me.” Be like Me. Do in your relationships what I did in My relationships.

Something atheists have shown me is that a radical change has taken place in our culture. Atheists tell us that monogamy isn't natural. Any marriage that is based upon monogamy is forcing an unnatural relationship upon us. That's what many of them say. Guess what? They're right. 

Faithful, committed monogamy isn't natural.

We are naturally takers and schemers and adulterers and liars and self-obsessed and self-centred, willing to sacrifice those we claim to love in order to satisfy our lusts. That's why thinking that you've found “the right one,” or that you've found your “soul mate,” is most often, at best, wishful thinking. The chances of really knowing who you've married, at the time of your marriage, is slim to none.

Modern thinking and every online dating site in existence has led us to believe that if we look hard enough, we can actually find “the right person.” The fact is we almost never marry the right person. Why? Because marriage itself changes people. The person who you marry will not be the person who you are married to a few months or years down the road. As well, we often misread the person in front of us. Or perhaps more correctly, we see what we want to see. That is why a person who seems really stable during dating becomes deadly boring later in life. The person who is outgoing and friendly turns out to be down right flirtatious. The person who is carefree and fun loving turns out to be reckless and undependable. We come to despise the things we once thought we admired and loved. And yet, we promised God that we would love this person – until the death of one of us ends the relationship.

That is what makes a Biblical marriage between two committed followers of Jesus so radical and counter cultural and light-years better than any possible secular marriage. Biblical marriage is a commitment to love the person with whom you are living – Period! It's really not about the relationship with your spouse, but your relationship with God. I will make a profound statement here, with absolute confidence. 

When two married people put their relationship with Jesus first (I'll explain in later posts what that means), their marriage will not and indeed cannot fail to become a profound, wonderful, life enhancing journey.

But what a dilemma! We simply cannot know ahead of time how our spouse will change. That's why traditional marriage vows don't say, “I love you,” but, “I WILL love you, through better or worse, richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, till death do us part.”

Now, there are some things that we must avoid at all cost when choosing a mate. A Christian should never ever marry an atheist or someone of another faith. Actually, unless you are a Christian in name only, you would never compromise your relationship with Jesus by being connected to someone who thinks your most important relationship is a farce. As well, you should never marry an addict or an abusive person expecting / hoping that your love will cause that person to change. That's just prideful delusional thinking. It's similar to marrying someone who has been married before and thinking that even though s/he treated former spouses poorly, s/he will treat you wonderful. Again, that's your pride creating delusional thinking. On the other hand, know for a fact that the person who seems so perfect on your wedding day may change a great deal, even by the time you finish your honeymoon. That's because any two people, even those who are mature Christians are and will remain broken by their sinful nature. That means that no matter how much they've grown, they are still profoundly selfish and self-centred. Immature, self-obsessed people do not change for the better just because they've taken part in some ceremony. Sooner or later the pretending will end. Remember, a major task of life in general and dating specifically is to hide who we really are.

That is why any marriage that has endured and flourished and grown into something beautiful will have done so because both partners have come to know the true meaning of love and commitment. This is something that can only be learned by an intimate, healed, forgiven and obedient relationship with Jesus.

More on this next Friday.

Who Invented That?

Atheists are infamous for declaring that the idea of God is a man-made invention. Knowing what we know from science however, it's the non-existence of God that's the more likely invention. It is more likely that it's people who are terrified and weak and needy, people who are too pride filled and arrogant to follow His laws who decided to ignore the obvious – Creator God exists.

As it turns out, atheism is a crutch for those who cannot tolerate the reality of Creator God's existence. As George MacDonald wrote, “How often we look upon God as our last and feeblest resource! We go to Him because we have nowhere else to go. And then we learn that the storms of life have driven us, not upon the rocks, but into the only real haven.”

Friday's Thoughts on Marriage

The 3rd in a series:

"Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken, If you want make sure of keeping your heart intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an pet. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all relationships; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket – safe, dark, motionless, airless – it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to the risk of tragedy is damnation.”

C.S. Lewis

One thing that years of marriage counselling has done to me is make me ashamed of men. Of course, a Counsellor doesn't get to see those men who are at the top of their game. I only see those who, well, let me just say that I've become a tad jaded and cynical about humans in general and men specifically. I, and most of the men I've met are the working definition of selfishness. To live with us is truly a commitment to more frustration than anyone deserves.

For centuries, at least in cultures that were shaped by Christianity, the most valued characteristic of manhood was self-control, even self-mastery. A man who lacked control, a man who drank and ate and caroused to excess, a man who was not fit to rule himself was certainly considered unfit to oversee any type of business or government, let alone a family. As Christianity has taken a back seat to those who deny God's existence or who are at best functional atheists, that's all changed.

Every year News Reports of reckless and self-indulgent conduct of our politicians and business leaders reminds us that sexual restraint is no longer the sign of a man of valued character. Believe it or not many say that times have changed for the better; “transmitting selfies” of one's penis to a woman (not your wife) or even a series of women gets a wink and a nod and the man can actually be reelected.

While most of the marriages I see are damaged mostly by the men, women are by no means innocent. The mantra today for both men and women is something like, “Love me as I am.” On the other hand people understand, but only dimly and in a very limited way, that if both of you want a relationship with someone who doesn't want nor demands personal change, if both of you want someone who is genuinely “low maintenance” then you are both looking for someone who essentially doesn't exist.

I have never seen a time when so many people, again both men and women who are not so much in love with the person they long to marry, or who they are about to marry, as they are in love with a figment of their imagination. They're not marrying the person as s/he is, but as they want h/her to be. Since they're are dimly aware that who they want (the perfect match) doesn't exist (as adverstised by online dating companies), people today as never before face marriage with fear. Rather than determining to treat another human-being with loving behaviours - for life - men and women today are looking for a good fit. They're looking for someone who will be compatible; a soul mate, whatever that's supposed to mean. This unrealistic set of expectations frustrates and scares everyone involved because at some level everyone sees that based upon these parameters, relationship breakdown is almost inevitable.

Rather than being a venue for character change and for building a safe place for children to grow (Biblical Marriage), marriage today is supposed to provide fulfilled emotional, spiritual and sexual desires. As a result, idealism and pessimism go hand in hand and the fear of marriage causes most couples to “play house” instead. They can neither accept the person who is before them, nor can they accept loneliness. In fact many mistake the fear of being alone with the ability to love. So they live together in a common-law relationship until someone better comes along. Strangely, Biblical marriage is shunned because it is viewed as oppressive, and then, again strangely it's traded for the oppressive, fearful and hopeless life of “we'll be together as long as we both make each other happy.” In reality, people are afraid to marry anyone too much like themselves: selfish and grumpy, someone who judges others by their behaviours while judging themselves by their intentions.

Because of the new ideas of how two people should “love” each other, this failure by design ensures that marriage is no longer a shelter from the storm. Rather it's two people waiting for the expected and inevitable deterioration of the relationship.

This simply does not need to be the case. Our quest for individual freedom, independence and “self- fulfilment” flies in the face of the reality that any relationship where real love is enacted means the voluntary giving away of all three.

On the one hand you want someone who accepts you as you are. On the other hand you know that you have flaws that need to be changed. You know that anyone who has to live with you will desperately want to change those flaws.

Biblical marriage understands these dynamics and Biblical marriage understands that without accepting this reality, we will not know what it means to be loved nor what it means to love another human being.

More on this next Friday.

“The immortality of the soul is something of such vital importance to us, affecting us so deeply, that one must have lost all feeling not to care about knowing the facts of the matter. All our actions and thoughts must follow such different paths, according to whether there is hope of eternal blessings or not, that the only possible way of acting with sense and judgement is to decide our course of action in the light of this point, which ought to b our ultimate objective.”

Blaise Pascal

Pascal is of course correct, even though most atheists consider themselves to be wiser and more intelligent than Pascal.

The Joy of Disappearing

Therese of Lisieux is recorded as saying - "Jesus, accomplished for me in an instant what I had been unable to do in a life-time. I forgot myself and henceforth I was happy."

This woman discovered what God has been attempting to tell us from the beginning of time. Moments of joy are not found in self-satisfaction, but in self-forgetfulness. Humility is not trying to think less of oneself, but thinking of oneself less often. To observe those atheists who gaze at the universe, both macro and micro, and who then think highly of themselves for having done so is to watch pathology in motion.

The joy that we are rightly drawn to in times of momentous contemplation is meant to draw our attention to something far greater. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the universe proclaims His handiwork.” Psalm 19:1

Those who think humans too small and planet earth too insignificant to point to God have made the classic mistake of human nature.

It is not about us.

The universe, both macro and micro is meant to draw our attention to a Creator. Christians have learned that the point is not to make us small, but to show how incomprehensibly great is our God. 

“The Poor Will Always Be With You”

Photo by Kevin Cartier

This statement of Jesus is one of the most stinging condemnations of human nature in the whole Bible. “For our hearts are desperately wicked” comes close.

Regardless of atheist protestations to the contrary, a secular utopia is not something that humanity will experience at any point in the future. Today, 3.8 billion people live on less than 2 dollars a day. This despite trillions wasted on defence programs and preparations for war, as well as 100's and 100's of billions being spent on mere distractions. Our corrupt self-love will prevent any success regarding justice and mercy for all.

The concept that “all men are created equal” is distinctly Christian. It cannot possibly mesh with “taking care of number one.”

Believing the lie, accepting the great delusion that humans can improve themselves through self-effort is the cause of atheist's relentless assault on the One Whose kingdom is not of this world, and against those who follow Him.

Does that mean that we shouldn't try to help our brothers and sisters in need? Just the opposite. It's our duty to fight against the evil that rests so comfortably and securely within each of us. We must do this despite knowing all along that peace on earth will not be brought about till evil and those on the side of evil are banished forever from God's Kingdom.

The concepts of sin, freewill, conscience, eternal and divine justice, these things have no place in the atheist mind-set. On atheism, Might is Right. The end justifies the means of the atheist mind and stands in stark contrast to Objective Morality which condemns our lack of love for the needy. That is why the poor will always be with us. That is why we can and will continue to justify our greed and self-effort.

Let’s Make A Deal

Muslims, atheists and come cults that call themselves Christian, like the Jehovah’s Witness and Mormons would like to make a deal with God. It goes something like this. You let me say that Jesus wasn’t God and I’ll say that He was a really good man, a moral teacher, a good example.

Some (read atheists) think that’s too extravagant and will only go so far as to say, You let me say that Jesus wasn’t God and I’ll agree that Jesus might have existed - He probably didn’t exist but He might have. These people think that because they’ve been so gracious in their estimation of Jesus, should the existence of God turn out to be true, He’ll overlook their vile and evil character.

Actually, those are not options. I mean, if Jesus wasn’t who He said He was, a liar is the least of names that we could call Him. If Jesus is not exactly who He said He is, there should be a crime against His words and actions for they are vile in the extreme. If He was just a man, then Jesus was an imposter, a fraud, a monster. Think about it! If Jesus wasn’t who He said He was, then:

Jesus conned people into dying for Him.

Jesus told people to worship Him.

Jesus told others to be honest, while He lived a lie.

Jesus told others to trust Him to save their souls.

If Jesus was not who He said He was then He was a blasphemer of the highest order.

If Jesus was not who He said He was then He was a megalomaniac and a psychopath.

In the account of Jesus saying, “Which is easier to say, “Your sins are forgiven,” or “Get up and walk,” Jesus was NOT saying to the Pharisees, “You’re wrong to say only God can forgive sin.” They were bang on for that point. Their error was saying He was not God.

There are no deals to be cut here. Jesus left doubters with absolutely no middle ground. He’s either a fraud and blasphemer or God incarnate. Jesus was saying to them and to us, “I can do things that only God can do.”

Unlike present day fraudulent healers, Jesus healed instantly, completely, permanently. In the account just mentioned, where Jesus said, “Which is easier, to forgive this man’s sins or heal him?” the man’s atrophied muscles, brittle bones, bent and twisted arms and legs were made whole; strength and dexterity were restored in a moment of time. It WAS something that only God could do. Even with the proof walking out the door right in front of them, the Pharisee’s, as with today’s atheists, looked only for a way to deny who Jesus was.

Like holocaust deniers who live on the fringes of reality, for those who don’t want to believe that Jesus is who He says He is, no amount of evidence is enough.

And no deal with be made.

You do the crime.

You will do the time.

“We Broke the Ocean”

I remember someone saying that many years ago when there was a huge oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

“We broke the ocean.”

That's a bad thing, but we can fix the ocean if we have the will to do so. I think that our greed and corruption will prevent such action from taking place but we could fix our planet if we wanted to.

Our relationship with our Creator is another story. We broke that relationship and we are incapable of doing anything to fix it. So Jesus did what was necessary to restore that relationship. And He did that before we even knew that we needed His help.

Amazing grace!

Sadly, that's not good enough for atheists. They demand that this offer of forgiveness be imposed on everyone – even on those who don't want this forgiveness – or more importantly – upon those who believe they don't need forgiveness.

In this regard, atheists seem impossible to please. Atheists rage at a God they don't believe in for allowing good things to happen to bad people (some of them the worst humans who ever lived) by bringing them into a heaven that the atheist doesn't believe in.

AND atheists rage at a God they don't believe in for giving atheists what they want most, a life and an eternity without God. He does this by allowing the atheist to choose an eternity in hell (the complete and utter absence of God) which they also don't believe in.

“Without God, We're All Good!”

That's a line from a recent atheist bill-board.

“Without God, we're all good.”

Could there be a more puerile line of thinking?

Wishful thinking?

Psychological blindness?

Without God, we're all good.

Without the police, we're even better.

Without any external measurement of morality, without any conscience at all, we're sociopaths – I mean, atheists.

Atheism – a say anything world-view geared to appeal to those who exist on the fringes of reality. 

Why Won't He Show Himself?

That's what many atheists ask. “It's God's obligation to prove His existence to me. If Jesus would only show Himself to me, then I'd believe. Why won't He do that?”

First of all, God will make His existence known to anyone who is genuinely searching for Him. Second, a materialist would not believe in Jesus if He appeared. And finally, I think we're fortunate that God hasn't and doesn't reveal Himself to us in that manner.

He will.

But we're lucky that He hasn't yet.

Here's why.

In His mercy, God has used His “hiddenness” to prevent our decision to rebel against him from have permanent consequences. Those who have experienced what atheists ask for, a pure revelation of God's existence, are now beyond redemption. An unknown number of angelic beings are now beyond redemption because unlike we humans, their rebellion took place with maximum light and maximum revelation. There are no agnostic angels. That is the type of rebellion from which there is no recovery.

Oh sure, there are utter fools who have tried to bring about the same fate in their own lives with the, um, what is it called? Right, the Blasphemy Project or something like that. But even there, what they are doing is being done out of ignorance. “If there is a God, I'm going to offend Him.” Woohoo!

In His mercy, God knows that many of us who begin life resisting His love and His offer of forgiveness will eventually decide that being loved with the greatest love in the universe is a good thing. We come to think that experiencing mercy and forgiveness for real guilt is not so bad after all. Giving us just enough evidence of Himself so that those who are looking for Him will find Him allows us time to experience the full impact of our sinful nature in comparison with His Grace.