Anyway, if you were not aware that April 1st had been deemed International Atheists Day, that’s OK, because it has been extended to a full week. Christians have the twelve days of Christmas and many Christians observe the forty days of Lent before Resurrection Day, so why can’t atheists also have an extended holiday dedicated to them? Another new holiday began last year, Blasphemy Day, on September 30, 2009, but many consider it too abusive and chose to begin this holiday instead as an alternative. Actually, the founder of Blashpemy Day, Paul Kurtz, is sorry for what Blapshemy Day has become, link here. It began as a venue for free speech related to Dutch cartoons about Muhammad but has basically turned into a hate mongering festival. Ray Comfort in the USA was instrumental in beginning Atheists' Day. He first referred to it as National Atheists’ Day. Maybe he didn’t see its worldwide potential at first. But bloggers such as Duane Wallenstein have been passing on the news, link here.
Ray Comfort has a “Be Nice to Atheists” offer at his blog Atheist Central. Because of the economic hard times he’s offering atheists $100 for groceries or any needs once a week, link here. The offer is for real, it’s no joke and neither is the love of Jesus Christ, which He offers you today. It’s free for the receiving. As a Christian, I'll celebrate Resurrection Sunday April 4th and the joy of knowing God. I don't consider myself any better than atheists, but simply a recipient of God's grace. Scripture says “The fool has says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” (Psalm 14.1, NIV). This is not meant as an insult, but simply emphasizes how the “heart” of a person is the place where decisions are made, not the mind. The heart is the center of the will. It can be closed, hardened and defensive. In case you didn't pick up on it, this article began as a belated, second hand April Fools' joke. It has many true facts - a good way to set someone up for the hook - International Women's Day is real and Blasphemy Day is a genuine holiday. However, Atheists' Day, on April 1st - April Fools' Day and International Atheists' Week were created by Christians to make a tongue in cheek point that atheism is foolish, given the vast evidence in nature and the cosmos for an intelligent designer.
Seriously, if you are an atheist, don’t play the fool. The joy of April Fools' Day will quickly wear off but there is deep and lasting joy found in knowing God. Consider Darwin's photo above. Would you trust a guy who wears checkered/plaid pants, vests and ties at the same time? Would you buy a used car from him? Not that that means anything, but the question of eternity is more than just a fashion risk. Make a close examination of all the facts regarding Intelligent Design and the truths of scripture. Most of all try looking into Jesus. Wise men still follow Him.
Ray Comfort has a “Be Nice to Atheists” offer at his blog Atheist Central. Because of the economic hard times he’s offering atheists $100 for groceries or any needs once a week, link here. The offer is for real, it’s no joke and neither is the love of Jesus Christ, which He offers you today. It’s free for the receiving. As a Christian, I'll celebrate Resurrection Sunday April 4th and the joy of knowing God. I don't consider myself any better than atheists, but simply a recipient of God's grace. Scripture says “The fool has says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” (Psalm 14.1, NIV). This is not meant as an insult, but simply emphasizes how the “heart” of a person is the place where decisions are made, not the mind. The heart is the center of the will. It can be closed, hardened and defensive. In case you didn't pick up on it, this article began as a belated, second hand April Fools' joke. It has many true facts - a good way to set someone up for the hook - International Women's Day is real and Blasphemy Day is a genuine holiday. However, Atheists' Day, on April 1st - April Fools' Day and International Atheists' Week were created by Christians to make a tongue in cheek point that atheism is foolish, given the vast evidence in nature and the cosmos for an intelligent designer.
Seriously, if you are an atheist, don’t play the fool. The joy of April Fools' Day will quickly wear off but there is deep and lasting joy found in knowing God. Consider Darwin's photo above. Would you trust a guy who wears checkered/plaid pants, vests and ties at the same time? Would you buy a used car from him? Not that that means anything, but the question of eternity is more than just a fashion risk. Make a close examination of all the facts regarding Intelligent Design and the truths of scripture. Most of all try looking into Jesus. Wise men still follow Him.
Related:
In honor of Atheists' Day and International Atheists' Week I want to express God's love to atheists who have misrepresented Christianity. I especially want to express God's love to Tatarize, at the Atheist Forum at About.com. The best thing I can do is to pray for your enlightenment and salvation.
ReplyDeleteTrue Christians don't burn down churches, as the two punks did in Texas. True Christians don't commit genocide, as atheist Joseph Stalin, a former seminary student did. True Christians don't try to wipe out the entire Jewish population, as Hitler did. Jesus said you will know a tree by its fruit (Matthew 7.20) Nietzsche was an outspoken atheist who progressively went insane, as many in history have. Most of the church burnings in the south have been racially motivated: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/churches/churches.htm
Most of the church burnings in Norway have been linked to Neo-Nazi Metal Heads who, like Nietzsche, have declared war on Christianity:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Christian_sentiment
God bless you Tatarize. May the Lord shine his light into your darkened heart.
You can't express God's love to me any more than you can express Bigfoot's hate for me. You can simply make an unsubstantiated claim about unsubstantiated nothings.
ReplyDeleteI hope for your Enlightenment. As this country was founded on Enlightenment values and placing a premium on having a reason to believe before believing something. And hope that you'll join me in condemning all dogma religious-dogma or state-dogma. And understand that if you want to believe the most true things and the fewest false things then the only way to do that is to reject dogma and demand evidence before accepting a belief. After all the gulags of Soviet Russia were not the result of too much critical thought or the result of wanting too much evidence. Just as witch burnings weren't the result of demanding good evidence. Dogma is and always been the enemy. Unless you want to accept beliefs that are less likely to be true over beliefs that are more likely to be true, then the only answer is a universal reliance on evidence and a complete rejection of dogma.
You are relying on a No True Scotsman fallacy wherein you reject people who fail to fit your definition in order to prove the rule. So you define True Christian ad hoc with given examples. So Mother Teresa might be classified as a "True Christian™" but if it became better known that she gave no relief to suffering people but rather thought that suffering was good for people and allowed them maximal suffering because it "brought them closer to Christ" then she might not be a "True Christian™".
>>No Scotsman likes pudding.
-- My friend Angus loves pudding and he's a scotsman, he has a kilt and everything.
>>No TRUE Scotsman likes pudding!
The fact that Hitler accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior suffices to make him Christian. While he was Catholic with Lutheran leanings he was still certainly Christian. It is not the general proclivity of atheists to go insane. Nietzsche expressed anti-Christian leanings and was unable to teach in Germany because of the pro-Christian stance of the universities and he was ardently opposed to anti-semitism with which Germany was rife with. Christianity and Anti-semitism went hand in hand in Germany and Nietzsche strong opposed both.
Joseph Stalin didn't have people killed according to racial identity. Technically he committed democide rather than genocide.
The church burnings in Norway were the result of a few Black Metal individuals very early on. These individuals were not neo-nazis although there are some neo-nazis within Black Metal. Just as there are some Christian Metal people within Black Metal, and Christian Power Metal (White Power Metal which is overtly racist and Christian). The truth here is that the Christians in metal are often the neo-nazis and the church-burning people were pretty much just that one individual (who wasn't a Nazi) a few decades ago.
It's like saying that everybody who does rock and roll are pedophilic incestuous Democrats, because Jerry Lee Lewis married his 13-year old cousin and many Rock bands supported Barack Obama's candidacy.
"Is it nothing to grope your way into the dreary prisons, the damp and dropping dungeons, the dark and silent cells of superstition, where the souls of men are chained to floors of stone; to greet them like a ray of light, like the song of a bird, the murmur of a stream; to see the dull eyes open and grow slowly bright; to feel yourself grasped by the shrunken and unused hands, and hear yourself thanked by a strange and hollow voice?" - Robert Ingersoll
I hope to greet you like a ray of light.
Tatarize wrote:"You are relying on a No True Scotsman fallacy wherein you reject people who fail to fit your definition in order to prove the rule."
ReplyDeleteEG: "No Scotsman likes pudding.
-- My friend Angus loves pudding and he's a Scotsman, he has a prekilt and everything.- No TRUE Scotsman likes pudding!"
Why is this a weak and poor comparison towards understanding valid Christian regeneration?
1. Regeneration is not qualified as "my definition" of true Christianity. It is neither arbitrary nor ancillary, like pudding. Jesus Christ outlined it as the main qualification for true spiritual life. See John 3.3
2. Jesus outlined the signs of true regeneration and false confessions. Matthew 7.17, 13.1-9
Jesus summarized these thoughts with the following statement:
This is why I speak to them in parables:“Though seeing, they do not see;though hearing, they do not hear or understand.In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:
“You will be ever hearing but never understanding;you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.For this people’s heart has become calloused;they hardly hear with their ears,and they have closed their eyes.Otherwise they might see with their eyes,hear with their ears,understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them."
A person without regeneration, such as Hitler, is not likely a true Christian, no matter what he or she says. This is not my opinion, this is what Jesus himself taught. Although only God truly knows the state of a person's heart, the Bible has given us knowledge to "judge with righteous judgment" as well as a gift of spirit of discernment of spirits.
I pray you will come to encounter the Light of the world and receive the gift of spiritual life.