Challenge to Atheists and Agnostics
Challenging Atheists and Agnostics and anyone else who questions, doubts or does not beleive...
Listen to, and read the information referenced below, and then decide whether what you believe is true.
One statement to challenge you right here and now...
There can be no moral relativism.
There must be truth.
These are facts. The reason I say they are facts is because to say the opposite for either is contradictory.
If you say "There is no truth" I say "Is that a fact?"
If you say "There are no moral absolutes" I say "Are you absolutely sure about that?"
Choose this day whom you shall serve, Good or Evil, Light or Darkness, Right or Wrong. There are only two choices.
http://podstar.morningstarministries.org/archive.php
copy and past the address above, scroll down to "I don't have faith to be an atheist" and click on it...
or use itunes and go to the podcast store, type in Morningstar Publications, subscribe, and get the "I don't have faith to be an atheist" podcast. Listen to it. There are some challenging things in there to any agnostic or atheist.
read "Jesus Among Other gods" by Ravi Zacharias,
"The Case For Christ" by Lee Strobel, and
"Mere Christianity" by C.S. Lewis.
Strobel went about trying to disprove God and Christ and ended up changing his beliefs. Lewis was a pagan, converted by J.R.R. Tolkien.
Here is the address to biola university's site about Anthony Flew a "legendary British philosopher and atheist" who changed his beliefs to become a "theist" or as he describes himself "deist" He doesn't become a Christian, but gives some excellent credence to Christianity, and also explains why he changed his mind.
http://www.biola.edu/antonyflew/flew-interview.pdf
Also here's very interesting address to washington times about a scientist atheist becoming a Christian.
http://washingtontimes.com/national/20060721-102631-6908r.htm
Listen to, and read the information referenced below, and then decide whether what you believe is true.
One statement to challenge you right here and now...
There can be no moral relativism.
There must be truth.
These are facts. The reason I say they are facts is because to say the opposite for either is contradictory.
If you say "There is no truth" I say "Is that a fact?"
If you say "There are no moral absolutes" I say "Are you absolutely sure about that?"
Choose this day whom you shall serve, Good or Evil, Light or Darkness, Right or Wrong. There are only two choices.
http://podstar.morningstarministries.org/archive.php
copy and past the address above, scroll down to "I don't have faith to be an atheist" and click on it...
or use itunes and go to the podcast store, type in Morningstar Publications, subscribe, and get the "I don't have faith to be an atheist" podcast. Listen to it. There are some challenging things in there to any agnostic or atheist.
read "Jesus Among Other gods" by Ravi Zacharias,
"The Case For Christ" by Lee Strobel, and
"Mere Christianity" by C.S. Lewis.
Strobel went about trying to disprove God and Christ and ended up changing his beliefs. Lewis was a pagan, converted by J.R.R. Tolkien.
Here is the address to biola university's site about Anthony Flew a "legendary British philosopher and atheist" who changed his beliefs to become a "theist" or as he describes himself "deist" He doesn't become a Christian, but gives some excellent credence to Christianity, and also explains why he changed his mind.
http://www.biola.edu/antonyflew/flew-interview.pdf
Also here's very interesting address to washington times about a scientist atheist becoming a Christian.
http://washingtontimes.com/national/20060721-102631-6908r.htm
posted by Heather Simpson | 11:18 PM
4 Comments:
Do you think that slavery is immoral?
I presume not, since the Bible seems to condone it.
And is murder okay as long as God commands it?
Interesting question...
well, there certainly are some things in the Bible that God does not take the time to explain. Maybe to give us the option to search Him out for the meaning, or to have it be a stumbling block that keeps us away from Him.
Slavery, polygamy, war, these things all definitly have been part of our modern world (in places) and in ancient times. There is no clear explanation of whether slavery is right or wrong that I know of, (I don't know the Hebrew laws extremely well) but I do know that
1. It was required that they be treated fairly. This is absolutely the right thing to do if you are in a culture where it is acceptable to own a slave. Not being hard on them or beating them. They are people after all.
2. Every so many years they were required to free their slaves.
I personally do not believe in slavery myself, although I can see how a person living in a different culture or time would have considered it fine.
Now another aspect that we Americans and other westerners seem to turn a blind eye to is the migrant worker and their mistreatment that is definitly equal to slavery. Also, the typical debts that people tend to acquire these days whether it is a credit card or house payment (for a house too big for their budget) or a payday loan (especially these) is a form of slavery that people most often willingly enter into.
I do believe there were instances where people willingly entered into an agreement of some type of slavery in Biblical times. Not that this condones it but for today, people are enslaved to debt. This is wrong and is also unBiblcial. It certainly can be a complicated issue though, I agree.
Second question...Murder. God does not command people to murder.
He has commanded people to kill and there is a difference.
Also, war is a completely different ballgame. There are times in the Old Testament where God wanted the Israelites to conquor another nation, but from my memory (which I am not saying is perfect) a vast majority of those times the land being conquored was full of people who 1. were very sinful 2. just plain worshipped other idols 3. were a threat to the lives of Israelites.
One interesting story concerning this is Jonah. He was told to go to preach to the people of Ninevah to repent and turn their hearts back to God, and when they did, God changed His mind and decided not to destroy them. An angry God have said "good, now die".
Another interesting one is with the Egyptians and Pharoah. God gave the Pharoah and the Egyptians many chances to free the Israelite slaves but since their heart was hard He ended up destroying many of them, their firstborn and all of their army. There is archaological evicence for both of these events too.
Every time that I can think of, God has given people a chance to live more loving, good, holy lives before He gives up on them and destroys them. Even Sodom and Gamorrah. They had a chance to not be destroyed. But they were pure evil, even desiring to homosexually rape God's angels. I don't care what you believe about homosexuality, everyone agrees rape is wrong.
Thinking of David choosing not to murder King Saul, it would have been murder. Thinking of Cain murdering Abel, definitly wrong. But thinking of Moses, a leader in Egypt killing the other Egyptian that was beating a Hebrew slave, that was not murder.
There is definitly the challenge throughout scripture to sit and ask the Lord, "What does this mean? And Why this or that?" He answers me every time. And rarely is it what I would naturally think the answer should be, but it is always wise, always loving and always just. There is also a place for studying out the original meaning of words, because there are definitly things lost in the translation. Not that God's Word isn't always the same God's Word that has life and power, but the understanding is much fuller if we dig deeper. I still can acquire the same meaning from one translation as the next, it just might be easier for me if I try a couple.
Also, as to how well written the Bible is... if it is an issue that makes it less believable for you, I would suggest searching your heart and asking yourself why it matters if it is well written in your own eyes or not? There are many, many literary scholars out there that all agree, Bible believers or not, that it is a wonderful peice of literature.
I find it quite impossible for 1 person to write a book so rich with history, rich with poetic prose, rich with stories and still have the same continuity throughout the book that the Bible does. It is impossible that the entire thing is written by one human.
What about when God caused the kids who made fun of Elijah's bald head to be torn apart by bears?
God gave the Pharoah and the Egyptians many chances to free the Israelite slaves but since their heart was hard He ended up destroying many of them, their firstborn and all of their army.
God hardened Pharaoh's heart. A number of times Pharaoh was going to relent--until God himself intervened. Why did God do that? Was he having too much fun with the plagues and the killing?
It is impossible that the entire thing is written by one human.
But the contention is that it is divinely inspired. I just find it interesting that, for example, the hollywood version of the the Exodus story is far richer and interesting than the source material it was drawn from. I saw the movie before I read the original and I was just struck by the marked difference in quality between the two. This by itself, of course, is not persuasive either way, but I think it bears mentioning.
Concerning Pharaoh and his hard heart, I think it shows in Exodus pretty clear that God did initially harden his heart, but he had the choice to keep it hard or choose to fear the Lord.
Also, concerning so-called Christians who fell away and are now atheists, the Bible says in Luke 8:13 when the seed of the Gospel falls on the rocks these people will fall away. In 2 Thessalonians 2 it says there will be a "great falling away" or some versions say "apostacy".
Clearly these people were not "worshippers of God in Spirit and in Truth" John 4:24. There are many many Christians (especially American) that do not have any comprehension of anything Spiritual.
They deny the existance of the Spirit realm, and yet insist there is a God. The two cannot exist together. God is Supernatural and Spiritual. We can have an intimate personal relationship with God.
If these people were as wholly devoted to God as they say they were, they would not ever fall away. They never really knew Him.
It may be possible for someone who really "knows" they have experienced God's presence to fall away, but if they do, I don't believe they ever fully opened their heart to Him to let Him take root in their hearts.
Sorry I have never seen the Hollywood version of Exodus. But Hollywood has a knack for ad libbing and sensationalizing things that can easily speak for themselves. The normal Hollywood would have used tons of digital special effects for The Passion of the Christ and would have put it in English. I suppose that would make the movie so much better. They probably would never have understood the scene where Christ stomps on the head of a snake.
Does something have to be sensational to be real? no. And there are tons of stories in the Bible that are extremely sensational. But most of them weren't meant to be a "good read" they are meant to teach us important things about God and our relationship with Him.
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