The Generic Atheist

We have atheists, anti-theists, militant atheists, and even practical atheists who believe but live like there's no God and unwitting atheists who don't realize they are.  We see the rise of militant atheists out to eradicate Christ from the public square and public discourse as if they have an animus against a God who doesn't exist and whom they do not know.  It's like being angry at the little green men, though you cannot prove their nonexistence!  

Of course, all logicians know you cannot prove a universal negative:  you can neither prove the existence of God with smoking-gun evidence to the unwilling unbeliever nor disprove Him to the willing believers.  The only way to prove a universal negative is to be God (knowing all and being everywhere present). They don't offer proof there is no God, and evidence is hard to come by, but just offer their objections to Christianity and try to attack its credibility or freedom from hypocrisy. To be sure, no one can deny God due to lack of evidence!

There are plenty of motives to be an atheist: one doesn't have to shun hell, be accountable, regard sexual taboo or restriction, be judged, do the will of God, or worship in organized religion. In short, it's just very inconvenient!   But man is basically a religious creature that will worship someone or something regardless of religious affiliation or not.  Many atheists won't admit it, but they are embittered and believe God has done something unfair to them and they blame Him: the Bible says in Prov. 19:3 that when man ruins his life he blames God, but ironically we know he gives Him no credit for success while thinking he's a self-made man at that!  Why are they angry at Jesus; what did He do?  Even Pilate found no fault in Him!  Jesus died as the innocent Lamb, but His cruel death was not the end of Him--He lives in our hearts through the kingdom of God.

One anecdote has an atheist in Ireland and being asked whether it was the God of Protestants or the God of Catholics that he didn't believe in!  Blame sectarianism! They wondered the same question during the Civil War when both sides claimed to be praying to the same God for victory.  Even during WWI, they had a truce to celebrate Christmas.  How can this be brotherhood when we quarrel and even go to war?  We shall judge the world and angels; how is it we cannot settle petty disputes?  People say they cannot believe in "such a God" or a God who allows such and such a disaster--these are objections, not evidence.  When people say the Bible contradicts itself, it really contradicts them!

I venture to posit that most atheists disbelieve out of ignorance and of rejecting a God they know nothing of or have false impressions of it like erecting straw men in arguments.   In other words, if they knew the One that lightens every man and loves them enough to die, they would change their minds about the only God of love.  Even Napoleon called Christ the Emperor of Love.  Christ wants to conquer hearts through the Spirit and He has commissioned us to spread the Word, the gospel of God that is love.  Even Christians are known to be willing to die for a church they will not attend, much less must be the opinion of the church be to the outsiders--Spurgeon said that it has so little influence on the world because the world has so much influence on the church!

Most Americans don't realize that Buddha didn't believe in God and that Buddhism denies a supernatural Creator-God.  They are basically ancestor and Buddha worshippers.  It used to be that belief in the Christian God was the default position in academia, but now the so-called intelligentsia has succumbed to Postmodernism, New Age thinking, and Secular Humanism as an alternative takes on God and interpretation of reality.  It is generally believed that Darwin killed God and now God is dead and no longer relevant.  But science has not undermined the Bible or Christianity.  Christianity has always succeeded in out-thinking the skeptics and can answer their objections. It is a fact, that after two millennia, no objection is going to bring the downfall of this virulent faith and Christianity's God will not die.

The sad truth is that you must be oriented and aware of the truth to be living in reality and to know how to live.  Truth, according to John Locke, is what corresponds with reality.  The truth is becoming no more relevant as the personification of truth itself, Jesus, is being rejected--now they try to brainwash students into thinking it's only relative or cannot be known.  When we remove God from the equation we lose our bearings on reality and are thrown off course and the foundation of society becomes destroyed.  George Bernard Shaw said that "no society has survived the loss of its gods."

The atheist often attacks believers as having blind faith, but that means not knowing why you believe.  Most atheists have blind faith because it's a bankrupt faith that cannot be proved with sound evidence--and most atheists don't know why they even don't believe, they're just bitter.  John Stott said we must cater to their intellectual integrity [and answer objections], but must not pander to their intellectual arrogance.   Both positions require faith, either in God or in science and man's reasoning.  It's not a matter of faith versus reason, but which set of presuppositions one begins with.    Soli Deo Gloria!

Are Christians Sabbatarians?

"If you want to kill Christianity, you must abolish Sunday."  --Voltaire   
"The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath" (Mark 2:27, HCSB).  

There are Christian Sabbatarians--that's not an oxymoron!  Once, I was almost fooled by the Seventh-day Adventists as a teen but studied Luther to be set free from their legalism.  Now I consider myself free from any form of legalistic interpretation.  Point in fact: No place in the New Testament are we admonished to keep the Sabbath--search for yourself!  It is the only one of the Ten Commandments not reinstated in the New Testament.  Do not live in the Old Testament!  To some believers, Paul says, every day is holy and for the others, we are not to judge them.

It is wrong to assume that Christians changed the Sabbath to Sunday, for they observed it early on by tradition and custom, and eventually dropped the practice.  The Lord's Day was strictly in tribute to the Resurrection.  Note that John said in the Book of Revelation:  "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day."  There is ample evidence of Christians meeting on the Lord's day early on; they even observed the Sabbath in addition at first--old traditions die hard!

Though I agree with the moral equivalent of having a day set aside for rest as observing the Sabbath, these are not the same.  There is simple morality, and then there is spirituality and religion or Sabbath observance.  Sabbath observance by no means is to be a litmus test of spiritual orthodoxy.  We have no right to judge our brother in regards to a Sabbath (cf. Col. 2:16i).  But experiments with this day have proven unsuccessful:  The USSR tried to alter the seven-day week for eleven years and it ended in failure.  We are just hard-wired for this cycle of work and rest and need to lay aside a day for R & R spiritually, mentally, and emotionally, as well as physically.

Jesus did say that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath (c. Mark 2:27) and that means not to let someone tell us what our day of rest should be used for.  The principle is so important to God that if we don't take due rest, He will give it to us anyway.  In principle, there is no hard-and-fast rule for what a Sabbath should require, or prohibits.  If you want to get technical, you shouldn't even go out to eat or buy fuel on the Sabbath because that requires others to work on your behalf.  The Spirit of the law prohibited the doing of business on this day of so-called rest--the Pharisees had redefined it with thirty-nine additional definitions of "work activities."

God promised that He would give us a permanent (spiritual) rest--we will work in heaven physically.  Israel kept the outward sign of the Sabbath but failed to enter into His rest, as noted in Hebrews 4:3, HCSB, as "... 'So I swore in My anger, they will never enter into My rest.'"  The important thing is that we rest for our labors as we rest in the Lord's and become empowered by the Spirit so as not to be working in the flesh or our own strength.

God condemns any work done in the energy of the flesh, no matter how good we deem it.  God said to Israel (if they would keep the covenant):  "My presence will go with you and I will give you rest."  Christians enter into this rest from their labors upon salvation and living by the power of the Spirit, not in the energy of the flesh.

The Sabbath command was a sign for Israel in Nehemiah 9:14, HCSB:  "You revealed Your holy Sabbath to them, and gave them commands, statutes, and instruction through Your servant Moses." God blessed the Sabbath and made it a special day for us too!  Note that it was given as a sign of His covenant forever.  Exodus 31: 13 says, "'Tell the Israelites:  You must observe My Sabbaths for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations so that you will know that I am Yahweh who sets you apart." Also, note Ezek. 20:12, 20, HCSB:  "I also gave them My Sabbaths to serve as a sign between Me and them so they will know that I am Yahweh who sets them apart as holy."  "Keep My Sabbaths holy, and they will be a sign between Me and you, so you may know that I am Yahweh your God."

What I am trying to point out, is that although there are applications to the general principle of  rest required for us and the way we are designed for it; however, its main intention was to be a sign for Israel to be a special nation, and it was so serious that there was a death penalty of stoning for violating the Sabbath.  As believers, we are not under the law (cf. Rom. 6:14) but under grace and are liberated from all demands of ceremonial custom and tradition and observe the Lord's day by the assembling together of ourselves (cf. Heb. 10:25).

We have liberty as Christian to hallow the Sabbath as stated in Romans 14:5-6, HCSB:  "One person considers one day to be above another day.  Someone else considers every day to be the same.  each one must be fully convinced in his own mind.  Whoever observes the day, observes it for the honor of the Lord...."   Above all, according to Col. 2:16, HCSB:  "...[D]on't let anyone judge ... in the matter of a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day. "

In other words, don't get legalistic about it and the faith you have, is to be kept to yourself (cf. Rom. 14:22), not to be used to spiritually bully others believers into your convictions, if you are free in the Lord, don't flaunt it, and if you are bound in the Lord, don't condemn.   There are always exceptions to the rule:  Necessity knows no law, as David exhibited by taking the shewbread in the temple to violate temple rules, and priests were allowed to "work" on the Sabbath.  Jesus asked the ultimate question:  Can we not do good  [works] on the Sabbath?  Christians are to be known by their love, not known by their Sabbaths like Jews:  Viva la difference!  

NB:  In 1929 the USSR exchanged the traditional seven-day week with a five-day one.  This experiment with a Sabbath lasted only eleven years before returning to normalcy!  In 1795, during the French Revolution, a new calendar was decreed with three ten-day weeks per month, eliminating Sundays and holidays, but after ten years it was terminated.  God's way is the best way!   Old traditions die hard!     Soli Deo Gloria!

Exposition Of Operation Fig Leaf...

Satan hasn't changed his tactics since tempting Eve with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. She ultimately didn't choose good vs. evil (she had no idea what they were!), but self vs. God.  This initial sin was only indicative of all that would follow in many ways.  Rejecting the wisdom of God, the trust in His providence and provision,  and the fellowship of Him vs. Satan, et cetera.  All sin was represented in some capacity in that prototype sin.  

We would've done the same thing and ditto Adam and Eve--they were our representatives and we are in effect in solidarity with them or in Adam as the official head of the race.  Satan didn't have anything against being good, it was only in an ungodly way apart from God's plan. What is evil, but deprivation or negation of good--it cannot exist without there being good in the first place. Being good without God, that's all. That's what religion tries to do: make you decent, respectable, honorable people without God--or ultimately knowing Him.

Christianity is simply Christ and taking Him out of the equation leaves nothing to live for--it is nothing.  You can have Buddhism without Buddha, but not Christianity without Christ you disembowel it as someone has said. The kind of people the world looks up to and admires are the ones who have made good for themselves and achieved the "American dream" et al.  Those living the good life or becoming a success in the eyes of man. 

People judge a splinter group by their character and say, "They are such fine people."  Newsflash:  Christ didn't come to make bad people good, but dead people alive!  "And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins..." (Eph. 2:1).  Christianity is not a system of dos and don'ts or a system of ethics, though orthopraxy (right behavior) is the application of orthodoxy (right beliefs).

He wants us to have an "abundant life" and "all these things shall be added unto us" as we seek His kingdom and righteousness.   He gives us "richly all things to enjoy" so God is not a killjoy trying to keep us from having fun.  Evil is just this:  leaving God out of the picture and trying to do it alone without Him.  It's a do-it-yourself proposition.  Sin can be seen as rejecting God's plan and declaring your independence to do it your way.

We're incurably addicted to doing something for our salvation according to Charles Swindoll and are naturally religious (we have been called Homo religiosus or a religious man).  What sin is that Adam and Eve chose was to put self into the center of our existence and live for self--there's no more sure way to personal disaster--the happiest people have learned to serve [live for others], says Albert Schweitzer. True humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less according to Rick Warren.  

The aftermath of the fall was a cover-up and hiding from God and man is still up to this old escape mechanism.  We won't take responsibility and own up to our sins. We have to come clean and renounce all sin in our lives and be willing to let Christ transform our souls from the inside out--not turning over a new leaf or making a resolution, but surrendering the will to God's will.
Soli Deo Gloria!

God Reaching Down to Us

Christianity may be summed up in grace or God reaching down to us (condescending) and acting on our behalf in doing for us what we didn't deserve--this is unique in Christianity.  All other religions are based on works because man is incurably addicted to doing something for his salvation (cf. John 6:28-29) and are summed up in man's effort to gain the approbation or approval of God by his good deeds, rituals, morality, etc.   You might say man's vain effort in reaching out to please God.

The Christian life is about seeking God and His presence and face in our daily walk.  But this does not take place apart from grace:  we didn't find Him; He found us.  Pascal said that he would not have sought God, had He first found Him.  Paul said that "there is none that seeks God" in Rom. 3.  God's chief quarrel with man, says John Stott, is that he doesn't seek.  God is no man's debtor and if we seek we will find. 

The miracle is that He is found by those who were not looking:  "I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me; I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me" (Isa. 65:1). Many people are looking for the benefits, not the Benefactor.   Actually, according to R. C. Sproul, the search for God begins at conversion, it doesn't end there. Jonathan Edwards said that seeking God is the main business of the Christian.   When we say we found God, we really mean He found us.  We begin our search for God at salvation because only in the Spirit can we know Him and be aware of Him.   Soli Deo Gloria!