Posted on 05/13/2007 4:22:19 AM PDT by Kaslin
Paul (not the lead singer of the Beatles, but the apostle Paul) states that God has made Himself known, via creation, to all men. According to the apostle, God’s revealed Himself not just to Christians and to Jews, but to every one everywhere (see Romans 1:18-21).
This means that from Jo-Jo the Brazilian monkey boy, to the Cameroon pygmies, to the whiny lesbian agnostic smoking clove cigarettes at Starbucks, to the beer swillin’ dillweeds (What’s up, dudes? I’ll see after I pen this column! Keep ‘em cold.), to the brooding British atheists, all people know God exists—even if they can’t really put a finger on some of the finer points of His person.
Yes, through what has been made, God has plastered on the souls of earth’s citizenry the general revelation that He’s present. In addition, they also know when they’re being a jack ass and when they’re being cool (more on that next week).
I know the above 411 hurts the atheists to hear, seeing that they’ve staked so much of their imago on God’s non-existence. But c’mon, you know there’s Someone “out there,” so cut the crap, shave your goatee and find some other way to pick up chicks—okay, James Dean?
Look, if Paul’s right and people know that they know Him (even if it’s in some dull sense of the word), why do some trip over themselves and tie their brains in knots in order to curb this knowledge? Why do people go nuts looking for loopholes and supposed contradictions in the scripture, hypocrisies within the church and some shared semblance to an ape in order to convince themselves that God’s not here, there or anywhere and never has been nor ever will be?
Is it because . . .
They are Johnny Quest truth seekers looking to answer man’s $64,000 question?
They are evolutionary luminaries uncommonly endowed with more smarts than us poor cattle and are here to help us club foot our way up the Darwinian ladder and away from such primal fairy tales? Or is it simply because . . .
The existence of God, His standards and a day of personal accountability really, really, jacks with their efforts at autonomy and their chances of getting laid tonight?
The apostle Paul states it’s the latter.
Atheists, according to Santo Pablo, have suppressed the truth because God really cramps their style. It’s hard to persistently indulge the appetites of the flesh if there is a holy God to whom you must give account. The truth is that all men, who have not bowed their knee to God and His way, hate Him and are intrinsically geared against God. (I know that’s tight, but it’s right)
Jesus put it forcefully up fallen humanity’s tailpipe when He exposed why men reject the knowledge of God when He said, “Men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. For everyone who does evils hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed” (Jn. 3.19-20).
This is easy math, folks: A man who has no remorse and thus no desire to repent from his sins is probably not going to be a big advocate for the existence, person and work of God.
You know that all the various no-God arguments—which, to be sure, are fun to debate and write about and blah, blah, blah—actually stem from the root of the atheist’s refusal to curtsy to what he already internally knows is true. It is this denial and refusal to embrace the general knowledge of God given through creation that officially pisseth off the Lord thy God and puts the atheist in a precarious position. My advice to my atheist buddies is this: you’d better pray to God that you’re right and that He doesn’t exist—because if you’re wrong, eternity is going to be rough.
To be continued . . .
Doug Giles is the creator and host of The Clash radio shows, winners of seven Silver Microphone Awards and two Communicator Awards in the last three years, and a contributing columnist on Townhall.com.
bttt to read after church
Interesting vernacular he uses, but he is 100% correct in his premise.
....and that pretty much sums up the DBM, DU, the Democratic Party, most celebrities, and movie makers. They love darkness rather than light.
lol this guy's a riot! hahaha He nails the stereotype perfectly!
Psalm 14:1
Skepdic.com has a good article on prayer and ‘magical thinking’ as a counter.
........but I agree with you...
..he is 100% correct in his premise.
Looking at your list, it’s also telling how many of the loudest advocates of atheism are also entangled in homosexuality- and are bent on imposing the acceptance of no behavioral standards on the rest of us, in order to justify their lifestyle.
He sacrifices the value of his point by writing things like,
"The existence of God, His standards and a day of personal accountability really, really, jacks with their efforts at autonomy and their chances of getting laid tonight?"
minimizing the thoughts of others and adding nothing to the conversation.
Whether or not G-d exists will always be unresolved on earth. Taking this tone (and there are many on both sides who do) adds nothing to the conversation.
You probably have’nt been to, say, a Jr. High School outreach at a non-denominational, Assembly of God, or Vinyard type church in the last few years, have you? :-)
This was pretty tame compared to a few things (”christian rap” for example — talke about 8 degrees of weird) that are pretty darned common in youth/young persons ministries at non-legacy protestant churches. This is a good thing, IMHO, because as Paul said-”I have become all things to all men so that by all means I might save some.”
mark
..but when my two were in their teens, Josh McDowell said it ever bit as forcefully....
.. without resorting to crudeness.
I don't think the passage from Paul-(you quote)- means going for the lowest common denominator.
God exists. The only thing unresolved is what you are going to do regarding your heart towards Him.
What a bunch of tripe,
But in the REAL world
1) Atheist/Agnostic are ~15% of the population yet make up just 0.2% of the prison population, while Christians make up 76.5% of the general population yet 83.8% of the prison population.
2) From 1991 to 2001, The Number of the non-religious doubled in number while at the same time the number calling themselves Christians declined by 10% this decline in Christianity is especially seen in young people.
Yet the even though the younger generations are the most unchristian, violent crime rate has declined through this period, as well as the abortion rate dropped by about 25 percent for both married and unmarried women through the 1990s , The teen Pregnancy Rate Reached a Record Low, More Teenagers are saying no to sex and Drug use by teenagers continues to decline.
Now if believing in an invisable man in the sky had anything to do with being moral, As the country turns more secular wouldn't the trends be going in the opposite direction?
Here is two articles for ya' on how the morailty of young people in our country is improving greatly
Rush Limbaugh on the Next Generation and It's the Morning after in America
You will notice 1 thing missing from both articles, Religion.
3) Born Again Christians are more likely to divorce than Non-Christians
Born Again Adults - 27%
All other adults - 24%
Non-denominational Protestant - 34%
Jews - 30%
Baptist - 29%
Mormons - 24%
Catholics - 21%
Lutherans - 21%
Atheists/Agnostics 21%
Not surprising then as the country became less Christian, the Divorce rate is now the lowest since 1970
4) The births to unmarried women rate is highest in the Bible Belt
5) Modern day Japan is for all practical purposes an Atheist country yet their society seems to be doing fine. Compare them to very Christian countries like those in Latin America whose societies are in constant chaos and turmoil.
It's not hard to figure out why this is the case, just look at the philosophies
Atheist: This is all that's it, you only get one shot so don't screw it up
vs
Christian: God doesn't want you to sin but *Wink* *Wink*, God made you a sinner so do what you will just somewhere down the road just accept Jesus Christ as your personal savior and put some bucks in the collection plate and all is forgiven and you get to go to paradise for eternity!
Get used to it- this is the new wave of radical evangelism. The emerging generation will go for the jugular of societal change, and they don't give a crap about traditional sensibilities.
Excellent article. Thanks for posting.
I could say much the same for your post, what with the generalization fallacy, begging the question, and continuing on to a set of poor conclusions from a flawed starting point.
That's OK -- Jesus died for you just as much as he died for me, and if your conscience is starting to get to you, we can talk anytime on or offline about his plan for you.
Actually, I have seen a youth group perform a drama that was quite in tune with today's kids. It was fine though - done very well and scripted to a message they could relate to. So many children today are torn apart by divorce - and that was what they were speaking about. They related it biblically, and how God is always there for them. It was great.
After rereading the author's article, I can gain an appreciation of why he wrote it this way instead of a more classical approach. He could have attacked this same old argument by quoting from atheists like Jean-Paul Sartre and again showed them the irrationality of their argument, but he tried a new approach. It is quite effective.
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