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Okay, it is time for me, once again, to put on my “naive religious person” hat and wonder why on earth people get offended over the stupidest things.

It has nothing to do with the recent decision to ban cross memorials for fallen state troopers in Utah because it allegedly is Christian proselytization forced on innocent motorists driving down the highway. That was a bit outrageous, and those judges should have their heads examined. The cross isn’t a Mormon symbol, and both the folks who erected the monuments and the troopers to whom the monuments were dedicated were Mormons. The cross has come to mean “grave marker” just as much as it symbolizes Christianity. For more information on that, see the related links below.

No, the subject of this post is one of far greater concern to me. Vjack of Atheist Revolution has written a post decrying prayers being offered for Christopher Hitchens’s recovery from cancer. He discusses why prayer, in this specific case, is offensive, then treats the broader issue of why prayer in general is offensive.

Obviously, Vjack and I disagree strongly on the efficacy of prayer. I don’t want this post to turn to that subject. Joshua Rasmussen, who has offered some assistance with my project to update answers to Why Won’t God Heal Amputees and God is Imaginary, is busy researching that very topic and it will be addressed in detail shortly.

Instead, let’s focus on what prayer is to the Christian. Prayer is a two-way communication between the Christian and God. Admittedly, many times it appears ineffective when applied to the circumstances surrounding one’s life and only seems effective at centering one’s priorities and (in many cases) altering brain chemistry to speed healing. Since it’s a two-way street, it is equally useful for discerning God’s will for the life of the penitent.

Additionally, God wants us to pray. The example of prayer is the Lord’s Prayer that Jesus gives us in Matthew 6:9-14. In this template, the penitent only asks for what he needs, not what he wants. This indicates, as do other verses on prayer, that God happily grants what we need. However, God sparingly (if at all) grants what we want.

Need and want are very important to distinguish from one another. My two-and-a-half year old daughter can make this distinction. Whenever she’s doing something she’s not supposed to do, once I catch her, she informs me that she “needs” to do it. If my two-and-a-half year old can make this distinction, then I would assume adults trying to critique prayer can, too.

That means I was disappointed when I first read proof #1 over at GII, since the anonymous author (Marshall Brain?) fails in making that distinction, taking verses on prayer and misusing them to turn prayer into a free-for-all, ask-for-anything-and-God-grants-it strawman argument.

None of this precludes asking God for what we want. God may not grant our every desire, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to ask for it. Intimate relationships require a certain vulnerability. We should open all of our hearts to God when we pray, and that means asking for what we desire.

If enough people are praying, how could God refuse?

That said, why can’t the atheist think of this prayer as a peace offering? Prayer is important and central to the Christian’s spiritual life. Hitchens is a very outspoken critic of all things religious. Religious people, especially the Christians he repeatedly derides, are praying to God for mercy for Hitchens. We are praying that he live longer. He might convert to Christianity, he might now. Personally, I think he is being used by God mightily right where he is. His criticisms force believers to think critically about their Christian faith, and undoubtedly edifies as many (or more) believers as he wrests away from the faith.

Taking offense to this reveals that atheists seem to have a bit of a grudge. Why the bitter axe? We believe we are helping Hitchens, whether the atheist believes this or not. We are trying to show him the charity he lacks in dealing with us–that is, we’re living out our faith and praying for the healing of one of the faith’s greatest enemies. If it is offensive, perhaps it’s because this example of “turn the other cheek” flies in the face of the usual atheist claims of Christian hypocrisy. They believe that Christians are hypocrites who don’t really believe what we claim or ever practice what we preach. When this shining counterexample surfaces, they express as much outrage as they do when an example of Christian hypocrisy surfaces.

We’re damned if we do, and damned if we don’t. Atheists constantly point out when we don’t live out our faith–and they seem to take perverse pleasure in doing so. But, when we do live out our faith (Mt 5:44), they take deep offense.

Related Articles

• Federal appeals court says highways crosses are unconstitutional (cnn.com)
• Utah highway patrol crosses violate US Constitution (telegraph.co.uk)
• Utah Memorial Crosses Struck Down By Court Of Appeals In Denver (huffingtonpost.com)
• “Cross” Cultural no more: Appeals Court Rules Against Utah Memorial Crosses (beliefnet.com)
• “Court Strikes Down Memorial Crosses in Utah as Unconstitutional” and related posts (catholicexchange.com)
• Prayers abound for cancer-stricken atheist (knoxnews.com)
• Prayers For Christopher Hitchens (douthat.blogs.nytimes.com)

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A new blogger arriving on the scene, badcatholic, imagines himself back in time as a fly on the wall during the invention of religion.

Caveman 1: Bro, these mammoths are frightening, and I don’t know why it rains.
Caveman 2: Yeah, sounds like we need some supernatural explanation for natural phenomena for which we are not yet advanced enough to understand.
Caveman 1: Right. So we’ll need a god…
Caveman 2: Nice.
Caveman 1: And let’s have no adultery with beautiful women…
Caveman 2: Uh-
Caveman 1: And in with the concept of eternal, unimaginable torment-
Caveman 2: Slow down-
Caveman 1: And moral obligations, and no more of this survival of the fittest. We’ll not be able to lie, or steal, or cheat, or mastrubate-
Caveman 2: Are you sure you-
Caveman 1: Or eat too much, or drink too much, or be lazy, or be prideful… (source)

It has always fascinated me that atheists repeatedly assert that religion is a human invention, yet a quick study of religious vices and virtues reveals that we’ve set an impossible standard for ourselves. Religions, not just Christianity, speak of the evils of acquiring and hording material possessions, lust, adultery, pride; and extol an others-centered attitude as well as exhorting adherents to not even think about bad things. Religion asserts that humans are broken and need to be fixed, either through a set of ritual behaviors or by a quickening of the spirit by the hand of God, and those who refuse to comply will face eternal destruction, shame, and humiliation. Who would invent that?

On the other hand, if God is the author of religion, that makes much more sense. A divine being who  stands in judgment of humanity warning us against adultery, lust, and evil thoughts makes more sense than a bunch of primitive humans with no motivation to make monogamy the preferred form of marriage, adultery a grave sin, and forbid masturbation and all forms of lust as the standard of behavior.

If mankind invented religion, I think we’d see a much different picture than we do now.

Dave commented on my post:

I bear you no ill will at all and am happy to accept your apology. In fact, as soon as I can I’ll remove some old papers where we clashed, as a little “thank you” and reciprocal act.

To which I replied that I would also remove posts where we clashed. To that end, I did my best to follow through. I searched my blog for “Dave Armstrong” and either removed or revised the posts that resulted. There were posts specifically focusing on Dave. I removed them if they weren’t reasonable critiques or if they made fun of him. I revised posts that took unnecessary swipes at Dave, e.g. when he wasn’t the topic under consideration but I utilized an opportunity to make fun of him.

If I discover any other instances, I will promptly remove or revise those as well.

I pray that Dave’s ministry will continue to touch lives and advance the cause of God’s Kingdom on earth. We may have different ideologies, but I know that Dave and I have that as a common goal. Bickering among ourselves serves no purpose.

If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this.

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I’ve been fairly critical of Catholicism. But this guy has pretty much summed up what needs to be said about Christianity in general and its relationship to the secular media. Yet people seem to find a causal relationship between religion and public stupidity, such as what we have seen from Mel Gibson in the past.

Related Articles

• Mel Gibson is a product of his sick ideology (scienceblogs.com)

His theology may have been wrong, but I think that it was constructed in the spirit of better defining the nature and person of God; trying to tear down some of the mystery surrounding the divine. That’s a noble goal.

His work survives, so I hope to still read some of his books. May he rest in peace, and may he delight in the presence of the God he endeavored to serve.

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When I read blogs, I have the tendency to skim my RSS readers rather quickly and read things based on titles. You’d think that that would mean I spend time and effort on each of my post titles, but the sad truth is that I don’t. That is really a topic for a different time. Two titles on TurretinFan’s excellent blog did catch my eye, and they were very much worth the time to read and consider, as they show some interesting holes in evolutionary theory.

I don’t believe I classify as either an evolutionist or a creationist, though I suspect that many would consider me a creationist. I think that evolution is certainly possible given that it is supported well as a scientific conclusion, but the necessity of God makes evolution a moot point. It is not necessary given God, but that doesn’t mean that it didn’t happen. Neither does evolution, if true, falsify God.

Even though I must admit strong scientific evidence in favor of evolution, there are certain philosophical problems with it. TurretinFan calls attention to one such problem in this post. TF cites three scientific studies that create a problem for modern evolutionists. In the first, sea sponges are found to be 70% genetically similar to humans. This, combined with the other two studies that argue against familial ties (however distant) from chimpanzees, creates some reasonable doubt among the prevailing theory of evolution.

TF says that this information will be waved away by evolutionists. I think it is more likely that evolutionists will try to discredit either the research or the researchers, in that way they can safely ignore the conclusions altogether or at least minimize the impact of the study on their beloved theory.

In the follow up to the first post, TF recounts a comment from Peter Pike that creates serious philosophical problems with the theory of evolution. Genetics are used to trace the evolution of living species, but morphology is used for extinct species. The problem? Genetics is a poor way to predict morphology. What this means for evolutionists is that they are using one method on living species, and an incompatible method on extinct ones.

One method is going to be accurate, the other method is going to be inaccurate. As there is no way to reproduce evolution in the lab (there is a way to monitor it from this point forward), we don’t know which method is more accurate. Therefore, whole evolutionary trees are going to be dead wrong and we don’t know how.

Evolutionists, please don’t argue that my last point doesn’t matter one way or the other. With a little bit of Googling, I can find quotes from other evolutionists who argue that evolution is literally the pinnacle of modern science, and all other scientific advancements, theories, and discoveries rely on the truth of evolution. The point is that it does matter. If science literally depends on how accurately we are able to trace ancestry, then science itself is falsified on this philosophical point alone.

Robertson is giving a biblical answer for a change. He’s referring to 2 Corinthians 6:14-18:

Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?  What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said,

“I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.”

It’s not a blanket prohibition on “hanging out” with unbelievers. How are we supposed to evangelize if we’re not permitted to hang out with unbelievers? The idea of a “yoke” is a rabbinical term referring to various interpretations of the Hebrew bible. A rabbi was said to teach and follow a specific “yoke.” It’s similar in terms to a Christian denomination of today, but not exactly. For example, a rabbi who came up with a new yoke (rather than teaching an existing one) had to have his new yoke blessed by the laying on of hands by two other rabbis.

What “unevenly yoked” means is that a person shouldn’t have a very different set of beliefs than their spouse.

My wife is an Arminian, and I’m a Calvinist. I’ve heard that that doesn’t work very well. But that hasn’t been my experience so far. Calvinists and Arminians agree on the basic premise that faith in Christ alone is what is necessary for salvation, and that is exactly what my wife and I plan on teaching our kids. The difference between Calvinism and Arminianism is in how the person arrives at saving faith–through God’s action alone (Calvinism) or by God’s response to a free will decision (Armininism).

The real problem for Ronni in the video is that her fiancee is an atheist. It probably isn’t impossible for such a marriage to work, but my concern would be for any future children that the couple would have. How does one decide what religion the children will be raised to believe?

Ronni’s fiancee, as an atheist, probably believes that the Bible is a collection of myths rather than historical facts. He also likely denies the Resurrection (perhaps even the historical person of Jesus). Ronni, as a Christian, is going to want to teach her children about the existence of God and Jesus, that the Bible is a reliable history book, and that Jesus died on the cross and rose again on the third day to defeat sin and death.

I don’t know many atheists who would want their children to be taught such “nonsense.” In that scenario, mom teaches one thing, then dad undermines it behind mom’s back. The kids are going to be confused.

An additional problem presents itself. The church, as a whole, fails in apologetic instruction. I doubt much that Ronni has any way to counter the arguments that her fiancee will expose the kids to: contradictions in the Bible, Jesus never existed, there is no evidence for God, evolution removes the need for God, and other atheist talking points. The kids, in this scenario, are far more likely to be atheists since the atheist is able to present and defend his reasons for being so, while the Christian is left with “You just have to have faith.”

Unless the fiancee is going to agree to not interfere with the religious upbringing of the children, and if he is going to agree to be supportive of Ronni’s Christian faith, then this might be fine. But I don’t know many atheists who are willing to do such a thing. At least, the impression I get from the commenters on this site.

So, what say you, atheists? Am I wrong? Could you be supportive of your spouse if your spouse was religious and wanted to bring the kids up in that religion?

One of the recent updates of the WordPress software made it is possible to customize menus. Before that update, the theme itself controlled what menus appeared. Fine for WordPress.org users, since they can mess with the code of the themes. But for us WordPress.com users, that is irritating, since I can’t monkey with the code of the themes and I don’t only want to link to internal pages with menus. I want to link to my donation site and e-book sales site by menu rather than on a sidebar widget.

I thought it was time to change themes, since I’ve had the same theme for the better part of four years. I think that this is the theme I’m going to stick with for the time being (though I might change my mind–I’m back and forth between this one and the Freshy theme). I thought this theme had customizable menus when I selected it, but I was wrong. But I can have a widget below the title, so that’s the next best thing!

Let me know if you like the new theme in the comments below. If you don’t care, feel free to put that in the comments below, too.

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Whenever a Christian converses with a non-Christian about the truth of the faith, every request of the non-Christian for the proof of Christianity should be met with an equally serious request for proof for the non-Christian’s philosophy of life. Otherwise we get the false impression that the Christian worldview is tentative and uncertain, while the more secular worldviews are secure and sure, standing above the need to give a philosophical and historical accounting of themselves. But that is not the case. Many people who demand that Christians produce proof of our claims do not make the same demand upon themselves….If the Christian must produce proof, so must others. (Desiring God [Sisters, Oregon: Multnomah Books, 1996], pp. 273-274)

H/T to Jason Engwer of Triablogue.