I should be in bed, but …

In my Twitter feed, I found a disagreement among a few Twitter users.  One Christian was getting pummeled by a group of atheists.  Julie Ann (@__iplay4god) would try to fend off the attacks with logical retorts, and the logical retorts were then rebuffed by the atheists using Scripture.

Supposedly, the Scripture “proved” that she was disobedient to God, or that she was contradicting God’s clear command.  However, in each case, the atheists were twisting the meaning of the passages to “Pants on Fire” proportions.

I will now take on two such questionable interpretations.  First, JoeUnseen on Proverbs:

Interesting way of looking at that.  Now let’s look at the actual wording:

Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.

That mentions nothing about religion.  King Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, wasn’t writing a how-to guide on doing religion or evangelism.  He was writing a guide for living.

This is an example of simple wisdom, not a command for indoctrination.  It calls for disciplining your children properly.  Doing so in their formative years means that they will be far more likely to walk the straight-and-narrow.

Second, Jeff Groves on proving God to unbelievers:

Is that what Jesus had in mind?  Again, the actual words:

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, …

The question, then, revolves around what it means to “make disciples” — which is literally mentoring people.  As Jesus mentored his disciples, they were to then go into the world and mentor others.  And still today we, the chosen of God, are to disciple others and teach them the Christian faith.

Some might think that implies somehow “proving” God exists, but that’s not it at all.  God is self-evident: no proof needed.  In Twitterspeak:

Those who ask for proof have already gotten all they are going to get in Jesus’ death and subsequent resurrection.  That was all Jesus gave the generation walking the earth in his time, and should be more than sufficient for all time.

Ephesians 4:18 and 2 Peter 3:15-17 suggest that those who are not in Christ cannot rightly understand the Word of God.  Moreover, these enemies of God twist the Scriptures — and do so to their own destruction, unfortunately destabilizing well-meaning Christians.

Peter warned us 2000 years ago.  A warning more timely than ever!