In this article, a netizen going by “the Contrarian” presents a seriously distorted view of the gospel. After that, he helpfully tells us Christians how not to evangelize him:
Don’t come to me telling me that you are different from ‘other’ christians, and that you represent a god of love, and that you are peaceful, intelligent and worthy of having your beliefs propagated into the legal and education system of the land. You are the very definition of a fundamentalist, and like the proverbial village idiot; you cannot see what is wrong with you, or why others think you’re nuts. !
First, I’d proudly say I’m different from other Christians. For example:
I’d never say that I represent a God of love. The God I represent is love.
I’m peaceful. Prove otherwise.
I’m intelligent. People who know me know that I’m the kind of person who knows a little bit about almost everything.
As for having my beliefs propagated into the legal system, I’m afraid that many of them already are:
Other examples could be found, but I think I’ve made my point.
Now to be charitable to the Contrarian, he’s likely referring to proposed laws to eliminate gay marriage, or laws that interfere with him buying liquor on Sundays. He thinks that such laws are religious nonsense and have no place in a secular society. Worse, he thinks these laws are self-evident religious nonsense; that everyone should take his word for it because “it’s obvious.”
To wit, I’d like for him to find “No alcohol sales on Sunday” in the Bible. It isn’t there. The only so-called blue laws still on the books are sales of alcoholic beverages, probably retained out of tradition and convenience.
You can’t legislate morality, and the Bible isn’t written with the assumption that you can. In fact, most of the New Testament assumes the law of the land will be hostile to Christian practice — a tide that is headed this way in the United States, especially where our practice forbids gay marriage.
I agree with anyone who says gay marriage is a non-issue. It shouldn’t be an issue at all, because it is not marriage. Marriage is always between a man and a woman. Variations exist (one man, many women; one woman, many men; varying numbers of men and women), but both genders always participate.
As to my beliefs being placed in the education system of the land, why not? The atheist beliefs already are, and with quite a lot of force. Why can mine not be shown as an alternative? We can give fair time to other religions as well — I’m okay with that because I believe that truth always wins out.
What is the atheist scared of? If what he offers is truth, will that not win out? Or does the atheist think when offered a choice between religious myth and scientific truth, that religious myth always wins and society will remain unenlightened?
If so, maybe religious “myth” is true, because it is winning out!
Moving on, the Contrarian writes:
Don’t come here claiming that you are a ‘good’ or a ‘real’ christian. The better and more real a christian you are, the more inhuman, amoral, sick and twisted you are. You are a bloodthirsty beast with an inflated ego because you think your skydaddy is real and will vindicate you shortly. Dream on! If that is what sustains you, if that is what gives you purpose, then nothing in this physical world is violent, torturous, absolute, sick and offensive enough to satiate your wicked mind and your black heart!
I’m not good. None of us are. That’s the reason we need a Savior. I’m not even a good Christian! I fail all the time.
The Contrarian is going to have to expound on why a “better and more real” Christian is “inhuman, amoral, sick, and twisted.” I don’t see it that way. The marks of the Christian, according to the apostle Paul, are:
Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (Rom 12:10-21)
That’s “inhuman, amoral, sick, and twisted”? If the Contrarian’s ideal person behaves the opposite of that, then I don’t want to live in his world.
Of course, all the best bloodthirsty beasts with inflated egos try to outdo everyone showing honor, bless people who persecute them, overcome evil with good, and live peaceable with everyone as much as it depends on them. That is why people call them “bloodthirsty beasts” — because they are so peaceable with others and easy to get along with.
The Contrarian says, “I’ll take the exploding dot and the swamp water into humans story any day!” Why? Simple: it makes him the star. In this story, there is no good or evil. He is a slave to his nature, as he would be in Christianity, but that nature is neither good nor evil because it cannot be (by definition). Therefore, he doesn’t have to face judgment for being who he is.
Theism isn’t the crutch. Atheism is — atheism is comfortable because there is no ultimate accountability. Which brings us back to my (apparently sick, in the Contrarian’s eyes) belief that God is real and will vindicate me shortly.
Vindicate me for what, exactly?
The world has wronged God, not me. He will vindicate himself and take his wrath on the wicked — those who persist in their unbelief in his Son. I deserve every bit of that wrath as well, but I have been protected by the blood of my Savior. It’s nothing I did to get to heaven. And I will not rejoice over the lost.
If this is the Contrarian’s understanding of the gospel, then no wonder he’s an atheist. That’s as distorted as it gets. He needs to buckle back down and read that Book he despises so much. Only this time, maybe he should take the time to understand it.
I suspect that most of the individuals who have religious faith are content with blind faith. They feel no obligation to understand what they believe. They may even wish not to have their beliefs disturbed by thought. But if God in whom they believe created them with intellectual and rational powers, that imposes upon them the duty to try to understand the creed of their religion. Not to do so is to verge on superstition.
— Mortimer Adler
Ultimately, what do the Beatitudes celebrate as virtues?
Poor in spirit. Mourning. Meekness. Hunger and thirst for righteousness. Showing mercy. Pureness of heart. Making peace. Things not seen by our secular world as virtuous.
But the final Beatitude is the kicker.
I don’t know how the prosperity gospel ever came to be. Nor do I know how asinine arguments like this one from God is Imaginary could ever capture the imaginations of serious Bible readers.
Why?
Because Jesus said:
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (Mt 5:10-12)
This one of many times the theme of persecution is introduced into the Bible. In fact, one Bible teacher insists that there is at least one reference in all sixty-six books of the Bible to suffering for the sake of God’s kingdom.
Wow.
Sorry, Marshall Brain. That means that we aren’t going to end suffering and death with prayer. Your argument fails.
Sorry, Joel Osteen and T.D. Jakes and Ed Young and Kenneth Copeland and others who have bought your lie. God’s plan includes suffering.
In fact, to suffer is the ultimate virtue. Suffering imitates all of the great Old Testament prophets. When we are ridiculed for preaching God’s word, the word of God through Christ is confirmed to us. Christ said we’d suffer on his account.
We do. Look at the issues that set conservative Christians apart from the secular world. Read the rest of this entry
The Beatitudes exemplify virtues that God deems worthwhile. As can be expected, these are not virtues that the world would identify as virtuous.
The first four Beatitudes are felt needs: poor in spirit, mourning, meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.
The next three are states of being: merciful, pure in heart, and the peacemakers. The merciful are granted mercy, the pure in heart see God, but the peacemakers are called sons of God.
Paul wrote to the Romans that the kingdom of God isn’t about rules and trifles. It’s about peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. “Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding” (Rom 14:18-19). In his second letter to the Corinthians, Paul instructs believers to “[a]im for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you” (2 Cor 13:11).
God will be with you if you live in peace and comfort one another. Paul instructs us “with humility of mind [to] regard one another as more important than yourselves . . .” (Phil 2:3). Being a peacemaker is about living an others-centered existence.
The peacemaker draws closer to God with each step, and James tells us that if we draw near to God he will also draw nearer to us (Jms 4:8).
This isn’t to say that we should let ourselves get stepped on, kicked and beaten. Christian nations shouldn’t disarm themselves unilaterally. After all, the apostle Paul qualifies that we should live at peace as much as it depends on us (Rom 12:18). Let’s not go looking for fights, and let’s forgive as often as we are wronged (Mt 18:22). Then we will truly be children of God.
Examining the Beatitudes, we see a stark contrast with what God deems a virtue and what society deems a virtue. To God, the poor, the mourning, the meek, the hungry, and the merciful are blessed. Each will receive a portion that makes up for the deficiency: the poor inherit the kingdom of heaven, the mourning are comforted, the meek inherit the earth, the hungry are satisfied, and the merciful are shown mercy.
Compare with Western society, where people should be happy and wealthy, while the meek and merciful don’t climb the corporate ladder.
But the pure of heart (Mt 5:8) have it the worst. Try standing for the Christian value of your choice and see how far it gets you. Stand for traditional marriage, be called a homophobe. Stand for pro-life and watch as someone starts a blog where your head is photoshopped onto a porn star in the midst of some humiliating sex act. Stand for Jesus as the only way to God and be called an arrogant SOB who thinks people of all other religions are scum, fit only to be eliminated. Watch as people point and laugh at a father-daughter prom where the daughter makes a promise to stay a virgin until marriage.
Why are traditional Christian values so maligned in pop culture?
Paul answered that for us when he wrote that “to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled” (Tts 1:15). He told the Ephesians, “They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart” (Eph 4:18).
The cure? See life united in faith to God:
I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. (Ez 36:25-27)
How can we be “pure of heart?”
It’s actually simple. First, accept Christ and become a new creation (2 Cor 5:17). Then, with his Spirit inside you, live true to your new self. Psalm 51:6 says that God desires “truth in the innermost being.” That’s as good as any description I’ve ever heard of integrity — that the show you put on to everyone actually reflects what is inside. Those who act in a way that doesn’t jive with their inner selves receive some very strong condemnations from Christ in Matthew 23:25-28.
Expect persecution when living by God’s standards. If you uphold that which God holds dear, the world deems you a fundamentalist wacko; a homophobic, misogynistic bigot who beats his children before using time-outs.
Let them think all of those untrue things. Our reward is great: the pure of heart will see God.
The virtues celebrated in the Beatitudes are foreign to the culture of the United States, which is typically one of excess and materialism. It is strange to think that the poor in spirit will inherit the kingdom of heaven, the mourning will be comforted, and the meek shall inherit the earth.
Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled (Mt 5:6).
Look to the Old Testament prophet Amos for a precursor:
“Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord God, “when I will send a famine on the land— not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, to seek the word of the Lord, but they shall not find it.
“In that day the lovely virgins and the young men shall faint for thirst. Those who swear by the Guilt of Samaria, and say, ‘As your god lives, O Dan,’ and, ‘As the Way of Beersheba lives,’ they shall fall, and never rise again.” (Amos 8:11-14)
God is promising to send a time when his word is going to be scarce. People will want to hear a word from him, but nothing will be found. And people who live by false gods (or false versions of God) will be destroyed never to rise again.
People try to find fulfillment in the false gods they make for themselves all the time. Whether that god be money or fame or power, or searching for all of the answers to the Big Questions in nature itself (atheism), these gods ultimately never satisfy the thirst.
Looking at Psalm 63, we can see what happens to those who hunger and thirst for righteousness from the One True God:
O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands.
My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips, when I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night; for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy. My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me. (Ps 63:1-8)
Those who seek after God in earnest always find him, and always find fulfillment in him. C.S. Lewis once wisely stated that God cannot grant joy apart from himself, as there is no such thing.
The Beatitudes celebrate as virtues that which we would not necessarily consider virtues. The poor in spirit inherit heaven. The mourning will be comforted.
The meek shall inherit the earth (Mt 5:5).
What is “meek?” It is the Greek word πραυσ, which gives us a sense of humility, teachability, and gentleness. According to the NET Bible:
Meekness toward God is that disposition of spirit in which we accept His dealings with us as good, and therefore without disputing or resisting. In the OT, the meek are those wholly relying on God rather than their own strength to defend them against injustice. Thus, meekness toward evil people means knowing God is permitting the injuries they inflict, that He is using them to purify His elect, and that He will deliver His elect in His time. (Isa 41:17, Lu 18:1-8)
The NET Bible tells us what πραυσ is not:
Gentleness or meekness is the opposite to self-assertiveness and self-interest. It stems from trust in God’s goodness and control over the situation. The gentle person is not occupied with self at all. This is a work of the Holy Spirit, not of the human will. (Ga 5:23)
Some may consider this uncritical obedience to a tyrant, but that isn’t it at all. It’s better to think of this as surrender to a perfectly good higher power — and the one who so surrenders already accepts that God is perfectly good.
The existence of God is self-evident from nature (see Rom 1), but the goodness of God is not. God’s eternal power and divine nature are clearly perceived in that which is made; however, it takes a special revelation (the Bible) to reveal the perfect goodness of God. This means that the meek person that has surrendered his will to God’s own has already done the investigation necessary to conclude that God is worth surrendering to.
This Beatitude also calls to mind many verses of inheritance (Ps 37:9, 11, 22, 29, 34; Is 60:21), but none are as obviously tied to this verse as Psalm 25. Let’s take a snip:
Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in the way. He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way. All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies.
For your name’s sake, O Lord, pardon my guilt, for it is great. Who is the man who fears the Lord? Him will he instruct in the way that he should choose. His soul shall abide in well-being, and his offspring shall inherit the land. (Ps 25:8-13)
Notice the theme of surrendering, in humility, to one who is perfectly good and will unerringly guide the sinner on the correct path. This is the sort of person who will inherit the earth, the one who recognizes his separation from God and then depends on God for his righteousness rather than his own empty works.
I haven’t been writing much as of late because my new job is taking up most of my time. My family — my first ministry and primary responsibility, as I see it — takes up the rest of my time.
So I haven’t been keeping up with the promised spate of updates, i.e. Contradiction Tuesday and Scripture Saturday.
Yet, this past month has seen nearly 4,000 hits — the most hits in a month since beginning this ministry way back in 2006. And I am doing nothing to promote this website — no content syndication, no cross-posting on other blogs, no link exchanges, no paid advertisement, no SEO. I’m not even doing the simple blog promotion tool of updating on a regular basis.
It is time for new content.
So, I will post on the Beatitudes for the next eight days.
Let’s start at the top:
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Mt 5:3)
The Beatitudes promise a later fulfillment to those who have a felt need presently. The worst pop theology promoted by the likes of Joel Osteen, Kenneth Copeland, Joyce Meyer, and others promises that Christians can (to borrow Osteen’s phrase) live their best lives now.
No, no, no, no. Are these guys even reading the same Bible as I am?
The Great Physician has come to heal us, and in order for us to seek his help, we must feel the need. In the case of the first Beatitude, those of us who are poor in spirit right now are going to inherit the kingdom of heaven.
The deeply spiritual are often hypocritical. Jesus described the Pharisees of his day as “whitewashed tombs,” shiny on the outside but filled with death on the inside. Frequently, our Lord said people who followed all of the “proper rituals” were getting their rewards “right now.”
Meaning no reward in the future.
Jesus’ brother James wrote, “. . . has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?” (Jms 2:5). James acknowledges what Jesus taught: those who are poor are blessed with great faith.
And why not? The rich often rely on their wealth to get them through. Take the rich young ruler in Luke as an example. By the same token, the spiritual among us rely on their rituals as their righteousness.
Those poor in spirit, however, must rely on Christ as their righteousness. They have nothing else to fall back on.
It seems much easier to rely on God when you have nothing than when you have been blessed with everything.
If you’re a theist on Twitter, particularly if you debate a certain guy named BibleAlsoSays (BAS), you have undoubtedly seen a map like this:
BAS acts like this is unassailable proof that religion is a steaming and moldy pile of donkey crap baking on the otherwise unblemished Sidewalk of Reality in the Harsh Sun of Truth and Reason.
“Look,” he’ll say, “at how all of the religions group into geographic regions. That means that parents pass religion to the children, who accept it uncritically, and never grow out of it. If not for parental brainwashing, these children would grow up normal!”
If the intrepid apologist points out that this logically flawed, BAS asks you for an alternate explanation of the map.
Know what? There is no alternate explanation. The world religions group so nicely exactly for the reason that BAS claims. Parents teach their faith to their children, who never question or jettison it in favor of something more palatable.
But that’s not why the premise is logically flawed. Read the rest of this entry
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