Tag: atheism

So There Never Was an Israel?

Posted By: leeduigon(patty)Posted On:

Image result for assyrian relief showing omri king of israel

See the guy in the middle of the picture, groveling on the floor? This is an Assyrian political poster from the 9th century B.C., and the man kow-towing to the Assyrian king is identified in the inscription as someone representing “the house of Omri,” king of Israel. We know Omri from the Bible as the father of King Ahab.

I’ve recently encountered a genius who says there never was an Israel before the modern state of Israel was founded in 1948. He bases this claim on 1) his atheism, believing as he does that not one word of the Bible is true; 2) his complete lack of knowledge of ancient history; 3) his support for the Palestinians, and his fervent desire for them to be right; and 4) his firm conviction that he is smarter than anyone he happens to be talking to.

In fact, Assyrian records name at least nine kings of Israel and Judah who are also mentioned in the Bible. It helps a lot, not to know this. Other peoples of the Ancient Near East also recorded their various dealings with Israel. Knowing this would really hurt this person’s argument, so he doesn’t know it.

Of course you can know enough history to accept that there really was an Israel, long ago, and still be an atheist. What’s really troubling about this character is his claim to intellectual superiority–when in any random gathering, he’s apt to be the dumbest person in the room.

Maybe he just hates God so much, he can’t see straight. Although hating someone you claim does not exist does seem like a major waste of passion.

What Do Unbelievers Worship?

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So the movie reviewer comes on the air, and the first words out of his mouth: “I’m not a Christian, I’m not a believer…”

Maybe it’s the time I grew up in, or the neighborhood–but I can never get used to the casual, unashamed declaration of disbelief in God. Why the guy had to introduce his movie review (it was supposed to be a Christian-themed movie) with this non-faith statement, I don’t know. Did he expect us to stand up and cheer?

I don’t believe there are all that many more atheists now than there always were. It’s just that now they expect to be applauded for it. But the real question I have for them is, “If not God, then who or what do you believe in?” And if he answers, “Nothing,” I don’t believe him because nobody believes in nothing.

But what do professed unbelievers believe in? If they answer “The state,” we are incredulous–I mean, who’s that big a butterball? If they answer “Science,” we wonder, “What science? Yesterday’s, today’s, or tomorrow’s–they’re all different. One generation’s science is another’s superstitition.” And if they come up with “The innate goodness and ultimate perfectibility of man”–well, you don’t know whether to guffaw or sigh for pity.

Those things require much more faith than does belief in God. There isn’t enough faith available in the universe to get anyone but a fool to believe in any of them.

But somehow it got to be chic to claim non-belief in God, or at least non-belief in Christianity. If you believe in many gods at once, Hollywood will still love you almost as much as it would if you believed in no god at all.

This was not so of the America that I was born and raised in.

Are we a better nation for our embrace of non-belief?

Now there’s a notion to laugh at!

Germany Markets ‘Atheist Shoes’

Posted By: leeduigon(patty)Posted On:

Image result for atheist shoes

A German company has come out with a line called Atheist Shoes–sneakers with “Ich Bin Atheist” (“I am atheist”) printed on the soles ( http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2016/11/25/german-company-launches-line-atheist-shoes/ ).

Somehow it’s supposed to make the world a better place. I don’t know how embracing eternal death makes any world a better place, but it seems sanity went out of fashion in Germany some 200 years ago.

Christians, the fallen world keeps falling and it’s a rough ride: we have to hang tough. Proclaim Jesus Christ–and if they don’t listen when the watchman sounds his bugle call, well, we’ve done our bit, as God has asked of us.

They’re Not Just Idiots…

Posted By: leeduigon(patty)Posted On:

Image result for images of the dog in the manger

What would you think of someone who went into a church and then complained  that he saw people praying?

Each morning I visit youtube, looking for a hymn that I can post here. These hymns are to be found on pages that have been set up to display them. Those pages are the work of Christians who wish to share the hymns with other Christians, and anyone else who might come along.

How often do I find comments by atheists, complaining about “religious utterances” made by Christians on a page set up by Christians to display a Christian hymn! Like, man, that’s religion, man! And it shouldn’t be allowed! It violates the separation of church and state!

Only two things wrong with that argument. 1) The words “separation of church and state” are not in the Constitution. 2) If you can’t have “religious utterances” in a forum set up by religious believers for that very purpose, where can you have it? But then for libs and progs–atheists are mostly libs and progs–the state is an all-devouring mass that knows no boundaries.

Well, you can accuse these atheists of a lot of things, but you can never say they have good manners. No “live and let live” for them. They are aggressive, they are intrusive, and for whatever inconceivable motivation  that keeps their fire burning hot, they try to stamp out all religious expression, all religious feeling, wherever they can find it. To what end? I very much doubt they know.

Atheists Who Pee on Your Carpet

Posted By: leeduigon(patty)Posted On:

Image result for images of cursing angry atheist

As you know, I try to start each day by posting a hymn, which means that first I have to visit youtube and find one.

By and by you begin to notice that many of the hymn pages include comments by self-identified atheists. There seem to be two kinds of these.

There’s the “I’m an atheist, but…” type of comment, which usually goes on to express a love for the music itself. To them I hope we can all say, “Come in, come in! All the goods in this store have already been paid for–by Jesus!”

But then there’s the other kind–the kind of atheist who feels compelled to visit a hymn page, drop f-bombs and other curses all around, and insult the Christians. It’s like having a feral guest who comes into your living room and pees on your carpet. Maybe on the sofa, too.

Why do they do this? Everyone I know would think it extremely odd if I started haunting atheist web sites and passionately cursing them.Like, dude, what did you expect to find there?

So I don’t know why a certain kind of atheist seeks out Christian web pages so he can post filthy and combative comments from the safety of cyber-anonymity. You can’t walk up to someone on the street and do that; you might get a good punch in the nose. But on the Internet, antisocial behavior has no consequences.

However, a word to the wise, and to the not-so-wise:

Just because you can’t see the consequences doesn’t mean they aren’t there.

‘Soldiers of Christ, Arise’

Posted By: leeduigon(patty)Posted On:

Here’s a fine old 18th century hymn to pump you up–Soldiers of Christ, Arise, sung by Maddy Prior to the old, perhaps original, musical arrangement.

Again on the hymn’s youtube page I find wistful comments by atheists, who love the music but remain standing on the outside, looking in.

But you can come in! The door is open. And the good things that you see inside, more valuable than anything you could pay for them, are already yours–the free gift of God. For Jesus Christ has already paid the bill, and you are free and clear.

As are we all who gather in His presence.

An Atheist Reacts to My Book Review

Posted By: leeduigon(patty)Posted On:

Image result for images of grandmother fish

This blog is on fire this morning, largely due to a little book review I wrote back on Nov. 28 of last year, of a Darwinist fairy tale for children entitled Grandmother Fish ( https://leeduigon.com/2015/11/28/an-atheist-fairy-tale-for-your-kiddies/ ). And this morning it’s all over Facebook.

I received a comment from a reader who has been “teaching him [her son] critical thinking”… at two years old. He watches PBS, and his parents have warned him about a certain kind of people–us, that is: we who believe in God. “[W]e frequently mention that some people don’t like to think and believe stories that aren’t real.”

Great Caesar’s ghost. How do you even answer that? It’s one of those times that you run into such blindness, such foolishness, that it leaves you plumb speechless.

Having disposed of religion as a form of child abuse, the reader goes on to declare, “This boy will know where we really came from.”

From fish? All right, then–where did the fish come from?

Darwinism has never been able to provide even a plausible explanation for the origin of life itself. The latest hot theory is that rocks and minerals got rained on and somehow became alive.

Believing stories that aren’t real?

Oh, well–who needs the Bible, when you’ve got PBS?

***

As I search for hymns each morning, to post here, I often encounter comments by atheists who say they “hate religion,” yatta-yatta, but they really love the music.

There is a certain wistfulness in this, like that of a child standing outside a candy store, looking in at what he cannot have. But of course there is no one keeping the atheist out of God’s candy store but the atheist himself, hard of heart and hardest on himself.

Dudes, you can come in any time you want, and we will welcome you! And wait’ll you learn that God’s grace is a free gift, yours for the claiming.

Or you can just stay outside and listen to atheist music, whatever that might be.

An Atheist Heard From

Posted By: leeduigon(patty)Posted On:

Hustling to get things done today, I was already in a touchy mood when an atheist reader checked in with his two cents’ worth. You can read his comments under my Feb. 19 post, “Atheists Got No Songs” (http://leeduigon.com/2016/02/19/atheists-got-no-songs/ ). It was a humorous little ditty, but this reader took a mild exception to it.

I must admit my first impulse was to Spam him out of the blog and hear no more from him, reveling, for once, in the reality that “you can’t beat the house.” I was angry, you see, when he referred to the gospel of Jesus Christ as “a nice little story.”

That was a temptation; but after I cooled off a little, I decided not to Spam him or delete his comments, but to answer again–not that I have any expectation he would listen. For the most part, the atheists I have dealt with–not all of them, but most of them–have a tremendous sense of entitlement which convinces them that they have a right, if you’re a Christian, to come into your cyber living room and pee on the furniture. This guy didn’t quite do that.

I doubt my evangelical gifts are up to the challenge of ministering to this atheist. I dunno–maybe if he listens to enough hymns, or reads enough of the Bible, something might click. I think it’s up to the Holy Ghost to do the clicking.

Did I handle this right? That’s another thing I don’t know.  I didn’t Spam the guy when I first had the chance. That doesn’t mean I deserve congratulations. If anything positive develops out of this–to God be the glory.

‘Atheists Got No Songs’

Posted By: leeduigon(patty)Posted On:

And let’s close out with this amusing little ditty, Atheists Don’t Have No Songs, with Steve Martin, suggested by Susan, my editor.

Actually, atheists don’t have much of anything, except for maybe chutzpah. It takes real nerve to be that foolish and still think you’re smart.

Top Atheist: Maybe ET’s Created Life on Earth

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Just in case you missed this, when it was included in the movie, Expelled, a few years ago, here is atheist cleanup hitter Richard Dawkins saying that maybe space aliens created life on earth, or at least “seeded” the place.

Having admitted that neither he nor anybody else knows the origin of life (see the Bible for the answer to that question), Dawkins is backed into a corner, trying to explain how life began. When the interviewer, Ben Stein, tosses him the life-preserver, “Maybe aliens started life on Earth,” Dawkins grabs it.

I guess this is why he calls atheists like himself “Brights,” to distinguish them from the dim bulbs like us who don’t believe in space aliens as substitutes for God.