My objective with this entry is not only to continue my personal processing of God’s divine plan of redemption, but also to speak into the lives of those who often challenge the text of God (The Bible), and in turn miss the very Word of God (His voice). Many of them are friends.
There seems to be a new wave of atheism prominent in our culture today. As one pastor friend reflected, the new atheism of our age may have actually been spawned by the a-theistic approach of those who now train the leaders of the church? The very institutions set apart to prepare ministers, seem now to spend more time challenging the faith from a point of logic and reason than encouraging a relationship with the faith giver!
In a recent dialogue with one of my professing atheist friends, I was sent a Facebook post on secular humanism. I will reprint it for your review:
“Secular humanism is a philosophy and world view which centers upon human concerns and employs rational and scientific methods to address the wide range of issues important to us all. While secular humanism is at odds with faith-based religious systems on many issues, it is dedicated to the fulfillment of the individual and humankind in general. To accomplish this end, secular humanism encourages a commitment to a set of principles which promote the development of tolerance and compassion and an understanding of the methods of science, critical analysis, and philosophical reflection.” http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2223483925
Interestingly enough, I’m not sure that I radically disagree with the words above, but any attempts to dialogue around this post have been conveniently construed as me “arguing” for my position of faith? Any efforts to share my life experience at that point are like trying to describe color to a blind person!
When it comes to books like Genesis, my friends taunt our “apple” theory along with its “talking snakes”, ideas that the church in its flannel-graph approach to communication may have exercised more than the Word, making it doubly hard to keep their attention.
As well, like with the earlier story of Copernicus, churchmen continue in their notorious ability to reject knowledge, while scientists, though often condemned, progressively build the foundations for current medical science. Christians then flock much more readily to medical science than to their own faith. The arguments offered by these atheists now become even more compelling.
What if the Word is no more science than it is history, but in fact is simply a love story built around a drama whose actors are the weakest of all known creatures of intelligence, strategically placed on a globe once inhabited solely by ancient fallen angels, whom humans beings cannot even see? The weaker creatures, these humans, are now protected by a Superior Being who holds full capacity to deliver them and in fact transform them into the image of His own son. By empowering these beings, this God is able through them, to overcome the ravages of death packaged within the sinfulness of those previous and ancient fallen beings. He, God, then becomes flesh (birthed to a virgin…He is His own Son), then modeling deep love and an alternative to sinfulness through these “people” now empowered by faith, He will restore His Kingdom in the very face of those once attempting major mutiny? Sounds like a Stars Wars saga, huh? Maybe the popularity of such myths is the fact that we all somehow know them to be real?