20 March 2012

JOHN MACARTHUR ON EXPECTING VERBAL INSULTS

JOHN MACARTHUR ON EXPECTING VERBAL INSULTS via Apprising Ministries

14 March 2012

What about all the killing in the Old Testament?

An excellent refutation of a consistently used atheistic/skeptic/agnostic argument against the Old Testament judgments of God.

What about all the killing in the Old Testament?

Street Apologetics

These guys are spectacular. I have never seen arguments fleshed out like this, and Chad Williams is a SEAL too. That's pretty stinkin' awesome in my book. To be honest, I didn't know SEAL training transferred over into argumentation.

"Anonymous" Attack on Religion


"Greetings fellow pirates,
Let us be clear from the start: any kind of religion is a sickness to this world. A sickness that creates hate and intolerance, a sickness that brings people to wage war on their fellow people, a sickness that has come to this world long time ago, when mankind wasn’t educated, a sickness that brought false hope and suppression to those who believed and often even more terror and suppression to those who dared not to believe.
Religions are authoritarian hierarchies, designed to dominate your free will. Religions are mind control.They’re power structures that aim to convince you to give away your power for the benefit of those who enjoy dominating people. When you subscribe to a religion, you enroll in a mindless minion training program. Religions don’t market themselves as such, but this is essentially how they operate. In case you ever wondered why religious teachings are invariably mysterious, confusing, and incongruent (sic)? This is no accident — it’s intentional.
We see religion pretty much the same way as we see many governments. Fear mongering and making lots of money,so a small group of ppl (sic) will become insanely rich, while the believing masses can eat dirt...
So people of the world, don’t let religion control your life. Don’t fight against each other for contrary beliefs.This world and our life can be a wonderful adventure, where you have the unique chance to help mankind and your fellow citizens. Where we can all work together to make this earth a better place for ourselves,our children and all those generations who will come after us. ^(;,;)^"
-Examiner.com (emphasis added)

This comment was used during an attack on three separate church websites by the cyber-terrorists "Anonymous," and I would like to address some of the issues that have been highlighted above. Furthermore, accompanying this video was Richard Dawkins "An Atheist Call to Arms" speech.

1) Is it not intolerant and hateful to attack and shutdown three church websites because you disagree with their beliefs? This is certainly a contradiction in ethical principles. The propositions would go like this:
           a)You are a Christian Church
           b)Therefore, you are intolerant and hateful
           c)We do not believe as you do
           d)Therefore, we will attack you and shut down your right to free speech imposing upon your medium of said free speech, our view

2)Education means that one will deny Christianity, is the assumption here, and that all Christians (I am using Christians because it was Christian websites that were attacked; once again supporting the fact that atheists tend to equate all religion immediately with Christianity) are uneducated and mistakenly hold on to these outdated and antiquated ideas via their Christian worldview. That's interesting considering the following list:
            Dr. A.E. Wilder Smith
            Dr. William Lane Craig
            Lee Strobel
Which list is simply the first three names that came to mind; there are many scientists, philosophers, and educated men and women who still believe in these "lesson[s] [of] Bronze Age ethics," according to the most recent militant atheist attack.

3)Religions are "domination of your free will...[and] mind control;" At what point does Christianity dominate or brainwash anyone? In fact, some of the same ethics and morals that Christians are taught are the very same that secular humanists (see atheists attempting to justify morality) laud and praise. Biblical, orthodox Christianity teaches freedom (Colossians 2:16ff) and that no man can place restrictions on the Christian because of their freedom in Christ (Colossinas 2:20; 1 Corinthians 10:31).

4)Making a lot of money? Have you ever met a Christian pastor that meets the Biblical requirements for what he is to teach (1 Timothy, 2 Timothy)? Pastors that are not wolves (a wolf would be the likes of Joel Osteen or Robert Schuller who do NOT preach the gospel or the faith once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3)) do not make substantial amounts of money unless their congregations and ministries are enormous. Even then, the money is used for ministry and the spread of the gospel (John Piper is an excellent example; none of his books sales go to him but into Desiring God Ministries).

5)"Don't fight against each other for contrary beliefs..." Is that not what you are doing? Do Christians shut down atheist websites and post violent, militant videos promoting radical Christianity and calling for all out war against atheists?

As can be seen this message is fraught with contradiction and misinformation leveled at all Christians, not to win their minds, but to continue the self-declared war against them. These attacks reflect the inherently violent nature of militant atheism that demands capitualtion or the "consequences" will be meted out. All Christians should stand united, defending the faith with gentleness and respect as 1 Peter 3:15 commands. Put your armour on, Christians, we are in a war (Ephesians 6:1ff).

           


13 March 2012

Religious Liberty

The battle for religious liberty (i.e. Christian liberty as other religions are usually not at risk and better protected) in America is just beginning, but we can see where it is going by looking at our neighbours across the pond.