I have a friend who is a very intelligent, well spoken and compassionate person who also happens to be an atheist. She was not always an atheist, she actually spent a few years as an evangelical Christian. But something happened and since then, she has been on a quest to disprove God. She and I have some pretty intense, yet respectful conversations. This is the result of a statement she made to me regarding the Bible and my response.
I appreciate your point of view, I really do. But the way I see it, we choose what to believe be it through our human intellects or through a divine Creator. Once we make that choice, what we see, what we hear and how we react to those around us is all filtered through that choice. And maybe I’m wrong. Or maybe you are wrong. Or maybe, we are both wrong. It’s that old line of reason...if you are right not to believe in God or eternity, we are both in the same boat. If I’m right, then my boat is the ark of salvation and yours is a sinking ship. But that’s the thing, Love always provides a choice.
I don’t read the Bible the way you do. You said people should find the Bible the way you do, as: “a historically bloody, savage, unkind, cold, contradictory book that does absolutely no good in promoting the concept the ALL human life is good, valuable and worthy of respect in its own right.” I agree and I disagree.
I agree that it is a historically accurate book that details bloody, savage, unkind, and cold acts of men and contains seemingly contradictory concepts (i.e., love and war, killing and healing, judgement and mercy, revenge and compassion) from a Loving yet Punishing God.
But I disagree that it does no good in promoting the concept that all human life is good, valuable and worthy of respect. I find the contrary. In Genesis, after God created the world AND man, He said that it was good. I firmly believe that God does not create anything that has no value...it is man that devalues God and His creation (which includes men). But there is a sin element that you can not deny...and that did come after God created man. So God still creates what is good, but because sin reigns here and now, we are subject to the pull towards “bad” for lack of a better word.
Even when a person is “born again” in the spirit, as long as the flesh is alive, there will be a continual battle within that person between good and evil (the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak)...but at least there is an awareness and a battle. Sometimes that battle can be difficult for someone and in their desire to appear “good” they hide behind a veil of legalism and point their finger at others to take attention from their own faults. But that’s a whole other story.
When we deny that there is bad in us, or when we think we can be good in our own efforts or obtain status as a basically a good person, we fail to see that we are subject to this world as long as we live in it. And this world has forces that are contrary to goodness...like men in Africa who refuse to wear a condom or stay faithful and do what pleases them despite who it hurts. Are these men good because ALL human life is good? Are these men evil because ALL human life is subject to evil? I’d say they are ruled by their flesh which is being directed by evil, but that they have the capacity in their souls to do good because that is how they were made. But it would not be acceptable for me to correct their “cultural” atrocities with my “religious views”.
But everything I just wrote swings on the hinge that you believe Genesis Chapters 1 and 2. Why do you think people so desperately want the big band theory and evolution to be true? So they don’t have to believe that we were made perfectly by a loving God and yet were corrupted by the first man and are on a personal journey back to good.
We could argue those points ad nauseum and we’d never get anywhere. But I want to say one thing about the part that nowhere do you see the bible promoting the concept that human life is valuable. I just don’t see that. If human life was not seen as valuable to God, why the cross? The whole Old Testament is a long account that shows us the evil that entered into the world through Adam and the result: all of the Old Testament accounts of wars, slavery, and the basic darkness that is present on earth and in men’s hearts. And then, through all of that, you keep seeing God’s love, His anger at sin consequences (not men, but men ruled by sin), His mercy, His warnings, His desires for relationship and reconciliation. If you can’t see this, then why the books of Hosea, Song of Solomon (or Song of Songs) or Ruth in the Old Testament...all three are stories of redemption and perfect love. And why the promises to Abraham and Jacob and David in the midst of all that darkness? Why wouldn’t God just start over? Because of Love.
God made man good and He enjoyed a relationship with him. All creation was in harmony. And then, sin entered in and changed all that...and separated God and man. The bait was to know good and evil like God in and of their own minds. A friend of mine shared something with me recently and it totally made sense to me. When God cast Adam and Eve out of the garden...was He mad? You might say yes...shoot, before my conversation with this friend I would have said yes...but she made a very good point. The reason they were cast out of the garden was so that they would not eat of the fruit of the tree of life...and be eternally separated from Him...not because God was mad. It is only through their death that there could be opportunity for resurrection and eternal life with God. Because the wages of sin is death. When Jesus died on the cross, He paid the sin debt of all men who believe (past, present and future). In Matthew 27:50-53 we read of the saints that rose from their graves and after His resurrection, they appeared unto people throughout Jerusalem. Those saints were those who believed God by faith and it was counted to them as righteousness...this is Hebrews Chapter 11 and most poignantly found in verse 6.
So what is the point...the point is, if we deny our creator, this life is all we’ve got. Apart from God, the point of life is birth, life, death. Apart from God, my life is a by chance with no future but death in nothingness. I can’t look at myself in the mirror or my kids, or the person on the side of the road holding a sign asking for food without feeling we were made for a reason and that this is all there is. Apart from love, nothing else matters. Love is what makes the life of the man on the street with no job and sign as “valuable” as mine. And yet to retailers, he is worth nothing compared to me because I have money I can spend at their store. It’s men who devalue men.
Why did Mother Theresa spend all those years caring for the sick and destitute? Out of love. Why did she not promote condoms to protect their physical bodies during sex? Because perhaps she knew that while a condom might protect their flesh, it does nothing to feed or protect their souls. At the core, the Catholic church may have good reasons not to promote condoms, but it comes out as legalistic rules because so much of what they do causes separation. It is so much like the Jews of Jesus’ day. If a jew were to walk through the market and even brush up against a gentile, they would go home, burn their clothes and wash themselves. Why? Because of the 70 years of captivity in Babylon. The Jews were God’s chosen people to deliver His message of love to the world. But rather than influencing people toward God, they were influenced away from God. So God would correct them, they’d repent, come back and the cycle would start all over again. Did this anger God? Yes...or more perhaps more accurately it grieved Him because it hurt people. At various points the Jews worshipped man made gods like Baal, Mammon and Ashtaroth. I believe it was the Mammon idols that were made of metal and they would heat the arms of the idol to incandescent heat and place their babies on the arms, sacrificing them to their god for prosperity. So God, in love, warned His Chosen people through the prophets, but no one wanted to listen because it didn’t “feel” good and frankly, it was something they could control. One can’t “control” the true and living God because He does not change. So He sent them to Babylon for 70 years, when they came back, they never strayed again. So that is where they were in Jesus’ day, afraid of even touching a gentile lest they be lead astray. And they added rules to the law so they would always remember to keep the law...but then it became what they could do to earn God’s favor which is rooted in pride and self sufficiency and not love. And God is about Love...about relationship. So He sent His Son. And that is where God is different than any other god.
God values ALL men so much He died for them. John 3:16 doesn’t say God so love a few people, it says the WORLD. In John 3:17 it says He sent His Son into the world NOT to condemn it, but to save it. I think God is about valuing people. I think giving people condoms and saying you are protected so “go do what feels good” rather than investing in their person, in their lives, in their need for love and understanding, devalues them. It reduces them to a sexual animal, not a human worthy of time, effort and relationship.
I could go on...you of all people know that. And I’m sure all I have written hasn’t made a lick of difference if you’ve even made it this far. But know that I’ve heard what you said. I could spend time studying the psychology of religion...but it would be a waste of time. I spent enough time seeing psychology play out in my life...it wasn’t until I was broken with nothing left in this world that mattered to make me feel good about myself that Jesus picked me up and filled me with His spirit and gave me new life. And the person I am today is a far cry from the person I was then. Am I good...no, on the contrary I realize that the best part of me is not of me. I strive to do what is right and I get it right some of the time. But I’m a work in progress. And by knowing that I’m not inherently good and others are not inherently good, gives me a whole lot of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self control when dealing with my failures and the failures of others. I am now at a place where I share my faith not to be right, prove a point or correct someone...but purely to give an answer for my joy.
I accept that you do not approve of ANY religion. I can see why and frankly, that’s why I go to a church that is independent of a convention and operates simply to love others and study God’s Word in its entirety. I find you to be a very caring, thoughtful, articulate and intelligent person. I feel the connection we share is because we both care deeply for people and each other. As steeped as you are in all your books about psychology and anti religions sentiments and as satisfying as you find that, I’m steeped in one book...the Bible, and I find it to be a lively word, that satisfies completely. Like I said before, I appreciate your perspective because it makes me dig deeper in the Word of God because so much of what your are about is to question Him and to find fault with Him by way of the people that so sadly misrepresent Him. And I find that so contrary to your heart that in many ways is so much like Him, which makes sense because He made you. Or at least that’s what I think. ;)
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