Sunday, June 13, 2010
Secular, Atheistic Fundamentalism On the Scourge Of Christian Fundamentalism
THE CHRISTIAN MOVEMENT is a degeneracy movement composed of reject and refuse elements of every kind…. It is therefore not racially conditioned; it appeals to the disinherited everywhere…. It needs a symbol that represents a curse on the well-constituted and dominant… it takes the side of idiots and utters rancor against the gifted, the learned, the independent, for it detects in them the well-constituted and the masterful.
— Friedrich Nietzsche, The Will to Power
(H/T, Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, June 6 program)
I have to laugh when I hear the intellectual elite of the world talk about Christian fundamentalism as if fundamentalism were only an anomaly to followers of Christ. In fact every human being bases his or her life on some set of fundamental, bedrock set of beliefs. Secular fundamentalism says emphatically that we can't know there's a God. It says it with utter certainty. And independence from the Word of God. And ultimately it portends a life of rationalization and going one's own way in the shifting sands of relative morality instead of the fixed principles on which God created and based the world.
Anyway, Nietzche---whose life and mental health was one long train wreck---represents the most scathing secular fundamentalist attacks on us hair-brained Christian fundamentalists. Rather than responding in my own words, I'll instead quote the Apostle Paul in First Corinthians 1 who speaks for God better than anyone else I know:
1:25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
1:26 For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:
1:27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
"God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise."Is God the author of confusion?
1:28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:
1:29 That no flesh should glory in his presence.
1:30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:
1:31 That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.
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4 comments:
Yes, the Bible is extremely clear:
Man is justified by faith alone
--Romans 3:20/ Gal 2:16/ Gal 3:11,12/ Rom 4:2
Man is not justified by faith alone
--James 2:21,24/ Romans 2:13
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"Those that seek me early shall find me."
- Proverbs 8:17
"Then shall they call upon me but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but shall not find me."
- Proverbs 1:28
Actually, William, none of these verses is saying what you're implying. You've taken each of them out of context and so invalidated your point. Your friend Ellen would send verse after verse of these seeming contradictions. But God never, ever contradicts Himself down to the last jot and tittle, try as you might to prove otherwise.
My suggestion before you send them next time is go and look them up in a real Bible, perhaps a NIV with commentary, and read each in context for its real meaning.
I have a few minutes to go through several of your citations with brief comments as to what they're referring to:
Romans 3:20---Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law (the Old Testament law of the Pharisees); rather through the law we become conscious of sin.
(Paul is talking to the Jews saying no man is automatically saved by following the 'letter' of the law, the Old Testament law given to Moses on Mt. Sinai, as the legalistic Pharisees thought. Instead, the law is designed to show every man is a sinner in God's eyes and it is impossible to keep the law perfectly. Christ however came to replace and overturn the Old Testament law teaching instead the Spirit of the law. He offers forgiveness to every sinner who accepts His gift of salvation through his substitionary death on the Cross.)
Galatians 2:16---Know that a man is not justified by observing the law but by faith in Jesus Christ.
(ditto)
James 2:24---(Let's dare to do it in proper context rather than lifting it which is cheating):
James 2:20-24--- You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together and his faith was made complete by what he did...And the Scripture was fulfilled that says, 'Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness and he was called God's friend. You see that a person is justified by what he does and not faith alone
(Here James is talking about Christ-centered integrity....walking the walk that lines up with talking the talk. While works cannot save us, works that please God come from a fruitful life that believes in God's mercy and seeks to please God through daily actions.)
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Proverbs 8:17---I love those who love me and those who seek me find me.
(Here, Proverbs refers to those who earnestly seek to know and please God. He assures them that when they sincerely seek Him, He will surely answer and be in relationship with them and forgive them. Think King David, a man after God's heart. Think Elijah. Think Abraham, Moses and Joseph just to name a few.)
Proverbs 1:28---again this needs to be read in context for its true meaning:
Proverbs 1:24-28---But since you rejected me when I called and no one gave heed when I stretched out my hand, since you ignored all my advice and would not accept my rebuke,
I in turn will laugh at your disaster; I will mock when calamity overtakes you---when disaster sweeps over you like a whirlwind, when distress and trouble overwhelm you.
Then they will call to me but I will not answer; they will look for me but will not find me.
(Here God is clear that He seeks a relationship with all men. But those who repeated turn their backs on Him, who disobey His commandments will be abandoned by Him when they are in trouble and suddenly call to Him for help. Their sin has so separated them from God that He won't help them...Tthink King Saul. Think Cain. Think Abimelech. Think Judas who betrayed Jesus, just to name a few.
This is a theme that, like it or not, is repeated over and over in the Bible--God quickly answers those who love Him but turns his back on those who repeated reject Him.
But just a few of the several hundred contradictions in the Bible that include contradictions in historical facts and doctrine. I have no doubt you could explain (rationalize) them all, perhaps with the help of NIV.
Jesus is quoted at least 9 times in the New Testament saying that a believer can ask for anything through prayer and receive it, clearly a lie. How do you rationalize that? I'm sure you can.
"And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive." (Matthew 21:21-22)
If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you. (John 15:7)
I'm afraid I can't rationalize anything William. But a deeper reading and understanding of Scripture can shed light on your so-called contradictions.
You constantly lift things out of context and use them for your own secular purposes. Would you teach your music students a score by lifting out a few notes here and there from a musical composition then saying it was invalid? I doubt it, yet you consistently do that here with Bible verses.
A believer who is in the Word knows that God controls our lives. But God is not ever to be used as Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy. God does answer prayer and the prayer of a righteous person who knows how to pray within God's will will yield much. But it will not always be in his timing or his way. It will be in God's.
Sometimes God says No. And often give much more than we ever dared ask for.
Secular people prefer to pump and dump God....then say that His promies are a lie. It's simply not true. But again, God Almighty is Sovereign and not an ATM machine.
God does not enable us to be petulent, demanding children. He answers prayer in ways that grow us up.
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