Christians, Atheists, and a Lot of Warm-Fuzzies

The Good

There has been a lot of discussion between atheists and Christians lately. A lot of this has to do with the highly polemical books written by atheists such as Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and Christopher Hitchens. Of course, some Christians have not allowed those books to go unchallenged. American Vision recently published two books (Letter from a Christian Citizen by Douglas Wilson and The Return of the Village Atheist by Joel McDurmon) in response to Sam Harris' book, Letter to a Christian Nation. In addition to the book, Douglas Wilson has been doing some excellent apologetic work as he responds and challanges men like Dawkins, Harris, and Hitchens. Be sure to stop by Wilson's blog or visit the online debate between Wilson and Hitchens.

The Bad and The Ugly

Unfortunately, not all the interactions between Chrisitans and atheists have been as helpful as Wilson's. Some Christians are more concerned with get warm and fuzzy with atheist, instead of challanging them to turn to Christ.

Honestly, I knew that this article ("Christians and Atheists Start a Calmer Dialogue") was going to be ridiculous before I even began reading it--but it was far worse than I imagined. Take a few minutes to read the whole article, but here are a few of the interesting--or should I say, sad--quotes. My comments will be in italics.

Mr. Henderson set out to learn how "the unchurched" respond to various kinds of worship services – what it is they find appealing and what leaves them cold. He began to pay nonbelievers $25 to go to a church and tell him what they thought.

This points us to a major problem in the evangelical world. Often, pastors and other leaders place more emphasis on learning from "the unchurched" rather than learning from God's Word. Do we really have to stoop to the level of paying people to tell us what they think about our worship services? The apostle Paul reminds us that "the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God" (1 Corinthians 1:18). I would be willing to bet that the people Mr. Henderson paid told him something like this: "The coffee and donuts appealed to me, but things got a whole lot colder when that preacher started talking about sin and Jesus dying on the cross. Keep the coffee and donuts, but you better 'warm-up' the message!" Maybe we should have just listened to Paul. Granted, I wish that churches would rid themselves of needless, cultural baggage that unnecessarily pushes people away (i.e. expecting people to wear dressy clothes, take out their body piercings, etc.),but that is a far cry from what some church leaders have in mind.

Henderson also conducts interviews with men and women who are non­believers as an event at church and pastor conferences. Many Evangelicals "are obsessed with conversion," he says, and always speak of non-Christians as "lost."

How else should we speak about non-Christians? There are only two options: saved or lost. Okay, maybe we should just abandon the whole pesky issue of conversion anyway. I'm sure that it comes across as cold.

The Never-Ending Story of Motherhood

Every morning around 6:30 Adalynne wakes up, ready for a bottle. Then, before the feeding is finished Alora has usually crawled out of her bed and made her way to the living room to join her mom and sister. By 7:30 breakfast has been served, and the day doesn't slow down from there. Now, my wife must contend with a "regenerating" pile of laundry, potty training, phone calls, meal preparation, more bottle-feeding, playtimes, naptimes, dishes that need washing, vaccuming, dusting, crying, vomiting, and tons of other tasks. (I'm starting to feel tired just thinking about all the things that Amy does on a daily basis.) And while most of us go to work in the morning and return home in the evening, the work of a mother goes well beyond 9 to 5. I am almost certain that Amy will not sleep through the night tonight. Either Adalynne will wake up around 3:30am, ready for a bottle, or Alora wake her up for some reason or another. The work of a mother never ends.

Yet, in all of these duties and responsibilities, Amy is joyful. Granted, there are days when she is exhausted and needs a break, but she does not give up. She continues on day by day to serve the Lord by serving her family. So, to Amy--my wife, best-friend, partner, lover--Happy Mother's Day! You and all the other mothers who tirelessly serve our families deserve to be praised each day. I love you.

Parents, Education, and Political Parties

Can you name the political party that holds to the following platform regarding education?

All teaching is related to basic assumptions about God and man. Education as a whole, therefore, cannot be separated from religious faith. The law of our Creator assigns the authority and responsibility of educating children to their parents. Education should be free from all federal government subsidies, including vouchers, tax incentives, and loans, except with respect to veterans.

Because the federal government has absolutely no jurisdiction concerning the education of our children, the United States Department of Education should be abolished; all federal legislation related to education should be repealed. No federal laws subsidizing or regulating the education of children should be enacted. Under no circumstances should the federal government be involved in national teacher certification, educational curricula, textbook selection, learning standards, comprehensive sex education, psychological and psychiatric research testing programs, and personnel.

Because control over education is now being relegated to departments other than the Department of Education, we clarify that no federal agency, department, board, or other entity may exercise jurisdiction over any aspect of children's upbringing. Education, training, and discipline of children are properly placed in the domain of their parents.

We support the unimpeded right of parents to provide for the education of their children in the manner they deem best, including home, private or religious. We oppose all legislation from any level of government that would interfere with or restrict that liberty. We support equitable tax relief for families whose children do not attend government schools.

So that parents need not defy the law by refusing to send their children to schools of which they disapprove, compulsory attendance laws should be repealed.

Ron Paul

My friend Emily seems to be a fan of Ron Paul, and I can see why: freedom, lower taxes, and limited government. Sounds good to me too! Check out the following YouTube video from Dr. Paul.

"I'm Roasting, Dad!"

This afternoon I went by my friend Daniel's apartment to drop off a few things. After talking with him for a few minutes I went back down to the car, where Amy and the girls were waiting for me. Unfortunately, the AC in our SUV doesn't always cool very fast, so they were sitting inside the car with the windows down. When I got into the car Alora looked at me and said, "I'm roasting, Dad!" Of course, Amy told her to say it, but I still thought it was hilarious.

Just in case you're wondering, the high was around 93 degrees today.