Here's a good one...

My apologies for my absence. I'm afraid that Facebook has been my downfall. I will post this for your perusal. Stuff like this always interests me because they actually ask a pretty good question, but the mob mentality against Christianity reminds me of arguments I would have in the 6th grade: "Oh Yeah? So!Well, you're stupid!" You know- stuff like that. How do we answer this without being equally snarky back at them? Let's see if you can figure it out...Have at it!

UPDATE: Here is someones response

Not bad, but not satisfying enough for me either...the question I have is, although some people inexplicably are spared while others inexplicably die, does that really make the argument that God doesn't exist? At the MOST, we could say that we don't understand or like the way he works and we would not want to serve that kind of God. But to deny his existence would mean that we:

1) Are smart enough to understand everything there is to know about spiritual things. And we can explain how over a billion universes came to be and how this one universe has life, and incredibly complex life at that, but it was all by chance. I guess there are just millions of people who have done the theorems and worked out the mathematical odds on their kitchen tablecloth and know for certain, with no wavering or doubt, that there is absolutely no God. Wouldn't an intelligent honest person have to admit that there is no way to know that for sure? Isn't it, at best, a hunch?

2)We would have to believe there isn't a God, but yet believe that nature can think. This random Cosmic belch that we live on, has the amazing ability, without any design whatsoever, to recognize what needs to change about itself in order for it to survive. It's interesting that they don't claim the changes are by accident, just life itself. Yeah, that makes total sense. Isn't that belief attributing god-like qualities to nature? So, you'll believe in a mother nature kind of god, but not a God that could make mother nature?

3)We would have to believe that there is no meaning to life. No purpose. We are born, we disturb the gravel on earth for about 80 years, and then we die. Is there any thought more depressing than that?

Yes, it may seem that we are taking events that are bound to happen sooner or later, and ascribing them to a God that we have never seen. But the alternative for us is untenable: despite a world around us that points to design, and planning, and creativity, and complexity beyond any man's ability to create - we will stubbornly deny that He exists. We cannot do it. There is just too much evidence to the contrary.

As obvious as it seems to them that there isn't a God, it's just as obvious to us that there is.

And so, we choose to give him credit when good things happen (because the Scriptures tell us to), and we pray to Him for help when bad things happen (because the scriptures tell us to do that, too). We don't fully understand Him. We don't have definitive answers to their statements. But just because we don't have an answer doesn't mean that there isn't one - and someday God will let us in on it all.

Until then, we choose to believe, and trust. People like Heather Macdonald may think it is naive and silly, but I feel comfortable in my belief, because Miss Macdonald has a lot more to lose than I do if I'm right, than if she is.

UPDATE #2 - MORE BY HEATHER MACDONALD

She is responding to all of the uproar over her post. This is part of what she said:

“The bus ads suggest a utilitarian reason for skepticism: you’ll enjoy life more. The only touchstone that I can possibly imagine for deciding whether or not to adopt any particular belief is its truth, in this case: Does the evidence of human experience support the claim that we are attended to by a loving, personal God? Even if the conclusion that we have no ‘Friend’ in the sky leads inevitably to melancholy or dissatisfaction, it is better to live unhappily in truth than happily in delusion, in my view. (As I have written before, however, I am puzzled by the claim that life would be meaningless without God. Schubert wrote some 600 songs, nearly every one of them a gem of lethal beauty and exquisiteness. You want something more?)”
You can read more of her opinions at www.secularright.org

Ray Comfort adds:

Comfort added, "I will donate $10,000 to him, or give it to any children's charity he names. All I ask is that he goes into a studio and gives me 20 minutes on why there is no God and why evolution is scientific. Then I will give 20 minutes on how we can know God exists and why evolution is nothing more than an unsubstantiated and unscientific fairy tale for grownups. Then we both will have 10 minutes to respond.

You can read the rest of his article here.

This is interesting too“The truth is, however, that if you go to South America, you will find a huge number of conversions to Protestant Christianity. If you go to Korea, you will find Christian churches with 100,000 members. If you go to China, you will find 100 million Christians. And if you go to Africa, you’ll find that countries whose populations were only five percent Christian 100 years ago are now 50 percent Christian. These trends have not gone unnoticed by historians, who are startled by them and have attempted to explain them away, and they are the empirical basis for my claim that God is doing very well in this world. What’s important to understand is that the New Atheism is not a triumphant cry of success, but rather a bitter reaction to the success of religion.”

You can read the rest of that article here. This guy debates athiests too.

Yeah, but at least they arent asking them to turn off their TV's!

Read at the risk of feeling really petty.

Yay for Voices of Reason!

Except the part about the earth being here 5.5 billion years, of course. But this is nice to hear for a change:



And a very good explanation on a Christian perspective of gay marriage from Rick Warren:

Let's miss the forest for the trees this Christmas!

OURS: Welch's 2008

New Love or Long Love?

I read an interesting article on the plane home from New York the other day, that you should check out. Read it here. I know, you may be getting tired of talking about gay marriage, but there is something here I want you to notice.

There is something bigger here than the topic of gay marriage (at least in my mind), that is present both in the article and the video. See if you can spot it. I will come back to it later this week...

Meanwhile, I just had to comment on my trip with Amy to New York this weekend. We had a great time, she was totally surprised, and I'm the husband of the year so the rest of you can stop trying.

As we were walking the streets of Manhattan, I was contemplating how great it was to be able to fulfill a wish that Amy has had for years - to go to New York at Christmas time and see the tree in Rockefeller center. I had looked forward to her response since I bought the tickets over a month ago. I planned the surprise meticulously, trying not to forget any detail that could make it more meaningful for her. Now that we were there, I was loving it.

But what made it even more special was the fact that there were 15 years of memories together walking with us on those streets. There was 15 years of knowledge of what she likes and dislikes, what means the most to her and what she can give or take. Knowledge that a year or even five years of marriage doesn't give you.

New love is exciting and fun, but there was something about the trip that was deeper, more special because of our long love. It's hard to explain. It's hard to give the feeling a name. Part appreciation, part gratitude, part reminiscent, part "make every moment count because we're not promised tomorrow" (something I had no comprehension of 10 years ago). I don't know what to call it, but it was deeeep.

New love gets all the attention, but it's that same love fostered over time that is like a priceless jewel that you have to dig to the middle of the mountain to retrieve. It's a lot of work getting there, and you might be tempted to settle for a lesser jewel along the way, but if you can make it, the reward is exponential.



What about your marriage? What have you done to foster that long love in your own home? What have you done to treasure your spouse(especially you, men - God made your wife to need to feel treasured by you)?

It's really not that hard, once you decide to do it. It doesn't have to be a trip. I just used Amy's likes and dislikes as a springboard to make her feel special. For instance:

--I can deal with a little mess at home, but she likes it clean (no dishes in the sink, floor vacuumed, pillows arranged correctly on the couch, etc.). We used to argue because she felt like she wasn't getting any help and I thought she was being unrealistic about how clean the house should be all the time. Now, when I get home from work, I spend 30 minutes or so swiffering the floor (it's wood), doing the dishes and making the house look like she wants it so that she can walk in and relax instead of feeling like she has to clean. The difference in her response to me has been amazing. So, why didn't I just shut up and do that before? Good question.

--She wants to know that I think about her during the day. I used to say I did, but there was no real proof of that. Now, I try to find ways to let her know. Sometimes I show up at her work with lunch, sometimes it's just a text that says I'm thinking about her. Whatever. You'd be amazed at the power of the words, "I missed you today."

Basically, for Amy, every time I go the extra mile for her I am proving that I love her. Maybe your wife doesn't have those same needs, or maybe she wouldn't feel the same way about those things if you did them. Find out what her "extra mile" is and do whatever you can to fulfill it.

We saw 2 couples get engaged in front of the tree. They cried and everyone applauded- one guy raised his hands in victory when she said yes. It was pretty neat and I'm sure it's something they will never forget, but I couldn't help but wonder if they will make it to appreciate the benefits of a love that lasts.

Don't spend a second of time daydreaming of what it would be like to start over with someone else. YOU be someone else! Change how you relate to and treasure her and become what she has always wanted. You CAN do it, you just may not WANT to or see the NEED to.

Well, I dare you to do it for a month. You just may end up wondering what took you so long.

I didn't see this on the news...

"Texan Michael E. Schwab said that the woman driving the sedan on U.S Route 281 near San Antonio "was not driving like a Christian" and that "God said ... she needed to be taken off the road,” according to the Bexar County Sheriff's Office.

So, Schwab, 52, of Blooming Grove, Texas, rear-ended the car with his pickup truck — at more than 100 mph, the San Antonio Express-News reports.

Both both drivers suffered only minor injuries in the Friday morning accident.

Though Schwab told deputies "God said she wasn't driving right" and "it was Jesus' will for him to punish the car,” he did not describe the other driver's alleged transgressions of the holy rules of the road. Deputies determined the unidentified 35-year-old woman “had done nothing wrong,” according to a news release.

Schwab was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and his bond was set at $50,000."

I love the comments on the Prop 8 post. Keep em coming and next week I will weigh in with my own thoughts (I know, you won't be able to sleep till then).

For now, here is one more thing, just for fun...



And did you see the preview for the next season of "Dancing With the Stars"?

Anybody still out there?

I know I have been lax of late, but the blog has fallen onto the shoulder of my chaotic highway. I am going to try to post more again, mainly because I love the back and forth that goes on in the comments. We need to sharpen each other and be sharpened all the time. So with that, I post this gem of blasphemy. (It might take a minute to load):

See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die

Alright, let's hear your defense of christianity the way you would say it to your gay brother (if you had one, of course)...