50. Reflections on isms

Well – 2014 has arrived and here I am posting again – that is if this actually makes it from blank page to blog.

I am about two posts away from finishing my complete thoughts on penal substitution – an explanation that I feel I owe my friend.  Then I might retire.

But tonight, I plunk away at my computer keyboard.

One of my friends is an evangelical atheist.  He wants to tell you that there is no God.  The essence of his argument is that you cannot prove there is a God.  As well the non-biblical historical records of Jesus are kind of sketchy.  And he throws in that there seems to be no independent record of Nazareth.  Thus, Jesus did not exist – God is a delusion – and therefore to believe in him is a waste of time.

He is particularly bothered when I point out that there are about half a dozen references to Jesus in ancient writings – and that seems to be roughly the same as the non-Egyptian references to Cleopatra.  As well, there is a romanticized (pun not intended) ideal of the accuracy and detail of the Roman censuses of the time.  I do like point out that there is no record of a census being taken as told in the Nativity Story as recorded in Luke. So it is completely possible that Jesus was never included in a census, and if he was it is entirely probably that the record was lost or destroyed or otherwise mistranslated.

He is not quite sure what to make of me because I am sincere about what I say, but am not altogether rejecting of what he has to say. As far as I can tell, the Gospels are an oral tradition that someone decided to transcribe.  They are not inaccurate, they simply point to a different reality than that of a historically accurate document.

He is as arrogant and obnoxious as my other evangelical friends who insist on telling me who God is and what he wants me to believe and to do.

The difference is that when I play paint ball with my evangelical atheist friend I get him on his knees. 

I am more quiet about my faith.  Yes, if you get the timing right I will blather on about some piece of theology I am mulling over.  Or, often the realization of just how friggin awesome Christ and God are or is – seeing that they are the same and the power of the Holy Spirit.  But, for the most part my faith is more quiet, I am less sure, and somewhat more introspective than many of my other Christian buddies. 

It is not that I doubt that Jesus died on the cross, or that he rose from the dead, or that he was and is and always will be God.  It is that I feel my faith is more personal, I am called not to decide what you should do, but to what I should do, about how I should live out my faith. I feel that my life is more my witness than my mouth.

I find it intriguing that my atheist friend, who would be appalled at me if I preached the Gospel to him, feels so inclined to preach his beliefs.  He kind of bristles as I talk about evangelical atheism.  I also talk openly about the flawed thinking of one of his atheistic heroes – one cannot over generalize and over simplify and claim to be logical in thought.

When I talk about the teachings of Jesus, he has little to say – there really is little to say in the form of rebuttal.  What?  We should not love each other?  Or, that often those who espouse religion are not often creeps?  Will he argue that Jesus calls us into being better people?  Methinks not.

I think he is starting to figure out that I am not in agreement with him.  However, he will continue, I am sure, to tell me how much God does not exist.  It is rather odd, being proselytized for atheism.

I wonder if he understands that I am making a disciple out of him.  It may be my tendency to believe the best in people, it may be my tendency to over identify with people, but I know that for me to grow spiritually I needed to reject the God that I had come to believe in.  I think it is important, and I think each one of us is called to reject the God that is so often portrayed to us, and to find God as God reveals himself to us. 

What I do with my friend is similar to what I do with others, Christian others, whose beliefs make me bristle.  It is similar to what others, I hope, do with me.  Simply walk the path of righteousness and pray for me and help me to see where I am lost.

I had coffee with a friend tonight.  Sadly, the conversation was about how a family member, a born-again evangelical family member, had been an absolute bag to another person.  There seems to be something about proving that we have the proper view of the world gives us license to be nasty to each other.

My prayer?  That we stop making shit up so that we can gloat over others.  That we learn to love each other, and talk less – realizing that what we do speaks louder than what we say. 

And wow this did make it from blank page to blog.