The Atheist Arguing Job.
Part Three
“And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.” 2 Peter 3:15-18 (ESV)
Over the past few Freedom Fighters I covered just the tip of the iceberg concerning an i-app for the i-gizmo’s that are out there called “The Atheist Pocket Debater.” In my first moments of looking into this i-book I had issues and I was outraged with what I was reading. Well in this Freedom Fighter I want to cover why the compiler of this i-app went the direction he did. If it wasn’t for a conversation with my pastor I just may have missed this particular reason why Jason Hagen made the decision early in his life to dismiss God totally. So I thank Pastor Paul Ort for taking the time out for presenting the evidence that lite the light bulb for these past Freedom Fighters in the first place.
I found the following quote in the N.Y. Times online archives from earlier this year, “What inspired him, he said, was a lifetime of frustration as the son of a fundamentalist Christian preacher in rural Virginia. “I know what people go through, growing up in the culture I grew up in,” said Mr. Hagen, 39, adding that his father had only recently learned of his true beliefs. “So I tried to give people the tools they need to defend themselves, but at the same time not ridicule anybody. Basically, the people on the other side of the debate are my parents.” When I read this I immediately called Pastor Paul and asked him where I could find the rest of this guy’s bio. “It’s part of the debater titled “The Skeptical Teenager” Pastor replied. So I went there and read some disturbing stuff.
He was baptized at age 12 “just to please the folks.” By the time he was 14 he began to question the stories in the Bible. “How do we know those stories in the Bible actually happened?” The reply was, “Jason, don’t even go there! We know it’s true. We just know!” And then he asked, “Why don’t all those miracles happen today?” The reply to this question was, “I don’t know why God doesn’t do miracles nowadays. Maybe He wants us to have faith.” That last answer bothers me something fierce. These were the answers provided by a teacher at the Baptist school he was attending…according to him.
Later on in the bio Jason tells a story about being 19, living in Atlanta and running into a street corner preacher. The preacher was the “fire and brimstone” kind of preacher and, in front of his friends; Jason begins a dialogue that went like this. “Those who do not accept the Lord Savior Jesus will perish in the everlasting fire of Hell.” Jason walks up to him and asks, “Sir, if God knows everything and loves us, why would He create Hell? Wouldn’t it be better to not even be born in the first place, if we knew we were going to be sent there? It’s being born into a curse.” And of course this street preacher goes into an incoherent tirade about Satan even though it is not directed towards Jason.
There are two things we can glean from this. One is that we have a rebellious teenager who just feels like being so or we have a younger brother who had doubts and an older brother did not do what should have been done to reinforce the work of the Cross. Even so this man has gone to compile a very popular tool for people to use against us. It is important that the Christian take the time to present the evidence to support their faith. To say, “Just because” may not be enough. Maybe Jason’s story is one-sided but it should still serve as a warning to all of us that the world is grabbing at anything right now and we need to have them and reach out…to Jesus. I got one more thing left to say but that will be for tomorrow. – Chris Hughes contributes frequently to our daily Freedom Fighter e-votional
Digging Deeper: Proverbs 29; Zechariah 9-12; Revelation 20
Dig This Quote;
“The unchurched don’t care much about our credentials. Bible school and seminary degrees aren’t important if we can’t undergird them with our wholehearted response to God’s character requirements. We must live out the reality of our message. And we live it out best in community and relationships when we deeply share our lives, our dreams, our joys, and our sorrows. What people expect of us-their pastors and church leaders- is that we be holy men and women, that we love mercy, that we sacrifice ourselves for the sake of the sheep, including sheep that are lost. They want to know that their pastors aren’t always looking for a fight or motivated by money. They long for leaders who are patient and gentle, kind and generous-pastors who love them.” Reclaiming God’s Original Intent for the Church Wes Roberts and Glenn Marshall
Determined Digging: Level 1: Acts 1:8; John 1:8-14
Determined Praying: When faith sets prayer on work, prayer sets God on work. Thomas Watson
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