There are many Christians writing books that address the "New Atheists". Here's the all important question: how effective are these 'experts' in dialoguing with atheists and nonbelievers? Just like a surgeon must do his first surgery to see if he has learned well, Christians must get out and talk with the nonbeliever.
Dee has spent the last 3 years reading and attempting dialogue on a site known as exChristian.net. This is a fascinating blog. Several times a week, someone gives a “testimony” on why they left Christianity. The webmaster is Dave Vallen who left the faith after many years. Dave struggles with his older son who is still a Christian and who is very angry at his dad. On this site you will find ex-pastors, former seminary professors, and just about any former anything you can imagine. Here's the link:
http://exchristian.net/
Many of the well-known atheists visit exchristian.net, and this popular blog provides links to their web sites. There is even an online store that sells books written by this group. Dee has read several of them in an attempt to understand what they believe. The web site also posts some of the same debates that are sponsored by Fixed Point; however, in their view, the atheist always wins!
The testimonies written by ex-Christians are interesting and quite thought provoking. Some have lived many years as evangelicals. They know their Bible, and many used to be quite involved in witnessing, teaching etc. Dee knows the doctrine, “Once saved, always saved.” She has struggled with this teaching since meeting many of these folks. Many appear to have led convicted Christian lives until their “de-conversion.”
Many of Dee’s presuppositions about what a former Christian, turned atheist, looks like have been proven to be in error. The following is a short list.
1. The church or Christians hurt them and that is why they walked away from the faith. This is not true for a good number of ex-Christians. In fact, many of them maintain friendships within the faith. For most, it was an intellectual disagreement with the Bible and its teaching. Most had a hard time dealing with a God who wipes out races of people and even kills babies. One of the startling concerns is the insistence by some legalistic churches that members believe in young earth creationism. Many cannot accept that the earth is 6,000 years old due to the preponderance of scientific evidence to the contrary. Before you object, we will discuss this in-depth momentarily.
2. They have no morals or ethics. Actually, many of them spend much time discussing common moral beliefs and values. Some have actually developed a strict code of ethics.
3. They are self-centered. Many of them are involved with various secular charities such as Doctors Without Borders, Peace Corps, etc.
However, what startled Dee the most were the arrogant, condescending attitudes exhibited by many Christians who visit exchristian.net. Frankly, Christianity looks pretty ugly if one only reads what some supposed Christians post. Here are a few examples of how they witness to unbelievers.
1. Many decide to attack their view on an old earth, often pulling quotes from Ken Ham’s Answers in Genesis. These Christians actually think they are telling them something the ex-Christians have never heard. There are many scientists on the site, and they have more proofs and knowledge on the subject than many of these hit and run Christians.
2. Many Christians threaten them with the issue of hell. This has to be one of the more stupid approaches that we have witnessed. Most of these folks do not believe in God so hell is a moot point. Think about it! But, it gets even worse than that. Many ex-Christians have left the faith due to their view that God is a sadistic murderer of entire races of people and their children. By pulling the hell card, these Christians feed into this bias, causing them to have further proof of an unjust and unloving God.
3. Some Christians try the Pascal wager approach. Blaise Pascal, a famous philosopher, posited that man has two choices regarding God. Either God exists or He does not. If one wagers that He does not exist and He does, that person has lost everything. However, if the person wages that He exists and He does not, the person has lost nothing. But, if God does exist, then that person has gained everything. This sounds good but there are many issues for the nonbeliever.
First and foremost, they refuse to believe in something that they contend has not been shown to be clearly possible. They believe it is a silly wager. Secondly, this wager mentions God. Which God, they query? Should we believe in the Roman God Zeus, or Allah, or anyone of tens of thousands of gods?
4. Some Christians try the intelligent universe approach. How could an inanimate, unintelligent, eternal universe come from nothing? Isn’t God a logical conclusion? They claim that God has the same problem. Is it logical to imagine an eternal being if one cannot imagine an eternal universe?
5. Many Christians who visit the web site state that none of these folks were ever Christians in the first place. This is definitely the wrong approach. It doesn’t matter what you believe; they believe that they were. Many of them were well trained in the faith, attended Christian schools, witnessed door to door, counseled at Billy Graham events, taught Sunday school, prayed, “felt” the presence of the Holy Spirit, remember the date of their conversion, read C.S. Lewis, Lee Strobel, and so on and so on. This approach merely makes them angry or frustrated.
6. Now, some Christians try very hard to be nice, at least until they reach the end of their patience. Then they hurl the epithet, “I am not going to throw my pearls before swine!” These sorts of Christians come onto the web site with their nice pat playbook in hand. Their equally naïve pastors or teachers have told them that these are the surefire “proofs” that will take down any atheist argument. They appear shocked when it doesn’t work. Instead of hanging in there and listening carefully, they bow out, leaving behind an insult which will be used as one more piece of evidence that Christians are unkind and unloving. What ever happened to the long-suffering witness? It probably went the way of the intelligent worship service, which has been dumbed down to meet the attention span of the average churchgoer.
The point we are trying to make is that Christians should not assume that these atheists have not thought through these issues. Many have done so as they began to leave the faith. Many of them gave up good relationships with family members because they were unable to believe and were treated like pariahs.
One things that was clearly evident in the debate between Bart Ehrman and Dinesh D’Souza was Ehrman’s unfailing politeness and smiling demeanor. He calls himself the happy agnostic. We need to demonstrate the unfailing patience that God shows each of us to those that we hope to reach. It is not easy at times.
Next week, we will share with you some tips we have learned from witnessing to the folks on exChristian.net. Then, we will discuss the Christian debaters from Fixed Point and review the debate we attended between Bart Ehrman and Dinesh D'Souza. In the meantime, please go to the exchristian.com web site and read a couple of stories. Stay out of the "Lion’s Den" (a discussion forum on the exchristian.com web site) unless you are prepared for some pretty hard, and at times, nasty discussions.
Finally, we suggest that you visit the following two web sites to get an idea how the atheists are attempting to disprove the existence of God. The first is called The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. A group of atheists decided to make up a fictional character – the flying spaghetti monster – and present arguments that Christians utilize to prove the existence God to prove the existence of this fictional creature. This character is becoming iconic within this atheistic movement and Christians should have a working knowledge of the argument.
http://www.venganza.org/
The second web site is an attempt to disprove that God answers prayer. These atheists posit that they have never seen nor has there been any conclusive documented proof that God has healed an amputee by allowing a new appendage to grow. Therefore, they question whether God is actually in the healing business. If you think this is an easy one to answer, think again…
http://whywontgodhealamputees.com/
Both of these web sites demonstrate the cleverness of our adversaries.
We are definitely in a battle between light and darkness. Isn't it interesting that those who are "in the dark" refer to themselves as "Brights"? You will not want to miss next week's posts.
A Note to the Inhabitants of Wonderland
It has been brought to our attention that a certain report claims that they believe a certain Alice lied when she stated she had spoken to certain government officials. You are sooooo wrong. We watched your wretched treatment of those who had the temerity to question your knights. Alice was most embarrassed by such unChristianlike behavior and did not want such conduct to be inflicted upon nice people who are doing their best to make a living. In other words, Alice protected them from certain ugliness. Remember, there was a white knight from a far away land that was willing to fly to the rescue. If Alice contacted him, she most certainly would have had no difficulty contacting the others. It is a sad day when we must protect people from supposed role models.
