“We must have a “fixed point” if we are to judge our course. The harbor decides for those on a ship, but where shall we find a harbor in morality?” Blaise Pascall

Bart Ehrman is worshipped and adored among those who label themselves as "the Brights".  Perhaps he could be called the "Atheists' Idol".  Bart calls himself a happy agnostic and delights in flummoxing the young Christians who end up in his religion classes at UNC-Chapel Hill.  He has heard it all before.  Bart was an evangelical Christian who ended up at Wheaton College and then went on to Princeton for his advanced degrees.
 
Believe it or not, both Dee and Bart experienced a “crisis of faith” over the same passage of Scripture!  Lo and behold, Bart found out that the narrative of the woman caught in adultery was not included in the earliest manuscripts.  Here is that passage, along with the link:

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%207:53-8:11&version=NIV
 
John 7:53-8:11 (New International Version)
(The earliest and most reliable manuscripts and other ancient witnesses do not have John 7:53-8:11)

 53Then each went to his own home.
John 8
 1But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. 3The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4and said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" 6They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.
   But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." 8Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
 9At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 10Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"
 11"No one, sir," she said. 
"Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin." 
 
Uh oh!  Please don't lose your faith over this revelation if you've never heard about it before…  Note the words in red above.  If you'll check your Bible, there should be lines drawn above and below the narrative with footnotes highlighting this issue – it's been known for a long time).  Upon making this discovery at Princeton, Bart concluded that the Bible, as he knew it, was unreliable.  Therefore, he left the faith.  The rest is history, and make no mistake, Bart Ehrman is a dangerous man.  He speaks the Christian lingo, knows the platitudes of Christians, knows more about the Bible than many Christians, and can quickly mop the floor with many an arrogant Christian who thinks he is a bit smarter than Bart.
 
When Dee discovered that the woman caught in adultery was not in the earliest manuscripts (which occurred about 15 years ago) she became frightened for a brief moment.  Was the Bible that she so dearly loved unreliable?  Instead of assuming that all was lost (as Bart did), she decided that there were greater minds that had already dealt with this fact.  Dee ran toward the theologians within the faith and found the answers she so desperately needed.
 
Dee determined that she would never be caught by surprise again, so she began to read the apologetics of the atheists, the Mormons, the Hindus, etc.  She wanted to learn firsthand their philosophy by reading THEIR words (e.g. The Book of Mormon), not simplistic, self-help Christian books (10 Things to Spit at Mormons).  She decided that if she could not answer their questions, then she needed to get a whole lot more educated.
 
Her approach paid off!  Dee had the opportunity to spend two years in conversation with a highly ranked Mormon.  She has spent three years on exChristian.net, learning from and dialoging with those who have renounced the Christian faith.  She even spent two hours speaking with a well-known evolutionary biologist on a plane trip.  Surprisingly, it went well.  There are answers, some mysteries but not simplistic, pat “proofs”.
 
Interestingly, there was a church with which Dee was familiar that had a particularly arrogant pastor who claimed he could take care of  “Ehrman”.  He had read a few books, went to an SBC seminary, idolized Liberty University, and thought that made him “smart.”  Sadly, Ehrman “took care” of him, causing much discouragement among the Christian students at UNC-Chapel Hill.
 
Dee and her husband are old earth creationists, which means they believe that God created the heavens and earth and man specifically in His image; however, they believe that God's creative process stretched out over eons, not 6,000 years.  You might be interested to know that most Christian scientists are also old earth creationists.  Many Bible adhering Christians can agree to disagree over the age of the earth, but not this pastor!  He decided to lecture Dee and her husband on the “science of young earth creationism”, obviously refusing to believe that they understood his arguments and then some.  To emphasize that he knew what he was talking about, the pastor told them that he had “four degrees” (an associate's degree as well as Christian education and divinity degrees – none which could be considered "scientific").  Dee’s husband had won an award for his research from an internationally renowned medical organization, yet this pastor thought he was “much smarter”  This trait, unfortunately, demonstrates profound ignorance and is an example of the arrogance of some pastors.
 
Dee found out that Dr. John Lennox, eminent professor of mathematics at Oxford University and notable debater of his colleague Richard Dawkins, would be visiting the area and would lecture at said pastor’s church.  Dee e-mailed Dr. Lennox out of despair, asking him his thoughts on this sticky issue.  He promptly responded and alluded that young earth creationism is causing great harm to the witness of the faith in Europe.  Most European Christians, including Dr. Lennox, are old earth creationists.  Dr. Lennox concluded by saying that they (young earth creationists) are more interested in proving that the earth is young than in witnessing about Jesus Christ.
 
Dee exchanged a few more e-mails with Dr. Lennox and explained to him how she had dialogued with atheists on a blog called "exChristian.net".  She also stressed that she had some ideas about how to approach this issue because of these fascinating discussions with those who do not share her faith.  Dr. Lennox invited her to join the Fixed Point Foundation, which is dedicated to answering the assertions of the atheists.  Tomorrow we will share more about Dr. Lennox and some other well-known Christian debaters.
 
Today, however, we would like to introduce you to this foundation.  When Dee was "on assignment" last week, she visited the "Latimer House" in Birmingham, Alabama, which houses the Fixed Point Foundation.  Yes, that is her hand holding the sign outside the Latimer House.  The rest of this post is taken directly from their website.
 
www.fixed-point.org

Why focus on this group?  Because they are making impressive strides in engaging vitriolic proponents of atheism with pizzazz!
 
What is their purpose?  “Fixed Point Foundation is committed to publicly defending Christianity through education, events, and the development of innovative resources that empower Christians and challenge skeptics.”
 
Why do they do this?  “That we have gradually lost sight of our Christian heritage is obvious even to the casual observer. In recent decades, however, we have witnessed aggressive efforts to demolish it systematically. Complicating matters is the fact that many Christians have imbibed any number of erroneous assumptions concerning their own faith, such as: Christianity lacks intellectual credibility; the Bible contradicts science; sincerity matters more than truth; Christian ethics cannot cope with the complexities of modern life; Jesus Christ is a way rather than the way; “diversity” is a value and “tolerance” means anything goes; and the list goes on.
 
Yet the mandate is clear. Jesus said, “And you shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart and with all of your soul and with all of your mind and with all of your strength.” (Mark 12:30) Unfortunately, many in the Church have ceased to love God with their minds. As a consequence, a substantive public Christian response to these trends has been absent to such a degree that one major newspaper asked pointedly, “Won’t anyone stand up for God?”
 
How?  They sponsor debates at Oxford, UAB, UNC-Chapel Hill, and other venues. These debates utilize respected scientists and pundits such as Dr. John Lennox and Dinesh D’Souza. Tomorrow we will introduce you to these folks in depth. The Wartburg Watch attended a debate at UNC-Chapel Hill between Dinesh D’Souza and Bart Ehrman who we will review next week.
 
You may wonder how the atheists receive them. Read the following quotes from two of the Four Horsemen who have debated their representatives:
 
“Fixed Point has an honesty, and an integrity that belies its Christian heritage.”  Richard Dawkins, atheist and scientist, Oxford University
 
“Seeking vainly to be still center in a turning world, Fixed Point nonetheless succeeds in upholding a very high standard of fairness and care in the presentation of issues.”  Christopher Hitchens, atheist, journalist and bestselling author.
 
 
What is the Latimer House?  Dee had the pleasure of visiting this venue and meeting one of their staff, Ben Halbrooks.  They describe this lovely office as follows:

“In a politically correct world, thoughtful, civil discourse has been largely suppressed, while Christianity is relegated to the cultural backwaters. Just as the Greek agora or the old town square served as places of dialogue, Latimer House is a unique initiative to bridge this conversational gap between Christianity and secular culture. Named for the sixteenth century English Reformer and martyr, Hugh Latimer, it presently hosts a number of Bible studies, discussion groups, luncheons, lectures, and a variety of other Fixed Point events. It also serves as our office”.
 
Dinesh D’Souza said of this ministry:  “ Most of what is counted as ‘apologetics’ is stuck in the Christian subculture. What makes Fixed Point unique is that they have managed to break free from a traditional model and take a confident Christianity into the world.”
 
The Fixed Point Foundation has adopted 1 Peter 3:15 as their motto in debate, which is as follows:.
But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.” (NIV)
 
They emphasize “gentleness and respect.”  We will be discussing how some Christians have engaged nonbelievers on exChristians.net.  Unfortunately, many posters are insulting and condescending, etc.  They give a bad name to the faith and make us cringe.  Remember the song "You Give Love a Bad Name"?  We will be discussing this in depth in subsequent posts.
 
Let’s get back to the pastor we mentioned in the beginning.  Utilizing ill-researched material combined with arrogance — “I(said pastor) am a whole lot smarter than these guys — pastor X blew it big time!  Thanks be to God for thoughtful Christians who are ready to meet these “Four Horsemen and the Yipping Chihuahua” (of course we're using sarcasm, but they're the ones who are calling themselves the “horsemen” and the “brights” on their own turf).  Just for clarification, Carl Sagan was a member of the Four Horsemen until he went to meet his creator.  Daniel Dennet took his place.
 
These are new days and new atheists.  They don’t respect the faith.  In fact, Sam Harris, one of the four, said he believes that teaching kids about Christianity is akin to child abuse.  He then goes on to say, “If the city of New York were suddenly replaced by a ball of fire, some significant percentage of the American population would see … the return of Christ. … The fact that nearly half of the American population apparently believes this, purely on the basis of religious dogma, should be considered a moral and intellectual emergency.”

 http://www.samharris.org/site/full_text/the-dna-of-religious-faith/

We Christians must be willing to meet the challenges of this New Atheism.  We hope this series will be enlightening to our thoughtful readers.