And Other Thoughts

A Cause to Blog

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

God Haters and Haters for God

I’ve been watching a lot things going on in the world that are so incredibly ridiculous, particularly concerning the atheist groups. They are fighting such enormous, costly fights to tear down Christianity…and no other religious group.



Here’s just a sample of things they are fighting in our court systems, wasting YOUR tax dollars:
  • elimination of white crosses on the side of roads or highways where someone was killed in an accident
  • demanding that the metal “cross” that was left standing from the World Trade Center not be a part of the 9/11 Memorial Museum
  • making it so children can be suspended from school for praying anywhere on school grounds
  • forcing rural neighborhoods to remove pro-life billboards, and in place display pro-choice, anti-Christian billboards
  • trying to prevent city funding for a pre-school being built at an old church

When you see these types of things, it makes you wonder why anyone who doesn’t “believe” in God would go to such lengths to stop Him, doesn’t it?

Let’s break it down in simple truths: an atheist is defined as someone who doesn’t believe there is a God at all; while an agnostic is someone who feels there just isn’t enough evidence to support or not support God.

Now if it were me, as an atheist, why would I feel so offended by crosses, prayer, or billboards? I mean, truly, if I believe God isn’t real, then why am I so obsessed with Him and what His believers are doing? I don’t believe in atheism, but I don’t run around and demand every single thing in the world that DOESN’T pertain to God be taken off the air, taken out of the schools, or taken anywhere out of the site of the rest of the world.

See, the world already abides to an atheist world. Everything on TV, on the radio, in the news, in our schools, along the road…they have nothing to do with God or Jesus. In fact, watch a Joyce Meyer or Joel Osteen broadcast on a local television station. The first thing you will see is an announcement that the channel will not be held responsible for the content of the show, nor do they “agree” with the content. Every time I see it, I can’t help but laugh. These shows encourage people, give people hope, and provide practical life applications to be a better person. They share joy, love and peace. Isn’t that what the “secular” world claims they want? Isn’t that what they scream and yell for all the time? Yet when they see it, or hear it, they want NOTHING to do with it! They run from it. They fight it. They denounce it.

On the other hand, when these TV stations broadcast shows with brutality, sex, homosexual relationships, murder, blood and gore, no one is giving you a warning before hand that the station disagrees with its content. You’ll receive no notice whatsoever that they won’t be held responsible if your children are watching and could pick up on these destructive behaviors. But we should be “warned” about God’s love. Ohhh, scary!

With that being said, I firmly believe that atheists are believers in God, they just hate Him. Their behaviors indicate nothing less than that. They are not anti-Muslim. In fact, the atheists are the first ones outside with  picket signs in FAVOR of a mosque being built near the site of 9/11, yelling, “Freedom of religion! Freedom of religion!” Come on, you gotta laugh at these jokesters.

They will fight for any other religious right but the rights of Christians. Those are the ones they will fight against. Why? Because there is POWER in Christ! They fear the absolute power of Jesus. They don’t need to fear dead gods, they have no power. And they surely don’t fear the extremists, because in their eyes if they kill thousands of people, that’s okay, because at least they’re not spreading the gospel and giving people hope of eternal salvation and happiness.

These are the people who are taking your religious freedoms away. God haters. Lovers of false gods, and haters of anything that offers hope. Anything good, they hate. Anything hopeful, they see as destructive. Anything pure, they see as tainted. And as you can see from my list above, they are not going to back down. And they don’t need to, because the world listens to that. The media buys it. The media coddles it. The media abides by it, too.

Now I’m not saying that there aren’t many Christian nut jobs out there that make atheists look like Candy Stripers, because there are plenty of those, too. They are the ones who denounce Mormons as Christians, or say Baptists are going to hell, or Catholics worship Satan. The bad part about these people is that they are fighting their own brothers and sisters. They are coming against their own people.

When I lived down South, I started a lunchtime Christian bible group at my job. I asked anyone who believed in Jesus to join us. We had Baptists, Evangelicals, Presbyterians, and a Lutheran. One day, after our group met, a woman from my church said, “It’s just too bad most of them are so misguided. We really need to get them to come to our church.”

When I first got saved, I thought anyone of any particular “religious” label, specifically Catholic, was going straight to hell and they needed to be warned and saved. My grandfather was a practicing Catholic his whole life. After I got saved, I came to see my grandfather and told Him about Jesus—as if he didn’t already know. I was utterly convinced he was going to hell. And then one night as I was out in the living room, sitting in the chair praying, I was able to see into my grandfather’s bedroom. What I saw changed my life.

My very old, stroke-stricken grandfather was on his (bad, aching, nearly paralyzed) knees praying. He did it first thing in the morning, after lunch, and before bed. I realized that my grandfather was more faithful in prayer than I was—the born again Christian.

He used to tell me all the time how much he prayed for me and my son. I thought with him being a Catholic, those prayers were being sent to deaf ears. That faith, that style of believing and worshipping isn’t my cup of tea. But that surely doesn’t make it Satanic or sinful. They practice things differently. Maybe not even entirely scripturally, but if their foundation is set on Christ, then I have no right to say they are wrong and I’m right. Mormons, too, believe in Christ. Everyone thinks they worship Joseph Smith, but they believe he was a prophet, not Christ Himself. Do they practice rituals and sermons I don’t agree with? Absolutely! But I don’t think they are any less believers in Christ because of it. Some religions are misguided in their practice, or rules and regulations. But ask them who their Savior is, and they will proudly tell you, “Jesus!”

We, as Christians, need to get over ourselves, too. We need to let God deal with people, otherwise, we end up looking just as ignorant as atheists. Instead of being a God Hater, we end up being a Hater for God. You are not right. They are not right. But God is! And my relationship with God is not the same as yours. God calls me to worship with my hands high in the air, but God may ask you to be reverent and solemn. God asks me to speak out loud to Him as if He’s in the room, but He may ask you to quietly tell Him your needs from your heart. God may ask me to give $20 to an organization, but He may ask you to give $100. He knows our individual needs. But He also demands that we love others, even those who don’t do what you do. If you don’t believe the same way as someone, respect them and move on. I don’t believe in Muhammad, but I’m not going to scream and yell at Muslims at how misguided they are. I will pray for them instead.

We shouldn’t rebuke someone based on their faith, but rather their sin, if obviously unscriptural (adultery, abuse, drinking excessively, etc.). The religion or religious rituals they practice aren’t sinful. The way I worship may seem to others as cultish. I know many of my family members thought I got brainwashed into a cult when I got saved, because the world doesn’t understand it. Non-believers will never understand our passion for Jesus and the pure joy we receive from His grace and mercy. They will think we are ridiculous, until the day comes when they, too, receive His forgiveness and salvation. Then it will all make sense. Then they, too, will shout from the rooftops and endlessly rejoice in Him.

We need to find a middle ground where we can all live together. Where I can openly express my faith, and the atheists can openly express theirs. We don’t need to fight each other…unless we do.

When we find ourselves victims of censorship based on Christ, we need to stand up and stand against it. We need to tell the world that we are not going to be silenced just because it doesn’t fit into their agenda of sin and hate. Jesus stood up to the Pharisees. He called them out, and so should we.

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