An Open Letter to My Atheist Friends

I’m flattered (I think) that I am the impetus behind many of your commentaries. However, I am hardly in the mainstream of Christianity. I am a Bible believer....which means I am an outcast from most congregations....be they Dispensational Baptist, Messianic Jewish, or anything in between. I am an ugly duckling looking for the swan pond and not finding it. I splash around in pools of water here and there until rejected...and move on down the road.

I sat alone because of the mockers.....(Jeremiah 15)

I do not wish to be abused at the atheist blog or publicize the site with its evangelistically zealous atheist blogroll. Those who are interested in atheism can get there without my assistance. I consider atheism as repugnant as pornography and profanity. I feel defiled every time I go to your site, but am compelled to keep a watch on my special friend and continue to pray for his return to the faith once delivered to him. Faith is a gift. Once given, it can be stifled, smothered, but can it ever be lost? Can a believer become an unbeliever? We shall see. Is there any truth to unconditional eternal security? What role does free will play? Is Calvinism correct? Arminianism? Or are there nuances of truth in many doctrinal persuasions, yet we see through a glass darkly. The power of paradox....there is something to this concept that I continue to investigate.

I will answer some of the topics and questions raised at your blog here on my own blog. Some statements provoke me to respond, but the scorn and ridicule dissuade me from answering in “enemy territory.” I take comfort in realizing that my LORD and Saviour Jesus Christ was treated scornfully as well (Matt 26, 27). He did not like it any better than I do, despising the shame (Hebrews 12:2) yet He endured it. (Now I will probably be accused of comparing myself to Yeshua and the Biblical prophets of old. No...just inspired and encouraged by them.)

By the way, the Catholic use of a crucifix is just another way to continually shame Jesus. It is blasphemous. He is no longer on the cross. He is risen indeed. I thought Josh McDowell’s “Lord, Liar, or Lunatic” treatise would have settled the issue years ago. But each generation chooses to find some reason not to believe the evidence that demands a verdict. It is a heart condition more than honest skepticism in my view.

How I wish my dearest friend would utilize his gifted energies in positive pursuit of Biblical knowledge, rather than railing on perceived difficulties. Maybe somewhat along the lines of what Steven A. is doing with his specialized gifts. (See sidebar link for his running commentary on Psalm 12 for an example of delighting in the defense of God’s Word). Or as Dan G. has done in his many years of research on Biblical Chronology.... and who is now engaged in learning more math and physics in order to refute the popular but erroneous cosmology of our day that dissident secular scientists are finding fatally flawed. Interesting....the Big Bang might be bunk!


One of the mockers had this to say:

I guess I must have a secret wish that there is a god so that I could argue with him after I die: "how does someone in Your position make me a skeptic, leave no evidence of Your existence, and then make blind faith the highest virtue? The deck was stacked against me." I guess that's what I'd say, right before I got tossed into the inferno.

Are you serious? If so, you are quite uninformed about the salvation message and the true Gospel of the Kingdom in spite of your seminary training.....or possibly because of your seminary training. They do not call Seminaries cemeteries for nought. Whited sepulchres in the KJV vernacular. How interesting that the other of you would wish to become a professor of religion. Join the faculty....of unbelievers who teach theology and religion in colleges, universities, and seminaries! Is it any wonder impressionable young people lose their faith in college? And nowadays they lose their faith in elementary school as well...with atheists as their teachers. These things ought not so to be. But we are living in the prophesied Last Days...a day of darkness and not light. The Great Falling Away is upon us (2 Thess. 2:3).

“Why does God hate ham?” one of you asks. God gives us his dietary laws for our good, for our health, for instilling the concept of separation from that which defiles body and spirit. Watch a pig and let it teach its metaphoric lessons. All of nature has object lessons to teach us. Read a book called God’s Key to Health and Happiness by Elmer Josephson and you will never want to eat pork again. But man has a better idea than his Creator. He will eat whatever he wants and then blame God for sickness and disease. Why not enjoy a ferret sandwich? Or rat stew?

On another subject you brought up, maybe we are indeed supposed to use all of our faculties in deciding what to do about abortion, etc.....and if we are born again, we have the Spirit of God to guide us. We will give account at the Judgment Seat of Christ for our decisions and how we made them. Will your answer stand in the Judgment? Maybe the Bible is purposely a bit ambiguous sometimes just for the very reason that we are to carefully read and apply the principles to our lives, in each and every generation, no matter where we live (e.g. sabbath-keeping in Alaska). Consider the concubine story.... and give your opinion. (Judges 19:30). Why did this story even make it into the Bible? Perhaps to give an example of why ANY passage is in the Bible. To cause us to think, reflect, pray, and consider doing that which is right in God’s eyes to the best of our understanding and ability. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness (2 Tim. 3:16).

Like story problems in a math textbook, we are to take Biblical stories and apply them to various situations. Blended with Biblical wisdom, this leads to Biblical morality in varying circumstances of life. This is why the Bible reader generally comes away with a higher morality than those who have not imbibed such wisdom. It has nothing to do with macrocosmic materiality or memes. It has to do with memorizing God’s Word, hiding it in the heart where it permeates the mind and the life of the believer (and possibly continues to influence the reluctant atheist).

Many men are suffering the loss of children to abortion mills. They have no rights when their girlfriends or wives make such decisions. I read yesterday of a live birth at an abortion clinic before the doctor arrived for the procedure. The baby’s cord was cut but not clamped, and the viable, breathing infant was left to bleed to death in a garbage bag. This is the fruit of Darwinian ethics in my opinion.

I think the Bible is very clear in teaching that abortion is murder. It all depends on what you think is residing in the womb. Is it a fetus or a baby? Is it an animal, or human life, fearfully and wonderfully made, with purpose and destiny? The Bible gives us examples of horrible child sacrifice (Molech worship) and decrees of infant murder. What is the difference in or out of the sacred space called the womb? The passage in Exodus 21 is clear as a bell in the KJV. “If any harm follows” refers to the baby that is born prematurely because of the injury to the woman. If the baby is okay, a fine is imposed. If harm comes to the infant, or death, appropriate punishment is meted out equal to the crime. That is what “eye for an eye” metaphorically means. Our country’s laws were based on Biblical laws of appropriate punishment for the crime, although we have strayed from our original laws and coddle the criminal in our day. Application of Biblical law can take various forms and still be in harmony with the spirit of the law.

I am encouraged that you seem to be still reading through the Bible. I would recommend that you also read the Bible Pathway commentary each day for a springboard for your blog commentaries. I do not always agree with John Hash, but his views are as close to mine as I have found in all these years. So argue with him as your representative Christian. He makes some excellent points of application of God’s Word. He is a faithful man of God who studies the Bible in depth with great reverence and appreciation. Maybe it will influence you....and provide an antidote for the poisonous puddle you are currently wallowing in (consider 2 Peter 2:22). If any of you would like a printed copy of Bible Pathway mailed to you each month, send me an address by email. This offer extends to anyone else who may be reading this blog.

Postscript: If you want to retain readers/commentary at your blog, you may want to disallow referring to them as “typical ignorant Christians who do not think for themselves.” You may also want to suggest that contributors refrain from using the f word and other obscenities. And you wonder why participation has dropped off and you have failed to garner an audience? When those of opposing viewpoints are not accorded respectful consideration, they will go elsewhere for online fellowship.

I would welcome and honor any sincere attempts at reconciliation.

Shalom,

Tandi