As I was driving to work today, I went passed a church that has one of those message boards that churches seem to like to have these days. Every time I drive passed this church (which is twice a day), I wonder about the impact of these signs on people. Sometimes the messages make me groan, other times I chuckle, and sometimes I do a bit of both at the same time.
Today's message was, "April 1st - National Atheist's Day." There is a bit of an urban legend behind this - that a Florida court set aside April 1 as "National Atheist's Day" after a lawyer argued that there was no religious holiday for athiests. But it never actually happened as far as anyone can tell. The connection being made is between atheism and foolishness (obviously), and is probably inspired by the Bible verse in Psalm 14, "The fool says in his heart - there is no God". If that is the case, then it is not really a fair cop. The Hebrew word used in the Psalm for fool means someone who is morally deficient, not someone who isn't smart or "just doesn't get it". The Psalm goes on to highlight the sins of these particular people as "corruption", "frustrating the plans of the poor" and "devouring people like men eat bread" (Wow - powerful poetry). These are baaaad people...
I have a great neighbour who told me once that he'd love to believe in God but the suffering he sees in the world holds him back from taking steps toward that belief. Hardly seems like foolishness to me. I have wondered about this many times myself. As a 16 year old Christian young man, I went to India on a 6 week trip with a Christian volleyball team, and came back with my own faith in God in tatters as a result of my first-hand experience with poverty and its effects on people. God had some questions to answer as far as I was concerned - if he even existed at all... People often have some pretty good reasons for why they don't believe in God and I'm not sure that we help to change their minds by poking fun at them from signs. I find that the talks with my neighbour help both of us to develop our beliefs. It seems to me that when God wanted to do his most important restorative work among us, he didn't erect a sign with a witty message on it, he moved into the neighbourhood, became one of us and got involved in our lives.
Anyway, foolishness is in the eye of the beholder. I have just started reading Richard Dawkins' "The God Delusion". Dawkins is a well known atheist who thinks that belief in God is irrational and harmful. He would consider those of us who have a belief in God to be the fools and would set aside April 1 for people like me and call it "National Believer's Day" or something like that. But that is okay... There is another verse in the Bible that I like that refers to us fools who believe in God. It is found in 1 Corinthians 1 ("The Message" Bible) and says:
Take a good look, friends, at who you were when you got called into this life. I don't see many of "the brightest and the best" among you, not many influential, not many from high-society families. Isn't it obvious that God deliberately chose men and women that the culture overlooks and exploits and abuses, chose these "nobodies" to expose the hollow pretensions of the "somebodies"? That makes it quite clear that none of you can get by with blowing your own horn before God. Everything that we have—right thinking and right living, a clean slate and a fresh start—comes from God by way of Jesus Christ. That's why we have the saying, "If you're going to blow a horn, blow a trumpet for God.".
So, I'll see you on April 1st - a day for all of us fools to celebrate not what know, but who we know.
Shalom...
(for an intersting video on Dawkins and atheism from CPX, click on the God Delusion image above)
Today's message was, "April 1st - National Atheist's Day." There is a bit of an urban legend behind this - that a Florida court set aside April 1 as "National Atheist's Day" after a lawyer argued that there was no religious holiday for athiests. But it never actually happened as far as anyone can tell. The connection being made is between atheism and foolishness (obviously), and is probably inspired by the Bible verse in Psalm 14, "The fool says in his heart - there is no God". If that is the case, then it is not really a fair cop. The Hebrew word used in the Psalm for fool means someone who is morally deficient, not someone who isn't smart or "just doesn't get it". The Psalm goes on to highlight the sins of these particular people as "corruption", "frustrating the plans of the poor" and "devouring people like men eat bread" (Wow - powerful poetry). These are baaaad people...I have a great neighbour who told me once that he'd love to believe in God but the suffering he sees in the world holds him back from taking steps toward that belief. Hardly seems like foolishness to me. I have wondered about this many times myself. As a 16 year old Christian young man, I went to India on a 6 week trip with a Christian volleyball team, and came back with my own faith in God in tatters as a result of my first-hand experience with poverty and its effects on people. God had some questions to answer as far as I was concerned - if he even existed at all... People often have some pretty good reasons for why they don't believe in God and I'm not sure that we help to change their minds by poking fun at them from signs. I find that the talks with my neighbour help both of us to develop our beliefs. It seems to me that when God wanted to do his most important restorative work among us, he didn't erect a sign with a witty message on it, he moved into the neighbourhood, became one of us and got involved in our lives.
Anyway, foolishness is in the eye of the beholder. I have just started reading Richard Dawkins' "The God Delusion". Dawkins is a well known atheist who thinks that belief in God is irrational and harmful. He would consider those of us who have a belief in God to be the fools and would set aside April 1 for people like me and call it "National Believer's Day" or something like that. But that is okay... There is another verse in the Bible that I like that refers to us fools who believe in God. It is found in 1 Corinthians 1 ("The Message" Bible) and says:Take a good look, friends, at who you were when you got called into this life. I don't see many of "the brightest and the best" among you, not many influential, not many from high-society families. Isn't it obvious that God deliberately chose men and women that the culture overlooks and exploits and abuses, chose these "nobodies" to expose the hollow pretensions of the "somebodies"? That makes it quite clear that none of you can get by with blowing your own horn before God. Everything that we have—right thinking and right living, a clean slate and a fresh start—comes from God by way of Jesus Christ. That's why we have the saying, "If you're going to blow a horn, blow a trumpet for God.".
So, I'll see you on April 1st - a day for all of us fools to celebrate not what know, but who we know.
Shalom...
(for an intersting video on Dawkins and atheism from CPX, click on the God Delusion image above)
Ha. I drive past that same sign too! It pretty much always makes me cringe, just because it's exactly the wrong way for Christians to communicate anything spiritual.
ReplyDeleteCommunicating without relationship = loss of respect. Not that we had much of that to start off with.
You can't speak, even if it's truth, if there's no love involved. That just breaks relationships.