Can women be pastors ? No.

Lately, I've been dealing with this question more and more and I finally decided to address this topic once and for all. I do understand that this topic is NOT an Atheist topic but rather one within our own church, and with this blog being geared more towards refuting atheism, why would I bother to address this topic ? Because it's a HEAVILY debated topic and one that causes more division than most things in the church. Below is an article written by a Pastor of a church who affirms the position that women can be pastors. I am not writing this article to shun him or act as if I am smarter than him. I am writing this article first off because I love his church, I love him, and I want him to know and understand the scriptures better. With that being said, I've gone through the article and I've address some of the points made therein. My rebuttals are in red. Enjoy.

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In 1 Timothy 2:12, Paul says, “I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent.” That pretty much sums it up doesn’t it? Women can’t be pastors, right? Wrong… Whether or not you’ve read the whole Bible, you know it’s a very, very long book. This very long story has a lot to say about this issue. In order to understand this passage, we must understand more of the book.

Let us begin in Genesis.

When Adam and Eve rejected God’s leadership, they disconnected themselves from the source of all that is good. When anyone is disconnected from God, bad things happen. There are consequences. In Genesis 3, God lays out some of things that would happen, now that they had disconnected themselves from Him. In Genesis 3:16, God said to Eve, “Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” Keep in mind, this is not the way things were supposed to be.

REBUTTAL #1: Whoa, stop right there ! Who said this is not the way things were supposed to be ? Granted it was after Eve sinned that God made that statement, BUT if that isn't how things were supposed to be, then HOW were they supposed to be ? Because if you look at the Created Order (a subject that referenced often throughout The New Testament you can clearly see that Adam was placed above Eve. Not in terms of value but in terms of responsibility. This is a doctrine called Federal Headship.(see Romans 5:12-14 ) long story short Sin did NOT enter the world through Eve, it entered the world through Adam. The problem with Genesis is that Eve TOOK the leadership position from Adam because Adam ALLOWED her to do (See Genesis 3:6). Adam should have been the leader and instructed Eve not to eat of the fruit. Because he did not, sin made the roles of husbands and wives more difficult. Note God called out ADAM first. God appointed Adam to be our representative, not Eve. When Adam sinned, the roles between husband and wife did not change. So for the writer to state "this is not the way things were supposed to be" I'd really like to know HOW things were supposed to be and from where they get their answer from. Moving on...

Now, we’ve seen this scenario played out over and over for centuries, haven’t we? Often, but not always, women place more emphasis on intimacy than they do authority. Often, but not always, women will sacrifice their leadership status, if it means they will be able to improve their relationships. Often, but not always, men value authority over relationship. Often, but not always, men will do things that will elevate their leadership status, even if it means they must hurt the ones they love.

After the fall, men were quick to lust after leadership. Not only did they want to lead, but worse yet, they didn’t even know how to. No one did. Not without God. Violence filled the earth. Please do not misunderstand me. I am not saying that women were better than men, or anything like that. Men and women are totally depraved without God. We are both equally evil. We are nothing without God.

When it came to leadership, look at the ways civilizations wanted to spread their fame and increase their territories, largely by wars propagated and fought by men. Sin caused human beings to totally misunderstand and misuse the concept of leadership. Men would try to get other men to follow them. But even if that didn’t work, at least they could tell the women what to do. Many times they’d use their physical strength and stature to “put women in their place.” These are just a few of the many pathetic results of human rebellion against God.

God had a plan to redeem and restore creation, even before people rejected Him. Eventually, Jesus (100% God, 100% human) would come to us, suffer the consequences of sin (death, separation from God), and defeat them by rising from the dead, destroying the power of sin. Creation is on it’s way to one day living perfectly under the leadership of God, back to the way things were supposed to be in Genesis 1 and 2. That being said, there are many specific commands in the Bible that directly teach us how to live, right here, right now. However, the Bible does not explicitly and directly tell us what to do in every single situation.

Think about the Old Testament. There are over 600 laws, commandments that say “do this… do that…” or “don’t do this… don’t do that…” That’s a lot of rules. You might think that God would have dealt with every form of moral evil under the sun in these 600+ laws. However, not one of those laws says anything against polygamy. After the fall, men started taking many wives. Interestingly enough, God hates polygamy, but He allowed it. Polygamy was immensely destructive to society. And God allowed it?

Among those 600+ laws, God said that kings should not take “many wives” (Deuteronomy 17:17). He allowed them to take multiple wives, but just not “many.” God doesn’t even define what “many” is. It’s like when God says, “Don’t get drunk.” Well how many drinks does it take to make someone drunk? One state says the acceptable driving BAC is this, one state says that. But they didn’t have BAC tests back then… What is drunk? God expects the hearts of men and women to seek His desires, and then they will know the answer. Can you hear what the Spirit is saying?

Some people may wonder, “Why doesn’t God just straight out say ‘No’ to polygamy like He does with so many other bad things?” Well, maybe we can ask God that when we get to heaven. For now, it is important to understand that this is how God chose to deal with this very destructive pattern, a pattern that resulted from the fall.

Let’s look at another example: divorce. God hates divorce, big time. However, in that list of 600+ laws, God permitted divorce. When Jesus walked the earth, He told people how much He couldn’t stand divorce. Some people asked him, then why did God allow it in the Law, through Moses? “Jesus replied, Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery” (Matthew 19:8-9).

Get this, God hates divorce, but He didn’t deal with the situation directly for thousands of years, because our hearts were too hard. Our hearts and minds were too jaded to understand this concept, so God dealt with it “indirectly.” People read the Bible, got divorced, engaged in polygamy… because they didn’t hear the Spirit of the text.

NOTE: A lot of this is filler that I'm not really going to address. I will later on but not in this article. I was planning on removing it and just focus on the main topic, BUT in order to maintain the proper representation of the writer's argument, I decided to let that section remain. The actual topic is dealt with below.

Back to our original statement, “Women can be pastors”. Understanding how God dealt with polygamy and divorce sheds light on the strategy that God has used to make it clear that women can be pastors.

REBUTTAL #2: Wait...God hates polygamy...He only allowed it because in those times when a woman did not have a husband, her family was basically screwed, therefore someone would marry them (even if they had their own wife) in order to support that family. This does not mean God favored it. God has 2 wills, a Decreeing Will and a Permissive Will. The Decreeing Will of God is like when God SPOKE the Universe into being, He said let there be light and there was light. God said it, it happened, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. A Permissive Will is when God makes a statement but that statement is able to be ignored. For example, God stated in The 10 Commandments that "Thou shall have no other Gods before me.". God could've easily said "You will worship me." and EVERYONE on Earth would've bowed down. But He did not. His Permissive Will, enables us to sin, but it does not mean God favors it. It simply means He allows us to do. Polygamy was not favorable thing to do even in that society but it was considered necessary, and that's why they did it. Divorce on the other hand, yes God hates it, however He gave us 2 incidences in which He'll allow it. (see Matt 19:9).

As the centuries progressed, God communicated that women can operate in the spiritual gifts in the same way that men can. God didn’t just “come out and say it,” like we wish He would have. He expects us to overcome our prejudices and allow our hearts to grasp what the Spirit is saying.

In Judges 4, we read about a woman named Deborah, a prophet. God made Deborah the Judge over the entire nation of Israel. Don’t go thinin’ “Judge Judy” or “Judge Joe Brown.” There was only one Judge of Israel, and this position does not compare to the modern day judge. This is a position that was even more powerful and influential than today’s American president. God choose her. God gave her the gifts to lead. God led Israel through her. This was totally against the grain of culture. If the Bible were written by humans, and not God, it would never have said that God chose Deborah to be the Judge of Israel. This was unacceptable.

REBUTTAL #3: WAIT ! Stop THE PRESSES ! I cannot tell you how many times I have heard Deborah used as a defense of Woman Pastors. Let's be 100% clear here. Deborah was a JUDGE ! A JUDGE ! Notice something, where are Judges found ? In court houses, not churches. Furthermore the title of Judge is not an ecclesiastic one, it's a social one. Therefore bringing Deborah up only defends the position that women can be social leaders (ie, Senators, Presidents, Governs, Judges, so on so forth) but it has nothing to do with Church titles. So Deborah is generally irrelevant to the topic at hand. Which is can women be pastors, Not can women be leaders.

Also in the Book of Judges, we read about a woman named Jael, and how God used her to kill a king who’s kingdom threatened the existence of Israel.

REBUTTAL #4: Okay...women can be warriors too...but still not on topic.

In the Gospels, we discover the very first people to preach the resurrection of Jesus. You might guess it was Peter and John, right? Wrong. It was a group of women. God revealed the resurrection to women first. You may not think this is a big deal. Get this… In the first century, in the eyes of their society, this kind of testimony would have been worthless on the tongues of women. If the Bible were merely authored by humans, it would never have said that women were the first ones to understand and spread the message of the resurrection. This would have been incredibly distasteful, and made the movement look like some kind of cosmic joke! However, this is how God chose to use the “weak” to shame the “wise.”

REBUTTAL #5: I like how the writer inserts the word "preach" into the article as if these women were in a pulpit. This is just my opinion but perhaps the women were the first ones to hear of Jesus' resurrection because...oh...I don't know, ALL THE MEN RAN FOR THE HILLS! Except for Peter who followed at a distance and then denied Christ. When Jesus was praying in the garden He came back and found His disciples sleeping. Also not in Luke 24:11-12, the women's testimony WAS considered foolishness UNTIL Peter went to go see for himself. Yes the women were the first to know BUT Peter was the man they needed to convince in order to have a solid testimony. So just because the women were the first to know of Jesus' resurrection still does not prove they can be pastors. It just proves that God can use anyone at anytime for His glory, even women who's testimonies weren't carried with much weight.

In Acts 18, we read about Priscilla, a leader in the church. Priscilla had a husband named Aquila. However, many times in the New Testament, Priscilla’s name is written first, before her husband’s. In the first century language of Koine Greek, this is making a huge statement. In a male dominant society, it was not “proper” to mention the wife before the husband, but this is how God wanted it written. We also learn that Priscilla and her husband both taught the Word of God to a highly educated man, Apollos. Priscilla instructed Apollos. She taught him the Bible. She taught him to be a very influential church leader. Wait a second… didn’t 1 Timothy say that women can’t teach men…? Oh my, oh my… Does the Bible contradict itself…? Absolutely not!

REBUTTAL #6: For starters, NOWHERE in The Bible does it say that Priscilla was a leader in the church, to imply such is an error. Also if you read Acts 18:24-26. Priscilla and her husband Aquila were just AT the church when Apollos was speaking. BUT, did Priscilla get up and say anything in the pulpit ? Did Aquila get up and say anything in a pulpit? No, what did they do ? Well if you read on, it'll say that Priscilla and Aquila invited Apollos to their home and taught him. Notice how she didn't do anything in the church. Furthermore in 1 Timothy 2:12-14 Paul is talking about how a woman should conduct themselves WITHIN the church. Therefore it is 100% A-OKAY for Priscilla to address Apollos and teach him at her home, but within the church, no. Also the authority which Paul is speaking about is not general authority such as a C.E.O has over the employees, this is the authority Adam has over Eve, notice that after this Paul point to the Created Order to support his point. Side note, look in your indexes, Priscilla's name only occurs in Acts 18 and 1 Cor 16:19 and neither verse makes any implication that she was a leader. Simply pointing out that her name was written before Aquila's name and it was a big no-no in that society does not imply pastorship and it is very faulty logic to think so.

In Acts chapter 21, we read about Philip’s four unmarried daughters. They were all prophets. That means these women prophets spoke God’s words. They said things like, “The LORD says this…” Then they delivered a message directly from God. How much more authoritative can speaking get? Doesn’t 1 Timothy say that women should be quiet? Oh no, another contradiction…? Not a chance!

REBUTTAL #7:Philip's 4 daughters were not in the church prophesying. They were at Philip's house. And yet again, just because they prophesied does not mean they can be pastors. And yet again Paul in 1 Tim 2:12-14 is discussing Church etiquette, which again his 4 daughters were not in during their prophesying.

In Romans 16, we read about a woman named Junia. Quite sadly, for a few centuries in the early beginnings of the church, some men could not accept Junia’s name being in the Bible, so they changed it to “Junias,” a man’s name. Why? Because the Greek text seems to communicate that Junia was an apostle. Apostles were pastors, on steroids! Apostles started and pastored many churches. Based on the way it is written in the most respected Greek manuscripts we have, we would be wise to accept that she was an apostle. Men in the first centuries sure believed she was an Apostle, which is why they changed the text. Eventually, people caught wind that God’s Word was being adulterated in Romans 16, and they put a stop to it.

REBUTTAL #8: I won't deny that the name Junia was changed to Junias, I'll need to do more research on that topic, HOWEVER. Romans 16:7 and Mark 6:30 are the only places in which Junia is mentioned. Also the word Apostle does not automatically translate to Pastor. Apostle simply means "messenger", it comes from the Greek word apostello. Junia was not one of the 12 called by Christ Himself but rather a missionary. The Bible makes no implication that Junia had similar authority as that equal to the 12. Therefore to imply such without visible reason is a faulty argument.

So what’s with the few texts in the New Testament that seem to say women can’t preach, teach, and/or lead men (1 Corinthians 14:34-38; 1 Timothy 2:8-3:7; Titus 1:5-9)? It’s important to remember that these verses come from letters written by Paul, and they are addressing specific situations that he is dealing with. In some cities, women were mature enough to lead, prophesy, and preach. In other cities, the women just weren’t ready for it.

In some churches, women were abusing their newly discovered liberty in Christ, and they were misusing the power of leadership. They wanted to get back at men for the centuries of injustice. They were trying to exercise authority over men. Remember the curse from the fall? The man will have “authority over” the woman? That being said, in some situations, Paul said “no” to women leadership, because their hearts were too hard.

REBUTTAL #9: They were letters yes, BUT Paul was addressing issues in THE CHURCH. As in The Church as a whole. Why else would these letters be distributed ? Paul was addressing a single church BUT all churches would benefit from these letters. And thus far from the examples given, The instructions in Paul's letters still stand.

Here’s a modern example. I was in Africa for nine months. I spent a lot of my time living in a mud hut, in a remote, Muslim village. One of my projects in the village was to help the people build a school for their children. Well, in order to build the school, we had to take out a bunch of massive palm trees. By the way, we had to do it with machetes and shovels? Not my idea of fun!

It would’ve been much easier for me to buy a few chainsaws and give them to the people to use. In fact, some of the people actually asked me to buy them. However, the community didn’t know how to use chainsaws. They didn’t grow up using powered equipment. If I would’ve dropped these things off, and then come back the next week, there might have been a few dozen body parts laying on the ground. Why? Are chainsaws bad? Of course not! But the people weren’t ready for them. So, it was better for me to say, “No to chainsaws.” In the right situation, if people were ready for them, I would say “yes.”

It was right for Paul to say, “No to women being pastors”, when the specific church he wrote to wasn’t ready for it. However, Paul affirmed women leadership in other situations, when the time was right. There are no contradictions whatsoever. We must understand the way Paul was communicating. Many people make this sound so complex, but it is actually quite simple, really…

Let’s look at one more example of how this works.

How about slavery? We know God hates slavery. Nevertheless, He reluctantly permitted it, because God worked with us on our levels. What about Paul? Well, he hated slavery too. However, do you remember all those passages where Paul talks about slaves “obeying their masters?” He even tells them to remain slaves, even though they had become disciples of Jesus. He said, “Don’t run away.” Why doesn’t Paul just outright overthrow slavery? Why doesn’t he just tell it like it is? Because, promoting the saving truth of the Gospel was the first priority, and he didn’t want to overshadow it. If a person understands who Jesus is… what He has accomplished through His life, death, and resurrection, then it should eventually be obvious that slavery is evil.

Let’s not forget, Paul did challenge slavery in the book of Philemon. A slave named Onesimus ran away from his master, Philemon, then he became a disciple of Jesus. Running away from your master was punishable by death, or at least some really severe torture. Paul told Philemon to let it go, and take Onesmius back as a brother in Christ, not a slave. Wow! This is huge! Paul didn’t say, “Hey Philemon, slavery is wrong! Let’s start up an abolitionist movement right now!” No, it should be obvious to anyone who follows Jesus that slavery is wrong. Period. If our hearts are in tune with the Spirit, it is obvious!

Well, it sure took a long time for American Christians to figure that one out… For hundreds of years, American Christians quoted the Bible. They said things like, “See, it says right here! You’re a slave. I’m your master. God says obey your slave masters! That’s just the way it is, and you better believe it, because the Bible says so!”

REBUTTAL #10: Slavery during Biblical times was not like slavery in 18th century America. There were only 3 reasons people became slaves during those times, as spoils of war, willingly, or they were purchased. Furthermore the slaves back in those times were similar to butlers (at least the willing ones) Furthermore, these slaves were not mistreated or shunned or anything like that. Slaves were people who worked for other people and sometimes, those slaves were paid for their work, not much granted but still. Even those slaves as war spoils were not generally mistreated.

But when we go back to Genesis 1 and 2, we learn that God never intended anything like this…

Back to our original statement, “Women can be pastors”. Of course they can, if they’re called by God. By the way, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28).

REBUTTAL #11: That Galatians verse is ALWAYS ripped out of context. That verse is NOT talking about gender. If you read the context, it is not discussing roles in the church but rather it is showing that all are grafted into the Promise of Abraham regardless of ethnicity, social class and gender. It is NOT saying that we are the same throughout. That would be silly considering that if our gender did not matter and we are all the same, the banning of homosexuality would make no sense. God is showing us that despite our differences we can still be in Christ. Because Christ is for The Jews and Greeks and the Men and The Women and The Slaves and The Free. For the context of Gal 3:28 (see Rom 10:12, 1 Cor 12:13, Eph 2:16, Col 3:11-18,)

God leads churches through the Holy Spirit, through leaders, through pastors. Being a pastor requires gifts, gifts that come from God, not men (1 Corinthians 12). God gives them to whoever He chooses. May we follow His leadership.

IN CONCLUSION: the writer of this article failed to make a valid point for women to be pastors and has made several assumptions to draw his conclusion. Rather than deal with verses that address the issue of pastorship clearly as Paul has laid out in 1 Tim 2:11-14, Titus 1:5-7, stating that The Elder is to be "THE HUSBAND OF ONE WIFE". A woman is unable to be a husband and therefore is exempt from being a Pastor or Elder within the church. Likewise Paul continually states "MAN" in each of these letters for the role of pastor or elder. Paul does not use unisex language or dance around the topic, Paul points clearly to the Created Order of Adam and Eve as well as The Federal Headship of Adam and Christ in order to prove that he is NOT catering to society but rather is going by the examples laid out before him. By using these verses which are on the topic, we can see that the answer to the topic: Can women be pastors is a resounding "No." I will invite the author of this article to discuss the topic further and I will pray for Him that Christ convicts his heart to embrace His word. And once again I will say I am NOT doing this to prove someone wrong, rather I am doing this to prove Christ's word. In 1 Peter 3:15, we are ordered to give a defense for the faith that is in us, and since the author of this article has laid out his position, I, in turn as a brother in Christ have laid out mine, NOT for the sake of being right or divisive but simply for the sake of The Body of Christ. I will follow the author's lead and say May we follow His Leadership. Peace in Christ all ! n_n;;

For Further reading:

http://www.carm.org/apologetics/women-ministry/should-women-be-pastors-and-elders

http://www.carm.org/apologetics/women-ministry/genesis-2-adam-and-eve-and-authority

http://www.carm.org/apologetics/women-ministry/adam-our-federal-head

http://www.carm.org/apologetics/women-ministry/was-junia-romans-167-female-apostle-authority

Fulfill The Law: Ugo Strange's Guide To Handling Atheist Arguments

You: Christians don't need to kill Homosexuals and everything else because we're no longer under The Law.

Atheist: You think so ?

You: Yeah, The Bible says so.

Atheist: Oh yeah, what about Matthew 5:17 ?

You:...Ummm...what's Matthew 5:17 ?

Atheist:"Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill." Your Bible and your Christ says that He did NOT destroy The Law ! So you Christians are still under the law. And since you're still under the law, why aren't you killing homosexuals ? Because if you don't, you're
not following The Law.

You: Ummmm.....0_o
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Has This happened to you ? Where you've been seemingly cornered into questioning your faith in God ? Well have no fear, I am here to debunk a common Atheist argument with simple logic. So hold on tight and enjoy the ride.

All too often I hear Atheists use this argument to try and prove that A) God is mean B) The Bible Contradicts it's self or C) Jesus isn't God. However when ANYONE goes against The Bible we automatically know they are WRONG ! But this argument seems to be kinda solid right ? Wrong! First of all, what does it mean to fulfill ? How does one Fulfill a Law ? By using wiktionary to look up the word fulfill I get several meanings which I'll post here:

to fulfill (third-person singular simple present fulfills, present participle fulfilling, simple past and past participle fulfilled)

1. (archaic) To fill up.

My lady is positively fulfilled of grace.

2. To satisfy, carry out, bring to completion (an obligation, a requirement, etc.).

You made a promise, son, and now you must fulfill it.

3. To emotionally or artistically satisfy; to develop one's gifts to the fullest.

This is the most fulfilling work I've ever done.

4. To obey, follow, comply with (a rule, requirement etc.).

Unfortunately, you don't fulfill the criteria for extra grants at the present time.

For Matthew 5:17, I'll be using the 2nd definition of Fulfill, which means to "carry out, to bring to completion, to satisfy.". Therefore we can re-read Matthew 5:17 as "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to bring it to completion.". But Ugo, how does Jesus complete the Law ? Well, The Bible says that Jesus was made UNDER THE LAW. So while Jesus was on Earth, He was following The Law 100% PERFECT. Why is that important Ugo ? I'm VERY glad you asked, you see in those times The Jews had laws to practice, by following these laws they could live Godly lives. They didn't do this very well...in fact NO ONE did. Therefore anyone who went in violation of those laws had to be put to death. Why did they have to die Ugo ? Because during the Old Testament, The Jews were living under a theocratic system (which is a system of Government ran by God). So basically God is Justice and God is Law. Now when God sent Jesus to the world He sent us THE PERFECT MAN, Jesus was THE LIVING WORD of God which ultimately makes Jesus THE WALKING LAW.

As Jesus was the living embodiment of God's Word/Law He was made to be the PERFECT sacrifice. Since Jesus kept the Law, The Law was fulfilled through Him, so when He died, The Law was finished with Him. The Law was NOT DESTROYED, it was completed. Ugo, That makes no sense ! Okay, let me explain differently.

You and I sign a contract. The Contract states that A Man named John will come to your house and clean your gutters. John will show up at 5pm on your porch, he will have red hair, a Linkin Park T-Shirt, Black pants, and Blue flip-flops. So you sign the contract.

The VERY next day, someone rings your door bell, you answer the door and you see a man standing there, with red hair, a Linkin Park T-Shirt, Black pants and Blue flip-flops. You would be able to clearly come to the conclusion that this man is John. So this man goes and cleans your gutters. When he finishes cleaning your gutters, he leaves and goes on about his business.

Now let's back up, the contract you and I had with each other involved John cleaning your gutters, SO, that contract was NOT DESTROYED, the contract was FULFILLED ! John did what the contract stated ! Once he DID what he was Contracted to do, you and I are NO LONGER bound by THAT CONTRACT, because John FINISHED IT ! John did NOT DESTROY the Contract HE FULFILLED IT !

This is how Matthew 5:17 works. The Law was our Contract between us and God, and Jesus FULFILLED that Contract ! Anyways, I hope you all understand this and I hope you all continue to pray about this and correct me if I'm wrong in some areas. Let me know. Peace in Christ n_n !

Also see: http://www.carm.org/bible-difficulties/matthew-mark/did-jesus-abolish-law-or-not

Thou Shall Not Kill: Ugo Strange's Guide to Handling Atheist Arguments

Atheist: The Bible says "Thou shall not kill" right ?

You: Right.

Atheist: Oh but God can kill ! He killed a whole world of innocent people didn't He ?

You: Well yeah, but He's God.

Atheist: Yeah but your God killed ! He went against His own word. Why is it right for God to kill ?

You: Ummmmm....Ummmm....

Atheist: Your God is a barbaric God, How can you worship a God who doesn't even follow his own rules ?

You: Ummmmm...0_0
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Has This happened to you ? Where you've been seemingly cornered into questioning your faith in God ? Well have no fear, I am here to debunk a common Atheist argument with simple logic. So hold on tight and enjoy the ride.

First of all, The Bible does NOT say "Thou shall not kill." That's right. It does not say that ! I'll give you some time to check....
Did you check ? Good, now you know. The Bible clearly says "Thou shall not commit murder !" Ugo...Kill and Murder are the same thing ! Well ain't that cute...BUT YOU'RE WRONG ! Kill is to simply take ones life...Murder is the UNLAWFUL taking of someone's life. That's something very important.

A Man breaks into your house and holds your family at gun point...now you have a knife in your hand and the Man DOES not see you and you kill him 0_0...Does that make you a murderer ?...NO ! You had no choice and you were defending your family. Oh but Ugo, Killing is wrong ! Yes, if you have a peaceful option then by all means take it, but if you're given no choice, Jesus does NOT want us to be push overs. Yes, He told us to turn the other cheek but that was ONLY for stupid things...things that should bother us to begin with, but He ALSO told us to BUY A SWORD, TO DEFEND OURSELVES !

Now...when God initiated the flood...was He MURDERING anyone ?...NO ! Ugo, how is that possible ? Because God is a judge, now Atheists cannot and WILL NOT acknowledge this part of God's character, so when they call all those who died in the flood innocent, they are making a grievous error. They are taking what is normal now and comparing it to back then and using that to argue. These "innocent" people maybe innocent by our standards...but back then, it was a Theocracy. For those of you who don't know what that means, it means it truly was one country UNDER GOD !...unlike ours....*coughs* >_>.....<_<...*coughs* Anyways...when you are in a Theocracy, that means GOD RUNS THE COUNTRY ! Therefore God's word is LAW ! If anyone goes against that word...guess what...THEY'RE BREAKING THE LAW !

Atheists can "Boo-Hoo !" all they want about how homosexuality shouldn't have been against God's word in the first place...the facts are facts and they can't change that. So when an Atheist calls someone innocent who God condemned to death...like the Canaanites and so on so forth...I suggest you reply "Innocent by who's standards ?". If it's by their own standards...then it doesn't matter because it's their opinion, and opinions are nothing to facts. So DO not let an Atheist define God or remove aspects of God's character. I'm Ugo Strange and you just go another lesson in handling Atheist Arguments, Hope this helped, Peace in Christ ! >^.^<

Atheist Life v.s. Religious Life: The Christian Side Of Things

Topic #1: Lying
If Nazi came to my House, and asked me if I were hiding Jews, I would LIE ! Yes, I know The Bible says "Thous Shall Not Lie !" and Yes, I do understand I'm breaking a commandment, and NO I would not feel bad about it. However, since I do have an obligation to my God, I would ask that He forgives me for lying. The problem with this scenario isn't the lie it's self, it's the reason for lying that is the problem. Sin is a VERY powerful thing, Sin causes evil..Evil in this scenario would be the random extermination of Jews. In this scenario, I have not caused the extermination of Jes, but I am effected by it's outcome, therefore given that reality, I would have to comport myself to the greater good, which is saving the lives of these people how have done no wrong to be exterminated. And the best human way I can do that is by lying. As a Christian, I do have an issue with lying, but in this scenario, I would and I will not be ashamed of it.


Topic #2: Outrage
This I find ridiculous, Christians can be outraged as well when a friend dies of a horrible disease as well. I was upset over Hurricane Katrina, I was upset over the Virgina Tech Shooting, even if I didn't know anyone there personally. From the way this video sounds he makes it seem as if we Christians simply just say "Oh well God did it.". No ! We do not. Yes, we believe God does have a plan for everything but we are not so complacent as to simply just say "God did it." and move on. Ask any Christian worth their salt and they will tell you if a natural disaster was occurring in their neighborhood, they would not just say "Oh well God's doing it.", I can tell you they would be out there trying to help as many people as they can. I feel that this video misrepresents us in a fashion that makes us seem as though since we believe that a God is in control, it allows us to become listless and complacent to the suffering around us, if anything we are MORE inclined to care and worry about the suffering around us. Furthermore, we as Christians are not opposed to science in regards to understanding the world around us, this is clearly a misrepresentation of our position. Furthermore the use of the word "magical plan" is absurd, Christians do not believe in Magic, and our God is NOT a Magical God. We are not fools who believe that there is NO reason to try and stop world disasters from happening because God is causing them. If a scientist found a way to stop hurricanes and tornadoes and so on, I would be very happy as would any Christian. This video tries to make us seem fatalistic in our ideas and that could not be any father from the truth.

The Car Accident Scenario only offers one side and make God out to be some jerk who has no idea what's He's doing and decides to kill someone for no reason. Everything that God does has a reason, and while it is our basic human nature to ask ourselves questions like "What it because I didn't pray enough ?" and so on forth, we need to understand that God does indeed have a reason and does know what He's doing. I would ask an atheist how they can take comfort in the random chance of such an accident occurring again. From a Christian perspective when an accident occurs, a message is usually attached to it, and it is not something to guilt you into God, but for an Atheist, all you have is a horrible accident and that's it. What did you learn ? What is the outcome, has it made you any better ? Most Christians leave from accidents feeling better in some respects, sometimes it takes a near death experience or the loss of a loved one for us to figure out certain things. That is something only God can show you.


Topic #3: Friends
Christians can be friends with anyone as well, barring criminals of course. As a Christian, I have Atheist friends, Gay Friends, Non-Christian Friends and so on so forth. In The Bible Jesus was friends with prostitutes and so on so forth. The Bible preaches a message of accepting Human beings simply because they were made in the image of God and that is an image to be respected. Christians to do chastise people for being unique, granted only the pious few do, but for people who are actually following true Christianity, does not go about town shaking their finger at someone because they dye their hair and pierce their ears. Christians can have friends who are gay as well, I have tons of gay friends and while I do not approve of what they do, I do accept them as human beings and I love them all the same. The maker of this video is rather foggy on the details of sin, While God did indeed make people as they are, sin has caused us to become defiant to God's design, this is why we have homosexuality and so on so forth. As a Christian, I will not deny my growing concern of Homosexuality, but I refuse to take on any hostile action against them. And that goes for Non-Christians as well. Jesus loved people and told them who He was and what His mission was, all those who listened, listened, and all those who didn't, didn't. As a Christian, I am already saved from the fires of Hell, therefore I do not fear Hell, I do fear for other people, but it is not my wish to scare people into believing God.I will not waste time preaching to those who don't wish to listen. As Christians the best we can is pray for them and hope that God will open their hearts to His word. Simple.

Topic #4: Raising Free Thinking Children
Seeing as how I don't have children I can't tell you what that would be like, but if one of my very close younger friends told me they were going to be an atheist, my response would be "Well, I don't want you to. But if that's what you're going to do, then I will pray for you to return to Christ." Simple as that. I will not force them back to my religion or anything. In my childhood, I studied other religions as well under no fear of having my mother shun me or anything. As I got older God laid it upon me to become a Christian and I did. My Mother did raise us in the Church but she did not close us off from anything else. When I was young I was a HUGE lover of Mythology, Greek and Egyptian, I loved it all ! And I would study it all non-stop. As I got older I discovered Paganism and so on so forth, and I studied them all. But I am still a Christian. I tend to give my children the same advantage to study other things as well and I will engage them in conversations about them as well. Of course I will promote the Christian perspective as an Atheist would promote the Atheist perspective if their child decided to become a Christian. Furthermore, I'd like to ask an Atheist if they have any evidence for religion...considering that fact that they are an atheist, one would come to the conclusion that they have found no evidence worth mentioning to begin with. Christians love their children regardless of their belief. If I told my mother I was an Atheist, that does not change the fact that she is still my mother and I am still her son. She will love me regardless, because that was God wants her to do and that is what ANY GOOD mother would and should do.


Topic #5: Good Deeds
Christians do not do good deeds to get into Heaven or to have God rewards us. The Bible makes it clear that there are NO good deeds we can do that will get us into Heaven. God simply tells us to respect His creation, Human Beings are His creation and we respect them by caring for His creation. Christians can give to charities as well. This video makes it sounds as if Christians don't wish to help anyone. Allow me to reveal something that occurred awhile ago for me, but my brother and I were recently scammed, sadly a few weeks ago by a contest that stated the prize was 1 million dollars. Aside from all the things I wanted to do with that money, I was planning on donating portion to charity and also to buy real estate so I can provide a place for the homeless. Not because it would please God granted God would not be angry with me for doing such a thing but I wished to do it simply because I would have the ability to make a difference, and I still feel that way. If I ever do come into such wealth I will still do these things. I go give of my own free will and it feels good. I am not hording my money or my belongings only to have God come along and say "GIVE BEFORE I KILL YOU !" God does not function that was and neither do Christians. This video makes it sound as if we are secretly selfish and are only being nice because God will kill us if we do not.

Topic #6: Forgiveness and Love
I fail to see how Christian forgiveness is different. God forgives us of our sins. God understands our limitations and faults and He still accepts us. God did not make a mistake in making you and therefore has a purpose of making you. He loves you and if He did not, He would not take the time to create you. In this respect I like to compare God to an Artist. I am an Artist so I'll use myself as an example. I do NOT like Vampires at ALL. I HATE THEM ! I think they are a waste of fiction. Considering my vast hatred for Vampires, would I create a Vampire character ? I would not. I do not love Vampires and therefore I do not bother with creating them.

As far as love goes, I am lucky enough to save that I have found love, and she knows who she is (>^.^<). And it is a one on one connection, but God is involved in it and fail to see how this a disadvantage. It is not as if when I tell Kim I love her, I have to say "I love you to God !" right after. It is not like God is jealous that I have love, so what is the disadvantage to having God involved in your love life ? And again this video refers to God as Magical. God is NOT magical. Furthermore God created the concept of marriage, Adam and Eve, The Father giving the bride to The Husband. Sound familiar !? God did indeed create guidelines to being married and those who follow those guidelines go on to have fulfilling marriages. Simply because they understand the order of how things are supposed to work. I am not saying that marriage is easy, by no means, but we as Christians do have a manual for making marriages work written by the creator of marriage, I would ask an atheist what guideline they have for theirs.

Topic #7: Science
Again with the "Magical being" God is NOT magic, stop saying He is. We as Christians do not fill gaps with JUST GOD. God is the beginning of all things, therefore we know that God put in place certain things that are not of our knowledge yet, but we can rest assured that the final solution will always boil down to God. Back in ancient times, the Greek attributed Thunder and Lightning to Zeus, as the years went on, we have established that thunder and lightning occur due to high and low pressure fronts and so on so forth, not some being crafting lightning blots to hurl at the ground. But we must ask ourselves how do these things occur. My answer is God set those things in motion. Science simply reveals to us how God set those things up. Science has revealed to us that H2O makes water, if There is 2HO..then it is not water, if it is H3O, it is not water. Only H2O maker Water. When Jesus turned water into wine that was not a magic trick, Jesus knows which molecule and which atom he has to tweak in order for water to become wine. He knows this simply because He made it, and if He did indeed make it, then He knows how to change it. Science is a wonderful tool and I fully accept Science. But in my mind there is a designer. Science is a tool NOT an answer. I for one LOVE science, and I can accept both worlds fully because they are NOT opposing to each other, regardless of what many believe. Science simply alludes to God's design. Therefore by science we can further understand the universe that God placed us in.

Topic #8: Sin
Sin is a real thing. Scientifically, I would like to ask an atheist the benefits of homosexuality, without appealing to emotions. Since, on a scientific level, emotions are merely chemical impulses in the brain. From a scientific level, homosexuality would be extremely difficult to defend. As Christians we have a reason why such things occur and it is called Sin. Sin as defined in The Bible is the opposition of God's word. God tells us not to murder, therefore it is a sin to murder, God tells us not to lie, therefore it is a sin to lie. However from an Atheist point of view, I would like to ask what reasoning do you have for not lying and or murdering ? Sure, I agree that these 2 things are bad, but what are your reasons ? Yes, I understand that murder is against the law, but let's say for instance that it wasn't a law and you could murder anyone you wanted. Would that still make it a bad thing ? As a Christians I would say yes, murder under any circumstances is wrong. Even if our country passed a bill saying that murder was now legal, I would not murder anyone. Because God tells us not to murder. Sin can only exist when God's word is compromised by us. God tells us a Man should not lie with a man as one does with a woman and vice versa, and when we do the opposite, it becomes sin. If you think about it, it really is quite simple. Furthermore God does not shakes his fist at kinky sex. The Bible does not tell you Missionary ONLY ! The Bible clearly states that the function of sex is to be shared between a husband who is a Man and Wife who is a Woman, HOW YOU DO IT IS NONE OF GOD'S CONCERN AS LONG AS IT DOES NOT INVOLVE OTHER PEOPLE ! Therefore hey, if you're into whips and chains, whipped creme on the belly button and so on, GO FOR IT ! Too many people believe that Christians are not sexual at all. Yes, we have sex, NO we're not ashamed to talk about it and NO we are NOT prudes. Sex is meant to be shared between a husband and wife, if it's not between those to then guess what...IT'S SIN ! Pure and simple. Furthermore God's word is NOT insanely hard to follow. Don't lie, Don't Murder anyone, Don't have sex before marriage (Oh, now I see the problem >_>). It's easy. For anyone who think that God is just this jerk with all these rules, I compel you to examine His rules yourself. Some of you are following them without even knowing them, but once you find out that it was a rule, you suddenly get angry and wish to break it. I haven't murdered anyone, I haven't had sex before marriage (not intent to either) and I do not feel like God is saying "DON'T HAVE SEX OR I'LL KILL YOU !" I can look at having sex before marriage and analyzing the consequences of that action, and I have seen too many people get screwed over for just a minute and thirty seconds with a hot chick.


Topic #9: Free Thought
Everyone has the power to think for themselves. Everyone has the power to study other things. I studied other things as well. That was my choice to do so. I have taken science classes in high school and I have found nothing in science that opposes my God. I haven't. Therefore science does not scare me. Christians have the ability to change their minds also. This is where we get the different denominations from, and by denominations I mean Protestant, Lutherans, and so on so forth, I do not mean Catholic, Jehova's Witnesses, Mormons and so on so forth, they are NOT Christians I can prove that in a separate article. Anyways, back to the topic at hand. Christians find the pursuit of truth a very worthy endeavor also. Christians do not have all the answers and never will we claim to, but we do know of someone who does, and we call Him God. To expand on this let me elaborate, when a I was hanging out with my friend and his little brother (who's 3 by the way) he kept asking a certain question, "Why does it rain ?" and I explained to him the scientific answer and taught him about high and low pressure fronts and what not, and yet again he asked "Why ?" I explained to him how the Earth's atmosphere works in accordance with the weather and so on so forth, and yet again he asked "Why ?", "Well..." I told him, all of this occurs because God is in charge of it all. This was not because it was not in my power to answer, I simply know that God does indeed create the circumstance for rain. Not through magic, but by ways we can test and see. I would NEVER tell anyone that God uses magic. The God I serve is a Scientific God and therefore reveals His power to us in a fashion that leaves us in awe and yet we are able to examine the very complexities of His work. I would NOT DARE say "God did it." and leave that as the only answer. As a person I find such an answer as "God did it." to be very unsatisfying and stupid and NO THIS IS NOT THE ANSWER THAT CHRISTIANS USE ! Like Atheists and EVERYONE else I am ALL for figure out this universe, but at the end of it all, I will still be saying "Wow, God knew what He was doing."

Topic #10: Excuses
I do not use God as an excuse. Furthermore I would not allow anyone else to use God as excuse to do something bad. The Spanish Inquisition was NOTORIOUS for using God to promote their murder. Now, if you were paying attention, The Bible tells us "Thou shall NOT commit murder." and these guys were murdering people, regardless of what they thought, they were murdering them, ergo, they were going against The Word of God and WERE NEVER working for Him in the first place. Have true Christians went on killing sprees in the name of God ? Regardless of what they say, if you're murdering people, then you are going against what God says. I do NOT excuse anyone who has a gun and kills someone and claims that their excuse was "God told me to do it.", because in my heart, I know they are wrong. The KKK was a supposedly "Christian" founded organization and they were all for killing Black People, as a part of their belief system. I do not excuse them for that, because I know that they are NOT Christians simply based on what they are doing. We has Christians and as Humans do take full on responsibility for our actions. Furthermore what atrocities have we as Christians committed to please God ? I already told you The Spanish Inquisition were not Christians, The KKK wasn't, neither were the Nazis. So where is it that TRUE Christians have committed atrocities ? There is NONE ! I cannot, nor will I speak in defense of any other religion, because I simply cannot. But in the confines of Christianity, those who adhere to God's word have not committed atrocities.

Topic #11: Original Sin
This is a lie, the prayer thing. The video makes it seem as those Christians simply pray and then do nothing. The process of prayer is no so simple. Pray involves 2 parts, Prayer and Action. As an Atheist, you would ask, Why not just skip to the action part ? Good question, and I will answer that as a Christian. We start off with Prayer and ask God to help aide in our decision making, and to help pave an easier way for our plan or whatever to work. We DO NOT look to God as some form of Geine figure who magically steps in a makes all the bad things go away. God is NOT a geine, and when we pray we are not asking Him for wishes, we are asking Him for help. After we are finished praying we then look for what God is telling us to do next. Example, if a college kids was out partying one night but realized he had a test in the morning that HE DID NOT STUDY FOR, but he was a fairly decent note taker. He could pray and ask God to help him calmly recall the information he needed to pass the test. So that night he gets home and he's beat from all the partying, he goes home, glances at his notes, but he tired and after the 2nd page of his notes, he's out. Test time comes and he's sitting in the chair nervous knowing he didn't study, he says a quick prayer again for help and guidance on the test, when he receives the test, he gives it a once over and realizes some of it he already knows, and as he starts to fill out the answers the other answers to the harder questions come back to him. This is not magic. This is God simply allowing this person to better recall the information he already knew. Now as an Atheist you're sitting there like, "NO ! It was his mind ! His own brain power ! Not God !". Yes, it was his brain power, it was his mind, but God made the answers more clear to him. As an Atheist you're probably like "That is so stupid !". Well that's the probably, you as Atheist expect God to be some form of magically deity and He is NOT, God will work with us in a very natural way sometimes. But make no mistake it is His doing.

Topic #12: Women
I have already handled the woman issues, but since he brought it up, I will expand on that. Many atheists who read The Bible complain about it being sexist. I find that ridiculous for many reasons. One of which is the comparison they make to our time. They need to understand that The Bible was written in a different time and a different place and to a different culture. When The Bible says that a wife must cover her head, The Bible is NOT speaking to all women, The Bible was written for men and women of that culture. We apply the meanings of The Bible to our culture today. When The Bible tells us that a woman must be submissive to her husband, it is NOT saying that a Husband can beat his wife and there isn't anything she can do about that. The Bible establishes that The MAN is supposed to lead the household, let me qualify this by saying a GOOD MAN ! Any woman who has a Good Man to lead them certainly would NOT mind being subordinate to him. Because if he is a good man, he will not treat you as a 2nd class citizen. I do not treat my girlfriend Kimmy as a second class citizen, I treat her with respect and care, because I care about her very much, Not because God tells me to, but because I love her, deeply. We live in a society today where men and women both are elevated to levels where they should not be, and given the break down of the family structure and single mothers, it is no mystery why women are becoming more and more independent of men, and this is because as men we need to understand that our place is to lead the family. God gave us that job. Not because He hates women, but because He made us to be leaders, He made us stronger than women for a reason and that is why. Men are the providers, men are the leaders, women are the care givers and nurturers, you can clearly see that is in women's nature to do so. It is in Men's nature to do so.

Topic #13: Media
I read comic books, I've studied Tarot Cards and The Occult, I listen to Disturbed, which I believe...wait...scratch that...KNOW is The single GREATEST ROCK BAND ON EARTH ! I play Mortal Kombat, I LOVE breaking people's necks in those games, it's fun. I LOVE "Pulp Fiction" especially the scene where they shoot Marvin in the face. That was funny. I draw, I've drawn grizzly murder scenes, I get very crazy with the red coloring pencil, I've drawn murders, I've drawn hookers, I've drawn killers, and nope, I don't feel like The Devil is out to get me on these topics. Because I am able to understand that what I'm reading, writing, studying or doing is FICTION and have no bounds in regards to my personal life. Therefore when I break a neck in Mortal Kombat,or drawn a person being stabbed to death, or watch a movie with a murder scene, I am not a murderer, I am not killing anyone and I have no intent to do so. These things are simply works of fiction and I treat them as such. God understands fiction and though He may not approve of the content, He does understand fiction.Therefore God will NOT KILL YOU IF YOU READ A COMIC BOOK or HARRY POTTER (although....there are MUCH better things to read than Harry Potter...but I digress)
and God is NOT GOING TO SEND YOU TO HELL BECAUSE YOU LIKE LED ZEPPLIN or JUDAS PRIEST!
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In conclusion, I'd like to say that an Atheist life only has benefits if you misrepresent God and The Christian Perspective. If the opposing side of the argument was able to be revealed, the whole thing would be stalemated. And it still is, seeing as how if and when an atheist reads this, I doubt they'll be very satisfied with my answers and I will not delude myself into thinking they will. I merely written this article as an opposition to the video. As an atheist, a lot of my answers are not on par with your thinking and therefore will be discredited and ignored, so I will accept the fact that I have not represented my side very well in your eyes. However for myself and hopefully others will agree that I have done a fairly decent job outlining The Christian Life Style. Thank you all for reading and Peace in Christ.

A Basic conversation with an Atheist...

Atheist: Man, Christians are stupid !

You: I’ll challenge you on that, what exactly do you find stupid ?

Atheist: The Bible is FULL of hypocritical B.S. !

You: Example, please.

Atheist: Okay, do you think it’s right for an All Loving God to KILL EVERYONE on Earth ?!

You: I think you’re referring to the Flood?

Atheist: Yes, that just shows you how stupid your God is, He said thou shall not Kill and yet He goes and disobey’s His own rules, some God you got there.

You: I’m sorry, you got that wrong, The Bible doesn’t say “Thou Shalt Not Kill”, that’s a common mistake. It says “Thous Shalt Not Commit Murder.”

Atheist: Same difference !

You: No, far from it. Kill simply means to put an end to one’s life, Murder is an unjust killing. You see the difference ?

Atheist: Yeah, but that doesn’t change the fact that your God KILLED BILLIONS of innocent people on Earth !

You: Whoa, easy there. Let’s take a real look at what’s going on. The Bible said that no one was righteous, so no one was innocent,
by God’s standards.

Atheist: That doesn’t make it right for Him to go killing everyone.

You: Actually, it does. If you break a law, there’s a punishment. So why can’t God work the same way ? I mean you understand it
State wise.

Atheist: I just don’t see how EVERYONE can break the law.

You: That’s what happens when people try and make their own moral code.

Atheist: And Christians are Better than Atheists because they have better Morals ?!

You: I didn’t say that. I did say that we have something we can base our actions on, you do not.

Atheist: Yes I do !

You: What ?

Atheist: Myself, I have a mind, I know what’s right and what’s wrong.

You: Oh really ? Care to test that ?

Atheist: Sure.

You: Okay, here’s an easy one. I think that everyone with Black Hair and Hazel eyes Is better than everyone else. So I’m gonna kill everyone who doesn’t
Have Black hair and hazel eyes. Why is that wrong ?

Atheist: Because you’re killing people, duh !

You: So my killing people is wrong ?

Atheist: Yes !

You: Prove it.

Atheist: You’re taking someone’s life, you can’t just up and do that.

You: Yeah, but you’re missing the point, you don’t have Black Hair and Hazel eyes, so why would I listen to you in the first place ?

Atheist: Now you’re just being stupid.

You: No I’m not, I’m working in the parameters I set up. I’m gonna kill everyone who doesn’t have Black Hair and Hazel eyes, because they’re better than everyone else.
Convince me they’re not.

Atheist: Well if you won’t listen to me, then you won’t listen to me. No point in arguing with you if you already think you’re better than me.

You: So you’re gonna let me kill everyone ?

Atheist: No.

You: Then convince me I’m wrong in what I believe to be true.

Atheist: Prove to me that people with Black Hair and Hazel eyes are better than me, then.

You: I don’t need to prove it, I believe it.

Atheist: Then if you can’t prove it, it’s false !

You: I don’t need to prove it, I believe it, and I can find a thousand other like minded people, then it won’t matter.

Atheist: So I can’t convince you. Regardless of what I say, you’re going to kill everyone either way. Why’d we do this stupid exercise in the first place ?

You: To show you that Mankind can’t define it’s own moral code. Would you like to know how I would’ve convinced me?

Atheist: Sure, why not.

You: I would’ve showed myself The Bible and said check this out, God made EVERYONE equal, no one is better than no one and I can prove that by showing you the creation story and how we all came to be, and then I’d would’ve shown me The Law, the Moral Code that God instilled upon us. Nowhere in that Law does it say that anyone is better than anyone. Anyone who breaks that Law would have to answer to God. So I can’t go around killing everyone who doesn’t have Black Hair and Hazel eyes simply because everyone else can have that same idea about me. It’s God’s equality that makes us equal, Not man’s.

Atheist: Yeah, that’s really cute. So you believe The Bible is real ? Like word for word, every bit of it is true ?

You: Yes I do.

Atheist: That means you’re a racist, and sexist and killer.

You: Oh really, explain please.

Atheist: In Levticius, you own Bible tells you that homosexuals must be stoned to death ! So why aren’t you out killing homosexuals ? You see you Christians wanna believe all the good stuff in The Bible but when it comes time to face that bad stuff you guys just wanna pick and choose which laws to follow. You’re all hypocrites!

You: No, and I can explain why. The Laws in Levticus were for the Israelites. They lived under a theocratic system, that’s a system of Government in which Religion runs the nation. Under the Levitical law, as long as the Israelites followed it they would be okay in the Eyes of God. If they broke the law there would be a punishment.

Atheist: That doesn’t explain why you don’t follow it today.

You: Yes it does, we’re no longer living under a theocratic system. When Jesus came down and died on the cross he fulfilled the Law,ergo the Law is no longer needed to keep us on track with God. Only Jesus can do that now. So people today, do not need the Law
We have Jesus.

Atheist: That’s another thing I don’t get. This Jesus guy. So this long haired, hippie shows up and does a bunch of magic tricks and dies becomes a zombie and everyone worships him, that retarded.

You: I’ll challenge that one to. What is it about Jesus that you find hard to believe.

Atheist: Everything ! Jesus wasn’t real.

You: If Jesus isn’t real then we’re all still going to Hell.

Atheist: Why ?

You: Because of sin.

Atheist: That so stupid, so just because one man screws up and eats an apple, we ALL gotta suffer for it. Yeah, your God is great alright.

You: Well, through one man sin entered the world and through one man sin left the world, that sounds pretty fair to me.

Atheist: Whatever.

You: Can I ask you a question ?

Atheist: Sure.

You: Under what circumstances would you believe in God ?

Atheist: If God himself came down here and told me to my face He was God and proved it to me.

You: What if I told you He already did ?

Atheist: Prove it.

You: The Bible. God comes down in the flesh and shows man that He is God.

Atheist: *pfffffft* The Bible is a bunch of made of stories written by men YEARS ago, that hardly counts as proof.

You: The Bible was written by Men, inspired by God.

Atheist: Then your God’s an idiot because The Bible is the dumbest thing I ever read. And what do you mean by inspired by God. You mean God told them to write that nonsense ?

You: Can you do me a favor ?

Atheist: Sure.

You: Type out this sentence over "in principio creavit Deus caelum et terram".

Atheist: In principio creavit Deus caelum et terram.

Atheist: Okay, so I typed it. What now ?

You: Do you have any clue what you just typed ?

Atheist: No.

You: Do you know what that says ?

Atheist: No.

You: Do you understand that at all ?

Atheist: No.

You: Well I understand it perfectly.

Atheist: Of course, you’re the one that told me to type it so I’d assume so.

You: There’s also a good hand full of people who’d understand what you just typed. They’ll all understand it, you won’t though.

Atheist: What was the point of that ?

You: To show inspiration. I just told you to type something that you yourself did not understand at all, but I know someone else will. So based on my command to you, you written down a series of words that only a hand full of people would understand.
Sound familiar ?

Atheist: The Bible right ?

You: Bingo.

Atheist: Okay, I’ll give you that one. Explain to me God’s sexism !

You: Sexism ? Where ?

Atheist: 1st Tim Chapter 2. “Also that women should adorn themselves modestly and sensibly in seemly apparel, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly attire but by good deeds, as befits women who profess religion. Let a woman learn in silence with all submissiveness. I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over men; she is to keep silent.”. That sounds like a pretty sexist God to me.

You: That discussing conduct in The Church. Women were Queens and rulers back then, but in the Church the men are supposed to be in charge. Not because God is sexist, it’s because God gave us the task in doing so. Not because we’re better than women, only because He made us first and said that that was our job.

Atheist: So a woman can’t preach a sermon?

You: Nope.

Atheist: Why not ?

You: That’s not her job to do.

Atheist: That’s discrimination !

You: No, that’s the rules. I mean you can fry an egg on the hood of a car but that’s not what the hood was made for was it ?

Athiest: So if you were a Pastor and a woman came up to you and she was really into God, like REALLY into God and REALLY wanted to preach a sermon, you wold say no ?

You: If she was really into God as you say she is then she would adhere to His word, and if I said yes, then I’d be doing the exact thing you accused
Christians of earlier, ie picking and choosing which laws to follow.

Atheist: Touche’. But you know the only reason you believe in God is because you’re afraid of Hell. If there was no Hell you wouldn’t
believe in God.

You: You think so ?

Atheist: I know so. Why else would anyone believe something so stupid ?

You: Well, I won’t lie, not going to Hell is very high on my priority list. But before that, it’d be worshiping God.

Atheist: Now, I’m gonna play a game with you. Say there is no Hell, so why worship God ?

You: Because He made us, because He gives us life everyday if that’s not a reason to worship something, I don’t know what is.

Atheist: My Mom and Dad made me, so I guess I should worship them shouldn’t I ?

You: Your words not mine. I wouldn’t advise you to.

Atheist: Whatever.

You: Anything else you wanna talk about ?

Atheist: Yeah, Jesus. You are aware that before Jesus there were hundreds of people claiming to be the Messiah who could walk through walls and walk on water and do magic tricks, so why Jesus ? Why out of all those hundreds did The Bible pick Jesus ?

You: Well first of all The Bible didn’t pick Jesus. Secondly, the other people who claimed to be The Messiah were not the Messiah.

Atheist: How do you know ?

You: It’s like this, say I told you that in 5 days you’ll get a knock on your door, 3 knocks, when you open the door there will be a guy 6’2, Black hair, goatee, Linkin Park T-Shirt, Black pants with green stitching and Blue sneakers and his name will be Pedro and he’ll clean your gutters. So 5 days go by and you get 3 knocks on the door, you open it and the guy at your door is 6’2, Black hair, goatee, Linkin Park T-Shirt, Black pants with green stitching and Blue sneakers, who is at your door ?

Atheist: I’d assume from the way you described the person coming that the person at my door was obviously Pedro.

You: Exactly, I told you who Pedro was, what he looked like and what he was there to do. Same thing with Jesus. In The Old Testament Jesus was predicted to do and preform certain actions to reveal exactly who he was, and Jesus did all these actions. Dig this In the Davidic Covenant, David was told that he’d have someone from his lineage eternally on the throne. Jesus was born in the Lineage of King David, and guess what, that fulfilled The Davidic Covenant. All the other “Messiahs” did not.

Atheist: Hrm….touche’. I guess I’ll have more questions for you in the future. You take it easy.

You: Sure thing man, God bless.

____________________________________________________________________________________
Sorry for the long post but Christians need to know how to answer these questions. Feel free to post your own
Questions or answers to questions here. Thanks all, Peace in Christ.

The New Atheist Movement

The Infidel Guy-God is Watching....DUH !

Okay, wow The Infidel Guy is really rather interesting because much of what he says is a general misunderstanding of what he believes we think. God is watching, Duh ! Yes, well we are Human. Yes that's a valid answer. And there's an EXTREMELY valid reason as to why that answer is valid. But before I jump in there I wanna get a few things out.

Yes, God is watching, I have thought about that MANY, MANY, MANY times and not once did it scare me or make me feel uncomfortable. I figure if God is watching everything I do, then He's just doing what He does. I mean let's face it, He's God. What kinda God is clueless about His own creation ? Frankly I'd be more worried about a God who isn't looking than a God who is.

Furthermore why should the concept of God watching you hinder you from doing ANYTHING ? Granted, God watching you is to keep you from doing BAD THINGS, but His observation on your life doesn't warrant being totally paralyzed with fear from doing every single little action. God doesn't care about you reading a comic book or cooking eggs or making mud pies with your friends, as long as you're not killing, stealing, lying, and preforming actions you shouldn't do ANYWAYS, God doesn't have a problem with that.

So for believers to be actually disturbed by this idea is rather silly, because it just shows how immature their relationship with God was that they would deconvert for such a ridiculous reason. I mean if you think about it that's like trying to rob a bank across the street from a Police Station and then hating the Police Station for being there. You shouldn't rob the bank in the first place, The Police Station is just doing it's job.

Okay, now on to this "excuse", as Mr. Finley calls it. So why does the excuse "We're only Human" work ? Why is it a valid excuse ? Well let's say we get some Biblical proof as to why this excuse is valid, okay ? Check it out Matt 26:69-75. And for those of you without Bibles I'm just gonna tell you what that is. Or better yet give you a general summary.

So in Matt 26:69-75, Peter (one of Jesus' apostles) is pretty much standing amidst a crowd of people and one of the members of the crowd recognize him as one of Jesus' followers and asks him thusly. Peter instantly denies that he ever knew Jesus. Not once, not twice, but THREE times.

Now Peter is no one new to Jesus, Peter knew who Jesus was and saw what Jesus can do. Peter new that Jesus was God in The Flesh, lock, stock and barrel, no doubt, Jesus is God. Peter knew this. And yet, when he was confronted with this, he denied it. Now at the time Jesus was taken off to be crucified. Why is that important ? Because if Peter would have acknowledged that he indeed knew and hung out with Jesus, he could possibly face the same execution.

So what happen ? I would say that Peter's natural human instinct of Self-Preservation kicked in and he wanted to live. But this makes him out to be a coward. I mean he knew that once he died, he'd be on the fast track to Heaven, he knew that Jesus was God and he would never forsake Peter, and yet despite ALL that knowledge, he was only human and wished to remain alive for the time.

While I agree it's a flimsy excuse, it is THE ONLY one we are allowed to use. Because we are slaves to our sin. Now, I wanna address this example Mr. Finely provides. So basically we have 2 Christians getting hot and heavy, getting ready to do something, they knew they shouldn't, clothes start coming off, Bible on the counter, and BOOM, Door opens and MOM AND DAD ! Oh snap ! How's that for a bucket of cold water (lol).

So, how can these 2 Christians get away with trying to sin in front of God and not even attempting it when their parents arrive on the scene ?

Well there's a REALLY important keyword in that sentence, SIN ! The Bible tells us that we are basically sinners, ALL OF US. We are a slave to sin. Meaning we'll sin at any chance we get. Stay with me here, I'm coming to a point. And much like Mr. Finely's example, this to, will blow your mind.

Christians are STILL HUMAN ! There for, Christians are still sinners ! The ONLY difference is...that we understand that we are sinners and we adjust ourselves to sin less in our lives. So if 2 Christians are getting hot and heavy and they sin before God, guess what, they'll go to God and ask for His forgiveness and His mercy on them. And guess what, they'll receive it. Any Christian worth His salt will tell you point blank that God forgives sins ! So when a Christian sins, they are aware of it and they will say "Oh ! I just sinned ! I need to do something about this !" and they will.

Now these 2 Christians, in Mr. Finely's story were caught, before the act, so by the parent's standards they didn't do anything wrong YET ! And it would make sense for them to have a long discussion about what action was about to occur. And if these 2 Christians are apologetic that they were caught and didn't get to preform the action then that's a different story, but if they are apologetic for letting things get to that point and not follow God's outline in that situation then they'll be okay.

I'm reminded of the example of King David, who, while standing on his roof one day, saw a chick he really wanted to do, only to discover she was married. Long story short, King David had her brought to him, did her, felt guilty and tried to get her husband to do HIS wife, only for him to turn it down, and King David decided to have him indirectly killed. This is 2nd Samuel 11:26. Now David knew what he did and when he realized it, HE PRAYED ! And guess what, God FORGAVE HIM !

Now as for this virgin theory goes, I already poked several holes in it. I think that The Infidel Guy is getting theologies mixed up just a bit, not a lot, just a little bit. Because a non-virgin premarital sex Christian can also get into Heaven as easily as a Celibate, Non-Sex having Christian can. Also, NO ONE in the HISTORY of CHURCH, WHO FULLY UNDERSTANDS WHAT IT IS THAT THEY BELIEVE WOULD NEVER, EVER, EVER, IN A MILLION YEARS CLAIM TO BE SINLESS !

If our salvation was tied to how good we were, NO ONE would get into Heaven, because each and every one of us has thought something evil, has done something evil, has said something evil. Some more evil than others (by our standards of course) but sin is all the same.

You steal a candy bar when you were 10. It's still stealing, whether it's that or robbing a bank, it's still taking something that does not belong to you.

There's no difference.

Now let me back pedal for a second and agree here, that YES, "How can we sin in front of God's face like that ?" And that's not a hard question, considering the Biblical reason we have for it, Man is fallen, plain and simple.

But the point The Infidel Guy is making is that WE SHOULDN'T and I am inclined to agree. Now, just because we sin in front of God doesn't mean we don't believe, it just means what it means, we're sinners.

Now I'm only speaking for myself here but I can honestly say that if I was preparing to do something I know God wouldn't approve of, I wouldn't be thinking about God at all, until after the fact. I for one, used to be an addict of sorts to pornography. Not like the guys you read about in those articles, I just had WAY TOO much on my hard drive and when I say WAY TOO much I mean WAY TOO MUCH, it's all gone now, Praise God.

But while I was downloading it, was I thinking about God ? No. Does that mean I don't really believe ? No. I did what every sinner does, forgot God. Pushed God into the back of my mind and let my Jimmy take over. Plain and simple. I yielded to sin. I am going to Heaven ? Yes. Would I still go to Heaven even if I still had the porn on my computer ? Yes. Am I bragging about that ? No. When we are saved, we are saved FOREVER and there is NO good work we can do no form of behavior that is going to save us, it is simply our faith in Jesus Christ, that and NOTHING ELSE !

I am thinking about what Mr. Finely has said, and No, my life isn't going to be any more difficult now that he's brought it to my attention that God is watching me. It will not hinder me whatsoever. Because I do not intend on doing anything I shouldn't be doing anyways. I am currently talking to a friend online, texting my GF and writing this article...and God is watching me...I doubt He cares at all about me talking to my friend or texting my GF, or writing this article. I am not in error at the moment and I doubt I will be anytime soon.

This demons thing is really interesting and I wanna tackle that real quick before I close this article. Yes, I believe that Demons exists, and no I don't think one is gonna drown me in the tub or flip some hot grease in my face. The theological reason for this is because that when Jesus died on the cross, Satan lost a good portion of his power over this world.

Now I'm gonna throw a theory up, so this isn't Biblical so don't use this as proof, but this is my theory. I'm guessing that back in those days things like the common cold and chicken Poxs and missals, mumps and so on so forth were SERIOUS disease back in those days and nowadays they're curable. I would assume that Satan would inflict these issues upon people using their natural bio-chemistry. Things like dementia and schizophrenia were all demons tinkering with humans natural bio-chemistry. So when Jesus cast them out, the person's bio-chemistry would be realigned. Now that's just my theory, and I have a few things to support it.

But getting back on point, when Jesus died, Satan was no longer able get free reign, so to speak upon God's creation. So yes, I do believe demons exist, and I afraid of them ?...Hmm...I'm gonna say no, only because I'm aware that God has my back. The 23rd Psalm sums it up there.

This whole faith is stronger thing is again, a misunderstanding. While there are some Christians who are vain enough to claim they have greater faith than others, I have some gut-wrenching news for them, They aren't saved because they wanna be, they're saved because GOD CHOSE THEM TO BE SAVED ! So no one can claim to have greater faith than anyone. Now there are some more FAITHFUL than others, but no one has greater faith.

The Guardian Angel thing is childish and is B.S. and I really don't have the time to refute that, Mr. Finely did a fine job there. Also, the Tsunami all I have to say it that God has a plan for everything, even natural disasters and what not.

Er...ummm...anyways, that about sums it up. Peace in Christ all.