If I went to an anti-sharia protest, my company could fire me because their mission statement includes the embracing of multi-culturalism and diversity.
@donna60: One of the ways we "fight the power" is through the rapid and expansive dissemination of factual information which combats the illusions and misrepresentations of Islam that we are fed through much of the media and the current administration. Some people can publicly protest but not all of us have to. The crucial thrust is to make the truth about Islam known in whatever way we can, even if it is just posting a link or forwarding it in an email. Then people can make their statement with their votes.
LOL!!!!! FIGHT THE POWER TOWARDS THE END! nice moves....
Keep twisting information to expand your ego.
“Such is Allah, your Lord, the Creator of all things, there is no god but He: Then how are you deluded away from the Truth!” (The Qur’an, 40:62)
“O mankind! Surely the promise of Allah is true, therefore don’t let the life of this world deceive you, and let not the deceiver deceive you concerning Allah.” (Qur’an, 35:5)
AWESOME AWESOMW AWESOME video. Better than the one on Read the Quran Day. I hope that ther will enought people in the West who will watch this video and take note of what is happening. It is obvious that Obama Clinton and the rest of the establishment are clueless.
Kangaroo don't B.S. with yu Islamic proganda Islam is the most evil system that has ever existed. An if Mohammed were alive today he would tried for crimes against humanity.
Dude. If we're going to invade a country, we should at least respect their culture and beliefs. Do you think soldiers should be allowed to desecrate the Quran in Iraq and Afghanistan? Yeah, people are being too politically correct (with the "holy Quran" bit and stuff), but that hardly means our politicians are going to allow Sharia to creep in.
As for the burning the Bible thing, yeah, that was definitely double-speak on the part of our government, but don't you know what a disaster it would have been if some of our soldiers tried to evangelize to the Afghan people? They hate America for invading their country and causing so many civilian casualties, and if a soldier starts trying to convert people, it would just make them think that the U.S. Army is a group of Crusaders. They associate the West with Christianity, you know, and it's bad enough that the United States tries to interfere with just about everything. An army that kills tons of civilians (not on purpose, but that doesn't make civilians feel any better about it) should not be pushing their faith on the citizens. Non-soldier Christians should be doing that. So, though the method of disposing of the Bibles is very questionable, I think we should be glad the U.S. government stopped something like that from happening. It would have been bad for the Gospel--no constitution is worth more than the Good News.
No one said anything about burning Qur'ans in Afghanistan. The government is condemning Qur'an burning in the United States.
You say we should respect their culture, and you obviously mean here in the U.S. (since we've invaded their country). My question is: How far are you willing to go? Afghani Muslims are offended that women don't wear burkas in the U.S. Should the government now condemn women for not wearing burkas? They're offended that we criticize Islam. Should the government condemn criticizing Islam?
And why stop at burning Bibles in Afghanistan? Why not go all the way and demand the forced conversion of U.S. soldiers, the killing of apostates, etc.? If we're going to base our policy on appeasing Muslims, there's no end in sight. Indeed, by constantly trying to appease Muslims in order to avoid a violent backlash, we're affirming their view that violence is the way to get results. It's like rewarding a child for throwing a tantrum.
BTW, are you consistent in your view. Should Allied forces that invaded Germany have shown more respect to Hitler and Nazi propaganda? (You say invaders need to respect the culture of the countries they invade.)
GreekAsianPanda... why are you, from some months to this part, always twistings doctoor Wood words? I find itt very difficulte to understand... God bless you...
It's not handing out Bibles in and of itself that would do harm, but the people doing it. Afghanis are mad at the U.S. military about all the civilian deaths and such. If a soldier from our army starts preaching to them, they'll associate Christianity with the U.S. army, which they don't like. Then they would just reject the Gospel.
US soldiers pass out candy-bars to children in Iraq. That doesn't make Muslim children hate candy! I simply think that the word of God speaks for itself; and people who thirst after righteousness, are going to be drawn to it, no matter who hands it to them.
Also, you have to think about the kind of soldier who passes out bibles. He isn't a disrespectful jerk!
Acts 19:19 (NASB77) 19 And many of those who practiced magic brought their books together and began burning them in the sight of all; and they counted up the price of them and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver.
David would you say that burning these books was "backwards and barbaric"?
Just to clarify, are you comparing (1) former magicians burning their private scrolls so that other people would not possess them, with (2) Pastor Jones engaging in a public book burning to show he is against the teachings of a book?
My question doesn't need clarification. But your statements do. You said in your video I am "against burning books" and burning books is "backwards and barbaric".
In light of your video statements are you now condemning these believers for publically burning their books?
Or are you only against burning certain kinds of books buy certain kinds of people and certain times in history?
I think the context makes my meaning obvious. I'm talking about the sort of book burning Terry Jones is engaged in. If I have an old book that's falling apart, I have no problem crumpling up the pages and using it to start a fire in my fireplace. So if you somehow interpreted my statement as a blanket claim against setting paper on fire, you missed the point. I'm talking about the public burning of books in an age when Christianity already suffers from an image of "anti-intellectualism." Burning books to show our disagreement with the books makes us look like a bunch of idiots. I couldn't care less if a magician abandons the dark arts and sets his magic scrolls ablaze.
Would you enthusiastically support a group of exmuslims who embrace Christianity and who publically set their Quran's "ablaze" to demonstrate they have abandon the darkness of Islam?
Would you consider them "idiots" and "antintellectuals"? Or courageous believers for taking a public stand against a false religion.
True, former Muslims burning Qur'ans would be different from someone burning a Qur'an just to make a statement. However, I don't think it's a good idea to be burning books either way.
But I can't say I'd care much. People all around the world do things I don't agree with. So what?
BTW, you're making quite a big issue out of the fact that I think book-burning is lame. Do you think that all Christians should be running around burning books we disagree with? Why stop at the Qur'an? Why not get together after every church service and rally around the latest atheist works?
It was a bunch of ex-magicians, David. It was a bon-fire, and you can betcha it got the neighbors' attention!
And not only that, it was done in Ephesis, which was a strongly occult city at that time. It was at Ephesis, do not forget, that the city was in danger of a riot because of the silver smiths, turning the people against Paul for speaking out against Diana of the Ephesians. This city was heavily involved with magical arts.
And it wasn't just one book! It was one pricy bonfire!
Acts 19:17-20:
" 17 The story of what happened spread quickly all through Ephesus, to Jews and Greeks alike. A solemn fear descended on the city, and the name of the Lord Jesus was greatly honored. 18 Many who became believers confessed their sinful practices. 19 A number of them who had been practicing sorcery brought their incantation books and burned them at a public bonfire. The value of the books was several million dollars. 20 So the message about the Lord spread widely and had a powerful effect.
Frankly I don't care whether people think I am anti-intellectual. They thought worse of Jesus.
I still can't figure out why no one's getting the difference here. The purpose of a book, in the modern sense, is to convey information to a wide audience. The purpose of a magic scroll was to contain a spell for a magician. The former magicians burned their magic scrolls. They didn't get together and burn Homer's Illiad to make sure the Greeks understood that Homer was a pagan poet that should be condemned. Who was this burning meant to offend? Absolutely no one. The pagans wouldn't care in the slightest if a magician burned his private scroll.
You say you don't care if people think you're anti-intellectual. I rejected Christianity for years because the Christians I knew were anti-intellectual. People in the field of apologetics recognize anti-intellectualism as one of the greatest obstacles to the spread of the Gospel.
So I'll go ahead and ask again: Why stop at the Qur'an? Should Christians get together every week after church and have good old fashioned burnings of all the books we disagree with? Every book that contains non-Christian ideas?
So, David, do you think that if a large group of Muslims would take their Korans and turn them into a bonfire, that the Afghanis would have been acceptable to that?
I agree with you that there is a diffence between what The first century Christians did in Ephesis, and what the preacher did, only in that. But I am uncertain that it would have mattered to the Afghani Muslims.
But I do allow that there is a difference.
As far as anti-intellect being a hinderence to the gospel, I'm not even sure that the gospel appeals to people who pride themselves on their intelligence. Paul said that the gospel was foolishness to the Greeks.
I'm a biologist, hacking my way through the world, with test-tubes, broken analyzers, and co-workers who believe Darwin. Some of them really do dismiss me because they think I am more ignorant than them; but they really need to think about that, since we share the identical university experience.
When that happens, who really has the inability to think critically, them or me?
One of my elders told me that most athiests, when interviewed about why they converted, state that it was the teaching of Christian agape that attracted them to the gospel.
That makes more sense to me frankly, because I have never made a single convert by discussing manuscript fragments, church fathers, pagan historians..any of that stuff that I love.
"Why stop at the Qur'an? Why not get together after every church service and rally around the latest atheist works?"
Well Richard Dawkins isn't writing books that suggest to my husband that he wallop me for causing him to worry about my rebellion.
Richard Dawkins isn't telling half the world that they should kill the other half of the world because they don't believe in his favored god.
More to the point, US politicians aren't proudly proclaiming that Richard Dawkin's books are holy and sacrosanct, and basing United States judicial decisions on it.
That is what is worrying me more than anything. And if we don't somehow come together and "push back" against Lindsey Graham and other politicians who are embracing this book, we are all going to be in big, big trouble.
David said, "You say you don't care if people think you're anti-intellectual. I rejected Christianity for years because the Christians I knew were anti-intellectual."
No Brother David you rejected the Lord Jesus for years because your heart was hard as stone and then the Lord God by His mercy and grace took it away and gave you a heart of Flesh. See Ezek. 36: 26
David said, "People in the field of apologetics recognize anti-intellectualism as one of the greatest obstacles to the spread of the Gospel."
Absolute nonsence! The greatest obstacle to the spread of the gospel is Satan and apathetic believers. And even at that every one of God's elect will be saved.
BTW did you guys catch the attempted connection between book burning and antintellectualism. If you believe that burning a certain kind of book might be a good thing... you just might be a antintellectual!
We apologists know what one of the "greatest obstacle" to winning people to Christ is. David... possibly you did not intend your statement to come across this way...but honestly it smacks of elitism.
Finally, let me say this to you with sincerity of heart. I support your work on ABN. I think you are a courageous person and an excellent debater. What you do few people have the courage to do publicly. Please keep it up!
When I finish this post I will pray for your continued wisdom, knowledge, and skill as you proclaim the glorious gospel.
The last refuge for a believer in anything (atheism, Islam, Christianity) whose arguments have failed is 'you're too stubborn/proud to see the truth. Open your eyes. You've been blinded by the world/your religion', etc etc.
We hear it from Muslims on this blog all the time - 'you only hate Islam because you hate the thought of submitting to the true god!!'
People are composed of a mind, body, spirit and soul (so says the Bible). You can't make your soul believe but leave your mind in doubt.
The book of Acts tells us that Paul debated for days on end. This is a man who didn't waste his time. He knew that through winning minds, God could win hearts.
'David said, "People in the field of apologetics recognize anti-intellectualism as one of the greatest obstacles to the spread of the Gospel."
Absolute nonsence! The greatest obstacle to the spread of the gospel is Satan and apathetic believers. And even at that every one of God's elect will be saved.'
I disagree; it's not nonsense. Nothing about his statement is elitist. No one will listen to a gospel that they believe to be mere fairytales and no one wants to foster in themselves the same mindset as people who believe in absurdities. It's satan's work to make the gospel look irrational, irrelevant, backwards and reactionary, and it's the work of Christians in the power of Christ to stop it looking that way.
It's true that in most churches, the people who become Christians probably do so because they are impressed with Christians they know and it's not so much an intellectual decision as an emotional or spiritual one. But maybe all that tells us about winning people to Christ is that people who could be persuaded by apologetics aren't being reached, and we're leaving lots of people out. If you ask people who *aren't* Christians why they're not, they'll often tell you that they think Christianity/belief in God/religion etc are irrational and even harmful and divisive. These are intellectual objections, raised by people who perceive the church as anti-intellectual.
Also, I think the church may win people by being a living testimony, but it loses lots of people by being unable to intellectually satisfy them. I wouldn't by any stretch of the imagination consider myself an intellectual, but I often felt frustrated that my questions were never answered at my last church. I was told 'because God says so' and dismissed as someone with 'crazy ideas'. It makes being a Christians really hard because you have a kind of cognitive dissonance which becomes hard to live with and you start to feel like a phony and the gap between your church life and daily life becomes ever larger.
So that's why I agree with David, that anti-intellectualism is a big problem and I'm glad to see people like David addressing it.
Sophie, I wish it were that simple, but it is not. I am not a stupid, uneducated woman; but the fact that I believe in a Creator, and a biblical time-frame of the earth, has caused some of my co-workers to imply just such a thing.
Some of them have even been surprised that I am a scientist, and How could I believe such a thing?
It doesn't matter how many scientific articles I bring them! It doesn't matter that I remind them that the way fossils are dated, does not include legitimate calibrations and QC material, that our science lives or dies on.
Some of them, but granted, not all, are willing to discount me, simply because of my reasonable conclusions. Others might, in their heads agree, but they don't want stained with the same brush I am.
I allow that Paul used every reason designed by mankind, including quoting the poets and the philosophers of the people he preached to, and I will too. But I have no intention of worrying about whether I am perceived as intellectual.
What is mandated is that I be kind, gentle, self-controlled, and morally pure.
A lot of women who have never opened an apologetics book in their life do a lot better job of this than me.
Sophie, probably you and I would hang around each other if we attended the same church, because we see things the same way.
But I am just telling you that the city where Paul enjoyed the least friendly reception was in Athens, on Mars Hill, where people hung around listening to new ideas all of the time. And he used a mighty arguement.
The people who were most receptive to the gospel were the Macedonians, Thessalonica. Phillipi and Berea, were people simply hungered for righteousness so much that God sent Paul a dream, asking Paul to change his plan and "Come over to Macedonia and help us."
These were people who were always there to help Paul. Over and over again. Paul was working and discouraged in Corinth. Here come the Macedonians! These were the people who begged Paul to take money to the poor in Jerusalem, in spite of the fact that they were poor themselves.
I agree that intelligent arguement is essential, but there is something else required in the soft heart, as well.
46 comments:
That's it. We need to kick Obama out of office. I'm really tired all this political correctness. It's going to be the end of all our freedoms.
We need to replace Obama with a President who won't bow to political correctness and won't appease Islam.
Wow very well said, very well done.
Someone burns the Quran and Muslims burn Christians.
WARNING WARNING WARNING very graphic video of Muslims Burning Christians alive.
WARNING GRAPHIC VIDEO OF CHRISTIAN PERSECUTION
But how?
If I went to an anti-sharia protest, my company could fire me because their mission statement includes the embracing of multi-culturalism and diversity.
And they would fire me, because of where I live.
We have a bunch of hypocrites leading this country, I think this country is overdue for a shake.
This song says it well..
http://youtu.be/y7tuTOVjKOo
@donna60: One of the ways we "fight the power" is through the rapid and expansive dissemination of factual information which combats the illusions and misrepresentations of Islam that we are fed through much of the media and the current administration. Some people can publicly protest but not all of us have to. The crucial thrust is to make the truth about Islam known in whatever way we can, even if it is just posting a link or forwarding it in an email. Then people can make their statement with their votes.
Rarely have I seen a video that so clearly tells the story of the West appeasing Islam while selling its soul to the devil in the process.
BTW EPIC ENDING. Public Enemy would be proud!
LOL!!!!! FIGHT THE POWER TOWARDS THE END! nice moves....
Keep twisting information to expand your ego.
“Such is Allah, your Lord, the Creator of all things, there is no god but He: Then how are you deluded away from the Truth!”
(The Qur’an, 40:62)
“O mankind! Surely the promise of Allah is true, therefore don’t let the life of this world deceive you, and let not the deceiver deceive you concerning Allah.”
(Qur’an, 35:5)
AWESOME AWESOMW AWESOME video. Better than the one on Read the Quran Day. I hope that ther will enought people in the West who will watch this video and take note of what is happening. It is obvious that Obama Clinton and the rest of the establishment are clueless.
From another Islamaphobe redneck bigot.
Kangaroo don't B.S. with yu Islamic proganda Islam is the most evil system that has ever existed. An if Mohammed were alive today he would tried for crimes against humanity.
I have downloaded this video befoe the dhimmies at Youtube yank it.
Donna60 Do you live in the USA?
Dude. If we're going to invade a country, we should at least respect their culture and beliefs. Do you think soldiers should be allowed to desecrate the Quran in Iraq and Afghanistan? Yeah, people are being too politically correct (with the "holy Quran" bit and stuff), but that hardly means our politicians are going to allow Sharia to creep in.
As for the burning the Bible thing, yeah, that was definitely double-speak on the part of our government, but don't you know what a disaster it would have been if some of our soldiers tried to evangelize to the Afghan people? They hate America for invading their country and causing so many civilian casualties, and if a soldier starts trying to convert people, it would just make them think that the U.S. Army is a group of Crusaders. They associate the West with Christianity, you know, and it's bad enough that the United States tries to interfere with just about everything. An army that kills tons of civilians (not on purpose, but that doesn't make civilians feel any better about it) should not be pushing their faith on the citizens. Non-soldier Christians should be doing that. So, though the method of disposing of the Bibles is very questionable, I think we should be glad the U.S. government stopped something like that from happening. It would have been bad for the Gospel--no constitution is worth more than the Good News.
GAP,
No one said anything about burning Qur'ans in Afghanistan. The government is condemning Qur'an burning in the United States.
You say we should respect their culture, and you obviously mean here in the U.S. (since we've invaded their country). My question is: How far are you willing to go? Afghani Muslims are offended that women don't wear burkas in the U.S. Should the government now condemn women for not wearing burkas? They're offended that we criticize Islam. Should the government condemn criticizing Islam?
And why stop at burning Bibles in Afghanistan? Why not go all the way and demand the forced conversion of U.S. soldiers, the killing of apostates, etc.? If we're going to base our policy on appeasing Muslims, there's no end in sight. Indeed, by constantly trying to appease Muslims in order to avoid a violent backlash, we're affirming their view that violence is the way to get results. It's like rewarding a child for throwing a tantrum.
BTW, are you consistent in your view. Should Allied forces that invaded Germany have shown more respect to Hitler and Nazi propaganda? (You say invaders need to respect the culture of the countries they invade.)
An an old school hiphop fan and a lover of freedom, this has got to be my fav Answering Muslims video yet! Great job David!!
Tony of Hazakim
GreekAsianPanda... why are you, from some months to this part, always twistings doctoor Wood words? I find itt very difficulte to understand... God bless you...
"Nakdimon said...
Rarely have I seen a video that so clearly tells the story of the West appeasing Islam while selling its soul to the devil in the process.
BTW EPIC ENDING. Public Enemy would be proud!"
Spot on!
Gotta love that Public Enemy clip. Classic!
Hey, David, I saw you getting into the groove. Go, white boy. Go white boy, go! LOL!
Well done, David. How many people understand the subtleties that you demonstrate?
WoW David Woods.
Git down wit yo bad self !! :)
Radical Moderate. Yes, I live in an area that is highly populated with Muslims, and work could get bad for me, if I publically protested Sharia.
GreekAsian, I realize my "sola scriptura: bias, might be affecting my logic on this, but how could distributing bibles harm the spread of the gospel?
I think this video has potential to become one of your most popular Youtube videos, and it clearly deserves it.
By the way, did you notice that Ann Barnhardt features your video on her site (and she also added it to her favourites in her Youtube channel)?
Brilliant.
This should go seriously viral.
Asian panda
The only problem there is nothing in Islam to respect>
@ donna60,
It's not handing out Bibles in and of itself that would do harm, but the people doing it. Afghanis are mad at the U.S. military about all the civilian deaths and such. If a soldier from our army starts preaching to them, they'll associate Christianity with the U.S. army, which they don't like. Then they would just reject the Gospel.
GAP said:
---
If a soldier from our army starts preaching to them, they'll associate Christianity with the U.S. army, which they don't like.
---
Dude, seriously, just *existing* causes Muslims to associate Christianity with the US Army.
I find Islam to be more repulsive than respectable.
It should be always feared and despised, never loved; for it is profane.
Brilliant
GreekAsianPanda,
US soldiers pass out candy-bars to children in Iraq. That doesn't make Muslim children hate candy! I simply think that the word of God speaks for itself; and people who thirst after righteousness, are going to be drawn to it, no matter who hands it to them.
Also, you have to think about the kind of soldier who passes out bibles. He isn't a disrespectful jerk!
What an awesome video!
The best on the subject!
Thanks for posting.
Thanks for the ending, it helped me feel better.
Good stuff David. Keep fighting for truth!
Acts 19:19 (NASB77)
19 And many of those who practiced magic brought their books together and began burning them in the sight of all; and they counted up the price of them and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver.
David would you say that burning these books was "backwards and barbaric"?
CB,
Just to clarify, are you comparing (1) former magicians burning their private scrolls so that other people would not possess them, with (2) Pastor Jones engaging in a public book burning to show he is against the teachings of a book?
My question doesn't need clarification. But your statements do. You said in your video I am "against burning books" and burning books is "backwards and barbaric".
In light of your video statements are you now condemning these believers for publically burning their books?
Or are you only against burning certain kinds of books buy certain kinds of people and certain times in history?
I think the context makes my meaning obvious. I'm talking about the sort of book burning Terry Jones is engaged in. If I have an old book that's falling apart, I have no problem crumpling up the pages and using it to start a fire in my fireplace. So if you somehow interpreted my statement as a blanket claim against setting paper on fire, you missed the point. I'm talking about the public burning of books in an age when Christianity already suffers from an image of "anti-intellectualism." Burning books to show our disagreement with the books makes us look like a bunch of idiots. I couldn't care less if a magician abandons the dark arts and sets his magic scrolls ablaze.
David,
Would you enthusiastically support a group of exmuslims who embrace Christianity and who publically set their Quran's "ablaze" to demonstrate they have abandon the darkness of Islam?
Would you consider them "idiots" and "antintellectuals"? Or courageous believers for taking a public stand against a false religion.
Or could you care less?
True, former Muslims burning Qur'ans would be different from someone burning a Qur'an just to make a statement. However, I don't think it's a good idea to be burning books either way.
But I can't say I'd care much. People all around the world do things I don't agree with. So what?
BTW, you're making quite a big issue out of the fact that I think book-burning is lame. Do you think that all Christians should be running around burning books we disagree with? Why stop at the Qur'an? Why not get together after every church service and rally around the latest atheist works?
It was a bunch of ex-magicians, David. It was a bon-fire, and you can betcha it got the neighbors' attention!
And not only that, it was done in Ephesis, which was a strongly occult city at that time. It was at Ephesis, do not forget, that the city was in danger of a riot because of the silver smiths, turning the people against Paul for speaking out against Diana of the Ephesians. This city was heavily involved with magical arts.
And it wasn't just one book! It was one pricy bonfire!
Acts 19:17-20:
" 17 The story of what happened spread quickly all through Ephesus, to Jews and Greeks alike. A solemn fear descended on the city, and the name of the Lord Jesus was greatly honored. 18 Many who became believers confessed their sinful practices. 19 A number of them who had been practicing sorcery brought their incantation books and burned them at a public bonfire. The value of the books was several million dollars. 20 So the message about the Lord spread widely and had a powerful effect.
Frankly I don't care whether people think I am anti-intellectual. They thought worse of Jesus.
I still can't figure out why no one's getting the difference here. The purpose of a book, in the modern sense, is to convey information to a wide audience. The purpose of a magic scroll was to contain a spell for a magician. The former magicians burned their magic scrolls. They didn't get together and burn Homer's Illiad to make sure the Greeks understood that Homer was a pagan poet that should be condemned. Who was this burning meant to offend? Absolutely no one. The pagans wouldn't care in the slightest if a magician burned his private scroll.
You say you don't care if people think you're anti-intellectual. I rejected Christianity for years because the Christians I knew were anti-intellectual. People in the field of apologetics recognize anti-intellectualism as one of the greatest obstacles to the spread of the Gospel.
So I'll go ahead and ask again: Why stop at the Qur'an? Should Christians get together every week after church and have good old fashioned burnings of all the books we disagree with? Every book that contains non-Christian ideas?
So, David, do you think that if a large group of Muslims would take their Korans and turn them into a bonfire, that the Afghanis would have been acceptable to that?
I agree with you that there is a diffence between what The first century Christians did in Ephesis, and what the preacher did, only in that. But I am uncertain that it would have mattered to the Afghani Muslims.
But I do allow that there is a difference.
As far as anti-intellect being a hinderence to the gospel, I'm not even sure that the gospel appeals to people who pride themselves on their intelligence. Paul said that the gospel was foolishness to the Greeks.
I'm a biologist, hacking my way through the world, with test-tubes, broken analyzers, and co-workers who believe Darwin. Some of them really do dismiss me because they think I am more ignorant than them; but they really need to think about that, since we share the identical university experience.
When that happens, who really has the inability to think critically, them or me?
One of my elders told me that most athiests, when interviewed about why they converted, state that it was the teaching of Christian agape that attracted them to the gospel.
That makes more sense to me frankly, because I have never made a single convert by discussing manuscript fragments, church fathers, pagan historians..any of that stuff that I love.
David
"Why stop at the Qur'an? Why not get together after every church service and rally around the latest atheist works?"
Well Richard Dawkins isn't writing books that suggest to my husband that he wallop me for causing him to worry about my rebellion.
Richard Dawkins isn't telling half the world that they should kill the other half of the world because they don't believe in his favored god.
More to the point, US politicians aren't proudly proclaiming that Richard Dawkin's books are holy and sacrosanct, and basing United States judicial decisions on it.
That is what is worrying me more than anything. And if we don't somehow come together and "push back" against Lindsey Graham and other politicians who are embracing this book, we are all going to be in big, big trouble.
David said,
"You say you don't care if people think you're anti-intellectual. I rejected Christianity for years because the Christians I knew were anti-intellectual."
No Brother David you rejected the Lord Jesus for years because your heart was hard as stone and then the Lord God by His mercy and grace took it away and gave you a heart of Flesh. See Ezek. 36: 26
David said,
"People in the field of apologetics recognize anti-intellectualism as one of the greatest obstacles to the spread of the Gospel."
Absolute nonsence! The greatest obstacle to the spread of the gospel is Satan and apathetic believers. And even at that every one of God's elect will be saved.
BTW did you guys catch the attempted connection between book burning and antintellectualism. If you believe that burning a certain kind of book might be a good thing... you just might be a antintellectual!
We apologists know what one of the "greatest obstacle" to winning people to Christ is. David... possibly you did not intend your statement to come across this way...but honestly it smacks of elitism.
Finally, let me say this to you with sincerity of heart. I support your work on ABN. I think you are a courageous person and an excellent debater. What you do few people have the courage to do publicly. Please keep it up!
When I finish this post I will pray for your continued wisdom, knowledge, and skill as you proclaim the glorious gospel.
I am your friend.
Doug Myers
Modesto, CA
I agree with David about anti-intellectualism.
The last refuge for a believer in anything (atheism, Islam, Christianity) whose arguments have failed is 'you're too stubborn/proud to see the truth. Open your eyes. You've been blinded by the world/your religion', etc etc.
We hear it from Muslims on this blog all the time - 'you only hate Islam because you hate the thought of submitting to the true god!!'
People are composed of a mind, body, spirit and soul (so says the Bible). You can't make your soul believe but leave your mind in doubt.
The book of Acts tells us that Paul debated for days on end. This is a man who didn't waste his time. He knew that through winning minds, God could win hearts.
'David said,
"People in the field of apologetics recognize anti-intellectualism as one of the greatest obstacles to the spread of the Gospel."
Absolute nonsence! The greatest obstacle to the spread of the gospel is Satan and apathetic believers. And even at that every one of God's elect will be saved.'
I disagree; it's not nonsense. Nothing about his statement is elitist. No one will listen to a gospel that they believe to be mere fairytales and no one wants to foster in themselves the same mindset as people who believe in absurdities. It's satan's work to make the gospel look irrational, irrelevant, backwards and reactionary, and it's the work of Christians in the power of Christ to stop it looking that way.
It's true that in most churches, the people who become Christians probably do so because they are impressed with Christians they know and it's not so much an intellectual decision as an emotional or spiritual one. But maybe all that tells us about winning people to Christ is that people who could be persuaded by apologetics aren't being reached, and we're leaving lots of people out. If you ask people who *aren't* Christians why they're not, they'll often tell you that they think Christianity/belief in God/religion etc are irrational and even harmful and divisive. These are intellectual objections, raised by people who perceive the church as anti-intellectual.
Also, I think the church may win people by being a living testimony, but it loses lots of people by being unable to intellectually satisfy them. I wouldn't by any stretch of the imagination consider myself an intellectual, but I often felt frustrated that my questions were never answered at my last church. I was told 'because God says so' and dismissed as someone with 'crazy ideas'. It makes being a Christians really hard because you have a kind of cognitive dissonance which becomes hard to live with and you start to feel like a phony and the gap between your church life and daily life becomes ever larger.
So that's why I agree with David, that anti-intellectualism is a big problem and I'm glad to see people like David addressing it.
Sophie, I wish it were that simple, but it is not. I am not a stupid, uneducated woman; but the fact that I believe in a Creator, and a biblical time-frame of the earth, has caused some of my co-workers to imply just such a thing.
Some of them have even been surprised that I am a scientist, and How could I believe such a thing?
It doesn't matter how many scientific articles I bring them! It doesn't matter that I remind them that the way fossils are dated, does not include legitimate calibrations and QC material, that our science lives or dies on.
Some of them, but granted, not all, are willing to discount me, simply because of my reasonable conclusions. Others might, in their heads agree, but they don't want stained with the same brush I am.
I allow that Paul used every reason designed by mankind, including quoting the poets and the philosophers of the people he preached to, and I will too. But I have no intention of worrying about whether I am perceived as intellectual.
What is mandated is that I be kind, gentle, self-controlled, and morally pure.
A lot of women who have never opened an apologetics book in their life do a lot better job of this than me.
Sophie, probably you and I would hang around each other if we attended the same church, because we see things the same way.
But I am just telling you that the city where Paul enjoyed the least friendly reception was in Athens, on Mars Hill, where people hung around listening to new ideas all of the time. And he used a mighty arguement.
The people who were most receptive to the gospel were the Macedonians, Thessalonica. Phillipi and Berea, were people simply hungered for righteousness so much that God sent Paul a dream, asking Paul to change his plan and "Come over to Macedonia and help us."
These were people who were always there to help Paul. Over and over again. Paul was working and discouraged in Corinth. Here come the Macedonians! These were the people who begged Paul to take money to the poor in Jerusalem, in spite of the fact that they were poor themselves.
I agree that intelligent arguement is essential, but there is something else required in the soft heart, as well.
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