Godisnowhere

In 1925 teacher John Scopes was charged with a violation of the Butler Act, which according to Tennessee law, made it illegal to teach anything that differed from the Divine Creation account to university or public school students in the state of Tennessee. Clarence Darrow defended Scopes’ views on evolution. William Jennings Bryan defended the Bible…at least he tried to. We are aware of that trial’s tragic outcome. Biblical creation lost its standing in the eyes of the court, not so much because evolution was proven, but more because the Christians were not able to defend themselves…none of them, even the learned and eloquent Mr. Bryan, ever thought deeply about the truths of Scripture. They thought no one would ever dare defy Scripture.

“How do you know the Bible is true?”
“Well, because the Bible says so.”
“Then how can you believe what the Bible says?”
“Because it’s true!”

It took nearly 50 years before Christianity was able to field any team capable of offering an answer to the proponents of evolution, but by then the post modern age had begun, and humanism was well entrenched. Its influence had even infected the evangelical church. The problem this infection has produced is that so very few Christians are watching the game. So few are paying attention. The ignorance of Christians evident in 1925 still lives.

I believe it was just the week before last when Kirk Cameron (TV sitcom actor turned shallow evangelist) appeared on Night Line, along with his good buddy and Christian author whose name escapes me, to debate two atheist on the existence of God. My wife had trouble sleeping that night. She stayed up late to watch, I zonked out an hour earlier. All Cameron could come up with to argue the existence of God was that you can look at nature and see that God exists. He offered no logic. He did not ask one question to challenge the atheists. He offered no reasoning…he was insipid, and ill informed and ill prepared.

The two atheists were not impressed with anything either one of our Christian brothers said. In fact, the female pagan said, after the debate, even if God did exist, she would rather die and go to Hell than believe in the God Mr. Cameron described….hmmmm.

I AM very glad that Mr. Cameron is a believer. I AM very glad that he is using much of his personal resources in evangelism, but he hasn’t used a penny to learn anything about God!
Kirk Cameron (KC) is the EPITOME of the average IGNORANT Christian.

Brother, we can only quote the late Jimmy Durante; “I’m surrounded by incompetents!”

There is a web site that’s becoming quite popular. “God is imaginary” is very probably a good thing, IF and ONLY IF it challenges Christians to THINK DEEPLY about God and what they believe. But Christians usually DON’T do such things as THINK…or PRAY…or STUDY, or even READ. So, whenever any THINKING atheist comes along with sound questions, all we can say is that the Bible is true because it says so. (Can you tell? I’m a bit irritated.)

The “God is imaginary” web site has recorded rebuttals against Christian claims. So far, I’ve had time enough to listen to the atheist’s rebuttal against prayer. He compared praying to God and praying to a jug of milk. His summation was that it was just as effective to pray to a jug of milk as it is to pray to God. Either way, you get one of three answers; “yes,” “no,” or “wait.” His thinking was orderly, but not fully logical, because he based his argument completely on the assumption that MOST Christians base their understanding of prayer on. That is; God answers everything we ask for through prayer.

Christians WANT to believe that. They really try to believe it. And I’ll tell you something if you promise not to get mad. I’ll tell you this if you don’t let it shake your faith in God. Are you ready? Okay, here it is. The statement that God answers everything we ask for through prayer is a lie. God DOESN’T answer all our prayers. He doesn’t even hear some of them. Check out these references. (Deut 1:45, Deut 3:26, Job 35:12-13, Isa 1:13-15, Jer. 11:11, Zech. 7:13, 1 Peter 3:7, et.al.)

I’m going to be sarcastically facetious now.

Here’s how prayer works. In order to guarantee God’s answer to your prayers, you must have them presented with those wizardly wonderful magic words, “in Jesus’ name.” No,…wait, you have to say it like this: “in JEEEZUHS’ Name!” Those words work EVERY TIME….how do I know? The Bible says so. Jesus even says so.

Okay, let’s get serious…really.

One of the best books I’ve ever read about understanding God was John Piper’s The Pleasures of God. Most KC Christians won’t read it because it’s thick, it’s deep, and it makes them exercise the laziest muscle in their whole body; their brain. They would all rather be spoon fed with spiritually sugar laden clabber by preachers that are more afraid of their congregations than they are of God.

Piper’s book is full of righteous spiritual meat. He puts things on your plate that you never thought before. He makes you chew. And he makes sense. After reading it, God makes sense. After reading the book, God is no longer some pleasant grandpa who loves doling out favors. God is truly an awesome, terrible and powerful frightening eternal being who is consumed with His own glory. He passionately desires to glorify Himself. You might think that sounds selfish of God, and Piper addresses that subject thoroughly.

Ultimately, that is God’s end and purpose for existence; His own glory. And we’d better be glad of it. It is BECAUSE He is so glorified by His love and His grace that we are offered salvation. If He weren’t so preoccupied by His own glory, we probably would have been consumed by the fire of His righteous judgment long ago.

God is so consumed with the manifestation of His own glory that He has promised to hear our prayers, IF and ONLY IF they concern the fulfillment of His own ends.

God is NOT glorified when a TV preacher drives an expensive car, or flies in his own private jet airplane. God is NOT honored by churches with parking lots filled with expensive automobiles. (I think Piper even said that.) Such Christians might as well be praying to milk jugs…they are NOT praying for the advancement of the kingdom of God. That, and only that, is what Jesus meant when He told us to pray in His name. Prayers for His Kingdom, His glory, His purposes, offered by humble, penitent, obedient servants are the prayers He ALWAYS hears.

Now, in spite of ourselves, He still answers a lot of prayers for the sick and infirm, and the hurting and needy. He still answers prayers regarding genuine ministry needs. But too often, Christians pray and think God might say “yes,” or “no,” or “wait.” And once the prayer is offered any answer is acceptable (usually.) The problem is that KC Christians NEVER examine themselves to understand why God might say “no.” (James 4:3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.) It may not look like it, but James 4:3 IS a holy admonition to repent. Usually, if God says “no,” KC Christians go ahead and try to figure a way to get whatever they asked for by their own efforts.

God WILL lift up the humble. He dwells with the humble. But men and women who believe Jesus is there to glorify them and make them look good are POOR proof for the existence of God. They are POOR proof that He answers prayer. The bigger tragedy is this; web sites like “God is imaginary” will probably shake a lot of people’s faith, and some will turn away.

And our hearts will break as we see the fulfillment of Scripture when it said even as [professing Christians] did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient.

Dave