If more Christians would think like atheists, the world would have fewer atheists
Dr. Randy White
I like skeptics. Not the closed-minded intellectually deficient don’t-bother-me-with-facts kind of skeptics, but the honest-to-goodness thinker who needs the argument to actually hold water before they’ll risk putting the water in. The world needs more of that kind of skeptic.
Other than the world of academia, the best place to find a culture of mindless acceptance is in the average local church. In the church, feelings trump facts (even Biblical facts) and groupthink is the only thinking. (Groupthink: “a psychological phenomenon that occurs within a group of people, in which the desire for harmony or conformity in the group results in an irrational or dysfunctional decision-making outcome.” Wikipedia). Pastors and “Bible” study leaders can stand before their crowd and give pious platitudes that sound more like Oprah than Almighty God and never get so much as a raised eyebrow.Need an example? Try these, just discovered in a quick twitter and internet search:
- “If you will embrace change, the winds that you thought would defeat you will actually push you to your divine destiny.” (Tweeted by Joel Osteen, receiving 3,800 “favorites” and 3,500 retweets).
- “God doesn’t belong at the top of your priorities but at the center of your life. Everything orbits around him. Everything’s connected to him” (Tweeted by Mark Driscoll, receiving 530 favorites and 553 retweets).
- “Most people go through life thinking God never speaks to them, when in fact He’s always speaking. To everyone. Always directing. Sometimes warning. Sometimes affirming. But we hear so little of what He says because our consciousness of His voice is obscured by our mental static” (Steven Furtick, in his new book, “Crash the Chatterbox: Hearing God’s Voice Above All Others.”)
- “You only grow outside your comfort zone. ‘Anything done without faith is sin.’ (Rom.14:23)” (Tweeted by Rick Warren, with 590 favorites and 544 retweets).
Photo credit: http://jcourt.net/steven-furtick-the-visionary-sounds-cultic/[/caption]To Steven Furtick, I would want to know if God is really speaking to everyone, always. Is this Biblical? What about the times in which there was a famine for God’s voice? Is it really our “mental static” that is keeping us from a “consciousness of His voice?” If we got rid of this “mental static,” would we hear God speak? How do I get rid of “mental static?” (Since Furtick quotes mystic Brennan Manning, perhaps if I use Eastern meditation techniques I will rid myself of “static” and hear God’s voice?) What if God tells me something different than He tells you? (A recent publication of a Steven Furtick cartoon book for children at his church says God gave the vision for Elevation Church to Furtick. Children were encouraged (indoctrinated?) to “support the founder’s vision”). In addition to these questions for Furtick, I also have some questions for Christian leaders like Kerry Shook (The Woodlands Church), Jack Graham (Prestonwood Baptist Church), Andy Stanley (Northpoint Church) and Clayton King (Crossroads Ministries). Namely, why would you would ever, under any circumstances, write an endorsement for a Steven Furtick, along with such heretics and charismaniacs as Brian Houston, TD Jakes, Christine Caine, Rod Parsley, Perry Noble, etc.To Rick Warren, I would want to know if you really only grow when you are “outside your comfort zone?” What is a “comfort zone?” Is this “truth” true only in spiritual growth, or also in physical or mental growth? Is this what the Bible teaches? Does this have anything to do with your quote of Romans 14:23? Am I not acting in faith if I am in my “comfort zone?”Let’s Think About ItThese are simply a sampling of the boatloads of silly statements that Christians so quickly accept without skepticism. The problem is, there are a lot of skeptics in the world, and they think we’re silly. I’m going to side with the skeptics. I think we ought to “get out of our comfort zone” and start insisting on some truth, logic, proof, and validity for the things we tweet, print, and preach (or “like,” “favorite,” or “retweet”).For example, I recently read an article, written by an atheist, which attacked our oft used apologetic that says, “The Apostles were willing to die a martyr’s death for the resurrection, something they wouldn’t do if they had made up the story; if it was a lie.” We preach it strong, “No one dies for a lie!” The problem with this line of thinking is that it really needs someone to ask some questions. I would prefer that the questions come from within the church before it is preached in the church and criticized outside the church. Did the Apostles die a martyr’s death? Would someone be willing to die for a lie? If we’re honest, we have to say that we only have tradition about the Apostle’s deaths. While this tradition might have some validity, we would sure need to do some historical homework to see how much validity we can give it. What if it turns out that Judas hanged himself and the remaining Apostles died of old age, or cancer, or a heart attack? Since we have more valid arguments, why not use the argumentation that is much more difficult to refute?Go ahead, be a skeptic!So my encouragement to you is, Ask Questions. Be a skeptic. Not the closed-minded intellectually deficient don’t-bother-me-with-facts kind of skeptic, but the honest-to-goodness thinker who needs the argument to actually hold water before you’ll risk putting the water in. The world needs more of that kind of skeptic.[