The Golden Opportunity
Man that is a horrible title for a post…
Barnes and Noble has become a regular lunch stop of mine at some point during my work week. We’re all familiar with the layout… Row upon row of full stocked shelves interspersed with feature tables aptly titled… ”Family Christmas”, “New In Paperback”, “For Your Pet”
I pick a different section to browse on most weeks; poetry, classic literature, leadership, and even marketing. This always is followed by a quick run through of the Christian Living / Religion section, which unfortunately is not nearly as neatly and tightly stocked. This week as I approached the waning shelves a new feature table positioned strategically in front of the Christian Living section caught my eye. The title? “Thought Provoking”
The God Delusion, God Is Not Great, God–The Failed Hypothesis, Letter to a Christian Nation, The Portable Atheist, etc etc etc… Books that obviously only will click with ”deep thinkers”. But perhaps the most revealing reason behind our nation’s supposed move away from Christ (which I’m still chewing on the actual scope of that theory) comes from the first page of Letter to A Christian Nation:
“Thousands of people have written to tell me that I am wrong not to believe in God. The most hostile of these communications have come from Christians. This is ironic, as Christians generally imagine that no faith imparts the virtues of love and forgiveness more effectively than their own. The truth is that many who claim to be transformed by Christ’s love are deeply, even murderously, intolerant of criticism. While we may want to ascribe this to human nature, it is clear that such hatred draws considerable support from the Bible. How do I know this? The most disturbed of my correspondents always cite chapter and verse.”
I am not so threatened to actually think books and these types will make much a huge impact on a Christian nation. After all, as many of the atheist reviewers point out, for the most part the only people who are going to pick the titles up are atheist and others who already doubt the existence of God. Similarly most Christian perspective books that would benefit atheist / doubters are rarely read by the audience that needs it the most.
So with all the talk of the upcoming movie that supposedly Satan himself is using to convert all of our PG-13 movie going children to atheism, I’ve been wondering if we’re going about it the wrong way. Ignore the books, ignore the movies, ignore the prominently displayed feature table at Barnes and Noble then send out mass emails with a link to Snopes and hope none of our Christian friends go see, read, hear the evil in all… Perhaps at some point we pick up the God Delusion or a Letter to A Christian Nation and learn about those who are on the other side… not so much to tell Dawkins and the like how far off base they are, but in order to be prepared as this nation supposedly drifts further away from the notion of God.
I’ve been in the boat of ignoring and boycotting these situations for most of my Christian life (oh my goodness you should’ve heard the outcry when Steve Martin’s “Leap Of Faith” came out!), so a paradigm shift is difficult for me as well. But I think i’m ready to move past all of this hell-fire and brimstone and learn to use their perspective as a tool down the line for revealing Christ to someone who may cross my path…
but i’m sure i’ll fail miserably so perhaps those of you who are better readers should pick up my slack.
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Although I have decided not to go see this movie, I will be reading the book. First, the movie is already admittedly described as watered-down, so the true essence of the book will not be found there, but in the novel itself. I will not buy the book, either, as I do not want my money to fund the author. However, I do feel that if I’m going to speak against it, I need to research it myself and find out exactly what it says so that I can compare it to scripture and be ready when the topic comes up. If you’re going to defeat your enemy, you have to know them first.
In some ways I think too much focus is put on philosophy and trying to “prove” that this author is wrong. Instead, why not focus on the true character of God.
I haven’t read the books, but from small reviews that I’ve seen, the character that supposedly represents God in his books is very oppressive. This saddens me very much. In all honesty, I’m not sure what saddens me more though… the fact that his heart is so cold right now, or the fact that Christians are probably responsible inspiring his views. It sounds to me like the letters he is getting are just proving him right in his mind. It’s very unfortunate.
Spot on brother!
I’ve never met you before, but i completely agree with you. I was recently doing a bible study on influencing peers, and thing that stood out to me the most was: “How can we expect to influence others, if we can’t relate to them?” By reading these books we would get their side of the story and learn to understand them better. The only risk is that we can’t be influenced by them if we read them. I was once told, “Be in the world, but not of the world.” Basically, i think it’s a great idea to pursue your plan of relating to the athiests, but you must know the right time to pull away if your influence backfires and they start influencing you. Keep strong and God Bless - Shane
Thanks for stopping by Shane. You bring up a good point, we all have to be wise to what level we allow ourselves to get involved and be wise as to what situations we can allow ourselves to be in.
Thanks for your encouragement
To be honest, it looks like a cool movie. That’s what I thought when I first saw the trailer. And then I started seeing all the controversy stuff a few weeks later. I’ve gotten probably a dozen emails about how evil it is.
I’ll see it. But won’t say I agree with all the philosophy behind it. I like to watch Friday Night Lights too, but there are attitudes on that TV show that I wouldn’t want my kids adopting either.
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