The UK Guardian Newspaper asked its readers to summarize the Bible in 100 words. Much of the comment was scurrilous and mocking. I submitted two entries. One was an attempt to sum up the message of the Bible in a brief soundbite. The other was an ironic summary of the "Secularist bible".
A summary of the Bible
A summary of the Bible
The Bible reveals a God of love, power and purity, the creator of all things. Human beings were made in the image of God, but rebelled against Him by breaking his command. This brought sin, death and suffering into the Universe. God's Son, Jesus came to deal with sin. To put us right with God, He became man and died for us. God then raised him from the grave and exalted him to heaven. All people will give an account of their lives to God. To enjoy eternal life and avoid condemnation, we must trust Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.
A summary of the secularist "bible".
In the beginning there was nothing. Then lots of random stuff happened. Why? Who cares! As if by magic, randomly produced simple organisms, decided to become more complex and interesting. Eventually fish, reptiles, birds and mammals just happened. Why? Who cares! Then human beings randomly happened. What's the point in that? We started as nothing, life means nothing then we go back to being nothing. If human life means nothing, then love means nothing, neither does truth or other good stuff. Ah well, who cares? Let us eat (until we get obese), drink (until we drop) and be meaningless for tomorrow we die! Fair summary?
9 comments:
Both are remarkably accurate!
You forgot the part about God ordering the Israelis to kill babies. But otherwise, good summary.
I'm considered a "theist" in this process, though technically I'm a "theast." At any rate, I do think there are some flaws in your descriptions. I particularly want to point out that science doesn't consider the order of the universe to be random anymore. Chaos Theory shows that there is, indeed, a pattern to existence. I would think a theist could use that to describe God's method of creation, but none I've discussed it with consider the idea that randomness is an illusion to be pro-deity.
The first thing to say about my "Summary of the secularist bible" is that it was a piece of satire. In the UK Guardian's blog atheists took it upon themselves to satirise the Bible so I wrote my summary of their "bible" with heavy irony.
Secondly, we have a saying "many a true word spoken in jest" and I hope that there was a serious point to what I said.
The atheist view of the Universe assumes that everying was created from nothing by random unguided processes. Even Will's "immensely compact ball of energy which later exploded in the big bang" must have started to exist at some point. Where did it come from? If life is a random event then it is meaningless.
If we start with the Christian presupposition that "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth", then order,purpose and design in the Universe make perfect sense.
The Christian message offers us a hope and a future through the work of Jesus Christ. What does atheism have to offer?
12:36 AM
Some good questions there. Easy answers too.
Firstly "What does atheism have to offer?"
How about hope and future through our own efforts. That we can make life better for ourselves and for those we love through our own efforts and understanding.
second "If life is a random event then it is meaningless."
Not so. If an earth quake happens, doesn't mean the result is meaningless, certainly a number of folks in Kashmir don't think so at the moment and yet that was just the random swirling of magma and the shift of the earths crust.
On the contrary, with life being a prelude to a eternal afterlife, THAT is what makes life meaningless. Just tow the line, give yourself to Jebus, hurry up and die. Such a life means nothing. However, if one life is all you have and there is no pre-given purpose then you can make of it what you will. Your actions will have real meaning here and now.
Mr Munchkin, may I quote Mr Dawkins? It's my blog so I'm going to anyway! He is writing about the kind of world that would exist without a Creator:
"Such a universe would be neither good or bad in intention. It would manifest no intentions of any kind. In a universe of blind physical forces and genetic replication, some people are going to get hurt, other people are going to get lucky, and you won't find any rhyme or reason in it, or any justice. The universe that we observe has precicely the properties that we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil and no good, but blind, pitiless indifference."
Cited in "Does God believe in Atheists" by John Blanchard, from an article by Dawkins in the UK Daily Telegraph 10 May 1995.
In a random purposeless universe an earthquake, an outbreak of deadly disease or a fatal road accident are totally without meaning and significance.
The life I live in the present world as a Christian is far from meaningless. My Father God made this world. In his goodness he has packed life on earth with wonderful sights, sounds and experiences. I know that even life's tragedies are not expressions of blind pitiless indifference. They are in the providence of God "who works all things together for good for those who love him" (Romans 8:28.) Knowing the God who made the universe gives life rich meaning and purpose.
The Christian view future eternal glory is not a negation of this life. Our future hope is not to leave this physical world for an eternal spiritual state, but to be raised from the dead for life in a renewed creation.
This hope is not based on some speculative theory, but on the historical fact of the resurrection of Christ from the dead.
See my blog article: http://exiledpreacher.blogspot.com/2005/10/faith-reason-and-resurrection-new.html
What atheists fail to grasp is that we are living in a fallen world. The universe that God originally made was very good with a perfect environment and harmonious relationships between human beings. What spoiled all that was when man thought he knew best and rebelled against God. We live in a world that is bent on sinful rebellion against its Maker.
But God has not abandoned the human race to the judgement we deserve. He showers the earth with his goodness and causes the sun to shine upon believer and atheist alike. You, as an atheist are only alive to disbelieve in God because he keeps you in existence.
More than that, God so loves the people who have rebelled against him that he has sent his Son, Jesus to rescue us from sin. In the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God offers even atheists the promise of forgiveness of sin, a new life and the hope of glory.
Todd,
I am a Christian not because Christianity offers me a meaningful and robust moral vision, although it does. But because I am convinced that the claims of Christianity are true. I cannot offer you any empirical proof that God exists because God is Spirit. His being is beyond empirical detection.
The problem is not lack of proof, but lack of faith. God has revealed himself to us in the world that he has made. Our human consciousness has an innate sense of God, which is why all human beings are essentially religious worshippers. We either worship the true God or idols, but we are bound to worship something. Atheism is intellectual idolatry.
The trouble is that we are sinners. Our understanding is darkened because of sin. We will never make sense of life until we repent from our sin and believe in God's revealed word. When we accept God's revealed truth concerning himself, man and our need of salvation, then everything else falls into place. Of course the cosmos is wonderfully designed - God has designed it.
Atheism offers us a bleak, empty, pointless universe that is based on the wishful thinking that we are not accountable to our Maker.
You really excelled yourself there, Will. The power of prayer created the Universe eh?
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