This week, I saw on a post claiming religious people were bigoted. I pointed out that it was ironic that the post itself was…you guessed it – bigoted! I really don’t care, but I just find it ironic when people post ‘you should respect everyone’s beliefs’ one minute, then attack Christians the next.
An old acquaintance and an unknown person, (both staunch atheists), have been ‘debating’ me for a number of days since on said post.
As is common with atheists, they avoided the actual topic, kept changing the direction and were rude & derogatory: nothing out of the normal. But then, something very strange happened.
One of them posted a graphic from an atheist page with a number of Bible references, showing how each Bible verse supposedly stated we should kill children…(!)
Of course, if you have read the Bible for more than 1 hour, you will know that is a ridiculous claim, but I looked up the first verse anyway…
Apparently the Bible says we should drown children…
Here is what the Bible actually says at that reference:
“But if you cause one of these little ones who trusts in me to fall into sin, it would be better for you to have a large millstone tied around your neck and be drowned in the depths of the sea.”
Matthew 18:6 (NLT)
Instead of the Bible saying we should drown children it says that people who wrong children at all (even enough to cause the to sin), will be punished. And punished so harshly that it would better for them if they had a millstone tied around their neck & they were thrown into the sea.
Far from abusing or killing children, the Bible warns that God will bring vengeance against those who even tempt or influence them negatively!
I pressed the person who posted the graphic: I sent them the text and a screenshot of the text. After asking them to read & re-read the text again & see if they could understand it. They came up with an alternative meaning:
You’re saying ” oh god isn’t suggesting to drown the children, he’s suggesting you drown yourself” and you consider that a moral victory?
Having debated atheists hundreds of times before, it would be easy to believe they were deliberately lying to support their view. (I have had them make some outlandish claims in order to try to discredit Jesus / the Bible / Christianity).
But this seemed different. This person, while rude and obviously angry, seemed to be genuinely unable to comprehend what the sentence actually said.
Despite claiming intellectual dominance, being in the position of attacking others for ’not following the science’, they could not understand a very simple sentence in English, their native language.
When talking to people about Jesus, it doesn’t matter how educated, how eloquent, how accomplished, how successful – they are blind and spiritually dead. So spiritually blind that they can not comprehend a simple sentence.
It reminds me of a time when, as a ‘god’ hating addict, going through a dark valley, I picked up a Bible and scoffed under my breath ‘let’s see what the Bible says about this”…
I flicked open the Bible and the first sentence I read was:
Bastards shall not enter the house of the Lord for 10 generations
What??! I threw the Bible across the room: I was a true bastard – illegitimate but also a real mongrel in every sense of the word.
Believe it or not, this happened twice – even ‘god’ / the Bible says there is no hope for me…
It would be only a few years later when I was in an even deeper valley – rock bottom – and I decided to end my life.
But on this trip, I opened the Bible again, but this time it was *completely* different:
The Bible came to life, I could understand what it said… it was like it was talking to me specifically. It was so mind-blowing to me that I could not put it down for hours a day.
My inner most questions, questions I didn’t realise I had, were answered. I would read about something and then later that day something would happen that the previous reading had described.
The Bible described me down to a tee – and also pin pointed the very cause fo *all* my issues:
Not people who abused me when young.
Not school teachers or (lack of) parents
Not due to moving countries or house repeatedly
Not bullies
Not the police.
But it was ME and my sin !!!!
It may sound ridiculous to you, but it is a concept I had never thought of or engaged with. As someone who stole, lied, cheated, lived immorally, used & sold drugs etc – I was under the impression I was a ‘good’ person. I also thought all my issues were because of other people – I was a victim.
This time, when I read the Bible, it led me to my own sin, it led me to forgiveness, it led to Jesus, it led to LIFE!
So what was different?
I can only describe from my own experience, my own assessment…
I was at rock bottom, the end of the road in a number of areas. I was depressed, suicidal – I resigned myself to the fact that I would rather be dead than go through the pain I had to every day. I had no hope for being pain free, I could not bare the operations I needed or possible consequences. And besides, nothing in this life gave any lasting fulfilment.
I had made a lot of money from nothing
I ran businesses doing what I loved
I owned lots of cars & thrashed them
What items I wanted, I bought or stole
I had girlfriends and alcohol and drugs
But *non* of it gave any lasting fun or fulfilment. I was always left wanting (or needing) more. What was the point?
I went on a trip to end my life. Before I left however, a large number of incidents happened that led me to having a Bible and a number of Christian books with me in the bus I would travel in.
Before I started to read the Bible, I actually said a ‘prayer’ to ‘god’ something like this:
“God, if you are there I think you are a %&^@%&^#$(@ mongrel, but if you can do something with my life, you can have it”
I then read the Bible to see if God was there. My prayer is that you would too.
SPOILER ALERT: He is!!
God promises:
If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. I will be found by you,” says the LORD.
Jeremiah 29:13-14 (NLT)
You want to scoff & look for errors, you will find them as you are unable to see! But if you are an honest, objective searcher for Truth, He promises to reveal Himself.
You can look online at a easy to understand version here:
https://www.biblestudytools.com/nlt/john/1.html (Bible Study Tools – NLT version). You can read or even listen for free. There is also a free phone app called YouVersion.
The Bible is God’s love letter to you – read it as if He is speaking directly to you – because He is!! The goal is to meet the Author as this will change *everything*.
I would recommend reading and re-reading the Gospel of John. Even listen to it as you drift off to sleep – the difference it makes is amazing!
The more you read the more you will experience the profound change.