Wow, it seems like I haven't written anything about atheism lately. Too busy drawing illustrations, thinking of ways to draw more illustrations, typesetting, and writing about politics and Mormonism. I guess my blog is currently going through the constellation of
Mormonism and
Exmormonism. Fortunately, others out there are still on the job -- we've got two carnival's worth of lovable god-free thought on
The Carnival of the Godless (War on Valentine's Day edition) and
The Humanist Symposium!!! Also, a funny bonus piece
shooting fish in a barrel snarking some poor fool's search for the remains of Noah's Ark.
12 comments:
Armageddon Thru To You
If you've been wondering why it seems like the world around us is unraveling, it's because the last days as foretold in the bible are now upon us. Just as it was 2000 years ago, many were unable to discern the signs of Jesus Christ's first coming (Mat 16:3), as will many concerning his second coming, which will occur very soon. Yes many have proclaimed a similar sentiment many times in the past, but their errors have no bearing on today other than to lull you into spiritual apathy, and that too was prophesied to occur in the last days.
If you're not a believer in Jesus Christ because you're an atheist, consider that the underlying impetus for your disbelief is most likely borne of pride and here's why:
When we die, if you as an atheist were right, then there is no upside or downside for anyone regarding the afterlife. We will all simply cease to exist
However if we Christians were right about our belief in the afterlife, then we will be given eternal life and you as an atheist will receive eternal damnation
Given the choices, the position held by an atheist is a fools bet any way you look at it because the atheist has everything to lose and nothing to gain. It is tantamount to accepting a “heads I win, tails you lose” coin toss proposition from someone. And that someone by the way is Satan (see Ephesians 6:12).
The only way to explain the attitude held by an atheist is pride, pure and simple. The intellectually dishonest and/or tortured reasoning used by atheists to try and disprove the existence of God is nothing more than attempts to posture themselves as superior (a symptom of pride). And as anyone who has read their bible knows, this is precisely the character flaw that befell Lucifer, God's formerly most high angel. (Isaiah 14:12-15). Is it any wonder then why the bible is so replete with references to pride as the cause of mankind's downfall?
Pride permeates our lives and burdens us in ways that most of us seldom recognize. Ironically, pride is the one thing that can blind someone to things even the unsighted can see. And sadly pride will blind many with an otherwise good heart, to accepting the offer of eternal salvation that Christ bought and paid for with his life.
In any event, if you're an atheist, I wish you only the best for every day of the rest of your life because for you, this life is as close to heaven as you'll ever get, but for believers in Christ, this life is as close to hell as we'll ever get.
If you're not a believer and follower of Jesus Christ because you are of another faith, please take the time to very carefully compare your faith to Christianity and ask yourself, why is the bible the only religious book with both hundreds of proven prophecies already fulfilled as well as those being fulfilled today? No other religion can claim anything remotely close to this fact. Many Christians who are serious students of bible prophecy are already aware of the role and significance of bible prophecy in foretelling end time events. God gave us prophecy as evidence of his divine holiness to know the begining from the end (Isa 46:10). God also believed prophecy to be so important that to those willing to read the most prophetic book in the bible, the Book of Revelation, he promised a special blessing (see Rev 1:3), and this is the only book in the bible that God gives its reader a special blessing for reading. Something to think about.
Don't risk losing Christ's offer of eternal life by not accepting him as your savior and by thinking that the bible is nothing more than a compilation of unrelated and scattered stories about people who lived 2,000 plus years ago. If you take the time to study (not just read) the bible, you will literally be shocked to learn things you would have never imagined would be revealed in it. Did you know that like parables, God also uses particular months and days in the Jewish calendar, Jewish Feasts and customs, solar and lunar phases, celestial alignments, gematria (Hebrew numerology) early bible events and more as patterns and models to foretell future events?
Consider the following interesting facts about the bible that testify to its God-inspired authorship:
Did you know that in Gen 12:2, God said he would bless Israel?. How else can you explain the grossly disproportionate level of success achieved by Jewish people as a tiny minority in the world, especially after all they have gone through? And how can you explain the success achieved by the tiny nation of Israel, surrounded by enemies outnumbering them 100 to 1 and yet still they remain victorious in all their wars?
Did you know that as evidence to indicate that Israel is the epicenter of the world from God's point of view is the fact that languages to the west of Israel are written and read from left to right as if pointing to Israel, and languages from countries to the east of Israel are written and read from right to left, again as though pointing to Israel. Just a coincidence, you say? I think not.
Did you know that the six days of creation and seventh day of rest in Genesis is a model for the six thousand years of this age (ending very soon), that is to be followed by a 1,000 year millennial reign by Christ (see 2 Peter 3:8)? Adam was born sometime prior to 4000 B.C., therefore our 6000 years are almost up.
Did you kow that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is hidden in the meaning of the Hebrew names listed in the genealogy of the book of Genesis (Research it online)? To deny this was God-inspired, one has to instead believe that a group of Jewish rabbis conspired to hide the Christian Gospel right inside a genealogy of their venerated Torah, which is not a very plausible explanation.
Did you know that solar eclipses, which the bible describes as the sun being black as sackcloth, and lunar eclipses, which the bible refers to as blood red moons, have prophetic meaning? Research it online. God showed Adam (and us) his plan for man's redemption through the use of celestial alignments. (research Mazzaroth online)
Did you know that much of the symbolism in the book of revelation refers to planetary alignments that will occur when certain events occur as prophesied? These planetary alignments also explained the birth of Christ, just search out The Bethlehem Star movie on the Internet.
Did you know that the references in Eze 39:4-17 and Rev 19:17-21 in the battle of Gog/Magog and Armageddon respectively, in which birds of prey will eat the flesh of the dead in battle from two enormous wars is based on fact? The largest bird migration in the world consisting of bilions of birds (34 species of raptors and various carrion birds) from several continents converge and fly over Israel every spring and fall. Coincidence? I think not.
Did you know that Hebrew numerology, also known as Gematria, and the numbers with biblical and prophetic significance are hidden in the Star of David? Google the video called "Seal of Jesus Christ"
Did you know that the seven Churches mentioned at the beginning of the Book of Revelation describe the seven stages the Church will go through?
There are literally hundreds of hidden messages in the bible like these that testify to the fact that the bible was God inspired, and statistically speaking, are all exponentially beyond the likelihood of any coincidence. You can find them yourselves if you only take the time to look into it. Remember Proverbs 25:2 "It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings".
And finally, if you are Catholic, or one who subscribes to the emergent Church or seeker-friendly Church movement, please compare the doctrine taught, advocated or accepted by your Church, with the actual bible, notwithstanding some new-age version of the bible. And remember that although the bible is often referred to as the living bible, the word "living" was never intended to imply in any way that the bible "evolves" over time to meet, or be consistent with, the standards of man. It's just the opposite.
Well, am I getting through to you? If not, the answer might be explained in the response given by Jesus Christ in his Olivet discourse when he was asked by his disciples why he spoke the way he did (in parables, etc.) in the book of Matthew 13:10-16. What Jesus said could have easily been paraphrased more clearly as "so that the damned won't get it". Why did Christ respond the way he did when asked why he spoke this way? Is there something about pride (the bible says there is) that closes one's heart to seeing or hearing the messages supernaturally hidden in bible parables, models, typologies, and similes, etc.? That should give you something to think about, but don't take too long. Time is now very short.
If it sometimes seems like there are powers at work behind the powers we know, remember what it says in Ephesians 6:12 "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." If you study the bible, it will become clearer.
And by the way, if you are a scoffer, this too was prophesied to occur in the last days. See 2 Peter 3:3.
Thank you and God Bless you!
Armageddon.thru.to.you (at) gmail.com
Um, wow. That's quite the comment. All I have to say to that, is this: I'm not (and presumably neither is chanson) going to live my life on the off chance that an unproven and unprovable set of bronze age superstitions are somehow "real". Atheism isn't pride, it's accepting reality.
All I was planning on saying was that the blog post about Noah's Arc is OMG hilarious. Some of the comments are even more funny (sort of like this one).
I suppose one should never comment on spam, but the argument made in the first comment reminded me of a conversation I've had a few times with believing friends and family members.
It goes like this: why not go ahead and believe in an implausible eternal reward? You don't have anything to lose, since you atheists think we're just turn to dust when we die. You'll be no worse off for sure but you may be better off.
My reply: except for the fact that you'll waste your life waiting for something that's never going to happen.
Nonbelievers value this life. This life is what's precious.
Hey Armageddon!!!
Please see my newly-created comments and spam policy. :D
Hey Craig!!!
So true!!! It's a bit of an easy target, but that article really made me laugh nonetheless. This was my favorite line:
"The shepherd asked for nothing in return (the laughter this will give him and his family, for years to come, will be payment enough), and agreed to lead Bright to the site where he said he had seen the ark."
Hey MoHoHawaii!!!
Exactly!
Yeah, I loved that part of the post too.
My favourite part was just before that:
"'That’s when he saw it as a boy,' Price said, adding that they had interviewed the shepherd and could find no reason to dis-trust him (because when you really, really, really, pretty-please-with-sugar-on-top want to believe it, you’ll believe anything)."
I think that anyone who claims to have found Noah's Ark has given me all the reason to distrust him I will ever need. :D
lol, so true! :D
Fun spam!
By the way, the Armageddon guy pulls the ol' Pascal's wager, which is a faulty proposition to begin with. As Voltaire said about it in its own time, "indecent and childish".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascal%27s_Wager
I'd also like to take the opportunity to thank you for this blog. Living in Sweden, my contact with Mormon culture is very limited. I have however run across a few missionaries over here, and I was even given a Book of Mormon by a pair of them. It's decidely very odd but interesting stuff and peeking around about LDS life makes you want to know more. :)
It is nice to be able to read an account from someone who has been living inside of this culture but now lives in Western Europe. I find it quite fun to read, as I can relate to both the European perspective and to some degree to the American, having relatives over there whom I am in contact with from time to time and whom I have visited on some occasions.
Thanks Gustav!!!
That totally makes my day since exploring and illustrating different perspectives is one of my favorite things about blogging! :D
Okay. Here's what puzzles me about stuff like this:
Why do people espousing views like this (interesting term, "espousing"; implies being married to a view...but I won't go there here, and sorry for the digression) always seem to equate the existence of an afterlife with proof that the Christian god exists?
As far as I can see, one can posit the existence of some sort of survival of the personality of individuals after death without needing a patriarchal, controlling God to exist to act as a gatekeeper and send everyone who doesn't believe in him/her/it to eternal punishment. Not advocating (or dismissing) this view, you understand; just saying that it exists.
Certainly, I know folks who are not Christians who have very sincere and firm beliefs in the direction of survival. Sometimes this belief includes the idea of reincarnation, and sometimes it doesn't. Either way, theorizing that there is an afterlife doesn't require one to believe in the Christian god.
The other interesting thing I noticed (among a bunch of interesting and/or puzzling things) in the original comment was the charge that atheists use "intellectually dishonest" and "tortured" reasoning to disprove the existence of god. Not to accuse the specific poster of this (because I would never do that), but I've seen some awfully intellectually dishonest and tortured reasoning used by Christian (and other religious) believers who were trying to prove the existence of God.
Hey Ima!!!
Good points! I think it should be obvious that the existence of an afterlife doesn't imply the existence of the Christian God. But I think that for some people the two beliefs are so intertwined that they can hardly conceive of one without the other.
Yeah, it doesn't seem to occur to him that he's losing out on the Elysian Fields.
Plus, of course, how to you believe, actually believe not mouth the words, just be deciding to gamble? If all you have to do is say the magic words, that's not very substantial, is it?
Hey Ridger!!!
What are Elysian Fields?
That's a good point that deciding to believe for the sake of the gamble isn't the same as actually believing. I wonder if Christians would consider me to be "saved" if I recited the right prayer (without believing it).
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