What Door to Door Evangelists for Atheism Would Really Be Like

STEP 1: Here’s the original cartoon that’s been making the rounds on the web:

STEP 2: Compare what actual atheists are regularly noted for (hint: it’s not positively extolling the virtues of nonbelief, that’s for sure):

- Flinging ‘unholy water’ on a highway to negate a blessing
- Put up signs mocking religion – on space for Nativity scenes… Which gets all displays banned (tipped by wits0).
- Booking up as many display lots as possible – intentionally at Christmas and Hannukah time
- ‘De-baptizing’ people of holy water with a hair dryer
- Offering porn in exchange for Bibles to declare that the Bible is worse
- Threatening a lawsuit to force the removal of a landmark chapel from a city logo – because it has a cross
- Put up a confrontational billboard, at Christmas of all times
- Seemingly the majority of remarks left on a blog, comments section, message board or Twitter feed by atheists. Examples: ohTHATJesus Twitter feed, By The Book Comics.
- Among the most rabid hobbies of basically every single Communist regime which all just happen to be de-facto atheist. Examples: Leninist Russia, Stalinist USSR, Communist China, Khmer Rouge Cambodia, North Korea, Cuba, Calles’ Mexico, and overall list here.

STEP 3: Thus I submit my edit of the cartoon, to better reflect reality:

As Ace says:

But one of the central planks of the Church of Atheism is that religion is inherently evil and causes you to behave like an a$$hole.

Well, that’s not true. Most religious people are as far away from a$$holery as is possible.

Sure, there are the always-present Some. Some are a$$holes. Sure.

But if it’s religion that’s causing all this illogic and anger and emotionalism and pettiness and spitefulness and general a$$holery, why is it so present among those who have no religion?

And via AoSHQ, Dinesh D’Souza:

But if you think about it, this is an inadequate explanation, because if you truly believe that there is no proof for God, then you’re not going to bother with the matter. You’re just going to live your life as if God isn’t there.

…

What I’m getting at is that you have these people out there who don’t believe that God exists, but who are actively attempting to eliminate religion from society, setting up atheist video shows, and having atheist conferences. There has to be more going on here than mere unbelief.

Ace, btw, is not a religious person – self described as atheist/agnostic – and is by no means a Christian.

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See also twin posts, Christianity Inspires Good in A Way Unbelief Cannot Emulate (serious) and Things That Are Highly Unlikely (Atheism vs Christianity) – Me on Twitter (snarky).

The Avengers – What Captain America Would Lament About Modern Society

Firt up, great kudos to director Joss Whedon on a job well done – full of action, true to the characters, plenty of genuinely funny moments and quips, and without letting it end up overly focused on one character at the expense of others the way the Wolverine & His Backdrop Friends (aka the X-Men movies) did – credit to his comic nerditude and experience with ensemble casts (tip via AoSHQ)

Anyway, Joss Whedon had this to share, via Newsbusters:

One of the best scenes that I wrote was the beautiful and poignant scene between Steve and Peggy [Carter] that takes place in the present. And I was the one who was like, ‘Guys, we need to lose this.’ It was killing the rhythm of the thing. And we did have a lot of Cap, because he really was the in for me. I really do feel a sense of loss about what’s happening in our culture, loss of the idea of community, loss of health care and welfare and all sorts of things. I was spending a lot of time having him say it, and then I cut that.

Let’s be realistic here… Would the average 1940s American WASP be more shocked by the loss of health care and welfare (things which were nowhere near as prevalent in that era compared to today – even FDR himself opposed welfare parasitism)?

Or would he rather be more shocked at the unprecedented influx of blasphemy, irreverence, cussing, faithlessness, anti-Christianity, and clamping down on public displays of religion?

Or the celebration of public disorder, breaking the law, violence, disrespect, laziness, and collusion with openly-acknowledged enemies of America ala the Occupy movement and modern liberalism in general?

Or the open acceptance (and even praise) of sexual mores like open homosexuality, casual sex, swinging, children by multiple fathers, single motherhood, children out of wedlock, divorce, serial remarriage, and a hundred thousand abortions a month nationally?

Shouldn’t be hard to imagine really, as so much inspiration was already taken from the Ultimates line, the script team was surely aware of Ultimate Cap’s culture shock reaction to the above:

- On potty mouths and nudity

- On incest

- On why one fights

- On quitting a fight

On the other hand, Whedon’s Captain America does have this to say:

There’s only one God ma’am, and I’m pretty sure He doesn’t dress like that.

In reference to Thor and Loki being Asgardian ‘gods’. Cap here seems to get that even if Thor really is a nigh-immortal Asgardian superhuman with control of lightning, that doesn’t mean that the Biblical God is disproven. Thor is merely an alien being identified with the Nordic legends.

This is a point that Ultimate Cap didn’t seem to get (or rather, the writers didn’t want to concede) – Ultimate Thor niggled him that it shouldn’t be a stretch to imagine since Cap goes to church every Sunday. Actually, if Cap really follows what is taught in church, it would preclude Thor’s claims to deity, rather than bolster them.

Christianity Inspires Good in A Way Unbelief Cannot Emulate

When I tweeted a series sarcastically contrasting the how atheism and Christianity motivate (or doesn’t motivate ) people to do good, and resposted it on my blog, I had totally forgotten about my promise to try not to mock and belittle atheists.

Well, longtime commentor Ron pointed it out, and I had to admit my failing.

That said, the premise of my tweets and post is not rendered void. So here in this post, I will attempt to rephrase what I intended to say in a non-sarcastic, non-snarking manner.

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It is often pointed out by polemics – especially those of the atheistic vein – that many bad things are done in the name of religion, or at least inspired by religion.

However, if religion is really so bad, then why is it still so prevalent even in our modern, scientific age of rationalism and humanism? Why hasn’t religion been disacarded as a force for evil, a detriment to human civilization and survival?

There are many competing and complementary explanations, but how about this – in all the self-smug polemics, critics forget that religion inspires people to do good in a way that secularism and atheism somehow do not.

For example, many a former drug addict or alcoholic who has reformed his ways – and even turned into a model citizen who works to rescue other from the same trap – attributes the change to realizing the existence of a loving and forgiving God.

Many a convict – hardened criminals, career lawbreakers, death-row inmates – has been so stricken with remorse upon discovering Jesus Christ that they renounced their former ways and transformed into a model prisoner, encouraging others to accept the love and forgiveness of God and humanizing an otherwise bleak and forlorn environment.

Many a suicidal person, distraught over the hopelessness and ennui of it all, has found new meaning and hope and joy in life after reading the Bible (or even a snippet of it in an evangelical tract), hearing a preacher’s message, or simply through the lovingkindness of Christ expressed through a believer.

Many an invidual has given up a safe home, a comfortable life, and a promising career in order to serve in (very often) religious or religiously-linked/inspired charities. Even if they do not personally head out to disease-infested wilds or poverty-stricken slums or wartorn battlegrounds to minister God’s love to the needy, at the very least they sacrifice their own hard earnings to support such work through church offerings or charities – the latter often inspired and named after well-loved parables and personalities of the Bible: Loaves & Fishes, Samaritan’s Purse, Barnabas Aid, Faith & Light, Our Father’s House.

Many a former prisoner of war – brutalized, dehumanized, pushed to the brink of death by their oppressors – has turned around and offered full, unconditional forgiveness to their torturers… Because of the example of Jesus and the Apostles so long ago and the countless saints and martyrs of the faith since.

Now take each of the above, and imagine replacing Christianity with the uncertainty of agnosticism or the blithe existentialism of atheism. Doesn’t quite work, does it?

For all talk that “If only people abandoned foolish and cruel religion, the world would be a better place!”, unbelief simply fails to provide a meaningful replacement.

Therefore I wager that religion – Christianity in particular – has been overwhelmingly a force that inspires good rather than evil. Hospitals, charities, legal and philosophical concepts, personal crusades, countless little decisions made every day – how much worse off the world would be without any number of institutions and effects inspired by Christianity! (And of course, if self-proclaimed Christians truly adhered to the teachings of the Bible and the example of Jesus, not one of them would ever commit evil – least of all in the name of God.)

And last but not least, it continues to be my personal belief that, whatever the Communist regimes were or were not – whether their gross atrocities against humanity were directly inspired by their de facto atheism or not – at the very least, their outright rejection of religion contributed to their ability to ignore and intentionally trample on human rights.

After all, when there is no God but man – when man makes his own ultimate morals, rules and laws – and when such commands as “Thou shall not murder” and “Love thy neighbor; love thy enemy” are tossed out along with all the other

Religion – no matter how illogical, scientifically baseless or outright absurd the teachings may be – has been the dam that for millenia held back the flood human evil from engulfing all of humanity.

See also What Door to Door Evangelists for Atheism Would Really Be Like.

Things That Are Highly Unlikely (Atheism vs Christianity) – Me on Twitter

Been tweeting these lately:

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#Unlikelythings Drug addict reforming his ways cos no evidence of loving God #atheism vs #Christianity

#Unlikelythings Convict stricken with remorse thx to discovering secular humanism #atheism vs #Christianity

#Unlikelythings Suicidal person finds new meaning in life after reading Richard Dawkins #atheism vs #Christianity

#Unlikelythings Ppl give up comfortable life, serve charity due to rationalism and rejection of the supernatural #atheism vs #Christianity

#Unlikelythings Prisoners of war forgive brutal oppressors because of NeoDarwinism #atheism vs #Christianity

#Unlikelythings Ppl sharing and declaring how much *ERROR, DOES NOT EXIST* loves you #atheism vs #Christianity

#Unlikelythings Charities and humanitarian movements named after much-loved parables of atheist thought #atheism vs #Christianity

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Inspired by these snarkily-titled posts in the same gist as follow:

• Devoted Atheist Mom and Writings of Voltaire Reform Drug User & Dealer Convict

• Once Again, Total and Utter Absence of A Loving Supernatural Creator Transforms Drug Addict Into Charitable Role Model

• Indisputably Proven Fact That God Does Not Exist Rehabilitates Hardcore Drug Addicts Into Model Citizens

Constrasted against

• >How Atheism Touches Lives – Stirring Real Life Examples

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(I’ll preemptively add: Come and get it, Ron!)

See also What Door to Door Evangelists for Atheism Would Really Be Like.

North Korea vs South Korea: We Require More Minerals

Via Comixed, from The Oatmeal. So sadly true…

Once again, I thank the selfless Americans who allowed me to be a middle class capitalist pig, wasting time on teh Internets, instead of having to be a dirt farming tourist leech.

So, who wants to espouse Communism/Socialism over capitalism?

PS. So why is it murderous commies were also always atheists?

Devoted Atheist Mom and Writings of Voltaire Reform Drug User & Dealer Convict

Another great testimony for rationalist secular humanism /sarc /snark

LINK to video:
http://player.vimeo.com/video/32400978?autoplay=1%EF%BF%BD

Previously in the series:

• Once Again, Total and Utter Absence of A Loving Supernatural Creator Transforms Drug Addict Into Charitable Role Model

• Indisputably Proven Fact That God Does Not Exist Rehabilitates Hardcore Drug Addicts Into Model Citizens

Constrasted against

• >How Atheism Touches Lives – Stirring Real Life Examples

Once Again, Total and Utter Absence of A Loving Supernatural Creator Transforms Drug Addict Into Charitable Role Model

Excerpt from The Star 8 Apil 2012:

Rejoice in act of giving
On The Beat
By Wong Chun Wai

…

Kenosis is my favourite cause because I have great respect for the work of Pastor Richard Lee who runs the Kenosis Home street feeding programme. He also runs a rehabilitation programme for drug addicts.

It’s hard not to be impressed with Pastor Lee and his amazing turnaround story. He himself was a drug addict for two decades before he saw the light and through God’s grace, turned his life around to be a pastor now.

Besides his work in the streets and in the drug rehabilitation centres, I enjoy watching Pastor Lee challenging the middle-class congregation in the comfort of their churches, during his sermons, if they would be comfortable having the drug addicts and HIV carriers sitting among them.

Oh wait, it’s a snark! My bad!

See also related: Indisputably Proven Fact That God Does Not Exist Rehabilitates Hardcore Drug Addicts Into Model Citizens contrasted against >How Atheism Touches Lives – Stirring Real Life Examples.

Faith Creates Signs From Heaven – Not Vice Versa

Once upon sometime, I asked a regular commentor who does not believe in God, what would convince him that the Biblical God is real.

His response:

An instantaneous appearance to everyone on earth and healing all the amputees and terminally ill people would do it for me.

To which I replied:

Keep on asking, and ye shall receive. Even the bad guys?

Now that’s all good and well, and I continue to believe that if it is in accordance with God’s perfect wisdom to do so, He will bring forth a planet-wide appearance accompanied by healing.

But between that time and now, I have come to realize something: Signs and wonders cannot ever be a substitute for faith.

We’ll begin our study today with the most well known passage regarding signs being withheld.

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JESUS – SHOW US A SIGN FROM HEAVEN

The Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus and tested him by asking him to show them a sign from heaven. He replied, “When evening comes, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,’ and in the morning, ‘Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.” Jesus then left them and went away. – Matthew 16:1-4

When one reads this passage, one cannot help but to wonder: Why didn’t Jesus just show them a miracle then and there, and thereby convince them that He is Messiah?

For that matter, why not show them His power at any time during His arrest, trial, torture or crucifixion? (Apart from the fact that it would defeat His purpose to cleanse away our sins – see The Devil Did Not Want Jesus to Die on the Cross and Be Thankful For Jesus’ Incredible Self-Control for more on that.)

If you think back, the Pharisees and Sadduccees and other skeptics had already been witness to many of Jesus miracles, healings and cleansings of demons! What Jesus responded to the questioners shows that He had already been showing everyone plenty of signs and marks of the Messiah (see Luke 7:18-23 where He answers the followers of John the Baptist by citing the Messianic prophecy of Isaiah 5:5-6). The questioners could observe the sky and predict the weather, but they – the most well versed in Scripture – could not even recognize the signs of Messiah staring them in the face!

Two particular instances are particularly telling:

Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see. All the people were astonished and said, “Could this be the Son of David?” But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons.” – Matthew 12;22-24

The Pharisees’ response to healing of demon possession? Jesus must have used demonic power to do it!

His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?” Some claimed that he was. Others said, “No, he only looks like him.” But he himself insisted, “I am the man.”

…They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man’s eyes was a Sabbath. Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. “He put mud on my eyes,” the man replied, “and I washed, and now I see.” Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.” But others asked, “How can a sinner perform such signs?” So they were divided.

…They still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they sent for the man’s parents. “Is this your son?” they asked. “Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?” “We know he is our son,” the parents answered, “and we know he was born blind.

…Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” He answered, “I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? – Excerpts from John chapter 9

Jesus healed a man who was blind since birth – his former affliction was testified to by himself under oath (‘Give glory to God’ in verse 24 is a solemn oath to tell the truth), his neighbors, and his own parents.

Yet despite his repeated insistence on what had transpired, the Pharisees refused to believe or accept that Jesus had healed him – simply because in their stubborn arrogance, they considered one who healed on a Sabbath to be a sinner!

So no matter how many miracles or signs or fulfilled prophecies Jesus demonstrated, the end result would still be the same – the wicked and adulterous critics would dismiss it as a lie, a trick, or the work of the devil!

And on the matter of belief and hardened hearts, compare several other instances of Jesus’ work:

But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town and in his own home.” And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith. – Matthew 13:57-58

Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” – Matthew 17:19-20

And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. … He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.” – Mark 5:25-29, 34

While Jesus was still speaking, some people came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. “Your daughter is dead,” they said. “Why bother the teacher anymore?” Overhearing what they said, Jesus told him, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.” … He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which means “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”). Immediately the girl stood up and began to walk around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished. – Mark 5:35-36, 41-42

“But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.” “‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.” Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the impure spirit. “You deaf and mute spirit,” he said, “I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, “He’s dead.” But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up. – Mark 9:22-27

By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith. By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. – Hebrews 11:7-8

As you can see, faith is a prerequisite of miracles.

This is a hard teaching to accept, particularly for a postmodern world that says “Show me, and then I will believe.” For the God of the Bible replies, “Believe, and then I will show you.”

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. – Hebrews 11:1

This is not to say that Jesus or God cannot perform miracles if the people do not have faith. Rather, just as salvation cannot be forced on an unwilling recipient, one must have faith in order to receive the miracle.

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THE EXODUS ISRAELITES – A GOD WHO WILL GO BEFORE THEM

Now the story of Exodus is well known. The Israelites had just seen God strike Egypt with ten plagues, go before them in a pillar of cloud and fire (Exodus 13:21-22), part the Red Sea, and destroy every one of their pursuers along with Pharaoh.

Yet despite all of what God had just done, their faith in the Almighty God who had shown such favor upon them was so weak that they had to make their own visible, physical ‘god’ to lead them on their journey!

When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.” – Exodus 32:1

The Israelites would continue on in this pattern – witnessing miracle after miracle, receiving manna and quail and water, witnessing firsthand the supernatural destruction of both enemies and rebellious Israelite alike – yet till the very last, when they finally reached the Promised Land, in Numbers chapters 13 and 14 they despaired that God could not help them overcome the inhabitants of the Land He had Promised to them!

That night all the members of the community raised their voices and wept aloud. All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, “If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this wilderness! Why is the LORD bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?” And they said to each other, “We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt.” – Numbers 14:1-4

In fact, over and over again the Israelites fell back on what is seen (2nd Corinthians 4:18) instead of the unseen source:

He removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. (It was called Nehushtan.) – 2nd Kings 18:4

This refers to the bronze snake God used as a test of faith and tool of healing in Numbers 21.

Gideon made the gold into an ephod, which he placed in Ophrah, his town. All Israel prostituted themselves by worshiping it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his family. – Judges 8:27

After achieving great works in God’s name in Judges 6 & 7, Gideon too fell into the sin of idolatry. But after all, Gideon himself was not convinced by the very presence of God meeting him face to face and had to ask for such mundane signs as condensation – he needed a physical object to rely on, before and after his great victory in God’s name.

So again, what did signs and wonders and miracles accomplish? The recipients and witnesses of such magnificent power slid into idolatry and apostasy. They had no lasting faith.

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PAUL AND BARNABAS – WHEN MIRACLES DON’T FIT YOUR NARRATIVE

In Lystra there sat a man who was lame. He had been that way from birth and had never walked. He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed and called out, “Stand up on your feet!” At that, the man jumped up and began to walk.

When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in human form!” Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes because he was the chief speaker. The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought bulls and wreaths to the city gates because he and the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to them.

But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of this, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd, shouting: “Friends, why are you doing this? We too are only human, like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them. In the past, he let all nations go their own way. Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.” Even with these words, they had difficulty keeping the crowd from sacrificing to them.

Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead. But after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city. The next day he and Barnabas left for Derbe. – Exceprts from Acts 14:8-20

What an about-face! From being ready to worship and make expensive sacrifices, to angrily stoning Paul to attempted death – just because the two apostles did refused to conform their truth to the crowd’s expectations.

What about the miracle they had worked, the man they had healed? As the example of the Pharisees and the blind man in John chapter 9 showed, signs and wonders count for naught to convince when the heart is hardened. Although it is not noted in the passage, one can surmise that the Jews may have ‘won the crowd over’ by declaring Paul and Barnabas to be frauds, tricksters or even evil sorcerors.

And note why Paul chose to heal the lame man – Paul saw that the man had faith to be healed.

Again, faith leads to miracles – and miracles cannot create faith.

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IN CONCLUSION

Let me leave you with two illustrative stories:

The first story:

THE UNBELIEVING MAN WHO SAW GOD

There was a man who absolutely, decidedly did not believe in God.

One day, God appeared to him in lightning and fire and earthquake.

“Do you believe in me now, o arrogant one?” God thundered.

“No, of course not,” the man replied. “Obviously, I am having a hallucination. In the morning, I shall look back at this occurrence and remind myself to go to bed earlier.”

And with that, the man went home to get some sleep.

The second story:

THE MAN WHO WAS CONVINCED HE WAS DEAD

There was a man who was convinced that he was dead. No matter what argument his wife used to convince him, he still stubbornly refused to change his conclusion. Finally his wife brought him to a doctor.

“All right sir, come with me. We’re going to take a look at a dead body in the morgue,” the doctor said.

Despite their trepidations, the man and his wife followed the doctor to where a dead body lay, cold and still. The doctor took a needle, and pricked the corpse’s skin repeatedly.

“Do you notice? A dead man does not hurt, nor does he bleed,” said the doctor. The man nodded in understanding.

Then the doctor took a fresh needle and pricked the man’s finger. The man recoiled in shock at the sharp pain, and his finger immediately began to bleed. Slowly, the man’s eyes widened with newfound understanding.

“Do you get it now?” the doctor and the man’s wife asked excitedly.

“Yes… Yes, I do!” the man exclaimed.

“Dead men do bleed!”

And that is the way it will be. If God were to appear in the skies, burning bright with glory and awesome power… More than half the world would probably dismiss His manifestation as a hallucination, a trick, aliens with advanced technology, the devil himself… Anything but the correct conclusion that God is real!

(The above stories are paraphrased from as found in Josh McDowell’s and Lee Strobel’s books – both of them are former disbelievers who turned to Christ after studying the evidence. Their stories are at Christianity – The Faith of Famously Intellectual, Logical, Reasonable Thinkers.)

In fact, one wonders if even after death, when the souls of all people – believers and unbelievers – are judged before the throne of God, the latter will still stubbornly refuse to believe He exists! Thus not acknowledging that God is real, how can they accept Jesus’ free offer of salvation? How can they spend eternity in a non-existent heaven praising a non-existent God?

C.S. Lewis included such types of people in The Last Battle, the final book in The Chronicles of Narnia series, as explained by Sun and Shield:

In The Last Battle, by C. S. Lewis, some dwarves have an interesting role. They refuse to believe in a false Aslan, and also refuse to believe in a real one. When the Calormenes throw them into a dark stable, they refuse to see anything but what you would expect to find in such a building, even though other characters in the book can see that the stable, in reality, is not dark, and has no walls — just a door.

Lucy Pevensie, who has a soft heart, tries to get the Lion, Aslan, to make things better for the dwarves, Aslan produces a banquet for them. They eat, but they think they are eating old cattle food, or drinking from a trough for animals. When a dwarf is picked up and carried toward the outside, he experiences being slammed into the wall, even though there is no wall. Aslan says that they have chosen not to believe, and there is nothing he can do for them.

(See also Hell, If I Know where hell for an atheist would be spending eternity with God, and Real Life Metaphors For Hell.)

Belief because of signs is no substitute for true faith. When Abraham believed he and Sara would have a child, when David slung a stone at Goliath, when the woman with bleeding touched Jesus’ garment – none of them had any evidence, proof or sign that told them for certain IT WILL BE DONE.

They first believed, and thus they received.

Debunking Norway Shooter Anders Breivik’s Usage of Bible Verses in His Manifesto

Anders Breivik, using explosives and firearms, perpetrated a massacre in Oslo, Norway on 22 July 2011.

In his huge 1500+ page manifesto 2083 A European Declaration of Independence, among other things he calls himself a Christian and cites passages from the Bible – preemptively justifying his actions it would seem.

I have sarcastically pointed out why Anders Breivik isn’t a Christian in any meaningful sense. (To wit: Paris Hilton is a non-practising nun living in an un-utilized vow of poverty and chastity.) Even his understanding of what constitutes a ‘Christian’ is way out there – ‘Christian-atheist’ anyone?

And here, I now attempt to debunk Anders Breivik’s citing of Scripture. Thanks go to commentor Ron for spurring this post. Browsing around I didn’t find any examination of Breivik’s citing Scripture, so took it upon myself to carry out this task.

My reference is the full manifesto in PDF format as posted at public intelligence. Breivik cites Scripture in an attempt to justify his violent philosophy from page 1328 to 1334 of the PDF.

And now we begin proper. Anders Breivik’s manifesto excerpts are in blockquotes, and my responses follow each.

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3.149 The Bible and self-defence

Many Christians claim that acts of self-defence are unbiblical, unscriptural and ungodly. However, they are un-doubtfully wrong.

The Bible couldn’t be clearer on the right, even the duty; we have as Christians to self-defence.
Let’s start in the Old Testament.

Exodus 22:2″If a thief be found breaking up, and be smitten that he die, there shall no blood be shed for him,”

we are told in Exodus 22:2. The next verse says,

“If the sun be risen upon him, there shall be bloodshed for him; for he should make full restitution; if he have nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft.”

In other words, it was perfectly OK to kill a thief breaking into your house. That’s the ultimate expression of self-defence. It doesn’t matter whether the thief is threatening your life or not. You have the right to protect your home, your family and your property, the Bible says.

Well I’d have to agree on that. In fact that’s the whole idea of Right of self-defense in US law.

So running with Breivik’s apparent notion that certain people are ‘robbers’ invading his home – does this extend to actively hunting down robbers – or even more indirect, people who may or may not rob in the future – and pre-emptively executing them? Not in my book.

BREIVIK’S ERROR: MISAPPLICATION OF PASSAGE

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The Israelites were expected to have their own personal weapons. Every man would be summoned to arms when the nation confronted an enemy. The people defended themselves.

Samuel 25:13: ”David said to his men, “Each of you gird on his sword.” So each man girded on his sword. And David also girded on his sword, and about four hundred men went up behind David while two hundred stayed with the baggage.”

Every man had a sword and every man picked it up when it was required.

Judges 5:8: “They chose new gods; then was war in the gates: was there a shield or spear seen among forty thousand in Israel?”

Reminds us of what happens to a foolish nation that chooses to disarm. The answer to the rhetorical question is clear: No. The people had rebelled against God and put away their weapons of self-defence.

1st Samuel 25 in context, David was running from King Saul who wanted his head (Breivik apparently left out which book of Samuel it is by the way). If you know the overall story of David and Saul, you’ll remember that David on multiple occassions spared Saul’s life – in fact, the very next passage showcases one instance of David’s restraint – and even had a looter executed who (falsely) boasted of killing Saul.

Did Breivik show any similar reverence for human life?

As for Judges 5, this took place during a time of open war and pillaging – Israel was surrounded by hostile nations. For soldiers to lay down arms in the face of implacable enemies is gross dereliction of duty, including their responsibility to protect their own civilian populace. A comparable scenario is if Britain and the United States declared unilateral pacifism and disarmament in the face of Nazi and Japanese invasion.

So does any of this justify ‘taking up arms’ and mowing down unarmed civilians, including children?

BREIVIK’S ERROR: MISAPPLICATION OF PASSAGE; TAKING OUT OF CONTEXT

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Psalms 144:1: “Blessed be the LORD my strength which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight,”

Clearly, this is not a pacifist God we serve. It’s God who teaches our hands to war and our fingers to fight. Over and over again throughout the Old Testament, His people are commanded to fight with the best weapons available to them at that time.

And what were those weapons? Swords.

They didn’t have firearms, but they had side-arms.

Psalm 144 is again in the context of David during a time of persecution/war.

Breivik is partly correct that God is not a pacifist (in the sociopolitical sense), but he misses/ignores his own caveat – that God commanded the Israelites to fight and aided them in battle specifically within the Old Testament’s context of open war.

To ignore the multitude of verses where God desires and commands peace – and basically the entire New Testament’s examples and implorings of peace – is gross selectiveness.

BREIVIK’S ERROR: MISAPPLICATION; TAKING OUT OF CONTEXT; SELECTIVE CITATION

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In fact, in the New Testament, Jesus commanded His disciples to buy them and equip them.

Luke 22:36: “Then said he unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one.”

Matthew 26:52-54: “Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?”

If you read those verses in context they support the position of self-defence. Jesus told Peter he would be committing suicide to choose a fight in this situation, as well as undermining God’s plan to allow Jesus’ death on the cross and resurrection.

Jesus told Peter to put his sword in its place – at his side. He didn’t say throw it away. After all, He had just ordered the disciples to arm themselves. The reason for the arms was obviously to protect the lives of the disciples, not the life of the Son of God. What Jesus was saying was: “Peter, this is not the right time for a fight.”

In the context of cultural conservative Europeans current war against the cultural Marxist/multiculturalist elites and the ongoing Islamic invasion through Islamic demographic warfare against Europe, every military action against our enemies is considered self defence. There will be much suffering and destruction but eventually we will succeed and may be able to start rebuilding.

If you actually do read Luke 22 and Matthew 26 in context, and in fact in the context of how Jesus lived and acted, you might come to a different conclusion.

First, let’s look at the immediately following verses in Luke 22:

It is written: ‘And he was numbered with the transgressors’; and I tell you that this must be fulfilled in me. Yes, what is written about me is reaching its fulfillment.” The disciples said, “See, Lord, here are two swords.” “That’s enough!” he replied. – Luke 22:37-38

There are several things to note. First, Jesus needed to fulfill a Messianic prophecy – and by being armed and resisting arrest (and even committing injury), His disciples were counted as lawbreakers, transgressors.

Second, what use is two swords against a coming heavily armed mob? As was usual, the disciples misunderstood Jesus’ intent – applying it literally instead of dwelling on the philosophical meaning of being prepared to be by themselves. (Compare Matthew 16 where they take Jesus’ ‘yeast’ metaphor literally.) Furthermore, Jesus could easily have smited the guards, so what would He need His disciples to be armed for – with a measly two swords?

In fact Breivik defeats his own argument by citing Matthew 26, where Jesus warns that those who live in violence (by the sword) will die the same way – a warning against aggression.

Finally, Breivik is committing disproportionate response – he claims that certain groups are waging (metaphorical) war through culture and demographics, so he responds with literal war of the violent military action type.

What ever happened to turning the other cheek? Now, I don’t take this principle to mean ‘let the other guy break your spine and kill your family while you smile’ – I subscribe to reasonable self defence as well as championing righteousness for the innocent and oppressed – but Breivik’s victims didn’t even get up in his face before he escalated it to fatal levels!

(I do like to joke that Chuck Norris turns the other cheek… To deliver a spinning back kick. But that’s just a joke.)

BREIVIK’S ERROR: MISINTERPRETATION OF PASSAGE

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We should recall Nehemiah, who rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem.

Nehemiah 4:17-18: “Those who were rebuilding the wall and those who carried burdens took their load with one hand doing the work and the other holding a weapon”. ”As for the builders, each wore his sword girded at his side as he built,…”

Again, in the historical context, Nehemiah and the Jews rebuilding Jerusalem were under real and immediate threat of organized violence, despite their work being sanctioned by King Cyrus.

However, just the stationing or armed guards caused the plotters to give up their planned assault – not a punch was thrown. They did not preemptively strike to kill the plotters beforehand.

Were there bands of armed men ready to jump Anders Breivik? Outside of his fervored imagination? At the camp where he committed his slaughter? Even the policeman there was not armed! (See much below, close to end for more on that.)

BREIVIK’S ERROR: TAKING OUT OF CONTEXT

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More information about Christianity and self-defence

There are many passages that talk about war and violence that God approves of, such as David slaying Goliath (1 Samuel 17). Not to mention the fact that God commanded the Israelites to completely destroy everyone and everything in the Promised Land!

Yes yes yes, very good – now show us where God told you, in public and with multiple witnesses – that you are to go forth and kill specific persons.

I suppose I don’t even need to mention 1st Samuel 17 being in context of open war, with two armies almost a literal stone’s throw from one another.

As for destroying the Canaanites (for example, in Deuteronomy 7), this is again a very specific example – none of us is an Israelite marching to the Promised Land under the command of a still-living Moses or Joshua to wipe of ancient tribes that no longer exist.

Furthermore, to the accusations that such ‘genocide’ is inhumane and immoral, God is creator and owner of all life. Imagine if instead of commanding the Israelites to kill the Canaanites, God had dropped a meteor on the land. The end result vis-a-vis human life is no different, but it just seems more acceptable to modern sensibilities. I mean, how often do you hear people opine that the Great Flood or Sodom & Gomorrah being obliterated were immoral?

BREIVIK’S ERROR: MISAPPLICATION; TAKING OUT OF CONTEXT

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As with many questions in our lives, self-defence has to do with wisdom, understanding, and tact. For instance, in the Luke 22 passage stated above, Jesus does tell his disciples to get a sword. Jesus knew that now was the time when Jesus would be threatened (and later killed) and his followers would be threatened as well. Jesus was giving approval of the fact that one has the right to self-defence. Now just a few verses later we see Jesus being arrested and Peter takes a sword and cuts off someone’s ear. Jesus rebukes him for that act. Why? Peter was trying to stop something that Jesus had been telling His disciples was in fact going to happen. In other words, Peter was acting unwisely in the situation. He was trying to stop something that was not supposed to be stopped. We must be wise as to when to fight and when not to.

Exodus 22 does show quite a bit about God’s attitude towards self-defence. “If a thief is caught breaking in and is struck so that he dies, the defender is not guilty of bloodshed;
but if it happens after sunrise, he is guilty of bloodshed. A thief must certainly make restitution, but if he has nothing, he must be sold to pay for his theft” (Exodus 22:2-3). Obviously here we see that when a thief breaks into someone’s house at night and that person defends his home and slays the thief, God does not hold that death over the defender’s head. However, God does not wish for anyone to take law into his or her own hands. This is why it is said that if a thief is struck down during the daylight the defender is guilty of bloodshed. Now this is speaking of thievery, not an attack. So if the thief were to attack the defender even during the day, self-defence would be justified.

See how he is quick to justify himself? Killing a thief in daylight is murder, but that’s just for thievery – not attacking. So his daytime killing spree was just fine and dandy.

Never mind that NO ONE WAS ACTIVELY ATTACKING HIM at the campsite or before. But I’ve already mentioned his grossly disproportionate response above.

BREIVIK’S ERROR: MISINTERPRETATION/MISAPPLICATION

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Battle verses

“Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7)

James 4 is referring to temptation and especially pride, not physical Hollywood-style demons – or humans he thinks of a devils.

Yet I suspect he knows this, but included it anyway.

BREIVIK’S ERROR: MISINTERPRETATION/MISAPPLICATION

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“If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments, and perform them … you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely. I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none will make you afraid; I will rid the land of evil beasts, and the sword will not go through your land. You will chase your enemies, and they shall fall by the sword before you. Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight; your enemies shall fall by the sword before you.” (Leviticus 26:3)
God will anoint you with his power to go into battle

Leviticus 26 is in the context of entering the Promised Land – and the battles that would entail.

BREIVIK’S ERROR: MISAPPLICATION; TAKING OUT OF CONTEXT

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If you are operating under a full surrender with God the Father, and walking in all of God’s ways and staying out of any serious sins and transgressions against Him – then the next thing you will need to fully realise is that God will now anoint you with His power if you are forced to go into battle with your enemy.

Who forced him to pick up firearms? Was there a gun to his head, or even vague death threats to his person?

BREIVIK’S ERROR: MISAPPLICATION

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The Bible tells us that we are now all good soldiers of Jesus Christ. Whether we want to face up to it or not, we are all living in a war zone as a result of the curse of Adam and Eve that is still in full operation on this earth. Anyone of us at anytime can come under human or demonic attack. The daily news will prove that to you without any shadow of a doubt.

He doesn’t cite a verse, but I suspect it is the following:

Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer. Similarly, anyone who competes as an athlete does not receive the victor’s crown except by competing according to the rules. The hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops. Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all this. – 2nd Timothy 2:3-7

Take the whole passage – its mentions of various occupations is meant to illustrate singelminded focus. The soldier example is mentioned only in passing – and then ‘in suffering’ the way Paul was meekly suffering in prison! This is the exact opposite of Breivik’s arrogantly causing suffering.

BREIVIK’S ERROR: MISAPPLICATION/MISINTERPRETATION

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Each Christian must now make their own personal decision on all of this. You can either choose to learn how to rise up in the power of your Lord and Saviour and learn how to become a true warrior in the Lord, or you can continue to keep your head in the sand and oppressor after oppressor keep beating you down. The choice is yours.

The following verses will show you that God can anoint you with His power to defeat any enemy that may come your way – but you first have to be willing to step into that anointing, and then be willing to take your enemy head on before God will release His anointing through you to be able to defeat that enemy.

Again, study these verses very carefully – as they will show you the incredible supernatural power that God can channel through you if you would be willing to step into and walk with His anointing.

No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is from me,” says the Lord. (Isaiah 54:17)

This passage as a whole talks of the far future, when God brings true and universal peace to the world.

Furthermore, if ‘No weapon formed against you shall prosper’, then what does Breivik have to fear from his alleged enemies that drives him to strike them first?

BREIVIK’S ERROR: MISAPPLICATION; TAKING OUT OF CONTEXT

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“… but the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits.” (Daniel 11:32)

In context, this is a prophecy/vision of what takes place during a war between a king of the north and a king of the south (historical, in the ends times, or both), and those who know their God will resist the one who tries to get them to abandon God.

BREIVIK’S ERROR: TAKING OUT OF CONTEXT

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“For the kingdom of God is not in word but in power.” (1 Corinthians 4:20)

In context, Paul is challenging certain arrogant people to show that there is substance behind their boasts.

BREIVIK’S ERROR: TAKING OUT OF CONTEXT

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“Truly the signs of an apostle were accomplished among you with all perseverance, in signs and wonders and mighty deeds.” (2 Corinthians 12:12)

Good gracious, is trying to preemptively justify that ‘mighty deeds’ includes mass murder?

Anyway, the context is Paul explaining how he – and only he, not Anders Breivik – had worked hard to prove his apostleship to the Corinthian church, including with ‘mighty deeds’. Which I am quite sure did not include mass murder.

BREIVIK’S ERROR: TAKING OUT OF CONTEXT

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Blessed be the Lord my Rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle – my lovingkindness and my fortress, my high tower and my deliverer, my shield and the One in whom I take refuge, who subdues my people under me.” (Psalm 144:1)

Once again, the context is David in conflict with people out for his head. And the rest of the passage calls on God to intervene with miraculous natural phenomena, not gunpowder and lead.

I’m surprised he didn’t go on to quote verses 10-11: From the deadly sword deliver me; rescue me from the hands of foreigners whose mouths are full of lies, whose right hands are deceitful.

BREIVIK’S ERROR: TAKING OUT OF CONTEXT

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“It is God who arms me with strength, and makes my way perfect. He makes my feet like the feet of deer, and sets me on high places. He teaches my hands to make war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze … I have pursued my enemies and overtaken them; neither did I turn back again till they were destroyed. I have wounded them, so that they were not able to rise; they have fallen under my feet. For You have armed me with strength for the battle; You have subdued under me those who rose up against me.” (Psalm 18:32,37)

Read the full passage. See previous section’s explanation.

The passage even says right at the top that David penned the words when the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. Which overbearing ruler had his armies hot on Anders Breivik’s trail?

BREIVIK’S ERROR: TAKING OUT OF CONTEXT

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God can anoint you with His supernatural power to defeat any enemy that may come your way – but only if you are willing to step into it and not be afraid to directly engage with whatever storm cloud is getting ready to come your way.

Notice the first verse tells you that you can have God’s power and authority to trample over “all” the power of the enemy – not just against some or part of his power. This means you can have God’s anointing and power operating in you to come out completely victorious against any enemy that may attempt to come against you.

God will give you his strength, boldness and courage to walk with his anointing

All of the above Scripture verses are definitely telling you that God can anoint you with His power whenever that power is going to be needed to take on any kind of enemy or challenge. However, there is one more thing that you are going to need before God will release His power through you. And that one more thing is the mental strength, courage and boldness to step out with His power to use it to directly engage with your enemy.

If you are not willing to step out and flow and operate with God’s anointing for whatever you are going to need it for – then absolutely nothing is going to happen. If you are not willing to speak out to any enemy that may be trying to attack you – then God’s power will not come into the situation to blow them out of there, and they will thus stay right where they are at continuing to attack you.

As you will see when reading some of our own personal testimonies – nothing was happening in all of these adverse situations until that person was ready and willing to step out of his boat with some mental confidence, courage and boldness to face and take their enemies head on.

He says one more thing is needed, but he neglects the most important thing: That God approves of your actions. This also applies to his much earlier talk about being willing to step into God’s anointing – what if there isn’t any such anointing to step into?

As an example, see what happened when Israel initiated combat without God’s instruction (in fact, in direct opposition to His instruction):

Early the next morning they set out for the highest point in the hill country, saying, “Now we are ready to go up to the land the LORD promised. Surely we have sinned!” But Moses said, “Why are you disobeying the LORD’s command? This will not succeed! Do not go up, because the LORD is not with you. You will be defeated by your enemies, for the Amalekites and the Canaanites will face you there. Because you have turned away from the LORD, he will not be with you and you will fall by the sword.” Nevertheless, in their presumption they went up toward the highest point in the hill country, though neither Moses nor the ark of the LORD’s covenant moved from the camp. Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and attacked them and beat them down all the way to Hormah. – Numbers 14:40-45

So the Israelites went in fighting, and arrogantly presumed that by doing so God would surely be with them. This probably resulted in plenty of enemies slain, but in the end it was a total defeat.

Note the parallels with Breivik’s atrocity – if anything, he has only weakened his ideological allies (both the moderate and extremist ones) and strengthened his self-declared enemies in the area of the public’s perception.

This is even more glaring when in the second set of excerpts above near the start, he scolds the Israelites as foolish for rebelling against God!

BREIVIK’S ERROR: NEGLECTING WHAT GOD ACTUALLY WANTS

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“If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small.” (Proverbs 24:10)

The verse is telling you that if you faint in the day of any kind of adversity, that your strength will be considered small in the eyes of God.

In other words, God is telling you that He does not want you to be a wimp – and He is expecting each and every one of us to learn how to war against any enemy or challenge that could come our way operating under His authority, power and anointing to be able to do so. This is why we are all called to be soldiers of Jesus Christ, not just a select few.

Actually, no. The entire book of Proverbs can be interpreted to be God’s ‘advice’ on what He wants and does not want to see in us. But it can also be understood to be simply explaining plain fact – in this case, that those who can’t face up to difficulty are (no duh) weak.

In any case, look at the context yet again. The cherry-picked verse is part of a set of verses that warns against turning a blind eye to evil to the point that even murder does not stir us.

Verse 11 says, Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter. Anders Breivik not only did not adhere to the spirit of this verse, he himself became the antagonist who brings death and slaugter unto the weak.

And as for soldiers, as I mentioned above if you want to take Paul’s words so literally then we are also all called to be athletes and farmers.

BREIVIK’S ERROR: MISINTERPRETATION

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God will go before you to fight your battles

Sometimes God wil l simply run a protective shield around you where nothing can get through to attack you. Other times something will start to slip through to come directly against you – and then God will move ahead of you to take it out. This is where God will literally take your enemy head on and do battle with it.

Sometimes God will fight the actual battle through you – other times He will simply tell you to hold your ground and position and do absolutely nothing – and then He will move Himself to completely take out the attack coming against you. This is where God shows you how powerful and how awesome He really is when He moves into battle to personally protect you.

There are plenty of passages advising us that we are always supposed to rely on God to act in general circumstances. For instance:

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” – Romans 12:14, 17, 19-20

And what was Breivik’s treatment of his ‘enemies’?

BREIVIK’S ERROR: MISAPPLICATION

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Again, these next set of verses are extremely powerful as all of the other ones listed above. Notice the very intense language God is using when these verses describe Him moving into actual battle for you.

These first two verses are specifically telling us that God can be a Man of War if He needs to be and that He can actually be stirred up to go into battle for you if He has to.

“The Lord is a man of war; the Lord is His name … Your Right Hand, O Lord, has become glorious in power; Your right hand, O Lord, has dashed the enemy in pieces. And in the greatness of Your excellence you have overthrown those who rose against You; You sent forth Your wrath which consumed them like stubble.” (Exodus 15:3,6)

Context is God having just destroyed Egypt’s armies in the Red Sea.

So God is mighty to war, why take war into your own hands – especially without God’s specific instruction?

BREIVIK’S ERROR: TAKING OUT OF CONTEXT

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The usual errors, especially ignoring the specific historical context, applies to the following verses he quotes as well. I shall address each individually in time.

“The Lord shall go forth like a mighty man; He shall stir up His zeal like a man of war. He shall cry out, yes, shout aloud; He shall prevail against His enemies.” (Isaiah 42:13)

“For you shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight; for the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.” (Isaiah 52:12)

“Therefore understand today the Lord your God is He who goes before you as a consuming fire. He will destroy them and bring them down before you; so you shall drive them out and destroy them quickly, as the Lord has said to you.” (Deuteronomy 9:3)

“The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms; He will thrust out the enemy from before you, and will say, ‘Destroy!’ ” (Deuteronomy 33:27)

“I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you …” (Genesis 12:3)

“Plead my cause, O Lord, with those who strive with me; fight against those who fight against me. Take hold of shield and buckler, and stand up for my help. Also draw out the spear, and stop those who pursue me. Say to my soul, “I am your salvation.” (Psalm 35:1)

“When my enemies turn back, they shall fall and perish at your presence. For You have maintained my right and my cause; You sat on the throne judging in righteousness.” (Psalm 9:3)

“God is a just judge, and God is angry with the wicked every day. If He does not turn back, He will sharpen His sword; He bends His bow and makes it ready. He also prepares for Himself instruments of death; He makes His arrows into fiery shafts.” (Psalm 7:11)

“He will guard the feet of His saints, but the wicked shall be silent in darkness. For by strength no man shall prevail. The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken in pieces; from heaven He will thunder against them. The Lord will judge the ends of the earth. He will give strength to His king, and exalt the horn of His anointed. (1 Samuel 2:9)

“… For we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You … Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel … thus says the Lord to you: ‘Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s … You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem!” Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord is with you.” (2 Chronicles 20:12-17)

“Behold, all those who were incensed against you shall be ashamed and disgraced; they shall be as nothing, and those who strive with you shall perish. You shall seek them and not find them – those who contend with you. Those who war against you shall be as nothing, as a nonexistent thing. For I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand, saying to you, ‘Fear not, I will help you.’ ” (Isaiah 41:11)

“You marched through the land in indignation; You trampled the nations in anger. You went forth for the salvation of Your people, for salvation with Your anointed. You struck the head from the house of the wicked.” (Habakkuk 3:12)

Other verses:

“The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him, and delivers them.” (Psalm 34:7)

“For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways.” (Psalm 91:11)

“And let the angel of the Lord chase him … And let the angel of the Lord pursue them … Let the destruction come upon him unexpectedly.” (Psalm 35:5-8)

“Behold, I send an Angel before you to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared.” (Exodus 23:20)

“Then the Lord commanded the angel, and he returned his sword to its sheath … but David could not go before it to inquire of God, for he was afraid of the sword of the angel of the Lord.” (1 Chronicles 21:27, 29)

“And it came to pass on a certain night that the angel of the Lord went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand; and when the people
arose early in the morning, there were the corpses – all dead.” (2 Kings 19:35)

“Then immediately an angel of the Lord struck him, because he did not give glory to God. And he was eaten by worms and died.” (Acts 12:23)

The last verse shows that sometimes angels can literally appear to you as a normal human being, usually for the purpose of helping you out with something. There are countless testimonies from people who have been helped out by angels in a moment of crisis – and then all of sudden they are gone as quick as they came.

BREIVIK’S ERROR: MULTIPLE

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We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29)

Whenever a human command goes against God’s command, we are to obey God.

The context is Peter and the other apostles specifically asked by the Sanhendrin not to spread Jesus’ teachings, which is in contradiction to Jesus’ command to do just that.

And if obey God, then why is Anders Breivik acting in direct contradiction to You shall not murder (Exodus 20:12) and Love your enemy (Matthew 5:24) and the entire spirit of the New Testament?

Is he saying that every one of the remaining loyal 11 apostles, minus John but plus Paul, were fools when they meekly died as martyrs? That when Jesus said take up their cross and follow me (Matthew 16:14) He had in mind for us to use the crosses as giant battle axes, like Priest Vallon in the opening brawl of Gangs of New York?

BREIVIK’S ERROR: TAKING OUT OF CONTEXT; also MISAPPLICATION/MISINTERPRETATION (not of the verse in Acts, but all those passages he reasons to be justification for murder)

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And the one who has no sword must sell his cloak and buy one.” (Luke 22:36)

This passage allows for the use of fighting in self-defence.

All who draw the sword will die by the sword” (Matthew 26:52)

To use the sword (or any other weapon) carries the greatest responsibility, and it can indeed be used in self-defence. That is the way I see to balance Luke 22:36 and Matthew 26:52.

I’ve already addressed ‘buying a sword’ at the beginning.

And if he had carried out his attacks in America, especially in a gun rights state, he might have met his fitting end within minutes. See Gun Wielding Maniac Attack: Conservative vs Liberal Result, Mumbai Terrorist Attacks – An Argument for Citizen Concealed-Carry of Personal Firearms?, and happening right now the riots in Britain.

The last one has made me reconsider my views on the right to bear arms – if such lawless, murderous riots can occur anywhere, then having everyone unarmed does not mean safety anymore.

Ironically, if Norway were big on personal self defence, Anders Breivik wouldn’t have gotten away with nearly as much carnage as he did. Instead, even the police are unarmed!

Whether Officer Berntsen tried to stop the gunman is still being debated. But facing a man carrying multiple guns and ample ammunition, there was little he could do. Like most other police officers here, he had no weapon. – New York Times

But as I mentioned before, self defence does not extend to attacking first with no immediately impending threat!

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ADDITIONAL:

Well, that settles Anders Breivik’s citing of Biblical passages. Here I put down some of my other thoughts.

First off, as I mentioned at the start, saying Anders Breivik is a Christian is nonsensical, even if he claims to be one. He obviously has no understanding of what it means to live as Christ did, and as I demonstrated above, his grasp of Scripture is tenuous and misguided at best, and intentionally distorted at worst.

In any case, as Anders Breivik’s appalling actions have been used as a brickbat to bash Christians and Conservatives, allow me to present the following for comparison:

1) Self-declared leftists and liberals – Examines past and present incidences of violent behaviour, including murder. Up to 266 examples by time of writing.

2) Self-declared Communists and atheists – The highest death toll in all of human history belongs to Communists, killing more in 100 years than the other 6000+ years combined… And as I ponder, Why Were the Communists Usually Also Atheists?

3) Self-declared Muslims – Anders Breivik killed 77 and injured 96. On the same day as his attacks, 22 July 2011, persons declaring themselves acting in the name of Islam killed 14 and injured 20 across the world – most of the victims themselves being Muslim. From the Sunday to the Saturday of that week, 90 were killed and 72 injured. Breivik’s attacks have ended with no one yet picking up where he left off; attacks by self-declared Muslims (again, overwhelmingly against other Muslims) continues every single day.

Now you may throw my own objection back at me – none of the above are representative of REAL so-and-so. And how dare you generalize from a few isolated incidences!!!

Well, they aren’t really isolated, but more to the point – there are far more of the above cases I cite than cases of Christians and Conservatives running amok. So why the huge double standard where the media and talking heads trumpet the ‘Christian, right wing’ Anders Breivik while being willfully blind in other cases?

As Ann Coulter contrasted:

The New York Times wasted no time in jumping to conclusions about Anders Behring Breivik, the Norwegian who staged two deadly attacks in Oslo last weekend, claiming in the first two paragraphs of one story that he was a “gun-loving,” “right-wing,” “fundamentalist Christian,” opposed to “multiculturalism.”

This was a big departure from the Times’ conclusion-resisting coverage of the Fort Hood shooting suspect, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan. Despite reports that Hasan shouted “Allahu Akbar!” as he gunned down his fellow soldiers at a military medical facility in 2009, only one of seven Times articles on Hasan so much as mentioned that he was a Muslim. Of course, that story ran one year after Hasan’s arrest, so by then, I suppose, the cat was out of the bag. – NEW YORK TIMES READER KILLS DOZENS IN NORWAY

And as I contrasted:

Right after the Fort Hood shooting, the New York Times had this to say:

In the aftermath of this unforgivable attack, it will be important to avoid drawing prejudicial conclusions from the fact that Major Hasan is an American Muslim whose parents came from the Middle East. President Obama was right when he told Americans, “we don’t know all the answers yet” and cautioned everyone against “jumping to conclusions.” …until investigations are complete, no one can begin to imagine what could possibly have motivated this latest appalling rampage.

From the New York Times again, right after the Tucson shooting:

[I]t is legitimate to hold Republicans and particularly their most virulent supporters in the media responsible for the gale of anger that has produced the vast majority of these threats, setting the nation on edge. – SARAH PALIN Caused the Fort Hood Shootings

And not to justify one of Anders Breivik’s excuses for his attack, but 461 years of unprovoked invasion and pillage preceded the First Crusade.

Putting 1st Peter 3:15 Into Practice

15 But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, 16 keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. 17 For it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. – 1st Peter 3:15-17

I’ve actually been mulling this for some time, and again in the past day or so. My wife tried to influence me on this issue quite a while ago as well, asking me what purpose and reason my demotivational poster mocking Elton John’s homosexuality served. Recent events have served to help me finally make the decision to take this step.

I’m referring to blogging and commenting with gentleness and respect. At the very least, I’ll stop the snarking and mockery aimed at irreligiousity for a start.

I’ve procrastinated taking this step for a long time simply because… I’ll be honest… I enjoyed being snarky, sarcastic and being a standard GIFTed Netizen (anonymity notwithstanding). And seriously, at this point I still really don’t want to end up like a goody-goody Mother Teresa/Ned Flanders Lite type. *Shudder*

I’ve often said that I’ll accept and admit it if an argument or reasoning wins me over, and this is now the fourth such major concession I can recall (preceded by: an apology to Yuki regarding insinuating at a gay pastor’s partner, re-opening to the validity of macro-evolution due to DNA evidence, and accepting that religious morality undergoes human interpretation which makes it relative in practice).

In any case, it’s a light cross to carry compared to, say, getting beheaded in Nigeria or Ivory Coast for refusing to renounce Jesus – but to me, it’s a pretty significant sacrifice.

Did comments from Ron, Sheila and others stir a sense of guilt, shame and regret in me? I’ll have to swallow my pride and admit so, mostly from Ron since he’s been around longest. At the very least, they pushed me closer to the edge of decision. I also found getting neutral and non-combative replies from Ron to be refreshing and welcome. My thanks to them for being God’s way of making me see the light.

Do I hope that through my small sacrifice and somewhat trivial change, I might influence them towards Christ? Yes, of course – at the very least, I do not want to learn at the final judgment that my attitude was what stood in the way of their accepting eternal life. With that perspective, it’s actually an incredibly small price to pay for a potentially infinite gain.

The taking up of replying to comments by Zack and Simon also helped. wits0 and hutchrun too, as well as the other(s) who occasionally stop by with ever-changing nicks. Not feeling the need to join in every discussion – in fact, actively keeping out of some debates – allowed me to step back and observe instead of leaping into the fray with guns blazing. It de-personalized the comment threads and gave me the opportunity to reflect. Thanks to you and everyone else who has contributed to this blog.

And of course, I thank my Lord Jesus Christ for helping me go through with this decision. May He give me the discipline and will to see it through. Amen.

So here’s to swallowing my pride and – finally – acting like the better Christian that I’ve known I should be.

Old habits are hard to break, so if anyone catches me falling back into them, here’s my explicit permission to call me out on it.

I’ll still be defending my beliefs in the meantime, of course – just that I’ll try not to fall into outright mockery and insult mode, beginning with non-religious atheism and hopefully growing from there. Even if commenters make it oh so easy, and so, so richly deserve it.

Whoops… See how easy it is? This will take some practice to determine just where the boundaries are.

Sigh, turn the other cheek and all…

PS. This update will be added to all posts regarding irreligious atheism.