Critique of The God Delusion

Recently, there have been a spate of books written by atheists attempting to debunk both Christianity and a belief in God. Make no mistake, Christianity is the enemy here. If the God of Christianity does exist, then that places a responsibility on each individual that comes to that realisation. That would mean that sin exists and, with it, all its consequences - both temporal and eternal.

Critique of The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins

by Philip Bell

The title of this book immediately betrays the bias of the author—even for those unacquainted with the writings of this Professor of the (so-called) Public Understanding of Science of Oxford University, Richard Dawkins. Just to skim the chapter contents is to give one a forewarning of what to expect. For instance, Chapter 1 is entitled ‘A deeply religious believer in no God.’ Chapter 4: ‘Why there almost certainly is no God.’ Chapter 7 is ‘The ‘Good’ Book and the changing moral Zeitgeist’—showing Dawkins’ absolute dislike of the message of the Judeo-Christian Scriptures. More provocatively still, the ninth chapter is ‘Childhood, abuse and the escape from religion.’ The single appendix is ‘a partial list of friendly addresses, for individuals needing support in escaping from religion.’

So much for any attempt at balance and objectivity—this book is certainly not a disinterested search for truth and is devoid of any careful weighing of evidence, for and against his thesis. Rather, it is this author’s most polemical work to date, that of a man driven by an unholy zeal to depose the God he claims to disbelieve in but transparently hates.

‘I am attacking God, all gods, anything and everything supernatural, wherever and whenever they have been or will be invented.’ (p. 36: emphasis added in all quotes unless otherwise stated)

However, he takes pains to inform his reader that his venom is mostly reserved for monotheistic forms of God and one in particular:

‘Unless otherwise stated, I shall have Christianity mostly in mind, but only because it is the version with which I happen to be most familiar. … I shall not be concerned at all with other religions such as Buddhism or Confucianism.’ (p. 37)

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What Is Sin?

I feel this is one article that everyone should read:

This Week’s Feature Article by Jack Kelley

Judging from the feedback I’ve received lately, some of us don’t know what sin is. The word comes from an old English archery term meaning “to miss the mark.” Jesus gave us the mark in Matt. 5:48 “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Anything short of that is missing the mark, and whether by thought, word, or deed, is sin. The main purpose of His three chapter Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7) was to change our perception of sin. The Pharisees thought that if they obeyed the commandments they weren’t sinning and therefore didn’t need a Savior. To achieve their position of authority, they had to have lived such an exemplary life as to appear nearly perfect. This focus on perfection in their behavior made them arrogant, unsympathetic toward their weaker brethren. It had made them worse than useless in advancing the Kingdom. They were actually driving people away.

He began by saying that in judging our behavior, God would not overlook even the smallest detail of the Law. He said that even our thoughts would be held against us. Anger is as bad as murder, He said, lust is as bad as adultery, and so on. He said that unless our righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees we will certainly not enter the Kingdom. (Matt. 5:20) Later on He said that they were like whitewashed tombs which are beautiful on the outside but full of dead men’s bones. He said in the same way they appeared to people as righteous but were full of hypocrisy. (Matt. 23:27-28) The Pharisees were compulsive about their behavior, applying the Law to the most minute things in their lives, even giving a tithe of the herbs and spices that grew in their gardens. (Matt. 23:23) And our righteousness needs to exceed theirs? In all of their behavior they had achieved perfection.

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There is no Rapture?

Some good thoughts by a fellow Aussie:

There is no Rapture?

By Keygar

What if there’s no rapture? What if an angel appeared to me right now and said “sorry mate, you got it wrong, there isn’t any rapture, you’re going to have to go through the tribulation, do you want to call it quits?”

“No way” I’d say (by God’s grace, after getting up off the ground). God has got me this far, I’m sure He can get me all the way to finally be with Him. If I have to lose my head (literally) during the tribulation, I’m sure He’ll give me the grace to endure to the end. Would I want to keep my life anyway, and be like the Christian haters who will run the earth during that time? In a fit me thinks, and my head has never been much to look at anyway.

It amuses me though, and saddens me, how many so-called Christians really verbally attack other Christians who do actually believe in a rapture event. I even wonder if they are Christians. They certainly don’t exhibit the fruit of love, patience and tolerance. I have no problem with or grudge against those Christians who don’t believe in a rapture. Who knows, they might be right. DOES IT REALLY MATTER to the point of being rude about it. Surely the main thing is to eventually be with Christ forever no matter what suffering or persecution may or may not precede that...

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Note the concluding thoughts:

But, ultimately, my faith and hope and joy doesn’t lie in "a rapture", it lies in the person of Jesus Christ. He alone I REALLY am totally sure about. Not the rapture, not the scoffers, not the world, not the politicians, not other Christians, not my family, but ONLY, Jesus Christ. I am happy just writing about it. I can’t wait to get to heaven, whenever that will be.

Well said!