"You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. It is written:
“‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord,
‘every knee will bow before me;
every tongue will acknowledge God.’”
So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.
Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister."
The other day I was in a comic book shop to pick up a new release. As I browsed the wall of new magazines, I saw a new independent comic that was about a team of "Robin Hood" robbers who plot to hold up mega-churches right after the morning offering. The author, who makes no bones about being an atheist, is compelled at the close of issue one to tell the readers that he was raised in a Southern Baptist church and even volunteered at Greg Laurie's Harvest Crusade... That is, until he began to see the hypocrisy inside the church, and questioned the need to believe in God. He concluded he would like to believe, but he no longer feels his rational mind can accept the idea.
Of course, his depiction of the faithful is less-than-flattering, making church-goers appear as mindless sheep, willing to repeat anything the pastor says, singing hymns with lyrics all about giving. The implication is that they have all been programmed to swallow the kool-aid, and are willing to open their wallets completely blind to the foibles and indiscretions of the leadership. The thieves see themselves as morally justified for stealing millions from the church safe and distribute it anonymously to what they consider more deserving charities.
All this sets up a dynamic between the two investigators; one an experienced detective who happens to be a Christian, and the other an athiest hacker, who feels empathy for the criminals. Using the relationship between the two, the author is able to pose discussions between them that seems so far to stack the deck in favor of being an atheist.
Here's the thing. I totally get his thinking. Christians have been using comic books for years as tools to lead youthful readers to Christ. This guy is just turning the tables and doing the same. And like the Christian counterparts, he makes the same mistake: he fails to represent the opposition very accurately.
There has been a groundswell of activity lately from atheist and other camps to proselytize their opposition to belief in God. Billboards, television/radio ads and other social media are filled with efforts to discredit churches and try to cast the Bible as a collection of myths and legends far too long in the past to be relevant in today's scientific world.
It saddens me to see it. Not so much that I fear the impact their efforts will have, although if people are led away from faith in God, I am deeply sorry. No, I am sad to see how trivial the subject has become. In some ways, this guy has a point: all too often we let our churchy-ness interfere with engaging our minds. I think of this every time I hear people mumbling along with praise songs and repeating liturgy or simply reading aloud something printed in a church order of worship. People repeat memorized prayers without so much as to grab on to any meaning behind the words. Blah Blah blah blah, Amen. Yawn.
We give without demanding fiscal responsibility. We fail to do our homework. We talk about reading the Bible more that we actually read it. We say we love and then do hateful or simple judgmental things without considering the impact. We preach faster than we act.
Let me just say that I am fascinated by the great strides we are learning in the world of science and medicine. It is all amazing. Cures and discoveries are happening at astonishing rates, and we get photos of planets, stars and galaxies billions of miles distant. It boggles the mind, the size of the universe.
But even as it happens, I just don't see anything that discounts any possibility of the existence of God; that higher entity that set it all in motion. I never really see the supposed conflicts in scripture as something that can be dismissed. One one hand, we can choose to ignore the conflicts as they arise. But instead, I prefer to reflect on them. Whenever I do that, I learn so much about God and his creation!
I know I have a choice. I can believe in God, or I can dismiss him. The trouble is, I have more conflicts if I dismiss him than when I believe. I choose faith, and the more I reflect on existence, I find confirmation. Any doubts I may feel are always proven wrong.
Our comic book writer would tell me I am just reacting to the conditioning of faith that I have had from my youngest days, but I just don't buy it. I have felt God's hand in my life. I have seen first-hand his works. It's too amazing to ignore.
The critics of faith are loud. They shout their pronouncements and pontificate almost as well as any Bible-thumping preacher. They are cunning, and smart, and have an answer for everything. But still, there is a quiet voice of assurance in me. God is real. Like Elijah, in that still, small voice, onward came the Lord!
I know I haven't given any sort of convincing argument here. Frankly, I'm not really trying to engage in debate. All I know is that God is real, and I acknowledge that yes, the church has made lots of mistakes. But my faith is not a religion. It's a full-time engagement of my mind with the world and He who is greater than the world. I believe in God, and in Christ who died for me.
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