Explaining the Angry Atheist – Small Dead Animals

Like leftists, they usually have nothing worth living for.

65 Replies to “Explaining the Angry Atheist”

Another excellent little book by John Stott is “Why I Am a Christian”. It’s a reply to Bertrand Russell’s famous essay.
Then there is the classic by CS Lewis, “Mere Christianity”. “Knowing God” by JI Packer is another fine book that explains Christianity.
Last, but definitely not least, the Bible. I’d recommend beginning with the New Testament.
Of course I would read none of these when I was an atheist/agnostic. Perhaps there are some here though who are willing to honestly examine them.

Sorry about that. I tried to cancel the first comment to correct the typo “CC Lewis” but obviously not in time.

Stradivarious, equality before the law has nothing to do with Christianity. It predates it by a considerable period. For all practical purposes, the Romans invented the trial process, the basic elements of which we still use today.
Nold, generalizations indeed. I invite you to bring as your witness the crowd of televangelists and their “non-judgmentalism”.
Murray, “The Dawkins type atheists seem to me to worship logic and idealism at the expense of reality.”
More projections. Just because you worship, don’t assume that anyone else does. There’s no idealism in Dawkins. There’s only observation and conclusion drawn from those observations. There’s no imagining of an idealized existence; only an attempt to interpret what’s observed based on logic. So what’s your modus operandi? Illogic? If so, methinks you have a host of issues to take up with St. Augustine and a host of Jesuits.

Lost respect for Sartre when I read the following:
“To keep hope alive one must, in spite of all mistakes, horrors, and crimes, recognize the obvious superiority of the socialist camp,” Jean-Paul Sartre

Stradivarious, equality before the law has nothing to do with Christianity. It predates it by a considerable period. For all practical purposes, the Romans invented the trial process, the basic elements of which we still use today.
Heh, I do believe Moses existed before the Romans.
Exo 12:49 One law shall be to him that is homeborn, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you.
And before someone goes on about Khammurabi’s laws, there were neither righteous or equal.
Example;
Offense. Punishment by Jehovah’s Law. Punishment by Khammurabi’s Law.
Stealing. Restoring double (Exo_22:9). Death (§ 4).
Burglary. Restoring double (Exo_22:7). Death (§ 21).
Harboring a fugitive slave. No offense (Deu_23:15). Death (§ 16).
Injuring a slave. Freedom given to slave. Master compensated (§ 199).

“The problem with morality and atheism (or more precisely, reductionist materialism) is that you cannot derive morality from purely material roots.”
Steve Macdonald,
That was a problem for me when I was an atheist. As far as I could see, if God did not exist and we were merely a product of random events, then there could be no right or wrong, except as a preference in the mind of each person or group of people. This was not a very satisfying way to live, despite what some have said about creating our own meaning and purpose for our lives.
Although I don’t think that was the main reason I became an agnostic, when I stopped being certain that God did not exist, I also stopped being certain that no true morality could exist either.
For some agnosticism is a wishy-washy cop-out, but for me it was more of a softening of my stubborn attitude toward the idea of God’s existence – a time of transition from hostile unbelief to a willingness to believe that God might exist.

Cgh, you are not a close reader. I am atheist. I don’t worship anything.
Dawkins writes well about biology. He is embarrassing on other topics. It reminds me of Chomsky straying outside his area of expertise.
Regarding logic, reality, especially socio-psychological phenomena with feedback loops and sensitive dependence, is suffused with nonlinear dynamics. Logic is a human construct that helps us organize perception and reasoning, but is inherently incomplete. You can come at it many ways. I like Godel incompleteness theorems and also computability and computational theorems (my math background), or as Nietzsche put it metaphorically, logic is like the scorpion that stings itself with its tail. Logic proves the incompleteness of logic. So even if you are a logo-phile, you have to accept its incompleteness. So where do you go from there? Brief habits. Complex adaptive systems. Idealists can’t handle that. It requires faith. It is harder to justify cruelty and cruelty gives a sense of power.
Dawkins has no sense of nonlinear dynamics in people. I recall reading in one of his books he went into qualitative biology because he wasn’t particularly good at math. It shows.

GregW:
Thanks for the heads-up on Why I am a Christian and Knowing God; I will definitely look them up and read them. I have read Mere Christianity, and I am very impressed with it as well and I considered putting it in my list, but then thought it is more intended for someone who is already Christian and needs more clarification and direction.
Of course, every Christian needs to read the Bible, and you are so right to recommend reading the New Testament first. The first time, I started reading in the Old Testament. Barely made it past the flood. This time I started in the New Testament and I read the four gospels twice before I moved on to Acts. I still keep going back, to find that perfect quote or insight. The life and ministry of Jesus is absolutely fascinating! John 1:1 to 14 is my favorite passage. And I definitely prefer the King James version.
I think a big part of my problem in being able to share the Word is that I get overwhelmed and tongue-tied trying to describe Him.

I don’t know if this helps but a man named DT Niles said evangelism is just one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.
Plus explaining Christianity to an unbeliever is a good time to learn to depend on the Holy Spirit to assist us with difficult tasks. Really, who is adequate in himself to explain the mysteries of almighty God to someone else unaided.
I’m very fond of the KJV but find myself reading the NIV and NKJV these days for ease of reading and clarity. I think all three versions are good, each in their own way.

cgh
did you even read my comment?
a) it’s not about happy atheists, it’s about angry Atheists.
b) I’m agnostic therefore I don’t believe in god, I was simply analyzing the root of the anger felt by “Angry Atheists” towards religion.
And yeah, you’re vitriol towards those who would try and persuade you is irrational.
cheers

OK cgh here’s one.
In March 1998 after the House impeached Bill Clinton there was a black-tie dinner and nobody wanted to sit next to Bill . When Billy Graham was told about it, he said, “I’ll sit next to the president, he’s my friend!”
What mattered most to Mr. Graham was to faithfully lift up the name of Jesus with authenticity and integrity. He always left judgement for God.

Thanks Greg, that does help. The pastors and helpers at Center Street Church always remind us that all we can do is introduce a person to His Word. God does the converting.
I love KJV, but I’m glad I have it in a good study Bible with lots of explanations. 🙂 I have NIV and NASB as well, but keep going back to KJV. Sometimes I think that overcoming a small language barrier helps me remember the lesson.

The Companion Bible by E. W. Bullinger is very helpful. It’s a KJV with a companion column pointing out facts and figures of speech. Next to no commentary, just facts. There are 198 Appendices on various subjects, also facts with little commentary. A Strong’s Concordance is also invaluable to find meanings of words in the original languages.
Or you can download it free, http://www.e-sword.net/downloads.html
Who knows, such information may make an angry atheist, or agnostic, a little less angry when they find information such as Jesus not being born in Dec, rather conceived that day. Which is when He truly began to dwell among men. All proven out of scripture.

Thanks Stradivarious!
I just finished downloading e-Sword, and it looks impressive. Have you seen the WORDsearch Bible? I got a copy with my NASB study Bible, it’s pretty good, too.
I may still look for a hardcopy of Bullinger’s Companion Bible; I tend to prefer reading a book rather than a computer screen.
Cheers!

An atheist was seated next to a little girl on an airplane and he turned to her and said, “Do you want to talk? Flights go quicker if you strike up a conversation with your fellow passenger.”
The little girl, who had just started to read her book, replied to the total stranger, “What would you want to talk about?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” said the atheist. “How about why there is no God, or no Heaven or Hell, or no life after death?” as he smiled smugly.
“Okay,” she said. “Those could be interesting topics but let me ask you a question first. A horse, a cow, and a deer all eat the same stuff – grass. Yet a deer excretes little pellets, while a cow turns out a flat patty, but a horse produces clumps. Why do you suppose that is?”
The atheist, visibly surprised by the little girl’s intelligence, thinks about it and says, “Hmmm, I have no idea.” To which the little girl replies, “Do you really feel qualified to discuss God, Heaven and Hell, or life after death, when you don’t know shit?”
And then she went back to reading her book.

65 Replies to “Explaining the Angry Atheist”

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