We Live in an Anti-Christian World
(Adapted from an article by Gene Edward Veith entitled “Anti-Christian Paranoia”
WORLD Magazine, DECEMBER 2, 2006)
“The case against Christianity has not degenerated in to paranoid bigotry. The old argument against Christianity was that it is not true. Modern science, evolutionary theory, rational argumentation and the like were said to disprove the existence of God and the claims of the Bible.”
I would also add that the lack of sound Biblical preaching and the scandals of the last three decades within the church itself have caused the world to be skeptical of anyone who speaks for Christ.
This has resulted in a paranoia about those crazy fundamentalists and wild-eyed believers who still think like Victorians. God forbid that we should return to morals and values that we’ve held dear for centuries. Out with the old inhibitions and in with sex, perversion, addiction and “freedom” from or accountability to God.
So, any time a person speaks from a Christian worldview, they are blasted by the elite media and secular press. They don’t get us. They won’t get us. They can’t get us. Their minds are darkened and their eyes have been blinded.
Today, when going through a secular bookstore, I find books on atheism and attacks on Christianity in the Christian section. I find the books on the lost gospels, the gospel of Judas, the Da Vinci Code, not in the fiction or history section, but in the Christian section.
Sam Harris in his book Letters to a Christian Nation says our belief in God is the reason the world has so much suffering. No, our sin, which dates back to the garden, is the reason there is so much suffering. Harris says, “That so much of this suffering can be directly attributed to religion–to religious hatreds, religious wars, religious delusions and religious diversions of scarce resources–is what makes atheism a moral and intellectual necessity.”
Bookstores are full of books warning people that conservative Christianity is going to be the downfall of our society. To even say that, they have to ignore all objective study of American history, the Great Awakenings, the influence of Christianity in the abolition of slavery and the influence of Christians on the establishment of child labor laws and civil rights. These movements began in the church, not among atheists. Atheists start nothing; they destroy everything they touch.
If you are going to blame God and His people for taking over the country, you are misread and uninformed. You have to ignore the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the declaration of the Supreme Court 100 years ago (before talk radio and the Conservative Book Club) when they said America was a “Christian Nation.” You have to ignore that every President has sworn his oath on a Bible, that the Supreme Court has the Ten Commandments on the wall and the list goes on…
In James Rudin’s The Baptizing of America he opens with this statement: “A specter is haunting America, and it is not socialism and certainly not communism. It is the specter of Americans kneeling in submission to a particular interpretation of a religion that has become an ideology, an all-encompassing way of life. It’s the specter of our nation ruled by the extreme Christian right, who would make the United States a “Christian nation” where their version of God’s law supersedes all human law–including the Constitution. That, more than any other force in the world today, is the immediate and profound threat to our republic.”
Well excuse us for breathing! Just a couple of blatant errors in his thought pattern. One, all laws throughout the history of civilized man have been based on the Ten Commandments. Man’s laws, when morally uplifting and when designed to protect the innocent, are based on a Christian worldview, the Judeo-Christian ethic and the Ten Commandments. Any person with an education should know that.
And of course, our problem is not terrorists, pedophiles, drug dealers, prostitution, addiction or sexually transmitted diseases. What we really need to be concerned about are those horrible, Bible-believing Christians. You know who to watch out for now. Those “dangers” to our society who carry their Bibles to church, give money to the poor and help others.
What we need to protect this country from, according to the voices of insanity, are groups like Samaritan’s Purse, Habitat for Humanity, The Salvation Army and all those churches who rebuild areas struck by hurricanes and tornadoes at their own expense. That’s who we need to worry about.
Veith reminds us, “That ‘specter’ metaphor is a cliché originating with Karl Marx in The Communist Manifesto.” If the author of The Baptizing of America is worried about Christians, I would personally be glad to provide him with a one-way ticket to Iran, North Korea or Communist China. See if he can get away with writing this garbage in their systems.
According to Rudin, if we Christians get in power “all government employees–federal, state and local–would be required to participate in weekly Bible classes in the workplace as well as compulsory daily prayer sessions.” Excuse me? We can’t even get all of our people to participate in Bible study and prayer. How could we ever legislate that?
You can’t stop a liar with anything except the truth. You can’t fix stupid. Don’t try. You can be aware of what’s happening around you. Pay attention–the Christ haters are coming, and they are knocking at our doors.
Let me close with these reminders:
“Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts.” –2 Peter 3:3
“But you, beloved, ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, that they were saying to you, ‘In the last time there will be mockers, following after their own ungodly lusts.’ These are the ones who cause divisions, worldly-minded, devoid of the Spirit. But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. And have mercy on some, who are doubting; save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh.” –-Jude 17-23
© 2007, Michael Catt
Michael served as the President of the Large Church Roundtable, the Southern Baptist Convention as an IMB Trustee, President of the Georgia Baptist Convention’s Preaching Conference, Vice President of the Georgia Baptist Convention, and President of the 2008 Southern Baptist Convention Pastors’ Conference. He has spoken at conferences, colleges, seminaries, rallies, camps, NBA and college chapel services, well as The Billy Graham Training Center at The Cove. Michael is the recipient of The Martin Luther King Award, The MLK Unity Award, and a Georgia Senate Resolution in recognition of his work in the community and in racial reconciliation.
Michael and his wife, Terri, have two grown daughters, Erin and Hayley.
