What will you do with the facts?

The Reason Rally 2012 Held on March 24 in Washington, DC. (Information from World Magazine-April 21, 2012) Four definitions of reason: 1 [count] : a statement or fact that explains why something is the way it is, why someone does, thinks, or says something, or why someone behaves a certain way 2 [noncount] : a fact, condition, or situation that makes it proper or appropriate to do something, feel something, etc. 3 [noncount] : the power of the mind to think and understand in a logical way 4 [noncount] : ideas and opinions that are fair, sensible, and appropriate I would contend that the idea of “Godlessness” does not fit any of the definitions of reason. If one was given a piece of a ten thousand piece jigsaw puzzle and was asked to make a statement about the entire puzzle, they would not be giving any reasonable explanation. The facts they have, the conditions they observe, and the situation they have encountered would leave them feeling helpless and overwhelmed. This single piece of the puzzle would frustrate the mind in that there is no logical way to understand, and no basis for fair, sensible and appropriate opinions. Likewise, those who claim to deal with minute facts to explain the now in order to feel empowered through their logical rhetoric fall far short of ideas that are fair, sensible, or appropriate. Reason, in order to be valid at all, needs more than just one’s opinion to validate its conclusions. Anyone can have an opinion. One needs no experience or education to have an opinion about something. In reality, opinions have different levels of value based upon experience and education. In fact, some opinions should be ignored unless the goal is just to hear all opinions and have those who “shared” feel good about the fact that they can string a sentence together on a given subject. Those who choose to ignore or push God out of their minds may do so, but in doing so, they destroy the only avenue they have to make sense of the puzzle piece we call life, and in particular, the puzzle piece of life that has their name on it. One of the first and most troublesome fruits that come from Godless thinking is the idea that we are God or a god, and that our minds need to both comprehend and accept an idea as valid before it is valid. This is ludicrous at best, and could be debunked by a freshman philosophy student with an average intelligence. Once we decide that this world is about us and is contained in our thinking alone, we become narcissists who slowly use our lives, influence, and power to destroy others in an attempt to satisfy self. Those who refuse to allow an absolute other than themselves to rule, often do so in an endless pursuit of significance and security. It seems to me that all men seek significance and security above all else. This quest often takes someone on a lifelong journey to attempt to satisfy this insatiable itch. They long to know they matter. They long to know that what matters is secure. They try gaining this with money, popularity, and power, and come up empty. Perhaps they try to find it in using others, in sex, drugs, alcohol, and sports, yet they come up empty. Some try to find it in denying self, taming the wild beast, and searching the world for causes for which to live and die, yet come up empty. The reason they come up empty is really quite simple. This desire for significance and security does not come from anything we do or say or achieve. It is a gift from God given to those who know Him, love Him, and obey Him. It is a lie to think that if we achieve this great thing, or have everybody know our name, that we will finally arrive and feel significant and secure. It will not happen. You can glance through history and see many who had what we often strive for, and find it all vanity. Money cannot buy you love. Power cannot give you life. Position cannot bring you security. If you doubt these words, you can try it and see, but I am confident that you will conclude that all that you have done in an effort to be significant and secure has failed, and hopefully you will find this out in time to change your life and recoup some years. I cannot help but think that Hitler was one who was searching for significance and security without God. He was certainly one who was without God, and therefore did not think that he would ever give an answer to Him for his life. Hitler lived a reasonable life for one who denied that there was a God. If there is no God to answer to, as he did, then he thought he got his power (significance and security) from the people, and he spent his time manipulating the masses so that they would give him what he sought. He was a miserable man whose narcissism devastated millions of lives. I am sure he thought what he was doing was reasonable, and it was to him. That should be somewhat of a scary thought to any truly reasonable person. At the 2012 Reason Rally in Washington, DC, there were flags displayed that read the following: “Equality,” “Charity,” “Compassion,” “Diversity,” and “Reason.” I am somewhat surprised that they had no banner (or at least one that was seen or reported on) that said “Tolerance.” I find it interesting that a group whose only commonality is the absence of God and the fact that they are human beings would put these words on banners as seemingly mantras for their lives. First of all, if you are the end all of all things, then you believe in your personal superiority to others. There is no real equality in this thought process for you value your opinion over all others, and only value those who agree with you. Certainly charity would need to be defined, and you would only engage in charity if it benefited you somehow. I would think that is hardly charity. Compassion is an interesting idea that the least of these, the unborn, would certainly enjoy. Diversity is certainly true and meaningless in that it is like saying there are many kinds of trees, or grass, or flowers. It is a true statement, but rather meaningless. Reason, well, I think not. Reason demands some facts, yet they live in a world of relativity. All throughout history we have had an idea, a concept, of what may be good and right. We often know in general the meaning of something, but we have a difficult time grasping it in its totality. In the Bible, in the book of John, we are told this very thought when John uses the word “logos.” In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. John1:1 The word “Word” in this passage is the word “logos.” I might say, in my own uninspired words, that in the beginning was the concept, or idea, of something that was perhaps difficult to grasp or understand. Reason is based on facts, yet hard to grasp in that the reason is based on many things that we cannot see, understand, or even comprehend. Later in John 1:14 it says this: And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. John simply says that indeed there were and are things that are tough to grasp, but these tough concepts became reality, became flesh, in the very person of Jesus Christ. This was done so that we could see who God was and understand what He was and is about. The question that reasonable people need to ask is not one that justifies themselves and their thoughts and lifestyles, but one that concerns who this Jesus is. Thinking people cannot deny Jesus’s existence. They cannot deny His crucifixion, burial, and resurrection. If they do, they are not thinking or reasoning people any more, for there is much evidence to prove His life, death, and resurrection. To deny this makes you one who creates his/her own truth, rather than discovers it. If, in the end, you will give an account to yourself, all is good. If however, in the end, and there will be an end, you give an account to God, things will not be good. The flags that were flown at this conference or event were flags that had Christian themes, yet they wrapped them in humanistic thought, pride, and purpose. In Christianity, equality is important. In fact, as many of us remember, we were told that there is nothing that is fair in this life, yet God is fair or equal to all. It is clear, in the Scriptures, that all have sinned. The word all makes it mean all, so none are different. We are told that all men are separated from God because of their sin, and all men, no matter what country they come from, how rich or poor they are, or what church they attend, can be reconciled to God in the very same way. This reconciliation comes through Jesus for all. It’s fair. It’s equal. In fact, the only one it is not fair for is God. We are the ones who separated ourselves from Him due to our sin, and He is the One who makes it so we can be reconciled by having sent His son to die and pay our price of redemption. Jesus gave up, for a time, all He was enjoying in his Heavenly home to come here and care for those who needed help. Many think God is a cosmic killjoy who sits in heaven waiting for us to make mistakes. He is not. In fact, He is One who loves you and wants you to understand the very purposes for which He created you (significance). The tragedy in life is not sickness, death, or poverty; it is a separation from God. He does not offer us a ticket out of Hell, but rather, offers adoption papers into His family. His love costs Him, and is freely and readily available to all who want it. The flag with Charity on it might make the so-called reasonable person feel good, but charity has to do with giving, not taking. Those who are charitable are those who genuinely care for others, and this is hard to do if you genuinely care for yourself to excess. Christianity actually speaks of being charitable quite often. Those who live as children of God actually understand that their provision does not really come from themselves, but as a gift from God. That is why they have stability or security in their lives, and why they can be generous with those who have little or nothing. In fact, they know that Jesus said that when you help the least of these on this planet, you have helped or given to Him, as He identifies with those who are truly needy. 1 I am not certain, but I would assume that those who love God and believe in God are responsible for the majority of the charitable institutions in our nation. I am not speaking of just non-profits, for some create non-profits for their own profit, and are clever at playing the game. One of the byproducts of understanding and responding to God is a charitable life. Compassion would be another Christian flag. When a woman caught in a sin was brought to Jesus, it was He who had compassion on her. The self-righteous were ready to destroy such people, while Jesus was ready to restore them. Compassion means seeing the world through others’ eyes instead of yours. It means looking into others’ eyes and asking what needs to be done in order to make them the best they can be, instead of thinking of how you might use them for your own advantage. Diversity is another flagstone of Christianity, and means nothing if interpreted in a Godless environment. God’s Word teaches us that we are all created differently, or uniquely. In fact, those who are truly Christians are those who are compared to a body, in that there are many parts, but only one body. Diversity is good. Being different is good. As long as all of the body parts are subject to the brain, all things work out. In some respects, those who are promoting Godlessness are trying to say that diversity in and of itself is good, without a brain. If my body parts were all lined up and ready to function, yet had no signal from the brain, the diversity would be rather useless. Reason is indeed a Christian characteristic. In fact, to think that a universe such as ours came into existence on its own is a crazy, even goofy, idea. If I was holding a pencil in my hand, I would know that the pencil had a designer, a manufacturer, and a purpose. To think otherwise would make me most foolish. If a pencil, as simple as it is, has these obvious qualities, then the complex universe, human body, and even the life found in a northern Wisconsin lake has to have a Creator and a purpose as well. It is unreasonable to think otherwise. Yet, many do think that way because they know that if there is one who designed it all and made it all, then we will be subject to this being, and we do not want that. Did I mention that Hitler believed in evolution? It did not end well for him, I am certain. The flag I found strange missing was that of Tolerance. Tolerance would not be a flag for the Christian in that God is not now, nor will He ever be tolerant. In fact, if you love someone, you cannot be tolerant; you cannot watch those you love destroy themselves and be okay with it. Watching someone destroy themselves is not love; it is hate. God is patient. He desires us to learn and grow and enjoy things the way He meant them to be, but He is not tolerant. We are often tolerant and not patient. The end result of such thinking is disastrous. At this rally there were several signs. One of them said this: “Don’t pray in my school and I won’t think in your church.” Another said this: “So many Christians, so few lions.” I am not sure if these individuals did not receive the diversity memo, or the compassion lecture, but these kinds of signs harm their cause as much as the signs of so-called Christians that say “God hates homosexuals.” It seems as though we often try to defend what we want to believe, rather than stand firm for what really is. God hates sin because it destroys those He loves and stops us from living in a manner in which we were created to live. God does not hate individuals. At this conference or rally, one of the speakers, Paul Provenza, said that when Christians try to witness to him he glances at his watch and says, “I’d love to stay and chat, but I’ve gotta take my girlfriend for an abortion because I’m pretty sure the baby is going to be gay.” I imagine the crowd went crazy at that moment with laughter, cheers, and affirming nods. Yet, the statement itself seems to evoke all things narcissistic, and proves the point that I am making that atheists have nothing but self to please. Sex with his girlfriend was about his pleasure. He wanted the benefit without responsibility, which is why this is a girlfriend and not a wife, and why an abortion is desired, instead of a birth. The comment about the gayness of the baby was just a jab, and further demonstration that diversity really did not matter, unless it was acceptable diversity, whatever that means. From what I could gather, there were many discussions at this “reason” conference/gathering. Some of the discussions revolved around a belief that life is a result of condensed clouds of gas, and that morality is just a mater of science. I addressed the silliness of believing that we are all a result of some cosmic accident earlier, and stand by my thoughts that if a pencil had a designer and a manufacturer, so does the universe and all living beings. The idea of morality being a matter of science is both confusing and alarming. Morality comes from the root word “mores” or shifting. It is obvious that “morality,” whatever that is, has shifted throughout the years, and is different in various cultures. Morality, however, is a way we describe what is acceptable to a group of people, not necessarily what is right and/or wrong. People will either make up what is right and wrong in their own eyes, and surround themselves with those who think alike so they have a support group, or they will have some sort of outside standard by which to judge their thoughts and actions. Hitler probably thought he was doing what was best, moral, and even right for society, and probably believed that he would go down in history as one of the great statesmen. He was wrong. One can glance briefly at what we have seen on television and at the movie theaters and see a shift in what we call moral. We have come a long way since the days of Leave It To Beaver or Father Knows Best to Desperate Housewives and The Simpsons. Movies like The Hunger Games and movies that feature male strippers are main- stream, as well as books like Fifty Shades of Gray. These venues have moved the boundary of morality once again, but they have nothing to do with science, so one needs to wonder what this group of “reasoning people” was trying to say. Perhaps they were saying that science has brought us to a point where we can change what is right or challenge what is right. Maybe this has to do with stem cells or cloning Michael Jordan so that we can form a terrific Olympic basketball team, and since the science makes it possible, it is now acceptable. We have also begun to believe that if it is a law, something that is legal or ruled on by our Supreme Court, it is moral, good, or right. In reality, the Supreme Court is not supreme; only God holds that distinction. One day all will know that abortion is wrong, even evil, even though the Supreme Court said it was legal. The problem in our country is not that we legalized abortion, but that we have ignored or want to ignore God. If one listens to God, then there is no sex outside of marriage, and marriage is between one man and one woman who are committed to each other for life. In this context, there are no unwanted babies, and no need for abortions. The reason abortion is an issue is because God is not an issue. Sometimes those who claim to be thinkers and who are driven by reason seem to be thinking and reasoning with their feelings, rather than their minds. Instead of the emotions and decisions being directed by a thought process, the thought process is directed by the emotions, feelings, and the sense of immediate gratification. As I read surveys, study various reports, and observe life, I have concluded that our nation is really a nation of liars, and that lying is acceptable and normative. We lie to ourselves about what is, what should be, and what must be, in order to preserve our efforts to make ourselves most significant and secure. We lie to others in order to preserve the perceptions of significance and security. We lie to God, as if that works, in an effort to manipulate the Almighty. Lies are evident in religious institutions, government, schools, and on the playgrounds. Then we all act shocked when we get caught in a lie, or catch someone in a lie, even though we know lying is normative. Perhaps we, as a culture, are now having a hard time sorting out fantasy from reality. We watch hours and hours of “pretend” on television and at theaters. We watch people posturing for position, and know they are lying. We listen to political ads, knowing that we do not trust or believe the people talking. Yet, we go on living as if some or many of the lies actually have meaning, and in fact that do. They mean that we have degenerated to a degree that will be difficult to overcome. There was one lady who held a sign at this event that said this: “God hates figs.” She was playing off a sign, I suppose, from some so-called Christian group that said “God hates fags.” Once again, if you read the Bible, you know that God does not hate anyone, but He does hate sin. This lady missed the point that was made in the Bible in that she was interpreting what she saw on her jigsaw puzzle piece, rather than seeing the whole puzzle and how this story fit in. God, in this story, was not condemning figs, and I would challenge anyone who thinks that this is what is taught, to spend a few moments reading that passage. In reality, the true meaning of that passage did not matter to this “reasoning” lady. She had decided what it meant, and she would use it for leverage to support her belief. In fact, there were those who were of the “reasoning” camp who were looking at the sign and heard saying this: “That’s where Christians get their rules from.” I imagine there was a bit of disgusting head shakes and a giggles as if this lady captured the essence of what they would consider Christian’s stupidity. The actual phrase they used expresses the error in thinking. The Bible is not a book of rules. It a relational book that allows us to see things the way they were meant to be, the way they could be, and the way they should be. In any system there are harsh realities. If you are a shepherd and you have a herd of sheep, you are then responsible for their care and well-being. If a wolf invades your sheepfold, you need to spring to action and rid the area of the wolf. Getting the wolf out of the pen is the right, responsible, and loving thing to do. If the intent of the wolf is to harm, destroy, or kill the sheep, then we love the sheep by doing whatever we need to do to protect them. True Christians know that nothing revolves around them, that the universe is independent of their doing or understanding, and that all men will one day die, and after death is a judgment of Almighty God. This judgment is not one based on our work, but on Christ’s work. So what mankind does with Christ is what matters, for Christ was either a liar, a lunatic, or Lord. It has to be one of the three, and Christians are following a liar, a lunatic, or God. Both sides cannot be right. It is not possible. Reason would dictate that God is and therefore I am, so I should decide to live my life in relationship with Him. One day we will find out who is right. For some, that day will be wonderful. For others, it will be a day that will prove they missed out on what Almighty God wanted them to have, and they will realize their life was a tragic waste due to their stubborn ignorance. God is not tolerant, but He is patient. What are you waiting for? Why would you wait? Those who seek Him find Him. Those who do not seek Him will meet Him when they would rather not. 2 For now, the choice is yours. Footnotes 1. Matthew 25:42-45 For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me. ’ 44 Then they also will answer, saying, ‘ Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you? ’ 45 Then he will answer them, saying, ‘ Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me. ’ 2. Jeremiah 29:13 ESV You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. Dave Wager davewager.com