International Blasphemy Day and Baptists
Offline Another post from the Southern Baptists. This is interesting because it shows baptists are noticing the growing number of atheists. What do youthink?
International Blasphemy Day.
Ready for a day to honor blasphemy? According to press reports, September 30 is set as the observance of the first-ever International Blasphemy Day. This could be interesting.
The choice of September 30 looks back to that date in the year 2005, when the publication of cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad's face sparked outcry and protests in the Muslim world and threats toward the West.
Now, as Religion News Service reports, the Center for Inquiry is planning a day of observances to mark the occasion. Ron Lindsay, a lawyer who serves as president of the Council for Inquiry International, said that the day was part of the group's effort to expose religious beliefs to investigation. In the words of the RNS report, the goal is "to expose all religious beliefs to the same level of inquiry, discussion and criticism to which other areas of intellectual interest are subjected."
Here is one feature of the day as planned by CFI:
You've never seen Jesus like this before: dripping red nail polish around the nails in his feet and hands, an irreverent riff on the crucifixion wounds. The provocative title of the painting: "Jesus Does His Nails." Blasphemous? Absolutely. Deliberately provocative? You bet.
Artist Dana Ellyn told RNS that she is an "agnostic atheist" whose purpose is to be provocative. "My point is not to offend, but I realize it can offend, because religion is such a polarizing topic," she said.
Among other things, CFI International also plans a "blasphemy contest," "in which participants are invited to submit phrases, poems, or statements that would be, or have been, considered blasphemous." Winners are to receive a t-shirt and mug.
Bet you can't wait to see those.
More seriously, participants are also to be encouraged to take up the "Blasphemy Challenge" in which individuals register their blasphemy in the face of Mark 3:29. In that verse, Jesus warns, "whoever blasphemes the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin" [ESV]. Those who take up the "Blasphemy Challenge" record video submissions which must include the words, "I deny the Holy Spirit."
The Blasphemy Day events are certain to draw media attention, which is no doubt the whole point of the observance. That is how a group like CFI can gain publicity for itself and its cause.
How should Christians respond?
First, take no offense. Refuse to play into the game plan of those sponsoring International Blasphemy Day. The Lord Jesus Christ was and is despised and rejected of men. Our Lord bore the scorn heaped upon him by his enemies. Christianity is not an honor religion. Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ are not commanded to defend his honor, but to be willing to share in the scorn directed to him. Is the servant greater than his master?
Islam is an honor religion, and the major forces in the world today seeking to criminalize blasphemy are Islamic. The riots on the streets of many nations in protest of the Danish cartoons do represent what faithful Muslims believe their religion requires them to do. Not so for Christianity. We must be those who take to the streets with the Gospel -- not with a defense of our honor or the honor of our Lord. When Christians forget this, we lose our Gospel witness. The history of the church includes far too many instances of this loss. We dare not add another.
Second, mourn the blasphemy. The warning of Jesus is clear -- blasphemy has eternal consequences. The worst form of blasphemy is the refusal to hear and believe the Gospel. For that sin there can be no forgiveness. We must mourn the blasphemy, not because honor is at stake, but because souls are at stake with eternal consequences. God will ultimately and perfectly defend his honor. On that day, there will be no escape for unrepentant blasphemers.
Third, see this observance for what it really is -- an unintended testimony to the existence of God and the foolishness of those who deny Him. The sheer foolishness of a blasphemy contest with t-shirts and mugs betrays the lunacy of it all. They can do no better than this? One testimony to the power of God is the fact that his self-declared enemies come off as so childish and manic. The heathen rage and God sees the foolish grasshoppers.
International Blasphemy Day will come and go. Take note, ponder its meaning . . . and skip the t-shirt.
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It doesn't read like god wrote it. God is allegedly the source of all perfection but this copy is rubbish and as unoriginal as the Odyssey's "swift, slim, ships" and "wine dark sea".
This pap is the cliched work of a talentless temple scribe.
"The virgin daughter of my people is shattered with a great wound."
Quick - call the Pulitzer people, eXni. It's prize-winning stuff.
"Experiments are the only means of knowledge at our disposal. The rest is poetry, imagination." Max Planck
Posts eXni, is the constant appeal to a logic you never apply.
As for Vastet suggesting anything is void of meaning, I think you missed his point.
But more importantly - you missed his other point.
If god is logical then logic came before god and controls god and defines and corrals god. It forces an omnipotent god to be logical.
Is logic a force that dictates to god? We know god can't personify logic. That makes no sense at all. You can't personify a concept.
Oh - and this is human logic, too. Is god no more powerful that human logic? Does god personify human logic?
"Experiments are the only means of knowledge at our disposal. The rest is poetry, imagination." Max Planck
"Posts eXni, is the constant appeal to a logic you never apply."
-- Ironically, each time you make this argument you reinforce mine.
"If god is logical then logic came before god and controls god and defines and corrals god. It forces an omnipotent god to be logical. Is logic a force that dictates to god? We know god can't personify logic. That makes no sense at all. You can't personify a concept."
-- Logic as we know it is a reflection of how God operates. 'forces and omnipotent God' is an oxymoron. God can only be 'restricted' by His own accord. IE: God cannot sin. That does not take away from His character at all.
"Oh - and this is human logic, too. Is god no more powerful that human logic? Does god personify human logic?"
-- We are made in His image, and His ways are higher than our ways. I would say that man personifies God's logic if anything.
Speaking Truth in love,
"We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ..." - Paul to the Corinthians
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Christian | Amaterialist | Supernaturalist | Anti-Crypto-Theist
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Facts do not speak for themselves.
Yet another claim rooted in fallacy and circular logic.
Enlightened Atheist, Gaming God.
But he's a dogged little bastard, isn't he?
They must be. The appearance of absolute certainty must shroud them in order to have a hope of convincing people to share ridiculous beliefs. But that very certainty works against him in a place like this, where standards of proof and intellectual thought are held to a higher standard than the school playground. Here it just speaks to the shallowness of his tactics and arguments that he cannot respond to the plethora of evidence against him without referring to a book that likewise fails to meet those standards.
Fortunately, I don't mind too much putting his words where they belong: Low rent fantasy.
Enlightened Atheist, Gaming God.
I suppose I wouldn't be dogged if I let this go, huh?
The assertion of absolute certainty against God from your perspective is laughable. We both know that you aren't able to prove that God doesn't exist, and because the way that God fashioned logic to work, we both understand that the reason I do not expect you to is because you cannot prove a negative.
I find it repeatedly encouraging that you misunderstand my arguments while sending derogatory remarks my way because the Bible tells me to expect this from people such as yourself... I want to thank you for validating the word of God by the way you have conducted yourself.
"For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
For it is written,
"I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart." Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe."
Speaking Truth in love,
"We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ..." - Paul to the Corinthians
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Christian | Amaterialist | Supernaturalist | Anti-Crypto-Theist
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Facts do not speak for themselves.
"The assertion of absolute certainty against God from your perspective is laughable. We both know that you aren't able to prove that God doesn't exist, and because the way that God fashioned logic to work, we both understand that the reason I do not expect you to is because you cannot prove a negative."
The contradictions between your bible and reality are more than sufficient to disprove your god. Not even mentioning the internal contradictions, which are just icing on the cake.
"I find it repeatedly encouraging that you misunderstand my arguments while sending derogatory remarks my way because the Bible tells me to expect this from people such as yourself... I want to thank you for validating the word of God by the way you have conducted yourself."
You don't even understand your own arguments, or you'd have been able to accomplish more than repition of baseless assertions.
And you can thank yourself for being condescending and deceptive. Congratulations on your self fulfilling prophecy.
Enlightened Atheist, Gaming God.