Half Atheist

One of my favorite punk bands is Bad Religion. They are punk rock veterans who are against government, religion, and are pro thinking for yourself. A lot of my friends, Christian or not, wonder how I can justify liking a band like that. Don't they hate my God? Aren't they philosophically opposed to me? Aren't they condescending towards me as a person? I won't deny any of that. They are opposed to organized religion, they worship science, and believe that if God does exist (which they are sure He doesn't), He is of no consequence.

One day I was listening to Bad Religion and I was feeling spiritually weird. This is bound to happen when you listen to somebody who sees the world in a way that you do not. I was feeling odd because I wasn't disagreeing with a lot of what they were saying. I have times when I feel like God isn't there. I have times when I feel like religion causes more hurt than help. Dare I say it, I have moments when I feel like I know better than God does. Listening to Bad Religion had put me in such a weird mood that I made a very startling admission.

I am an Atheist.

I said it. I said it out loud and do you know what happened? The Spirit of God fell on me in such a real way that I started to cry. I hadn't felt that close to God in a long time. All of my doubts and fears about God had be pushed aside at that moment. I became a stronger Christian and God used Bad Religion to do it.

If you are still reading, which I hope you are, I owe you an explanation. As a Christian the difference between my flesh and spirit is at the forefront of my day to day. I totally relate to the Apostle Paul when he said:

“For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.”

Romans 7:18-20

All day long I see the good I want to do and I do the bad instead. I see God's will, which I know is right, and I do my own thing. All day long I do stupid, stupid, stuff that is covered by the Grace of God. My flesh is atheist. It doesn't want God, it thinks it doesn't need God, and sometimes it wins. Sometime I cuss, sometime I lie, sometimes I lust, sometimes I get mad, and this is the atheist in me doing what I think is right at the moment.

As a Christian you might just say, “Well, that's the sin nature,” or as an atheist you might say, “That's just human nature,” and you'd be right as well. “Well, that doesn't make you an atheist,” is what both sides are probably saying in unison. To a certain extent I guess you'd be right. What I can tell you is that the two halves of me are diametrically opposed and that's how it should be. There is a part of me that God has to beat down and make submit and a part that He has to nurture and enhance. There is a part of me that kicks at the idea of God and there is a part of me that embraces it. This polarity is needed.

It's the blending, deliberating, compromising, and joining of the two that make issues. This, ironically, is the breeding ground for both fundamentalist heresies and Unitarian heresies. This war will wage as long as we have breath. It wages whether we acknowledge it or not. That is why we need Christ. If we can't tell the difference between who we used to be without Jesus and who we are with Jesus then we don't know Jesus. If we rely on rules and not Jesus to be our salvation from our atheist side then all we are is a better behaved atheist.

I've watched a lot of my friends become atheists because they were taught that if you are loved by Jesus you never want to sin. They can't kick the desires they have. They here a different philosophy. They meet a gay person who isn't trying to take down the whole American infrastructure. Sex is fun. All of a sudden God is on the chopping block and it makes more sense to kill Him off then to follow Him. Off with His head. The war isn't worth it so somebody has to die and it might as well be the thing that they can't remember seeing, touching, or feeling.

The thing I love most about Bad Religion is they remind me that the choices I make can only be made by me. They remind me that I don't have to take crap from anybody. They remind me of what lives inside of me. They make me not take my faith for granted. They make me seek out truth and not just swallow what I am taught. They, inadvertently I'm sure, show me how much my flesh hates God and how much my spirit needs Him. 

Picture acquired from: www.ampmagazine.com

Video acquired from: www.youtube.com 

The Bible For Real

Genesis 36+37/ 1 Corinthians 15+16

            This idea that the Bible is a cute book of stories for right living must have been perpetrated by some one who ever read the Bible in it’s entirety. The Bible is full of grade A screw ups that end up in situations where no philosophy, good deed, or moral imperative could possibly help them. The heroes of the Bible end up in places where God must intervene or the hero will die or at least look horribly foolish.

            “Aha! So it’s all about getting people to ascribe to a religion! It’s all about making people live a certain way to get a certain thing!” I would lean towards that point of view myself if the Bible wasn’t also littered with reminders that we aren’t saved from our daily calamities by being pious and religious. Those who were cute, pious, religious, and good for the sake of getting stuff from God were often humbled, told off, or eaten by the ground. Religion saves about as much as a broken seat belt.

            The Bible, in its entirety, is horrid for controlling the masses. When the powers at be attempt to use Scripture in that capacity it always fails. Some punk always goes and reads it for what it is and listens to what it actually says, and that flips the whole system on its ear. We fall prey to all sorts of evil, secular and religious, when we start reading and following, solely, other people’s interpretations of Scripture. Other people’s opinions are a poor substitute for the Spirit of God.

            In years past, and in other parts of the world, people fought and died to be able to read the Bible for themselves and let the Spirit of God speak directly into their lives. Now, in this culture, we happily give up our rights to read the Word of God and have Him lead us so we can have a “Purpose Driven Life” or make “Everyday a Friday.” I’d be pissed at the people writing all this stuff if it was there fault. It’s not. The fault lies in those of us who will settle for less.

            The rub is this: if we search enough we can find other people to back up what we think or feel about scripture and God. But like my favorite English professors used to say, “I don’t give a damn about what you think or feel the author is trying to say, what is he saying?”

            Pray. Talk to God. Read the Bible and do what it says. Don’t be a robot and don’t fear man or their opinions. Read the Scriptures for what they are. The Author had a very specific purpose in mind when He wrote it. Anything else is man’s selfish, ignorant, ambition.  

            

Truth about the Holy Spirit

Amos 7+8/Romans 7+8     

            There is no formula or equation for this. Either you are listening to the Holy Spirit or you’re not. We are either obeying the commands of Love or we are not. If we are seeking gray areas it is out of our sinful nature.

            We can’t forget Grace. We can’t forget love. That’s what the Spirit of God gives us. It’s out of Grace and Love that we are reconciled to God and are capable of doing anything productive.

            Why do we look for the catch? Why do we look for the trap door? So much time and energy is wasted on debating this minutia.

            Do I have the Spirit of God in me and am I obeying it in spite of the possible “ramifications” in this temporal world?