Even Atheists must recognise the moral necessity for Christianity

[Brother Temperance]

Why atheists need Christianity:

In 1990, a friend of mine, Frank Steele, was given six months to live. One of the finest men I have ever met, Frank was aptly named. Beneath the wit, he was frank and made of steel. His main career had been in MI6, in the days when it was a very secret service. So despite doing the Lord's work on his country's behalf for many years, he received little public recognition.
As might have been expected, he confronted his fate with realism and defiance. This was something which he could discuss openly. Six months passed, but not Frank. Some time later, I remember saying: "Steele, three years ago you told me you'd be dead in six months. I felt like blubbing, but instead I bought you a glass of port. Now here you are, larger than life, having more port. You're not dying; you're the President of The Royal College of Hypochondriacs."
The cancer got him in the end, although it did take seven years. During that time, when he was suffering more than he ever admitted, he remained utterly resolute on one topic: atheism. The nearer he approached death, the more implacably atheistic he became. He seemed to find it personally offensive that anyone could give intellectual house-room to all this nonsense about God. Occasionally, Christians are credited with heroic faith. Frank Steele had heroic unfaith.
I do not know whether the same applies to Professor Richard Dawkins and his noisy acolytes. In one respect, atheists have an easier task than theists. In order to deny the existence of God, it is only necessary to accept one proposition. Believers have to try to understand what they believe. After two Christian millennia and many libraries of theology, that task seems harder than ever. St Paul told his fellow Christians that in this world, they would only see through a glass, darkly. That is becoming increasingly true.
Apart from Southern Baptists in the US plus Ian Paisley - and one is no longer so sure about him - it is hard to tell what Christians actually believe. Atheists can revel in unholy simplicity, but most contemporary Christians seem full of self-doubt. Mr Dawkins gives the impression that the possibility of self-doubt has never crossed his mind.
Despite the Professor's example, thoughtful atheism ought not to be an oxymoron, and one point should have occurred to the adherents of that doctrine, at least in a Christian country. Even if they reject faith, it might be better if not too many others followed their example. In the West, we have a vast cultural and intellectual heritage. But our ethical heritage is sadly depleted. Its two wells were the Classics and Christianity. The Classical well has already ceased to function. The Christian one may run dry even before the oil wells. Prime Minister Salisbury said that anyone who expected the Christian ethic to survive Christian theology by more than two or three generations was deluded. He has yet to be refuted.
There are those who would try to brush his point aside by denying that the Christian ethic has any value, and the past 2,000 years provides them with plenty of prima facie evidence. So did Christianity make man better, worse, or just the same? It is an irresolvable dispute, but the Christians can adduce some arguments in their favour. Theirs is a religion of love in which charity is a duty. If that cannot persuade man to behave well, original sin is the best short account of the human condition.

Too true. Without religion, what reason is there to behave morally? I'm sure we can all remember that unfortunate incident a few years ago, when, as an April Fools joke, Pastor Pistle announced that LBC would no longer recognise the literal truth of the Bible. It's a good thing that the Lord is so willing to forgive of all our sins, because there was a whole lot of rapin' going on that day, I can tell you!

It should also be easy for Christians to argue that the Enlightenment had failed. Even in the countries where the social, economic and intellectual changes associated with it were accompanied by benign political developments, there is a well-grounded worry that the human race has only a 50:50 chance of surviving the next 50 years. In the benighted countries where an anti-religious system of belief was imposed with such totalitarian rigour that it became a pseudo-religion, horrors ensued.

Praise! As he so rightly points out, the horrors of Stalin's USSR and Hitler's Germany were direct results of atheism. In the tiny minority of countries where theocracy came to an end without millions of people being slaughtered, everyone's now getting worried about global warming - another direct result of atheism!

There are two further practical arguments in favour of Christianity. First, its decline has not meant the end of religion. It has merely diverted the search for religion to new and sometimes dangerous outlets. This is inevitable, for the fear of death is at the heart of religion: our unwillingness to accept that for us, like the animals whom we dominate, life's end is the end...
The second practical argument for Christianity relates to Islam, a religion which is not in decline. Westerners have a problem in dealing with Muslims; too many of us are infested with vulgar Marxism. So when believers who are angry with us talk about their faith, we assume that this is a mere metaphor for political and economic grievances. We are too ready to discount the possibility that our opponents are saying what they believe and that their grievances are largely religious in origin.
This is not to deny that religion and politics may combine to cause an explosion, especially in Islamic countries which do not recognise the distinction between the two. In Scotland, the SNP has convinced many voters that William Wallace was a poll-tax rebel, cruelly murdered by Margaret Thatcher. The SNP has used a "Braveheart" version of early 14th-century Scottish history to inflame unjustified grievances. It is hardly surprising that in countries where the grievances are genuine, a truthful version of 7th-century Islamic history can inflame the passions.
It was one of the most remarkable occurrences in history. Primitive tribesmen surged forth from the Arabian peninsula. Within 100 years, they had defeated the Byzantine and Persian empires. Only Charles Martel prevented them from overrunning Western Europe.
This is not to suggest that we return to Charles Martel's methods. The era of the Crusades is over. But in our dealings with Islam, it would help us if we had more confidence in our own values and traditions. In order for that to occur, as many people as possible ought to believe in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Praise! There you go, atheists: If you deny Jesus' resurrection, then you'll probably slaughter millions of people, and then die of global warming, or possibly be slaughtered by a barbarous Muslim, who can only be defeated by the Power of Christ. What do you say to that?

[Bobby-Joe]

Re: Even Atheists must recognise the moral necessity for Christia

Praise Jesus Brother Temperance, truly you are listing to Christ today! Yes, the atheist have a lot to answer for, just look at the degradation and suffering their so called enlightenment has brought upon society. Why the first out break of syphilis was in 1492, right about the same time as this new learning the secularist are so proud of. Clearly the new learning ripped threw Europe in a wave of immorality and debauchery, opening humanity to degenerating disease. That was just the first step on a long rode that led to Joseph Stalin and on to the abortion clinics of San Francisco. Only the fear of God keeps us from raping and murdering our fellow human beings.

[OnYourKnees]

Re: Even Atheists must recognise the moral necessity for Christia

Praise! There you go, atheists: If you deny Jesus' resurrection, then you'll probably slaughter millions of people, and then die of global warming, or possibly be slaughtered by a barbarous Muslim, who can only be defeated by the Power of Christ. What do you say to that?

Beautiful, Brother Temperance!

Every day, I fall to my knees and thank God that I live in the United Godly States of America, a Christian nation, instead of Godless Western Europe, which is slowly being overrun by Muslims who want to declare Shania Twain law!!