A Disappointed Rant

What has happened to the atheist movement? There used to be a day when intellectual integrity, sound logic, philosophy and reason dominated academia. We find ourselves now in a world of atheists that now buy into the obscurities of the Zeitgeist Movie, and The God Delusion, and The God Who Wasn't There. Walk into any classroom of serious philosophy students and all will shun such works for the intellectual failure that they are. Propaganda, perversion, and control. The very things that these films and books profess they use to indoctrinate the masses. Flemming encourages all to escape indoctrination when people have succumbed to his pitiful aim to fight against God.

Does anybody even check the references of any of those films or books anymore? The two films I noted are all based on the Christ myth which is possibly the least respected intellectual position in modern scholarship. In my opinion, Dawkins did himself a great disservice by making an appearance in Flemming's film. To even associate one's self with Flemming brings into question just how respectful their attempts to antagonize God really are.

Notice that not a single Christian scholar or respectable Christian protagonist is consulted in the film. Who will win do you think? An atheist scholar (not even a very good one at that) or a street Christian who (I apologize for this) doesn't have a clue about what it is that they believe in and what it is that they are asserting intellectually when they say that there is a God; more than that, to say that He even came down in bodily form and dwelt among us. It's a disgrace, and a travesty to which I know Flemming and the creators of Zeitgeist will never admit. This is largely because they honestly believe what it is that they are asserting, but also because they are idiots.

Richard Dawkins was recently outraged by a university that refused to include his contributions to atheism on a course for students on atheism because there were so many more respectable atheists in history than he. They argued that much greater intellectually formidable atheists would be reviewed such as Sartre, Kant, etc. as he stood by outraged that he was not compared with them. What arrogance is this?

Having been an atheist at an earlier point in my life I can't help but feel depressed that I will have to waste my time dealing with such intellectually repulsive arguments as those of Dawkins, Harris, Stenger, Dennett, and Hitchens. It's a fad, and a trend (I hope and pray) that will someday stop once another great atheist of our modern era silences them all with a new breathtaking argument for theists the world over to face.

What many fail to realize is that it is intellectually reputable to be a Christian. Many run from Him out of weakness, though certainly they will say the opposite; that is that they walk away out of strength, that they no longer need the mythologies of an ancient and un-evolved man with which to cope with the existential burdens of our universe. However, I tell you that it is the fool who says this in their heart and believes these things. The fool assumes that he might brave the seas and swim without the lifeboat that Christ has provided for us. This wage is sin, and it leads to death.

Sin, the arrogance of man to assume that he can brave the storm; he certainly will drown from his own iniquity.

I believe that the truth will set you free. I am sure that you believe that too; we all do. I believe that as a category it exists, truth. There is also a category that I believe exists, that is untruth. There is much untruth to be sorted through out there, even in the midst of the church. Politics, propaganda, personal agenda it is all vain. Truth is an imperative that will outlast all things. You think and therefore you are, so too truth exists and will face us all. The brevity of life; the vanity of things; the haunting uncertainty of death.

I apologize for all the rubbish; the media, Christians who live unbiblically yet publically for all to see and mock, the man who is intellectually dishonest and produces a film to free a generation of believers from the shackles of belief only to lock them again into the despair and death that will come from untruth.

Be a skeptic, don't believe everything that you hear, read, and even think. Be reasonable, genuine, and most importantly of all HONEST. We are most often dishonest with ourselves to make our existence more palatable. Let it be known and seen that such a disposition is vain and without reward. Just look to the parent who became an alcoholic and still searches life for meaning when they have really lost everything. Look to those who scour the earth fighting their way to the financial summit only to find out that it is a lonely place, still haunted with desire. There is no hope in this world. A season comes and a season goes only to remind you that regardless of what you do, you will die anyways. No matter what fortune your life amounts to, it will be inherited by someone who has not worked for it and who is less capable than you. It is of no consequence what you become; you will meet the same fate as all men, death.

One may say this isn't perhaps so depressing as we have this life to look forward to and that life isn't intended to live in despair. I agree. Not for the same reason as the atheist; however. Why would one care if someone who has not labored inherits your fortunes? Why should you or anyone care whether or not you have contributed anything to the world? You will be dead, and what becomes of things afterward would be non-consequential anyways. I would argue that it does matter, just as the sensible atheist would for the simple virtue and reason that what it is that you do invariably affects everyone else.

My only derivation to this is that there is also a God to whom we are accountable who has demonstrated such and given warning so that we might not fall because of sin just as the first of mankind did. However, I implore you to not be a fool. Search your heart, your wit, and your very essence and find what it is that is truth; NOT what is TRUE TO YOU, but rather what is true categorically, imperatively, what exists apart from you. I tell you that it is the arrogant and the fool that insists that truth is subjective, that there is a reality special to each and every one of us, NO. These people will stand judgment as well, yes; even the fool who claims to be a Christian and insists that there is such a thing as their own spiritual reality. Their "truth" will perish with them; truth is everlasting and will survive even to the end of time.

Proverbs 14 tells us:

1The wise woman builds her house,
But the foolish tears it down with her own hands.
2He who walks in his uprightness fears the LORD,
But he who is devious in his ways despises Him.
3In the mouth of the foolish is a rod for his back,
But the lips of the wise will protect them.
4Where no oxen are, the manger is clean,
But much revenue comes by the strength of the ox.
5A trustworthy witness will not lie,
But a false witness utters lies.
6A scoffer seeks wisdom and finds none,
But knowledge is easy to one who has understanding.
7Leave the presence of a fool,
Or you will not discern words of knowledge.
8The wisdom of the sensible is to understand his way,
But the foolishness of fools is deceit.
9Fools mock at sin,
But among the upright there is good will.
10THE HEART KNOWS ITS OWN BITTERNESS,
And a stranger does not share its joy.
11The house of the wicked will be destroyed,
But the tent of the upright will flourish.
12THERE IS A WAY WHICH SEEMS RIGHT TO A MAN,
BUT ITS END IS THE WAY OF DEATH.
13Even in laughter the heart may be in pain,
And the end of joy may be grief.
14The backslider in heart will have his fill of his own ways,
But a good man will be satisfied with his.
15THE NAIVE BELIEVES EVERYTHING,
BUT THE SENSIBLE MAN CONSIDERS HIS STEPS.
16A wise man is cautious and turns away from evil,
But a fool is arrogant and careless.
17A quick-tempered man acts foolishly,
And a man of evil devices is hated.
18The naive inherit foolishness,
But the sensible are crowned with knowledge.
19The evil will bow down before the good,
And the wicked at the gates of the righteous.
20The poor is hated even by his neighbor,
But those who love the rich are many.
21He who despises his neighbor sins,
But happy is he who is gracious to the poor.
22Will they not go astray who devise evil?
But kindness and truth will be to those who devise good.
23In all labor there is profit,
But mere talk leads only to poverty.
24The crown of the wise is their riches,
But the folly of fools is foolishness.
25A truthful witness saves lives,
But he who utters lies is treacherous.
26In the fear of the LORD there is strong confidence,
And his children will have refuge.
27The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life,
That one may avoid the snares of death.
28In a multitude of people is a king's glory,
But in the dearth of people is a prince's ruin.
29He who is slow to anger has great understanding,
But he who is quick-tempered exalts folly.
30A tranquil heart is life to the body,
But passion is rottenness to the bones.
31He who oppresses the poor taunts his Maker,
But he who is gracious to the needy honors Him.
32The wicked is thrust down by his wrongdoing,
But the righteous has a refuge when he dies.
33Wisdom rests in the heart of one who has understanding,
But in the hearts of fools it is made known.
34Righteousness exalts a nation,
But sin is a disgrace to any people.
35THE KING'S FAVOR IS TOWARD A SERVANT WHO ACTS
WISELY,
BUT HIS ANGER IS TOWARD HIM WHO ACTS SHAMEFULLY.

If you want to see the rest, see Proverbs chapters ten through eighteen.

It is not the foolish who thrive in the eyes of God, but the wise. The likes of the New Atheists, Dawkins, Harris, Stenger, Dennett, and Hitchens will fade into the past, forgotten (I pray). The reputable philosophies of a forgotten age will one day resurface and be given the attention of an intellectually starved academia ravaged by the likes of boundless masquerades of the truth. This “fad” so perfectly characterized by Keith Breeze is, “…so ironic it’s painful, so hip it’s almost passé.”

You yourself know the iniquity of humanity. You have seen the evil deeds of man. Dishonesty, theft, sexual objectification, jealousy, dissentions, drunkenness, envying, carousing, and worse; mankind is a selfish creature by nature. All these things are vanity and lead to shame, guilt, and ultimately death. The Good News is that in spite of it all, our failures, iniquity, and shortcomings is that God has given you a way out; the gift of salvation and freedom in his Son Jesus Christ with grace and justification in faith.

Faith, so commonly a scarcely trodden upon word; it is the summation of your impressions. It is what you believe about the world around you. Faith is not a magical, mystical thing that you see in fairy tales but rather a certainty. Cogito ergo sum. I have faith that I exist, just as I have faith that God exists.

In Christ,

Στεφανος Άρρις