How God really works

[I have to be out of town today and tomorrow, so I thought I’d cheat and replay some old Evangelical Realism posts. This one, from August 2007, is my all-time greatest hit (according to my stats log, that is).]

A blogger at passionateamerica.com has a bit of Monday Morning “humor” that (perhaps without meaning to) gives us a good hard look at how God really “works”:

A United States Marine was attending some college courses between assignments. He had completed missions in Iraq and Afghanistan . One of the courses had a professor who was a vowed atheist and a member of the ACLU.

One day the professor shocked the class when he came in. He looked to the ceiling and flatly stated, “God, if you are real, then I want you to knock me off this platform. I’ll give you exactly 15 minutes.” The lecture room fell silent. You could hear a pin drop.

Ten minutes went by and the professor proclaimed, “Here I am God. I’m still waiting.” It got down to the last couple of minutes when the Marine got out of his chair, went up to the professor, and cold-cocked him; knocking him off the platform.

The professor was out cold. The Marine went back to his seat and sat there, silently. The other students were shocked and stunned and sat there looking on in silence. The professor eventually came to, noticeably shaken, looked at the Marine and asked, “What the hell is the matter with you? Why did you do that?”

The Marine calmly replied, “God was too busy today protecting America ’s soldiers who are protecting your right to say stupid stuff and act like an a$$. So, He sent me.”

[Read more…]

The Amazing vanishing post

I got a really intriguing snippet in my Google Alerts mail today.

Why Christians Don’t Want Government Defining Marriage
Crosswalk.com (blog)
It’s not uncommon for Christian pundits to agree with certain candidates who are conservative in a number of areas but castigate them profusely when those same candidates don’t support a government ban on homosexual marriage. …

When I click on the link, it takes me to Crosswalk.com, a Christian web site dedicated to Bible study and evangelism. But the post is gone.

Hmmm.

“Nation” vs “government”

I see Vox Day is up to his usual form. Writing for WorldNetDaily, he tries to dilute the impact of the Treaty of Tripoli by a bit of heavy-handed framing.

[T]he argument that America was never a Christian nation relies upon a common atheist trick, in this case, the substitution of the word “nation” for “government.” What is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion? Is it “the United States of America”? Is it “the American people”? No, it is “the Government of the United States of America.”

Notice it’s the atheists who are trying to “trick” you into confusing the American nation with the American government. No Christian (like David Barton, for instance) would ever try to conflate “nation” and “government” in such a way as to make it sound like our laws and government institutions (e.g. public schools) had a right and/or obligation to give preference to Christianity.

[Read more…]

“Missing the Point” Department

TV Station WJHG reports that “several hundred” fans and football players staged an ostensibly defiant recitation of the Lord’s Prayer just before a high school football game.

Marianna- Just before Friday night’s football game at Marianna High School, students, parents, and even the players went through with reciting the Lord’s Prayer…

One student said it should send a strong message about prayer in public schools.

“It just shows that with God anything’s possible, nothing can stop us,” said Marianna High School student Trenton Nobles.

It also shows that prayer is not being repressed in the United States. What’s illegal is for the state (e.g. school teachers, coaches, principals, etc) to dictate to students when and how they must pray. But students themselves are free to pray whenever they like. As the TV station kindly noted in their online report, the ACLU confirmed the fact that public, student-led prayer cannot legally be discouraged by school officials.

The American Civil Liberties Union was not involved in the Jackson County School Board’s decision about pre-game prayers, but it said it’s against the law for school administrators and teachers to either encourage or discourage them.

Yep, those dad-gummed atheist liberals are standing up for believers’ civil rights again. Care to guess how many believers are going to thank them for it?