Sunday, April 12, 2009

12 Year Old Martyr On YouTube


Sometimes the most beautiful parts of Christianity come out in the form of ugliness. Take, for example the videos of ChristianU2uber, who posted some views about same sex marriage. He was verbally crucified.

Here we see the true nature of the godless. And we see the prophetic words of Christ come to life—"If they hated me, they will hate you."

You can see him here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUdFsRgd7f4

A year or so ago, I was engaged in a debate about evolution on a popular marketer's forum. Over and over again, I simply asked the question, "What has the theory of evolution produced for the scientific community? How is it of any use?" I condemned no one, I simply asked the question.

I was amazed at how many people hated me for asking the question, and I was even more amazed at how open they were with this hatred. The thread ended up being the single longest thread in the history of the forum.

Throughout the discussion, many people guessed at my reasons for being a Christian. I'm stupid. I'm brainwashed. You know, the usual.

I wouldn't engage in those kinds of arguments. I wanted to debate about my main point—that evolution is a useless theory. Among other things, I wanted to illustrate how hateful their side was. And I accomplished that.

Once they had made it blatantly obvious (by their classic insult tactics) that there's a distinct line between Christians and non-Christians, I finally posted a letter telling them why I was a Christian.

The forum has since then been removed, along with all of the discussions. But I do have a copy of my final response (the final one that mattered, anyway), which I'm posting below.

Ok, it looks like my argument about the uselessness of evolution study is over.  I can't see why everyone was so unwilling to really address it, but whatever. 

Over and over again, some of you have eluded to my reasons for being a creationist...sometimes about my reason for being a Christian.  I'm brainwashed, I'm emotional instead of logical (tell that one to my wife--according to her, charcoal has a fuller range of emotions than me), I've been indoctrinated, I'm scared of the truth, I'm living a dream, etc.,

Well, I thought I'd make one statement here to set that record straight.  Until now, I've avoided it, because I didn't want to make it part of my argument.  After all, it really isn't an argument.  It's a personal choice I've made, just as many of you have chosen not to be Christian.

Now whatever your response is going to be- believe me, I've heard it all before.  Save your fingers.  It might make you feel better to poke fun, but it sure ain't gonna change my mind, and it won't change the mind of any other Christian.

Every other Christian on this board will know EXACTLY what I'm talking about.  Not a single non-Christian will have any clue.  It's not the kind of thing you can grasp unless you've experienced it.

To me, Christianity (and everything involved) is a love story.  Not the kind of sappy romance stories you see now-a-days.  It's a perfect love story.  One that has a happy beginning, a happy (but difficult) middle, and a happy ending.

It's the kind where a guy meets a woman that is so perfect, so far above him, that he knows he'll NEVER be worthy of her love.  Yet instead of settling for something less, he spends his entire life trying to make himself worthy.

And despite all his flaws, she loves him back.

It only makes sense for him to reject everything that rejects her.

That's the plain and simple.  There's nothing more to it.  I reject evolution because the only time I hear it put to use, is when someone is trying to disprove creation...even when the two do not contradict each other.

Now you might point to all the obvious reasons that my God is not perfect (as in my love story), and that He only makes my life harder, and doesn't lift a finger to solve the world's problems.  But in answer to that, I'll tell you another love story.  A true one.

Jan and John fall in love just before entering into college.  They know they're not financially ready for marriage, but they decide to tie the knot anyway, and go through college as a married couple.

John has to have some shots before he can go to the school he wants.  He has a bad reaction to them.  

Fastworward a few months.  John is bedridden.  As a matter of fact, he is very nearly a paraplegic.  He cannot work, he cannot do anything around the house, he is in complete misery (very severe physical pain ALL the time).  And it doesn't look like it will EVER change.  His life as an active young man ended at the age of 20.

Now in present time.  Jan didn't run.  She had a 4 month honeymoon, and then she had to quit school and work full time at two jobs so that she could support the both of them.  When she gets home every night, she thanks whichever relative had been there all day to take care of John, and then begins the tiring work of keeping house.  He can talk, he can feel, he can think, he can tell her he loves her and how sorry he is for all of this...that's about it.

Some people will say she got a raw deal.  Some people would look at it as bad luck for both of them.

But here's the way I see it:  Damn, that's some powerful love!  She's about the strongest woman I've ever known.  She's on the top of my list of "saints who haven't died yet".  And as hard as her love is, the one thing you CAN say about it is that it's true love.  It's the one real example of true love in a modern, loveless world..  It's love when everything else falls apart.

That's the kind of love I strive for, whether I end up as a Jan or a John.  And that's the kind of love that is exactly the opposite of what I've been accused of over and over again:

I'm not emotional about it.

Love is not an emotion.  Rather, it is an overcoming of emotions.  It is a choice to sometimes ignore the emotions.  If we rely on emotions to carry us through a marriage, it will end in divorce every time.  But when we rely on love, we're able to see past the emotion, and experience something much deeper.

Without love, a simple debate over religion quickly turns to hateful (or playful) insult.  Something clearly demonstrated over and over again in this thread.  But not by the Christians.

I chose to love Christ.  I try not to waver on it.  It's that simple.

I haven't been brainwashed.

Have you ever tried to talk a man out of an idea that was programmed into him by a cult?  He won't argue against you on it.  For example, when a Jehovah Witness tells you that "our God is not a God of confusion", look up the passage and put it in context.  Show him where he's wrong.  He won't argue with your response, he'll change the subject or repeat what he said the first time.

I HAVE stuck to one point.  But I've directly answered every point against mine (except the mind-numbing, same-old-same-old, 'you're being emotional' accusations).

I haven't been indoctrinated.

My parents raised me Catholic.  But they were more into teaching than indoctrination.  I've had access to a lot more kinds of books as a kid than most people will ever have as adults.  Not just the new-age feel good stuff--everything.  Solid philosophers like Thomas Aquinas, Augustine, and Chesterton.  Not many people will have read a third of the Summa by the time they are 15.  Nor the entire works of Shakespeare by the time they were 18.  And I always had stuff like Stephen King just for fun.  The fact is, I've had access to more diverse knowledge and literature than most people do even now that the Internet is offered to them.  And I used it.

I know a lot of you can't quite grasp this concept, but to me truth always starts with love.  It's the one truth that doesn't change.  It's the one thing in life that doesn't need a test to prove itself, but ALWAYS IS tested.  

In fact, I'll go for love before I ever put my faith in any science.  

And when the two collide (as they do in the theory of common descent), my instinct is always to stick with what I know.  And every time I do this, I'm glad.  Because all the 'evidence' I've found for common descent is just as 'untestable' as creation.  In fact, it completely relies on its own theories to hold itself up.  It has ZERO solid evidence (that I've seen).

No, I'm not going to read all the books on evolution that have been suggested here.  I no longer read books just to prove myself right.  I already know I'm right.

It's like when I was very young and reading apologetic books on Christianity and Catholicism.  I wanted the complete picture--an answer to every rebuttal.  But I've found that it's easy to miss the trees in the forest when you think this way.

For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about and think I'm a nut job, don't worry.  At some point in your life, you're going to feel a little tug.  A nag in your gut that says "Hey, maybe there really is a God, and maybe I should find out how I can serve Him."  You'll have a choice then: do you fall in love and become a nut job like me, or do you run the other way?

Chesterton (my favorite author, who once had a public debate with and totally creamed the guy who first tried to make the teaching of ID in American schools illegal) said there are 3 steps to conversion:

question
listen
run like hell

If you don't ever get to step 2, then it's your fault.  There are none so deaf as those who refuse to hear.  If you've entered step 3, then don't worry.  You'll find the way.  As hard as you try to resist, love has a way of conquering.  The question you have to ask yourself is, do you want to be a Jan who lovesfreely, or a Jon who can no longer run and has no choice but to love.

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