Here is Chris O'Dowd: "thinks following a religion will eventually become as offensive and unacceptable as racism."
ORIGINAL
There is a force of nature at work in Oz culture. He is called Peter FitzSimons. Journalist and writer of excellent big books (e.g. the stunning Mawson and the Ice Men of the Heroic Age), Peter is also an evangelist for atheism (as in it would be good news if people stopped believing in an imaginary friend). Now it is not him but an SMH/Fairfax colleague, Sam De Brito who offers an evangelistic proclamation in favour of not believing in God by way of criticizing Matthew McConaughey's Oscar winning acceptance speech the other night.
If you saw the speech, Matthew first of all thanks God for his success. Sam De Brito asks, 'Why bring God into it?' Peter FitzSimon gives it the seal of approval, paradoxically with religious language, Amen!
AMEN
Why bring God into it, Matthew McConaughey? http://t.co/jUzY1YJPva via @smh
— Peter FitzSimons (@Peter_Fitz) March 7, 2014
That sets off a bit of Twitter debate with @Peter_Fitz. Two Tweets catch my eye:
@Peter_Fitz I assumed god would be busy with famine & child slavery. I feel silly now.
— BaliBrett (@brettmckellar) March 7, 2014
Which seems like a knockout blow. I mean why would God help an actor star in a movie when others' needs are more desperate than that?
But a Christian theological nous, Rocky G, is at hand.
@brettmckellar @Peter_Fitz Hi Fitz, you don't seem to realise that you are actually making the moral argument for God's existence... :)
— Rocky G (@markch9v23a) March 7, 2014
That is quite a fair retort. Worrying about a god who helps movie stars ahead of the starving is a moral action with no rational foundation in a world without god.
But such good responses on behalf of the God of Jesus Christ do not change the fact that (as I read around on blogs and media outlets based in Oz and here) I notice quite a lot of bold criticism of Christianity (and Islam and Judaism) along the lines of 'why do people waste time believing in an imaginary friend?' Indeed De Brito himself writes of 'the world's most popular imaginary friend.'
It is quite a good line, is it not? There is no denial of the existence of God in some sense (imaginary = you think God exists and in a sense he does in your mind, but nowhere else) and there is an element of affectionate care (we all need friends, you have a friend, that's nice) laced in with the withering scorn of 'imaginary.'
Here, dear readers, is the great challenge of our age for Christians, for (perhaps) Australians and New Zealanders in particular: we now live not just in a world of unbelief but in a world willing to scorn belief. Whatever we make of challenges re issues of the day such as homosexuality, and however important it is to carefully assess whether our bishops are making a good job of being bishops (the essential issue in yesterday's ADU post about a controversy in Oz), they are trivial issues compared with the avalanche of disbelief and dissing of belief which is bearing down on us.
Let's be realistic about evangelism and how it 'works': we proclaim the gospel knowing our message is most effective when its hearers are already theists or at least agnostics with hearts open to the possibility of God existing. Atheists are stony ground territory. If our culture in the West, down here Down Under is on the cusp of turning from a few Christians, some theists and many agnostics to one where most people laugh at the notion of an imaginary friend, the future for the gospel is bleak.
The most important question facing Christians does not concern the blessing of relationships other than marriages between a man and a woman nor whether penal substitutionary atonement is or isn't the heart of Anglican understanding of the gospel.
How do we demonstrate that God our friend is real not imaginary, is available to the world and not just to imaginative Christians, and is the solution to problems in our world and not the cause of the problems?
8 comments:
Hmm do we have to? Or if we preach the gospel and if they believe won't they know?
What are atheists scared off? Why try and convince people God doesn't exist? What exactly is the atheist offering people?
Personally I think Christians can come from any profession and we are called to acknowledge Him in all our ways and not to be ashamed of the Gospel. How other people take that is up to them.
How do we demonstrate that God our friend is real not imaginary, is available to the world and not just to imaginative Christians, and is the solution to problems in our world and not the cause of the problems?
We live out lives according to the Gospel, which is easier said than done
Nice one Peter! Part of the problem is as I said on another thread we Western Christians want to live in two worlds. Until we are truly prepared to let God be God as Lord of his Church and so stop playing religion, there won't be much change. IMHO.
God is imaginary. Imagination is a part of reality.
"The most important question facing Christians does not concern the blessing of relationships other than marriages between a man and a woman nor whether penal substitutionary atonement is or isn't the heart of Anglican understanding of the gospel.
How do we demonstrate that God our friend is real not imaginary, is available to the world and not just to imaginative Christians, and is the solution to problems in our world and not the cause of the problems?"
If the second paragraph is meant to contain "the most important question" then I am afraid I don't agree. The Bible has very little to say to atheists beyond: "The fool says in his heart 'There is no God'" [Psalm 14:1]
The best answer to an atheist is to know what you believe, give an answer to any issues IF they throw questions at you, but otherwise carry on with your witness to those who are prepared to acknowledge God's existence.
Atheists aren't convinced by arguments - they are convinced when they reach the point that they can no longer pretend that their artificially constructed worldview is remotely adequate. That happens in God's time.
In the meantime, there are plenty of hurting people out there who do acknowledge God's existence and are seeking answers. If we want to witness effectively to them, we need to know what we believe about homosexuality, substitutionary atonement and all of the other issues that affect practical Christian living.
Thank you Mike for your koan like comment. It helps to shed some light on many of your other comments on ADU.
Hi Peter - I'm sticking my nose in where it doesn't belong - again.
I don't like pithy comments but I'll use one. The God of the message does not change, and the message of God does not change. If any person in their own wisdom wants to mock God and the message of the cross then it is at their peril and unfortunately we cannot make anyone change their minds. 1 Cor 3 comes to mind where Paul says he planted the seed (message), Apollos watered it but God made it grow in. Our part in the process is to serve God and continue to plant and water the seed/message and pray for God to make it grow, even in the stony ground as you call it. Yes - it may be that the future of the Gospel down under seems bleak but that should not stop us from telling it.
What can we do to demonstrate that God is not some imaginery friend? The best answer I can come up with is similar to Andrei's, to live a life worthy of the calling (we won't go into predestination this time) we have received. In practice that looks like Jesus' command to love the Lord our God with all our heart and mind and soul and strength and to love our neighbour. And that's where the problem arises - God uses His people to tell and demonstrate Him and His message. God and his message don't change but His people who deliver the message do, every one of us.
It seems so simple to say "be a good Christian!". I have a great deal of empathy with Paul in Rom 7 when he concludes that he's a wretch in that the good he wants to do he doesn't do and the evil he doesn't want to do he keeps doing.
I believe that even in our weakness and failure God can and will use us as messengers of his Gospel.
You belong here, Mark, if you read here!
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