Chris is going to agree with Atheists??!?

In a way, yeah.  But let's set the stage here.  In anticipation of the coming political conventions, an atheist group has bought billboards near the sites, in order to "Take religion out of the political discussion."  In fairness, they have two different ones- an anti-Mormon one at the Republican site for Romney, and an anti-Christian one for Obama (why they bother I don't know) at the Democratic site.  Here, let me show you the "AC" one:

Okay, now everybody pull their claws in, and I'll explain what I agree with, and why.

First of all, in my discussions with atheists, I have constantly been rebuffed when I ask them to "Imagine for a minute that there is a God."  Why these free-thinking individuals refuse to play along, you'll have to ask them.  Well, I'm going to try to be an example to them by "putting myself in the other guy's shoes", so to speak.

First, let's tackle "sadistic god".  I assume that this comes from not only the wiping out of the fallen world by the Flood, but also the encouragement to Joshua to eliminate the Canaanites.  I imagine that if you look no deeper into things, you could probably make this assumption.  But what is not taken into account is the "imagine you are God" scenario.  Imagine you are God- soveriegn, omnipotent.  And as such, you want worshippers.  Not just robots, but worshippers who do so even though they have a choice.  Now imagine, given the choice, these creations of yours choose to reject you.  Despite the fact of several godly teachers along the way, closer to God than any Billy Graham of our day- men like Seth, and Enoch, Methuselah, and Noah- mankind chooses to listen to another teacher.  This teacher, Cain, who was given every opportunity to choose God, EVEN AFTER killing his own brother- goes off with a grudge against God and teaches people to reject him.  If you were God, would you be putting up with this?  If you went to the dog pound today and bought a puppy, and all this puppy did was poop on the floor and bite the kids, despite constant training, would you keep him?  And yet, God waited until there were eight people left who believed- and one of them turned out suspect- before He did anything.  But that's sadistic.  Same with the Canaanites.  They accepted a teacher with a grudge- Ham, who thought laughing at his holy father was appropriate- and they became a lazy, inbred people who were a poison to all around them.  Their idea of worship was tossing kids into the fire!

Next, let's look at "useless saviour".  Again, I can see where they get this, right from the Bible.  Because they do not believe in God, they do not believe the divinity of Jesus.  Paul said,   " ¹³ If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. ¹⁴ And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. ¹⁵ More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. ¹⁶ For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. ¹⁷ And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. ¹⁸ Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. ¹⁹ If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. " (I Corinthians 15).

Ah, but there's the rub- WHAT IF IT'S TRUE?  The one thing I will never comprehend about an atheist is their refusal to deal with one hypothetical question-  If you are right, I do no harm to anybody in believing in God.  I die, I'm done.  But if I'm right, you are so screwed!  Wouldn't make sense to believe in God, on the off chance He exists, than to refuse to believe and burn all your bridges?  Or to put it another way, which is more sensible- take the path which has a 100% chance of being okay at the end, or the one that only has a 50% chance?  But instead, not only do atheists refuse to believe, but they are active evangelists in getting others not to believe.  Makes you wonder if somebody has an agenda, hmmm.....  That "teacher with a grudge" sure gets around, doen't he?

Third, we have the 30,000 versions of truth- which I assume is a slap at all the denominations.  This one I don't agree with so much because it relies on a diluted version of the word "truth".  But for the sake of playing along, we'll conceed the point.  With two caveats.  One, back to the if God scenario, God would have to realize to create non-robot worshippers, He'd have to make individuals.  With differing opinions, and ways of looking at life.  Wouldn't it make sense that He might allow them to evolve different gathering points, so that each can approach Him from the direction he/she is coming FROM?  Two, as I've said many times to no real effect, churches on earth are built from man's conception of God's will- and as such, flaws can seep in.  The common bond of all faithful churches was, is, and always will be, as paul said, Christ, and Him Crucified.  So, you can say, 30,000 truths... or you can say One Truth.

Fourth- "Promotes hate, calls it love".  Okay, again, if you imagine yourself outside the faith, you might see this.  But let's just take the classical battleground for this statement-homosexuality.  Let me make two things perfectly clear at the outset.  First, I believe that homosexuality is both a choice and a sin.  Two, I subscribe to the axiom "love the sinner,  hate the sin."  If I am an unbeliever, I am more likely to believe that there is not choice involved-"a homosexual is what I am, not a choice."  As such, "I" would be inextricably linking my person with the sin.  Therefore, I can easily see how Christians who hate homosexuality can be seen as hating homosexuals, if the homosexual sees it as a part of them instead of a choice.  I can see it, I just don't agree with it.  I have nothing against any gay person, and no, I won't go through a litany of those I know to prove it.  Suffice it to say, I don't beat them, paint graffitti on their doors, or treat them any different than I would anyone else.  But, I will fight to keep my child and any others I can from being taught that what I see as a sin is "normal".  Yes, that's hate- hate of the sin.  If those who want to identify themselves by the sin they commit think that means I hate them, sorry.

Finally, simply reasonable- oops, here I have to disagree.  Atheists function much like a religion yet deny the validity of religion.  They name themselves free thinkers and yet refuse to say, "What if..." And they insult 78% of the population to make a point about political unity.  Nope, I'd have to say, even when I "put myself in their shoes", that dog just don't hunt.