Becoming a Christian Takes Work. ( Criticism of "Intellectual" Atheists and Others)

Staying atheist is certainly the more convenient option, if you are lazy. And let's face the facts, most people who live in the West and don't have faith in Christ are definitively lazy.

You have access to more knowledge in a day, without leaving the chair you're sitting at right now, than most people prior to the printing press had access to in their entire lives. A daily newspaper nowadays would be a month's worth of word-of-mouth overheard from travelers as they passed through your town.

The amount of time it took to copy a book just once was the amount of time it took for a person to gather together enough blank pages, ink, not to mention also a copy of the book, and then for him to rewrite every word on the blank pages, before binding the book and starting anew. Knowledge spread very slowly in a horizontal fashion (from one person to contemporaries, people alive at the same time), and knowledge spread through tradition, from parents to children (vertically) was much more effective. Consequently, a person's ideas could take a century or more to catch on, and they'd never live to see the effect of their work. But now history has come to a remarkable place.

We can access anything that anyone anywhere has found out about the past or found written in the past, so long as it has been transcribed or photocopied onto the Internet -- which is to say, any computer or database connected to the Internet information highway, so that anyone else can access the information as long as they are also connected.

And despite all this, the vast majority of people REFUSE to use the Internet to learn anything important!

You there, o atheist. You who have the knowledge of all the world's history at your fingertips, day in and day out, do you go looking for information that confirms and points to the Bible being true and its admonitions having the force of an ultimate Lawgiver behind them? Do you try to prove the Bible and do you go looking for evidence to utterly convince you that Jesus Christ is God, you are a man of sin, you need to repent, and you deserve His judgment but are utterly at the mercy of His unmerited favor in order to escape?

You can't make this claim. And I know from experience (the other benefit of the Internet is that it allows you to sample large amounts of people at a time to see how they think and consider their personal testimonies) that most people who are atheists are not so from being scholarly, studious and disciplined. They took the first lame reason to reject faith they could find, and clung to it, and now they're monstrously irrational and as a consequence of choosing not to think, CAN NOT think.

Dogmatically Held Preferences v. Preferentially Held Dogmas

I'm very unashamed of expressing what I'm confident is the truth. But, there are categories of truth--not regarding the epistemic value of a concept (in other words, there is not a gradient from falsehood to truth; they are binary poles that contrast with each other and don't overlap), but regarding the way in which the knowledge of the truth is applied.

Explaining Liberty

There's a concept of Christian liberty, which is demonstrated in Romans chapter 14. It's in the context of observing dietary restrictions, but has a wider application. The verse in Romans 14:14 does the best to give a succinct explanation of this concept:

14 I know and am convinced by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself; but to him who considers anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean.

In other words, suppose that something is not a sin to do. If you realize this, and do that thing (suppose as an example the drinking of alcohol), then you are not sinning. But suppose that someone does think that imbibing alcohol is a sin; then if they were to do that act, even if drinking it were not a sin, the act of going against one's conscience and doing what one believes to be a sin against God makes it a sin. It's a matter of the heart, as Matthew 5:21-30 explains. Sin begins in the heart, and that's why it's possible that for two people doing the same thing, one is committing sin and one's conscience is clear. 

There are certain things that are unequivocal in Christian doctrine, and these doctrines are called essential doctrines. Then there are foundational doctrines, ones that have massive importance to the faith but which it is in theory possible for someone to be mistaken about and still be saved. Then there are areas of practical daily lived-out faith that fall under Christian liberty, where it's fine for one person to forbid something and fine for someone else to allow it. Paul explains it this way in 1 Corinthians 10:23

23 All things are lawful, but not all things are helpful; all things are permitted, but not all things edify.

This is the basis for allowing Christians to variously persuade themselves to take specific positions on subjects not explicitly condemned or required in Scripture. The idea is that by the proper application of Biblical exegesis, believers will reach the right conclusions. Allowing them liberty in what conclusion to draw ensures the greater positive benefit that they reach their personal conclusion for the right reasons, i.e. that their thought process is reasonable. It would be far worse if, as in Islamic tradition, every minor aspect of life is rigidly controlled, but those adhering to it benefit little because they generally don't understand what the overarching spiritual purpose of those restrictions are.

Liberty to Adhere to a thing Preferentially or Dogmatically

A dogma is an authoritative doctrine that sets forth truth and morality in absolute terms. 
A preference is a choice we make as to what we'd rather do based on personal feelings or opinions.

A preferential dogma is a religious rule that is held, not because it is true and ought to be followed, but because the person judges that it is relevant to his or her interests, essentially that it is useful for them. Dogma then becomes no longer absolute but is harnessed and subjugated by the absolutism of the person's vain preferences. Vast bulks of religion around the world is of this nature. Men who make God a mere tool to serve their ambition have a preferential approach to dogma. They hold to what they feel like because it suits them.

A dogmatic preference is a rule of conduct that is recognized as not-binding on others, but which the person who adopts it is convinced that it follows soundly from consistent application of spiritual truths that are unalterable and may not be dealt with preferentially. Therefore, in his opinion, it is not really a preference, only inasmuch as it is simply the best or better alternative--and if the premise is that we should do what is best, then it is no question but that this thing must be done. But it is recognized as a preference in the sense that others may not be convinced of its necessary association with fundamental doctrines, and that the adherent won't attempt to force his preference on others as an across-the-board rule for all to follow.

Preferential dogmas result in people being forced to follow the opinions of others.
Dogmatic preferences result in people being free to do what they think best and to learn from the experience.

Examples of dogmas held by preference (preferentially held dogmas):

• KJV only true translation
• Anyone who thinks you’re sinning by celebrating holidays or wearing pants of a certain length, etc.
• Making a preference into an article of faith in a church, such as forbidding alcohol
• Frowning upon "interracial" dating or marriage
• The idea that a 10% tithe on income is required to be paid by the faithful to their church

In fact, I'd go farther and say that while you may have personal preferences for a given Bible translation, dress code or fashion, alcohol, beauty, etc, when you go and tell others that they are wrong for not being as strict as you, that may very well be a sin itself! It's not the preference that's wrong, it's when you start to forget that it is just that -- a preference, not the only hold on the truth, nor something that everyone needs to follow lest they be in error -- that you cross the line into religious (do this do this do this don't do this) fanaticism.

Examples of preferences held dogmatically (dogmatically held preferences):

• Making a personal choice to not participate in a celebration because of its association with pagan ideals
• Man asks woman on date, drives, and pays for dinner.
• Individual churches' decisions on how frequently (every week, monthly, biannually) to hold Communion
• Refusal to patronize stores that serve halal meat products
• Lifelong celibacy v. marriage. 
• Whether you are in favor of jewelry piercings

These lists could be enormous in length if I sat long enough and thought about examples I've come across in daily life. But suffice it to say, in general, dogmatically promoting a preference is not wrong, and it's even admirable (so long as your preference isn't totally made up but actually a reasonable induction from Scripture!!), but choosing to promote dogmas merely because you prefer them to others is a dangerous path where you place yourself as the highest authority on Scripture and morality. Since that is not your rightful place, you are bound to become a tyrant, sooner or later, and find yourself deposed from your throne.

Exercise liberty but do it with restraint. And respect the liberty of others.

~ Rak Chazak

Treatise: Time Well Wasted

Treatise: Time Well Wasted

       If I told you that I’d wasted my time, after talking to you or spending a lot of time with you etc etc then it wouldn’t necessarily be an insult. A waste of time says nothing about the means by which the time was wasted. Time can either be spent well or spent poorly. This has to do with what you did with your time. And time is either wasted or not wasted. Wasting has to do with what you didn’t do with your time. Your time was wasted if you had something important to do that you didn’t do, because of whatever you did instead. And what you did instead could have been productive just as easily as it could have been unproductive. Therefore, it is quite possible to waste your time well. I have often done this in the past, and so I consider time spent talking to people and building relationships, when I could be studying something or working on an ongoing project, to be time well wasted. 

        Let me tell you how I came to have this opinion. When I was saved/’reignited’ (God knows the difference) in the Spring of 2010, I was drawn into a continual process of “self-learning,” self simply by virtue of the fact that I alone sat at my computer and followed the indications of my curiosity (which, like the conscience, is one way that I believe God’s Holy Spirit works through us to guide us to truth. In my experience, resolving a question has many times led to the discovery of a profound Biblical doctrine, scientific factoid, historical account, or mode of reasoning that has benefited me as a growing believer, and so I try to pray that God will manipulate my subconscious mind to lead me to think His thoughts after Him, so that I can “follow ‘my’ instincts,” knowing that they are His leading). I would spend several hours a day clicking links and reading extensive articles on websites such as Answers in Genesis, Christian-ThinkTank, Tektonics, TrueOrigin, ApologeticsPress, and later GotQuestions, Answering-Islam, and others. I discovered many sites after a time, but these were the key ones in the beginning, by which I learned vast amounts of apologetics and wrestled through the initial phase of wanting to verify to remove the chance of doubt returning. I believe I spent over 100 hours between mid-March and late May, absorbing and processing huge stores of Biblical information. A full half of those were consumed in the mid-period by a thorough analysis of “errors” in the Bible, to be able to consciously confidently accept that the Bible is inerrant. 

       The consequence of spending all this time researching Biblical Christianity was that I wasted the remaining time that I had not already wasted by oversleeping, playing video games, arguing on discussion forums, eating, watching movies online, etc, so that there was very little time to study, and my grades consequently suffered. Time wasted, but was it not well spent? Can time be any better spent than worshiping God, reading His Word, learning about Him and the world that He created, and in turn sharing it with others? I don’t think so. But can you nevertheless spend so much time simply learning about God that the other aspects of a life pleasing to Him, such as communion with other Christians, witnessing to the Lost, and the godly aspects of a life of personal responsibility, involving personal growth and academic, professional and civic success (by God’s standards) – that these aspects atrophy? Of course. And I believe that I began to do that then, and continued it without exercising the self-control I needed until about Summer 2012. 

       I’ve been getting better even since, and am now ‘taking a break’ (comparatively speaking) from all the reading I’ve done online, and am focusing more intensively on my professional development, and with having fellowship with other Christians. But looking back, I conclude that I wouldn’t have gotten to this point of spiritual maturity that I’m at now, if I hadn’t put in the long hours over the past three years to study and learn from those older, wiser, more knowledgeable and experienced than I. So was it time well spent? Absolutely. Therefore I consider it time well wasted. It was only ‘wasted’ in the sense that there were other things I could have been doing at that time, which suffered from neglect. But it was time well spent because I’ve now become highly prepared for future trials of faith and whatever ministry God has planned for my adult life. I feel nothing if not ready…confident. Now I can turn my energies toward things I’d semi-left behind in the meantime, and not worry about there being any loose ends. 

        I think that Satan and his workmen like to use the opposite method of Genesis 50:20 and attempt to use what God has intended for good and pervert it for evil. God can never be fooled this way—but we can, if we’re not careful. Is doing something good a good thing? Self-evidently so, yes. But can a good thing be done in a wrong way? You bet. For me, studying the Word and ‘loving God with my mind,’ as the Greatest Commandment reads in part, was my “good,” and neglecting to exercise self-discipline with respect to prioritizing my time between things with deadlines and things without was my “bad way” in which I did it. The question is, where should the line be drawn between continuing to do a particular good, and stopping it lest you do it to the exclusion of other goods? Everyone must decide for themselves on a case by case basis. If you must waste time, waste it well. But it is better not to waste it at all. 

~ Rak Chazak