Christian Freak: perspectives on God and diversity

Ken Ham preaches to choir, not atheists

// January 6th, 2015 // Articles

Recently, a group of atheists got together a consensus on what their “ten commandments” would be. I understand at least one reason for this — it shows that atheists don’t necessarily have no moral compass at all, as some people of faith accuse them of. As I read articles about this, I saw one pop up from Ken Ham.  I read his bio because I didn’t know who he was — apparently he is one of the founders of the Creation Museum.  I just want to say I love my brothers and sisters who believe in a literal seven day creation, even though I personally think that’s a bit too literal a view and that the earth is more than 6,000 years old.

What I don’t love is Christians slamming atheists. I know some of them can be pretty harsh — but a lot of them do have good points, and they are a great source of information for how the church in general is alienating people worldwide. Now, I don’t mean that people are turning away from the truth of the gospel because they reject it or can’t handle it, I’m talking about how a lot of Christians are jerks in many ways and that turns a lot of people away. This includes how we treat atheists.

Atheists are not our Enemy

When Paul went to the Areopagus and spoke to the Greeks, he took things from their culture and applied it to the philosophers in attendance. He spoke on a level they would deeply connect with, with ideas they would really grok. Telling atheists that the Bible is the word of God and they should listen when they don’t even believe in God is a non-starter. Ken Ham’s article “refutes” every one of the atheist commandments with Bible verses saying why each one is wrong.

Who is the audience for this? Christians who already believe? If so, then it’s just a giant “We’re right!” party. If it’s atheists — then it will be the opposite of effective. Showing an atheist a Bible verse to convince them of anything has very little value since they don’t believe in God let alone this Bible we have. It’s beyond ridiculous. Unfortunately the tone of the article is also condescending.

 

Recently I posted a quote from a great philosopher on my Facebook, and it went something like this:

The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts. – Bertrand Russell

Someone responded that “our enemies can even be right once in a while.”

I answered, “Atheists are not our enemies, they are just people who disagree with us.”

Who are we called to love? Who is our real enemy? I say we remember these things.