As is routine in my life I am able to recognize particular ‘themes’ that show up in succession which leads me to think and eventually react, act or to simply pray. Yesterday morning I couldn’t sleep and it was still pretty early so I went into the living room and turned on the TV. Flipping through the channels I found the movie “Then Invention of Lying” had just begun. I had wanted to see this as I was told by my cousin it was interesting but in the end might make me mad. I had to find out for myself. 😉
The main character, played by Ricky Gervais a professed atheist, is living in a world where they have never lied, nor do they even know the definition of a lie. They tell exactly what is on their mind and essentially live a very dull and sad existence. Until one day when Ricky’s character is hitting rock bottom and he has this internal ‘epiphany’ to say something that isn’t which gets him out of this rock bottom situation. Before long he catches on to this clever gift and uses it to his personal benefit. Then one day his mother is dying and she is so scared to just ‘end’ so he tells her that there is no ‘end’ that she will live forever in a very beautiful place and get to be young and see her husband again and live in a mansion. This brings a smile to his mom’s face and she dies with happiness. Everyone hears about this and so they want to know what he told her and how he knew and so then he basically creates the ‘man in the sky’ and a botched list of ‘ten commandments’. I believe what Ricky (who wrote the movie) was trying to do was show the ignorance of believing in a ‘man in the sky’ and the absurdity of the rules. But to a believer who can’t discount the miracles and experiences in her life, I saw the sad state of a world that didn’t have hope, and only God can bring hope. I’ll admit, the movie was funny and gave an interesting perspective but it did not sway me from my belief, it strengthened it.
Today I received an email from a young woman (in her mid-20’s) who had a dilemma. She has met a young man who was brought up Catholic but now is atheist. She says everything in their relationship is perfect except for this big glaring difference. She has a great relationship with God and is convinced of His existence and His ‘persuit’ of her even when she ran away from Him. She knows she wants to be with a man who has the same faith and belief but now she has met a man that can give her everything she wants in a man except having the same belief. She asked if it was wrong to turn the relationship away on this one discrepancy. I was able to give her examples of friends I have now who are in marriages where the belief is not the same or non existence for one partner when the other is a believer. It is a hard relationship to be in. I simply gave her facts of her life experiences and the facts of the experiences of my friends but I left it up to her to discern her relationship.
Finally, I was sent an email a few days ago titled “Does God Exist” and it was a link to a debate that was televised online with ABC Nightline. I had held off watching due to time constraint but today I took the liberty to watch the full debate. Featured were Kirk Cameron and author Ray Comfort arguing the Christian side and then two atheists arguing the scientific facts of the non-existence of God. It was very insightful and worth watching. Being that this was the third item given to me in 2 days regarding atheism I prayed as I listened trying to take note of what it was I needed to hear. However, it wasn’t so much what I heard, as Kirk and Ray, though they did a very fine job for Christians, I know some Catholic theologists that could have gone deeper into the answers and might have offered a better ‘picture’ or rather ‘arguement’ for this platform. Regardless, what I received from this program was not only what I heard but what I saw. It is in the body language. When you are a believer in Christ and are living out your call of Christianity you are called to love and to be a witness to God’s love, by your actions showing His word without even needing the Bible. Even though Kirk and Ray were being ridiculed (with sarcastic comments and snide remarks) they still showed an air of love, peace, and calmness. They were offering hope, reaching out, making the arguments but asking non-believers to humble themselves. If you were to look at the man and woman agnostic/atheist they were hard in thier behavior, snickering, rude, proud, showing an air of superiority.
I don’t know, if I were deaf and could only read the captions but went by body language I would say the side most appealing was Christianity. However, I am a Christian so I suppose that is biased. 🙂 But it is something to ponder, don’t you think?
If you click on Does God Exist you are welcome to watch it for yourself. I will end with an acknowledgment that I am thankful God directed me to all of this awareness of what is needed most in this world – the proof in our actions of His love and to pray for those who do not believe. I know that statement might even sound superior but it comes out of love not superiority. When I saw those two had a website that allowed people to tape themselves discounting their belief in God I could literally feel my heart break.
Blessings
Shannon