\n| The New Atheist<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n The second problem with this method of argument \u2013 or of emoting \u2013 is that the Atheist \u2013 in all his brilliance, scientific knowledge, reason and logic \u2013 devolves suddenly to the intellect of a Creationist. This wouldn\u2019t be so bad, if he wasn\u2019t so very devoted to making fun of Creationists. As it stands, he is, and so we are in the hilarious situation of viewing, on the one hand, a decrial of \u201cthose idiots who interpret the Bible literally and apply it directly to the modern day\u201d and on the other hand the attack that, \u201cLook there it is. Right there in the Bible. God wants you to kill gay people.\u201d The atheist makes the exact argument that the\u00a0WBC member might make, only while the latter says it with a smile, the atheist says it with a frown. It never seemed to me sportsmanlike, to be able to mock narrow interpretations of the Bible while narrowly interpreting the Bible.<\/p>\n Now, contrary to popular belief, Catholics don\u2019t just mutter aimlessly when confronted with the Old Testament. The Old Law is not some awkward contradiction that we\u2019ve studiously ignored for \u2013 oh, I dunno \u2013 2000 years. There is an explanation for the seemingly harsh laws of Leviticus and\u00a0Deuteronomy, and though it\u2019s not the point of this post, I\u2019ll give it a rundown for clarity\u2019s sake.<\/p>\n The Old Law was not complete. It was a punishment; a necessity. It was given to the Jews after they returned to idolatry of the Golden Calf. It was a way to bring order, survival and rudimentary justice to a tiny nation of idolatrous, unorganized, unjust, petty, weak and evil men. The old commandment, \u201cAn eye for an eye\u201d was not nice, but it can hardly be argued that it wasn\u2019t fair. It was rudimentary justice. It could be equally rephrased as, \u201cJust an eye for an eye; don\u2019t kill the guy.\u201d<\/p>\n To put it simply, the ancient world understood<\/em> capital punishment as an answer to sin \u2013 sin such as homosexuality, theft and murder. This becomes clearer when you realize that much of the Law was orientated towards the\u00a0Jewish\u00a0people simply surviving<\/em> \u2013 they could not afford to regard sex as mere pleasure or recreation, less they cease to reproduce and die out.\u00a0Homosexuality leads to the death of the nation; it is thereby punishable by death. This, while rightfully outrageous in our post-Christ ears, made sense to an immoral nation fighting for survival.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.access-jesus.com\/images\/god-gives-mose-the-ten-commandments.jpg\") <\/a>These same fallen idolaters would not<\/em> have understood, nor followed, the command to love sinner, hate the sin. This would take some time. And \u2013 oh, happiness! \u2013 the Old Law was<\/em> fulfilled, growing to perfection until Christ said, \u201cAlright, the world is ready. The punishment is over. The law and the commandments prepared you for this new commandment: Love.\u201d And the world has \u2013 to a large extent \u2013 agreed to it. We could not have the mercy, forgiveness, and tolerance of the modern world without the strictness of the ancient world.<\/p>\nBut this isn\u2019t an unfathomable idea. Young children are likewise given harsh laws and few reasons. \u201cIf you steal, you\u2019ll get spanked.\u201d \u201cIf you curse, I\u2019ll wash your mouth out with soap.\u201d Why? Because it meets children at their level. They understand cause-and-effect, not the words, \u201cDon\u2019t curse or you\u2019ll hurt your friend\u2019s feelings.\u201d That comes later. Apply that to the scale of humanity and you get an imperfect analogy to the work of God.<\/p>\n There is so much more to say, but it would require a few books. I\u2019ll see if I can write a fuller post on the topic. The interesting thing is that I make the exact same argument with both Creationists and Atheists: it angers them both.<\/p>\n But this is all besides the point. The point is that the atheist argument does not even deserve this answer, because it is essentially saying that \u201cThe Author of Morality doesn\u2019t agree with my morality.\u201d It\u2019s inherently contradictory.\u00a0Think about it. To say that God is evil is to judge Him by a standard of morality. Where does this standard of morality come from?<\/strong> If our morality is simply a naturally selected,\u00a0evolutionary\u00a0by-product \u2013 as your average atheist will claim \u2013 then it makes no more sense to judge a supernatural being with that morality then it would be to condemn Praying Mantes for eating their mates, or a monkey for rape. If morality comes from society, then you cannot condemn some one outside of that society for immorality. If, however, morality comes from outside of us, from God,\u00a0then charging him with immorality admits his existence, which admits his supremacy, which makes judging him completely ridiculous, and requires the atheist to admit the truth of theism to even cry out the contradiction that, \u201cThe giver of morality is immoral!\u201d This argument \u2013 while wonderfully emotionally charged \u2013 is irrational, and can be ignored as such.<\/p>\nBut we don\u2019t ignore it. Even as the irrational judgments of the Judge fly, we never say, \u201cHe arbitrarily changed the moral code\u201d. No, he fathered the world to the place it is now. Arguing that the Old Law should be put into place now is like washing out an adult\u2019s mouth with soap. Arguing that because the Law strikes us as\u00a0unnecessarily harsh\u00a0now<\/em> it was never necessarily harsh is like arresting parents for ever washing out their children\u2019s mouths at all.<\/p>\nGod loves our gay brothers and sisters. He dies for them. He weeps over their sins as well as my own. I thank Him for, beginning from the foundation of the Law to it\u2019s fulfillment in Christ, calling us to that same love. I thank Christianity for transforming the culture of the world to the point where it is now acceptable to love the sinner and hate the sin. \u00a0I am glad we can look back on the Old Testament and be shocked. I am glad that we can scarcely understand the ways of our ancestors, so changed are we by the law of Christ; by the law of Love.<\/p>\n So my atheist friends, please, for your own sake \u2013 as well as for the general level of decency and tact within the Great God Debate \u2013 stop with the battle cry, \u201cGod hates gays.\u201d<\/p>\n
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<\/a>\u2026so claims, not only the Westboro Baptist Church member picketing a funeral (may he be sat on by a 300-pound Marine), but also\u00a0the New Atheist, as an argument that Christianity is a terrible blight on the face of earth.<\/p>\n