Fr. Dwight Longenecker7. I’m called to produce first hand evidence – The most astounding evidence for the existence of God is the work he does in the lives of real people. He turns them into super humans we call saints. I’m trying to get to that place in my own life and thus produce irrefutable evidence of God’s existence–proof that will convince the people who meet me and who are touched by God through my life. That’s hard work and I’m still climbing that mountain. If I ever get to that point, then my life, I hope, will be my greatest argument for the existence of God for those who have eyes to see.
8. Many atheists aren’t atheists at all – One of the reasons I don’t argue with atheists is because many of them aren’t even atheists. They’re just people who hate religion or maybe they are rebelling against the dumb religion they were brought up in, or for good reasons have rejected religion because of bad, mad or stupid religious people. I don’t blame them for doing so. They’re often more honest, up front and articulate in their rejection of religion than many of the people who accept religion without thinking. It’s just that they’re not atheists. They call themselves atheists, but they’re really anti-religionists.
9. I usually don’t believe in the God they don’t believe in – When I sometimes do get down to talking to atheists and ask what they think God is, I find that I don’t believe in that God either. So they reject a God who is the big grandaddy in the sky who gives his children stuff when they’re good and smacks them when they’re bad. Or maybe they think God is like Zeus or Thor or some such and they don’t believe in that God. Neither do I.
10. There’s often a lot of rage, vulgarity and dumb stuff you have to wade through – Why do atheists think it’s so smart to say stuff like, “Oh, you believe in talking snakes do you?” That sort of wisecrack only shows their own ignorance of ancient cultures, religious language, literature in general, symbolism, types of literary genre, human psychology etc. I certainly wouldn’t mind if they picked up on some of the absurdities, hypocrisies and idiotic things in religion, but why can’t they do a better job of it? When these “arguments” are combined with aggression, arrogance, rude behavior, vulgarity and an amazing lack of any sense of humor it makes any discussion a rather unpleasant and pointless experience.
11. My religion is precious to me I actually believe what I believe and try to live my whole life around it. It’s something that is, as I grow older, precious, fragile and dear to me. It’s like an old Chinese vase that I have inherited from my ancestors. It is easily broken, soiled and marred. I would prefer not to bring it out for people who think it’s nothing more than a piss pot to use for target practice.
12, Atheism is dull – Atheists themselves may be exciting, charming, entertaining and vivacious people. It is not the atheists I object to as much as atheism. I say it is dull because it is, at its essence, it is a negation and a denial. There can be nothing festive about it. There can be nothing intriguing or mysterious about it. It is not fecund. It is a reduction not an addition. It is a negative not a positive. It is something empty, not full. I wrote further about this earlier this week here. It is therefore as motivating as a yawn… and as interesting.
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