I debated with an atheist over the existence of God.
Crazy, I know! I avoid debates with atheists because it is usually a hopeless case.
But here's what happened: It was a Saturday morning and I have just finished my morning devotion when a song came to my heart. I went to Youtube to look for "The Great I Am" by Phillips, Craig & Dean and actually found several videos of it. But since I wanted to sing with the video, I picked the first one that shows the lyrics. Below the video was a comment posted two weeks ago by a Youtube user named Trueincarnate that says, "Cute but demonstrably wrong. There is no god." Next to this user's comment was a reply from another Youtube user named Glorybound Mission, obviously a Christian, defending the existence of God.
And that's when it happened.
My first thought was, "Why is this person even watching a Christian video if he/she believes there is no God??" So naturally, I looked up his/her user profile and found out without surprise that he/she is "a agnostic atheist and a vegetarian. Proving that atheists do have morality, I refuse to inflict pain and suffering on any living feeling creature. (I eat eggs because no nerves=no pain and thus I also support abortion in the early stages before spinal cord development.)"
***I would assume that this user is a female because of her vegetarian claim. I mean, most men wouldn't care about what crap they eat, no offense. I know the reasoning behind the vegetarian choice was over the feelings of animals, but I don't know. I get a feeling she's a she so, I will refer to this user as a "she" henceforth***
Before I knew it, I found my fingers typing "Agnostic atheist trolling on a Christian video. Cute." And then I added a smiley face just because I feel like being flippant. I then continued singing The Great I Am to my heart's content.
A couple of hours later, while I was checking on my email, I found a notification from Trueincarnate herself seeming to mock me and my beliefs. And that's when I lost it. This person obviously thinks Christians are some dimwit, closed-minded, old fashioned people who blindly follows the teachings of an ancient bible. I sensed the superiority in her tone probably because she thinks she is not a follower of any religious group hence making her a "freethinker" and the more logical person in this argument. And she's not the only one. LGBT thinks Christians are a bunch of bigots. The partygoers next door thinks Christians are straight-up boring people. And atheists sees Christians as people who believe in magic and their imaginary god-- hopelessly clinging on to their outdated religion.
I shot back a purely logical response to her, devoid of any bible verses since she doesn't think that it is credible. You can read our exchanges here.
I've actually learned quite a lot from this little "debate". One argument that Trueincarnate raised is the "inconsistencies" of the Bible. For example, the bible doesn't say that the earth is round. She then gave numerous bible verses from Isaiah, Job, Jeremiah, even Matthew claiming that the earth has edges and corners. I have to look up her claims on these and that's when I came across this NASA bulletin stating that the universe is flat and it's size is infinite! So, when the bible talks about "ends", "edges" and "corners" such as Daniel 4:11 where it says, "The tree grew large and strong and its top touched the sky; it was visible to the ends of the earth" maybe the author is referring to the infinite vastness of the universe. We can't really fathom the mind of the Lord.
Another interesting and sort of funny article I read is titled Scientists Discover that Atheists Might Not Exist and That's Not a Joke where the author claims that atheism is psychologically impossible because of the way humans think. The author continues by saying that every person exists with a natural mechanism to believe in a cosmic power.
Well, I believe in a cosmic power. A Being who has been given a Name that is above every other names. I left the conversation thread on Youtube because 1) Trueincarnate's reasonings were becoming absurd; and 2) I will let God deal with her. Her mind is closed and she's choosing to deny that there is no God. Even though I really feel sad for her, the Bible also says in Matthew 10:14 that "If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet." I just feel really sad that she's missing out on the love, joy, hope, and peace that comes from the Lord.
How can there be not a God?
Early this week, I received a text from Jet while he was at work saying that the head honcho scheduled to meet and speak with all of the employees on Monday, July 27th. He said that there was a rumor going on around his company that they might be put on a furlough the whole of July. Just last December, before Christmas, his company laid off thousands of employees. My heart was gripped with fear at that instant. Would Jet lose his job? If not, furlough means he would be out of work for a month. Without pay. Meanwhile our bills will arrive in the mail even if the whole America goes on furlough. I was scared. My mind was racing the entire day until I went to Andrea's bedroom to put away some of her clothes. First thing I noticed was that her bed was made, which is unusual. I walked over to her study table because it looked so organized and saw this:
I don't know if you can see the words on that blue post-it perched on top of the two clothespins. In it is the first part of this Bible verse:
God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day. Psalm 46:5
Of course!
Suddenly, a peace that is hard to explain fell all over me. Another verse came to my heart: Hebrews 12:2 "fix your eyes on Jesus; the author and finisher of faith." That night, Jet and I prayed and told God that whatever they will talk about in their meeting on Monday, we will be okay with it. If their company will go on furlough in July, then we trust God's reason for it and wait on His provisions for our bills. I slept soundly that night. Andrea doesn't even know that God used her to minister to me.
Turns out, the rumor was false. There was no furlough and everyone keeps their job.
I imagine myself being an atheist and faced with that kind of fear. How do they deal with it? I don't even want to know. As for me, my peace rests in the Lord.
For the mountains may move and the hills disappear, but even then my faithful love for you will remain. My covenant of blessing will never be broken,” says the Lord, who has mercy on you. Isaiah 54:10
Today's sing along song: Great I Am by PC&D
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