Notes to Secularly Inclined Readers
Notes to Secularly Inclined Readers
First and foremost, God doesn’t love me more than He loves you—never has, never will. You can’t find a more level “playing field” than the human condition laid bare before an Almighty God.
You may be a moral (spelled “good”) person who has never harmed anyone. You may make great choices—not to break the law, taking responsibility for your actions, sharing your resources with others. For some reason you’ve chosen to distance yourself intellectually from God preferring instead the secular constructs for the origins of man and other sociological maxims of human existence.
Is this intellectual position you occupy apart from matters spiritual one that you defined for yourself or one that others told you about? Is your separation from God a matter with which you struggled only after exhaustive philosophical research or rather was it packaged neatly in something entitled a Harvard, Berkeley or other college degree? When was the last time you conducted personal research into matters spiritual?
Was it when that lady in the car with a fish symbol prominently displayed cut you off on the highway? Was it when you read a story about the private lives of Catholic priests? Or, was it when, growing up in the Church, one of our fellow Christians hurt you or the local Church there decided to make a statement about you or what you do? When conducting your personal research into matters spiritual, did you have an open mind or was it biased by your personal experiences with those of a lesser sort, including our fellow Christians? Are you really that untidy in your research protocols?
No college professor, preacher, or rude driver can determine for you your intellectual position with respect to the things of God. I cannot. That determination is between you and God alone. God requires of you some things—not many, but some. Do you know what they are?
The size and depth of the chasm between you and God, intellectually or otherwise, are determined solely by you. Since you are comfortable with such chasms of experience, I think you are going to be disappointed when you determine the culture war is over. In fact, you may already have arrived at that position. Ultimately, these battles will leave you disenchanted, dissatisfied, and depressed.
Christians may worship another God than yours. God teaches us that man’s rational mind is fundamentally flawed and often given over to that propensity. My Christian brethren have most likely “spotted” you the intellectual “battlefield” because, in their minds, it may be easier to give you over to your own secular (spelled “failing human”) intellectual position than to debate you on the question of “what is truth?” But, this is not God’s way. Christians should be prepared to give an answer to anyone who asks them for the reason for the hope that they have and not be satisfied when no one asks. Perhaps these web pages will assist you in asking better questions of them. We all need to be challenged this way.
We’ll be studying truth—not the consequences of our failure to be true, and not truth as we each would wish it to be. The truth of life’s realities—ultimately death—demand better from us than to take a pill and for a time make it all go away. Once the effects of that pill are over and you “wash-out,” my Christian friends and I will still be here and our message to you will be unchanged. God doesn’t love us any more than He loves you—never has, never will. You can’t find a more level “playing field” than the human condition laid bare before an Almighty God—if, of course, a level playing field is all you really desire to engage us with your notions of freedom and truth.
Out of many, one—E Pluribus Unum—is in great danger as our cultural signature. It is simple and yet noble enough for us to hold high as a national ideal. The Scriptures support it. But, stewards of the truth see it pulled and tugged to justify agenda-laden freedom and pleasure philosophies of all sorts.
Sometimes, those of us who differ with your worldview see you using this phrase to force your notions of “freedom” and “pleasure” upon us—wanting more than a level playing field and labeling us bigoted should we not accept your worldview regardless of the truth. Should E Pluribus Unum fade from existence, and some say it already has, we plan to stand with our forefathers who held truth preeminent to freedom. After all, in God we trust. Should you ever wish to find us and rediscover E Pluribus Unum, look for truth. We’ll be nearby. These web pages will tell you in which direction to go.