So, who’s afraid of death?

Can I ask you a question?

If you could know the date of your death, would you want to know?

That’s an interesting question. As I’ve asked people this question over the years, I’ve found the conversations that ensued to be fascinating.

Some of us find the question itself to be distasteful. We don’t even want to think about it. To know would be depressing, and perhaps if it were to be sooner than later, well, that would put a damper on things. Better to live in the bliss of ignorance.

Others of us seem to be intrigued by the thought. To know the exact date of one’s death gives a sort of thrill. We feel a bit more alive knowing the expiry date. Better live while we can and suck all the marrow out of life. “Carpe diem!” Right?

It’s gonna happen. Book it. 

Whether you find the question distasteful or thrilling, one thing is certain: We all have a date with death. One day, your time on this planet will be up, and you will, as they say, assume room temperature.  For most people, the thought is a bit sobering no matter what you believe.

Woody Allen

I remember once hearing Woody Allen quip, “I’m not afraid of dying. I just don’t want to be around when it happens.” Many of us laugh in agreement nodding our heads.

The reason I remembered this quote is because I came across an interesting article in the NY Times in which Mr. Allen does admit the fact that he is afraid of death.

In typical Woody Allen style of humour, he tells of the strategy he employs to deal with his “constant terror” in the face of his date with death. And it is as telling as it is both fascinating and sad.

Mr. Allen describes his fear as an “obsession with personal vulnerability” that expresses itself not so much in terms of being a hypochondriac as in being an alarmist. Why? Because with every pain or new mark on his skin, he is certain that he has come down with some illness or disease that will prove to be the end of him. He asks,

When I panic over symptoms that require no more than an aspirin or a little calamine lotion, what is it I’m really frightened of? My best guess is dying. I have always had an animal fear of death, a fate I rank second only to having to sit through a rock concert. My wife tries to be consoling about mortality and assures me that death is a natural part of life, and that we all die sooner or later. 

She's right. But Mr. Allen's not comforted.

Undeterred, he does try to console himself, and since humour is the best medicine, he concludes his article with the thought, “…whether you’re a hypochondriac or an alarmist, at this point in time, either is probably better than being a Republican.”

In the end, Mr. Allen knows the clock is tickin’. Tick, tick, tickin’ away.

And then the end will come. Hence, the existential angst.

As an atheist, Mr. Allen believes that death is the end. And since that isn’t a pleasant thought, he lives in “constant terror.” Who knows but that little pain might be the death toll?

And watch out for those germs!

The death of death in the death of Christ

At the heart of Christianity is the proclamation that Jesus himself, as he predicted, conquered death by defeating it in his own death and resurrection.

The original disciples of Jesus who hid in fear for their own lives when their Teacher was crucified were in a matter of days transformed into fearless witnesses claiming to have seen the resurrected Jesus. And they gave their lives to seal their testimony.

Men who hid in fear of death suddenly were fearless in the face of it. Why?

Because in rising from the dead, Jesus made the definitive statement that death doesn’t have the last word. As the writer of the book of Hebrews said, through death Jesus can “deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery” (Hebrews 2:14-15).

Those who once were enslaved in “constant terror” can now be liberated.

Jesus’ resurrection was the firstfruits of the resurrection to come (1 Corinthians 15:20, 23). What Jews expected to happen at the end of history (the resurrection of the dead) actually happened in the middle of history in the resurrection of Jesus. Here is our definitive proof of the death of death.

And now, the follower of Christ can say with the Apostle Paul,

“O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”

And that’s the cash value of the Good News about Jesus. Death, though our enemy, is a defeated enemy. And yes, death still sucks. It is ugly vandalism on the face of God’s canvas of creation.

But Jesus gets the last word.

And he makes everything beautiful in its time (Ecclesiastes 3:11). One day, when he returns to set the world to right,

"He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I lam making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” (Revelation 21:4-5)

Jesus offers you freedom from the fear of death. You don’t have to live in constant terror.

You can even know the (approximate) date.

And yes, there’s an app for that.

Save the Date: Be Ready Apologetics Conference

Save the date! March 8-9, 2013

I'm a part of a local apologetics group here in Calgary called Faith Beyond Belief. This organization is organizing a conference with some great speakers, including William Lane Craig, JP Moreland, Sean McDowell, Craig Hazen, & Clay Jones.

 We are very excited at the privilege of having these fine speakers and thinkers address us on issues of defending the Christian faith.

 For more info, check out BeReadyCalgary.ca, and sign up!

On tolerance of just-so stories...

Richard Lewontin, a leading evolutionary thinker, made an interesting admission as to how the commitment to how he wants to see the world (materialism / naturalism) actually determines his findings as a scientist.

“Our willingness to accept scientific claims that are against common sense is the key to an understanding of the real struggle between science and the supernatural. We take the side of science in spite of the patent absurdity of some of its constructs, in spite of its failure to fulfill many of its extravagant promises of health and life, in spite of the tolerance of the scientific community for unsubstantiated just-so stories, because we have a prior commitment, a commitment to materialism."

 And here's the startling admission:

"It is not that the methods and institutions of science somehow compel us to accept a material explanation of the phenomenal world but, on the contrary, that we are forced by our own a priori adherence to material causes to create an apparatus of investigation and a set of concepts that produce material explanations, not matter how counterintuitive, no matter how mystifying to the uninitiated. Moreover, that materialism is absolute, for we cannot allow a divine foot in the door.”

~ Richard Lewontin in New York Review of Books, January 9, 1997, p. 28.

Science & Faith

"Once upone a time, back in the second half of the nineteenth century, it was certainly possible to believe that science and religion were permanently at war...This is now seen as a hopelessly outmoded historical stereotype that scholarship has totally discredited."

~ Alister McGrath, The Dawkins Delusion:  Atheist Fundamentalism and the Denial of the Divine

Ideas have consequences....

Does one's worldview matter?

"I see no reason for attributing to man a significance 

different in kind from that which belongs 

to a baboon or a grain of sand?"

~ US Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes

I wonder if those who hold to such a worldview finding it shocking when someone goes on a shooting spree?

"How," one wonders given Holmes' view of human life, "could such an incident be no more significant than exterminating ants?"

[qtd. in Time Magazine: “The Nation: A Clearer Voice?” (Sept 21, 1953)]

How prone is the heart to call this into question...

Memorable words from Jedi-master, Jonathan Edwards,

“There is no one thing whatsoever more plain and manifest, and more demonstrable, than the being of God. It is manifest in ourselves, in our bodies and souls, and in everything about us wherever we turn our eye, whether to heaven, or to earth, the air, or the seas. And yet how prone is the heart of man to call this into question! So inclined is the heart of man to blindness and delusion, that it is prone to even atheism itself.”

From Man's Natural Blindness in Religion
Qtd in James Spiegel's The Making of an Atheist, p. 9 

I "Heart" Atheists

I came across this website, iloveatheists.com, listening to an Unbelievable podast.  The creator of the website found out in debates with atheists that the same arguments kept coming up.  So with a desire to collect answers, he made this website to be his personal answer key.

The website features a "Top 100" list of challenges that are often posed by atheists, with answers given by iloveatheists' creator, Todd Pitner.

Check it out.   And love an atheist.

Vintage Chesterton

I've been reading Ralph Wood's biography / analysis of Flannery O'Connor, called, Flannery O'Connor & the Christ-Haunted South, and I came across this quote from GK Chesterton.

"If there were no God, there would be no atheists."

Pretty true if you stop to think about it.
Vintage Chesterton.

[Btw, the book on O'Connor is excellent, and I would commend it and all things O'Connor to my friends of literature and for anyone who has come into contact with Christianity in the south in the West.]

The Rage Against God

Just added The Rage Against God to my wish list:

From JT's blog:

Christopher Hitchens’s brother, Peter, has a new book coming out from Zondervan on May 1: The Rage Against God: How Atheism Led Me to Faith. I haven’t yet seen the book, but here’s a little preview:

Am I Sick If I Like Stuff Like This?

Is morality relative?  Well, let's test out that little theory, shall we?  

Brian Godawa, author of Hollywood Worldviews, is working on a new film called "Cruel Logic."  In it, Albert Fish, a brilliant university professor, kidnaps distinguished professors to have a little debate with them.  Specifically he challenges professsor as to their theories of morality.  This time, he captures a professor of socio-biology who insists that we are biologically determined beings. IOW, our behavior is determined by our genes. There is no such thing as right or wrong.  Just behavior. 

No absolutes.  No guilt.  No remorse. 

The question is, can the good professor live with his beliefs.  "Have you really ever lived out your theory, or are you content writing your papers inside your ivory tower torturing your captive audience of students with your intellectual posturing?"

Fish's offer:  “Give me one valid reason why I should not kill you, and I will let you go.”

WARNING:  This would be classified under the horror genre.  Video is not appropriate for kids. 



Friedrich "God is dead" Nietzsche would be proud. He'd say, "Now--at last--we starting to really debate the issues."

[DISCLAIMER: It should go without saying, but as a Christian I would disavow violence. That's b/c my worldview informs my morality. I'm just thankful that most people who embrace biological determinism, atheism, relativism, etc., don't live according to their worldview, but continually borrow capital from Christianity even as they are working hard to suppress it. But what happens when society buys into this teaching hook, line, & sinker?]

Atheist vs. Unitarian minister on what is a true Christian

Stand to Reason notes this interesting interaction in an interview in the Portland Monthly, where fire-breathing jihadist* atheist, Christopher Hitchens, responds to a question by a unitarian minister who considers herself a 'liberal Christian', and schools her: 

Maryiln Sewell: The religion you cite in your book is generally the fundamentalist faith of various kinds. I’m a liberal Christian, and I don’t take the stories from the scripture literally. I don’t believe in the doctrine of atonement (that Jesus died for our sins, for example). Do you make and [sic] distinction between fundamentalist faith and liberal religion?

Christopher Hitchens: I would say that if you don’t believe that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ and Messiah, and that he rose again from the dead and by his sacrifice our sins are forgiven, you’re really not in any meaningful sense a Christian.

Game. Set. Match.  Though I must admit, its tough to know who to root for in this situation.

Btw, did he just unwittingly evangelize her???

[*the term 'jihadist atheist' is the term David Berlinski uses in his book, The Devil's Delusion:  Atheism & It's Scientific Pretensions, to describe the new atheists--zealots who are hell-bent (excuse the pun) on converting everyone to their very narrow & dogmatic beliefs.  I'm only about half-way through this book by a self-described 'secular Jew,' but so far I like it and would recommend it.]

"Collision" : Atheism vs. Christianity

I'm really looking forward to this documentary being released later this month. The new bad boy of atheism, Christopher Hitchens, & Doug Wilson, began writing about the topic, "Is Chrisianity good for the world?" Then they took their conversation to the streets. Both are capable evangelists for their religion.

SYNOPSIS
COLLISION carves a new path in documentary film-making as it pits leading atheist, political journalist and bestselling author Christopher Hitchens against fellow author, satirist and evangelical theologian Douglas Wilson, as they go on the road to exchange blows over the question: "Is Christianity Good for the World?". The two contrarians laugh, confide and argue, in public and in private, as they journey through three cities. And the film captures it all. The result is a magnetic conflict, a character-driven narrative that sparkles cinematically with a perfect match of arresting personalities and intellectual rivalry. COLLISION is directed by prolific independent filmmaker Darren Doane (Van Morrison: To Be Born Again, The Battle For L.A., Godmoney).

OVERVIEW
In May 2007, leading atheist Christopher Hitchens and Christian apologist Douglas Wilson began to argue the topic “Is Christianity Good for the World?” in a series of written exchanges published in Christianity Today. The rowdy literary bout piqued the interest of filmmaker Darren Doane, who sought out Hitchens and Wilson to pitch the idea of making a film around the debate.

In Fall 2008, Doane and crew accompanied Hitchens and Wilson on an east coast tour to promote the book compiled from their written debate titled creatively enough, Is Christianity Good for the World?. “I loved the idea of putting one of the beltway’s most respected public intellectuals together with an ultra-conservative pastor from Idaho that looks like a lumberjack”, says Doane. “You couldn’t write two characters more contrary. What’s more real than a fight between two guys who are on complete opposite sides of the fence on the most divisive issue in the world? We were ready to make a movie about two intellectual warriors at the top of their game going one-on-one. I knew it would make an amazing film.”

In Christopher Hitchens, Doane found a celebrated prophet of atheism. Loud. Funny. Angry. Smart. Quick. An intimidating intellectual Goliath. Well-known for bullying and mocking believers into doubt and doubters into outright unbelief. In Douglas Wilson, Doane found the man who could provide a perfect intellectual, philosophical, and cinematic counterpoint to Hitchens' position and style. A trained philosopher and and deft debater. Big, bearded, and jolly. A pastor, a contrarian, a humorist--an unintimidated outsider, impossible to bully, capable of calling Hitchens a puritan (over a beer).

It was a collision of lives.

What Doane didn’t expect was how much Hitchens and Wilson would have in common and the respectful bond the new friend/foes would build through the course of the book tour. “These guys ended up at the bar laughing, joking, drinking. There were so many things that they had in common”, according to Doane. “Opinions on history and politics. Literature and poetry. They agreed on so many things. Except on the existence of God.”

Should make for some good viewing and discussion.

For more info, check out the website here.

The Secularist Bigot

Filed under: "Because it needed to be said...."
-----
Britian's Telegraph reports,

The prominent scientist Richard Dawkins has been denounced as a "secularist bigot" by a philosopher who was himself once renowned for being an atheist.

He is accused by Prof Antony Flew of being more interested in promoting his personal views than finding the truth, in the latest controversy over his best-selling book The God Delusion....

Prof Flew, a former Reading University philosophy professor, was known as "the world's most notorious atheist" before he became convinced of the existence of a "divine intelligence" in 2004.

Dawkin's doesn't hide that his agenda is to kill all religion and for his rant against anyone who doesn't believe like he does and embodies the "more-evolved-than-thou" attitude with perfection.

Hence the epithet.

Just sayin'.

Now, for a bit of humor: "From the "D" to the "Doc" to the "PhD"; He's smarter than you, he's got a science degree."



My favorite part is when Darwin is breakin' it down behind Dawkin's.