I have wonderful, loving friends who are of varying religious persuasions. Many are Pagan. A few are Atheists. I show love and respect to them and they show love and respect to me. My brother is not such a person. :evil: I posted pictures of my new timeline to my facebook wall (the same pics I posted here). Some friends and I were having a pleasant conversation about how detailed and visually appealing it is. Some asked where to get one. Another, who bought one at the same time I did, affirmed how wonderful it is. Just generally a nice conversation. Then my brother randomly posts this:
I should note that my brother never, EVER comments on anything I post. EVER. Except to occasionally make passive-aggressive comments about how wrong I am about things.
We have Richard Dawkins to thank for that. He makes no secret of his desire to win disciples whose aim is to mock and destroy Christians in particular. He is a nasty piece of work and has brought out the worst in many of his followers. I've had friends start their mockery with me, and my brother has been following Dawkins of late. Personally, I partly stand up to them and partly make light of it - and they don't persist. Unfortunately, very few Christians are standing up to this generation of aggressive atheists, in part because the veneer of Christian culture has supplanted the real Christian faith. If modern atheism can strip away that veneer, it will be good. In general, though, I get frustrated by these atheists because, ironically, they won't listen to reason. They are blinded by their 'faith' and just won't engage in conversation other than to mock. The sad thing is that, when I do engage in conversation with atheists, creationism and right-wing politics and gay-bashing and very wealthy preachers and child-abusing priests derail the conversation. As Christians, we have to get serious and address these things. They are a huge distraction. In the end, I've found that the entire discussion must be about the person of Christ - nothing else.
I just don't understand. I mean, if I posted a question or said something like, "How can evolutionists be so dumb?" or something that naturally invoked discussion or debate, I'd fully expect people to respond with either information or aggression. But why create conflict where none exists? I don't think a random conversation about a timeline is the platform he should use to "put me in my place." Yes, this timeline presents a Creationary/Young Earth POV. But Steve, I'd venture a guess that even you, being Old Earth, would still find value in the document as a historical reference work. It was created during the Victorian Era, so, well, duh... it's not going to present "millions of years." Much like picking up an Encyclopedia Britannica from the 1970s, you'd expect to find at least a few "errors" in light of more updated knowledge. So regardless of one's religious views (or the details thereof), it's an intriguing piece of work. He claims to be so much more educated than I am (simply because I'm idiotic enough to believe in God), yet he doesn't get the most basic ideas of human nature. In this case, that being snarky and rude isn't going to make me magically say, "OH! Duh. You're right Frank. The Creation story is a fairy tale and there is no God. Thank you."
Think of it as evangelism. As Christians, we look for openings to discuss the person of Christ. The more aggressive among us look for any possibility to take the discussion down that path. It's the same with aggressive atheists. They have an agenda, and they will derail any discussion to pursue it. Dawkins calls his followers evangelists, and that's exactly what they are. When you have an agenda, you look for opportunities to make your case - or, in the case of aggressive atheists, to mock. There's so much irony in this. John Polkinghorne is a brilliant man, but he believes in God and his Christ. So do many other top professors and researchers in mainstream science (although, I might add, none are creationists). There's a case to be made that Christians are blind to science - rejecting evolution, ancient age, and the like despite all the evidence - but that must be separated from the argument (used by Dawkins) that Christians are simply stupid and infected with a meme virus. Were Newton, Faraday, Maxwell, and the like idiots? Is Francis Collins an idiot? Of course not - but this doesn't fit the atheist narrative.
It's become socially acceptable to mock Christians at every turn and attempt to debunk Christianity under the cloak of "intellectual pursuit". If Christians exhibited the same behavior they're immediately flagged as intolerant and hateful. So sorry you have to deal with this. Or maybe you don't (the discussion, I mean -- obviously the hurtful feelings are already there : ( . He's baiting you and one angle would be to not raise to the bait at all and simply ignore it. I have many family members (I was raised Unitarian/pagan) that mock my faith in various ways, and as time's gone on, I've stopped issuing responses to comments that I deem disrespectful. I pray for them and leave it up to God.
That is annoying, but clearly he's looking for a fight. He doesn't care what's in the book. I have that book too, but I haven't pulled it out for awhile. It's a piece of art...very long, hard to display art...but art (-:! So, are you just going to ignore him...or will there be a well-worded, slightly sarcastic but seemingly sweet retort to call him out? Or will you just dream up the retorts for your own personal satisfaction while implementing the ignore strategy...that's what I usually go with.
Yep. :lol: I know, deep down, that I'm supposed to just ignore him. But man oh man, the replies I've thought of. Snarky and sarcastic, yet dripping with sweet innocence.
