A couple of days ago, atheists from around the country celebrated “Blasphemy Day”. As one website encouraged them to: “…admit to committing blasphemy against all gods. Religion is mythology. Gods are lies. Preachers are liars (yes, all of them), and anyone who believes in magic men in the sky are fools. Please take a moment to commit blasphemy today. Change your status message on Facebook or MySpace to something blasphemous. Wear an atheist pin. Come out of the closet a little more. Make it known… and make it loud.”
Whenever I witness to these blasphemous types (which I have done quite a bit recently), I can’t help but wonder if they will be able to retain their arrogant confidence when facing the rising fog of death as it draws them in to the darkness of an eternity without hope.
You see, death seems to have a way of bringing a solemn hush to the pretentious profanities of self-confident blasphemers. In those final hours and minutes of life, courage cannot be found in the fading flower of the mind and body. Excuses, justifications and intellectual arguments are all exposed as cheap covers, for a deep-seated fear of the grave, that cannot offer one ounce of consolation or power over it.
Thomas Paine was a blasphemous, smug deist. He was known to describe the Gospel as a “fabulous invention”. But his last words were “What a fool I have been. Oh God help me, for I cannot bear to be left alone!”
Voltaire was another deist, infamous for his contempt of the Bible. But on his death bed he exclaimed: “I am abandoned by God and man!”. “Oh Jesus Christ! Oh Jesus Christ!”
Robert Ingersoll’s Father was a Presbyterian preacher who had even filled the pulpit of Charles Finney. But Robert rejected the faith of his father and became a famous proponent of agnosticism and humanism. On his deathbed he cried, “God, if there be a God, save my soul, if I have a soul from Hell if there be a Hell.”
Sir Thomas Scott said upon his deathbed: “Until this moment I thought there was neither a God nor a hell. Now I know and feel that there are both, and I am doomed to perdition by the just judgment of the Almighty.”
Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, the French statesman, as he was dying, asked to be drugged, “that I may not think of eternity and what is to come”
Contrast these experiences with the last words of evangelist D.L. Moody. “Earth is receding, Heaven is descending, God is calling and I am going home. Is this death? Why it is not bad, it is glorious. This is my coronation day”.
Or the words of Stephen as he was being stoned: “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God…”
When a storm is approaching, many animals will nervously burrow and dig for shelter under the ground. But the eagle is not afraid. He simply spreads his wings, and effortlessly rides the thermals high above the storm. He looks down at it from above and laughs mockingly.
My friend, when a man has Christ, he has wings. He need not be afraid of death, for when it comes, he will soar above it and taunt it with the words of Paul the Apostle:
“O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (I Corinthians 15:55-57)
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Good post – but I thought a deist was someone who believes in God. Have I misunderstood?
Marc
Hi Marc,
I have also sometimes heard the word “Deist” used as a generic term to describe anyone who believes that there is a God. But Deism is a specific belief system which acknowledges that while there must be a God (based on logic and nature), they reject religion, faith and moral accountability. They don’t believe God is involved with us or that we can know Him. Actually they overlap with agnostics in many ways. (This is my understanding of Deism and I am sure that it has many variations and flavors)
Its important to realize that Deism really came to prominence during the time of the Age of the Enlightenment, mostly through people who were raised as Christians, but then rejected Christ. In those days “atheism” was very taboo, while deism, on the other hand, granted them virtually the same moral license without making them seeming completely apostate. But in practical terms (meaning in the way it effects ones lifestyle) there is no difference between Atheism, Agnosticism and Deism.
Christians are NOT Deists, we are Theists. I hope that clears it up a bit.
~ Daniel
Also…Deists are infamous for having said very blasphemous things about Jesus which is the main reason I mentioned them in this article.
I’m always a little skeptical about these “Death bed recantations,” simply because they are very easy to make up, and no family member at someone’s death bed wants to go around publicly disproving a recantation. In fact, anyone at the death bed is usually dead before this so called “death bed cry” is publicized.
I googled some of these quotes, and could only find them on Christian sites denouncing atheists, and a couple atheist sites denying that they happened. There was no historical site where they were sourced from.
But I suppose it’s not out of the realm of possibility for someone to get scared and cling to childhood beliefs suddenly when they’re in danger. The “No atheists in foxholes” isn’t a sign that atheists truly believe. It’s just a testament to what humans will do when all their real world security is removed. They start clinging to what used to give them comfort as children.
If you were told you had your own private genie growing up, and through most of your adulthood, even if you denied it for years, you’d probably talk to your genie just before you died as well.
As the mystic Osho would say, if you just try to take God out of your life, you end up with a void that leaves a disturbing emptiness. You need something to replace it, namely a belongingness to existence itself (See the great book “The God Conspiracy”).
As a counterpoint, look at the Buddhist section of Borders, especially books like “Graceful Exits.” You’ll see tons of examples of Buddhist masters happily and peacefully embracing death, 100% confident that they will be good on the other side.
Also, while I’m not for being disrespectful for others’ faiths, I can understand the new atheists’ need for blasphemy. They’ve been under what they consider to be an oppressive belief system for much of their lives, and they want to declare their freedom and independence. It’s similar to a young ex-muslim woman burning her veil once she escapes Iran. Perhaps there’s a more private way they could do this, but understand, the intention isn’t with malice.
–Dan
@ Dan from world of Dan.
I am a believer in Yehsua, the Messiah of the World. I really appreciate the civil tone and respectful dialogue. Unfortunately the likes of you are a minority so Kudos to you, and I mean it.
However, in your argument – you keep making one statement – basically saying that at death bed, recanting atheists go back to their “childhood comfort” zone due to the fear of unknown. But this does not take into account the case of my Jewish Christian friend in Israel today who was brought up in Ukraine – a child of atheist parents – a poster child for atheist – who for most of her life lived a nihilistic lifestyle – almost committed suicide – and finally found peace in her heart when she came to Israel and met her Jewish Messiah – Jesus – Yeshua!
She had no childhood comfort zone to go to lying in her suicide bed.
An exception? Hardly. I commit you to the Lord of the Universe.
Be well, my friend.
Sincerely,
James,
Actually, our statements aren’t mutually exclusive. I was just saying that it’s reasonable that atheists who recant could be reverting to childhood belief from fear of the unknown, instead of showing their “true colors” as the original author seemed to imply.
Your friend was a sincere believer. There really is no algorithm for why someone would believe in Yeshua or any religious figure.
Remember that there are others who find the exact same peace, if not more so, in other faiths, or love-based spiritualies that believe that God is so loving he’d never hurt anyone.
–Dan
Dan,
I wouldn’t say that anyone who is NOT a Christian is living in despair. Yes, there are a lot of people who sincerely believe in anything from Santa Clause to the Flying Spaghetti Monster who are at peace and are content with life.
If that were a test of reality, then we are all doomed.
Dan, I look at myself – the intricacies of my own being…its hard for me to believe that I am just a product of chance+matter. I recently had an MRI done to my child’s brain – and to say that that brain was a product of chance is as absurd as to believe in the aforementioned Spaghetti Monster.
Of course I am being very simplistic here…but if that points to a loving Creator who meticulously created me, my child, and everyone else…and if there are competing world-view for that Creator, my next task is to evaluate the “truth-claims” of such competition.
I am a reasonable man. I can say this with as much reason I can muster in matters of faith – that Christianity has the MOST reasonable propositions for my creation, my existence, and my destiny.
I am not trying in the least to get the last word in here, and I shall stop in a moment, but I say all this – to say this one thing > You can be sincere but sincerely wrong.
Again, I wish you the best,
Sincerely,
James,
Your comments are appreciated. I would agree with you that out of all monotheistic religions, Christianity is the most likely, and most loving.
However, this leaves out the much greater possibility that the great intelligences that created the earth is NONE of the religious gods we’ve heard of thus far. When you consider that India and China went a very long time before they heard about YHWH, they were possibily in the same position as us. Was the creator Fake Deity #23 or Fake Deity #267?
It could be very well that the creator has not made contact with us at ALL and plans to in the year 3000. All of us could die before he/she/them are revealed.
As thinking human beings, we hate uncertainty. We HATE it. Ambiguity is a dangerous feeling. So we latch on to a few clues. “Some writings from a few thousand years ago seem to gel with what I’ve been feeling today.” Maybe you even feel a connection with the divine and fit it into the Christian/Muslim/Hindu matrix.
What I like about Zen is that it doesn’t force you, or even ask you to attach a dogma to the spiritual you see.
Atheism vs. Christianity is a false choice. It could very well be neither. In fact, I think those two are very, very unlikely choices, and both spell out very scary, unloving things about the universe if true.
–Dan
“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.” Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2)
Hello Dan,
I have been a Christian for about 25 years now and I find it very hard to fit your view of Christianity with what I know is revealed in the Bible. Let me spell out some very salient points pertinent to our discussion:
The God of the Bible – who has no name “large” enough to contain HIM – so is revealed to Moses as “I AM THAT I AM” (Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh) – has essentially two characteristics –
a) HE is Truth
b) HE is Love
This means that HE is absolutely perfect in Righteousness, Justice, and Love. When we, as human beings try to balance these attributes – we tend to tip the scale one way or the other. For example, we may “love” at the expense of Justice. Or, we may act “Just” with no thought of love. But in the God of the Bible – “Loving-kindness and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other:” (Psa 85:8-10)
I can’t begin to tell you, Dan, how many times I have thought about the same question you have raised about the countless generations in China and India and in Africa, who have never heard of the salvation that is in name of Jesus Christ (Yeshua Masiach) even today! I find peace in knowing that the eternal destiny of all mankind is in the hands of such a God I described earlier – a God who is perfectly Just and perfectly Loving. His justice will not condemn anyone who is innocent. For He is a righteous God.
Often, the God of the Old Testament Bible is portrayed as a harsh, unloving God, who delights in blood-letting. Nothing could be further from the truth. The God of the Bible is compassionate, and his repeated calls for man to repentance and turning to Him is proof of His tender loving Heart. “Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord Jehovah, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?” (Eze 33:11) But the response of man has been one of indifference, and defiance. “because they have not hearkened to my words, saith Jehovah, wherewith I sent unto them my servants the prophets, rising early and sending; but ye have not hearkened, saith Jehovah.” (Jer 29:19)
I say this to drive home this simple point that the God of the Bible is a righteous and loving God. He does not delight in the death of the wicked. He wants everyone everywhere to turn to God. He is loving enough to scare man with the pain of punishment so that they might turn to HIM. But even after repeated warnings and then some more warnings, if man will not turn to HIM, God is righteous – He will punish. For, you see Dan, man was created not for his own little purposes and pleasure but for God’s will and pleasure. “Thou art worthy, O our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honour and power; for *thou* hast created all things, and for thy will they were, and they have been created.” (Rev 4:11). The moment man steps out of God’s will to peruse his own will – he is commiting rebellion against God (my will vs. God’s will) – and God will not let rebellion go unpunished.
Add to this fact that:
“be it known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazaraean, whom *ye* have crucified, whom God has raised from among the dead, by *him* this man stands here before you sound in body. *He* is the stone which has been set at nought by you the builders, which is become the corner stone. And salvation is in none other, for neither is there another name under heaven which is given among men by which we must be saved.” (Act 4:10-12)
So to come back to your question – what about those who haven’t heard the name of Jesus Christ? The Epistle to Romans and Chapter 2 gives us a clue – “For whenever the Gentiles (non-Jews), who do not have the law, do by nature the things required by the law, these who do not have the law are a law to themselves. They show that the work of the law is written in their hearts, as their conscience bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or else defend them, on the day when God will judge the secrets of human hearts, according to my gospel through Christ Jesus.
To answer the question that God has been silent – this is not the case at all – in fact, God has been speaking, nay, screaming at the top of His Lungs, if I may say so in the most respectable way –
“God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us in His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,” (Hebrews 1:1-3)
Of course, there is so much more to be said, but let me pause for the sake of brevity.
Finally, may I say this with utmost care and utmost charity – you speak about Zen – Zen is an easy religion – I don’t mean in any way to belittle or cause any insult. I say easy, for Zen has no one to reward good or hand our punishment. Its the ultimate in escapism – its a way to end suffering. Its a religion of Karmas – with no one to help you. No one to erase your wrong doings.
“According to the seed that is sown,
So is the fruit you reap
The door of good of will gather good results
The door of evil reaps evil results.
If you plant a good seed well,
Then you will enjoy the good fruits.” (Gautama Buddha)
Its a religion of re-births and the promise of the ultimate escape – Nirvana.
But let me ask you, Dan – what hope do you have at the end of your life? What guarantees that you will not be born in the animal world, heavens forbid – the hungry ghosts or hell. When the sun is shining, when its spring time of life, one may not care much for God, but man is generally afraid of death. At the end of life, man seeks assurances. And so some of the wicked ones turn to God for that final moment.
It is only Yeshua, the God of the Bible, who makes that blanket statement – the promise of life eternal in fellowship with HIM.
“Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”” (Joh 11:25, 26)
One final thing before I go…the Western World has made salvation in Christianity a “formula” – if I said with my head I believe in Jesus Christ, I am saved. This has caused many to casually repeat that “formula” and go on to live like the Devil – all in the full assurance that when they die they will be in Heaven. Its their fire-insurance plan!!
This has caused such a bad name for Christianity for which I must personally apologize. God is righteous. The Bible says, “For the time has come for the judgement to begin. It begins with the household of God; and if it starts with us, what will the outcome be for those who are disobeying God’s Good News? (1Pe 4:17). “Believing” is a matter of faith – not a formula.
I pray that you will reconsider the God of the Bible who still lovingly calls you…in the person of His SON, Yeshua, the Messiah.
Sincerely,
James,
You know, the love/justice balance is only a problem in the Christian religion, and no one else’s. Have you ever considered why that might be?
The idea of afterlife justice is little more than a revenge fantasy that our oppressors will be hurt in another life. Having people hurt in the afterlife serves no purpose to anyone, God, or man.
When you think of why we have a Justice system in the USA, it serves three purposes: deterrent of crime, separating dangerous criminals from society, and (hopefully) rehabilitation. Mostly, it’s to give people a good incentive to keep the law.
None of those three factors are involved in the afterlife at all, especially since it’s never clearly told to you what you need to do to avoid being hurt after death. You say God has been screaming at the top of his lungs, which is ludicrous. He hasn’t publicly addressed the world in thousands of years, and when he did, it was only to a tiny region, leaving only some writings from human beings that you have to trust were both honest and competent in writing God’s words correctly. It’s the equivelent of the President making a critical speech about the swine flu vaccine in a small town in Ohio without press coverage, and then never acknowledging the speech again.
Your idea of “perfect justice” isn’t matched by the God you describe. Instead, you match your idea of what justice should be to the God you believe in. You believe the Bible says the average person deserves an eternity of torment, so you believe it. If the Bible said the average person deserved heaven, you’d believe that too.
I’m reminded of Deepak Chopra’s example of the beaten child. If a child has a father who beats him and his mother up for the slightest angerment, he’ll say it was his own fault. He didn’t have high enough grades, and his mom was late with dinner. The last thing he wants to admit is that his father is a monster. Much easier to think he’s so unworthy that he deserves a beating.
What do you think Love is? I think it’s wanting the best for someone unconditionally, and doing all within your power to have that happen for them.
Let’s look at your definition of God.
Is he powerful enough to save everyone on earth? Yes.
How many people does he save? Very few.
Do you really think God couldn’t allow people to accept Christ after death if they wanted to? “Oh that’s too late.” Why would it be too late? If he’s God, he can make his own rules. Check out 2 Thess 2:11, where it says that God will send some people a delusion so they’re NOT saved. There’s no love there. If he wanted the world in heaven, they would go there. He will is that nearly everyone suffers. Remember Rev: 13:8 sayng the lamb was slain before the foundation of the world? He KNEW this would happen, and he let the events unfold as they did so the world would be damned.
You act like his hands are tied if people don’t believe prophets he sent thousands of years before they were born, but that’s ridiculous if he’s all powerful.
Yes Zen is easier. Is that a problem? It’s only a problem if I believe in Zen because it’s easier. It requires a heck of a lot less dogmatic belief ten the other religions. You don’t have to believe in talking serpents and people surviving in fish bellies for 3 days. Yes, that does make it easier, but also more reasonable to believe in.
Christianity is easier than orthodox Judaism and Islam, for that matter, but that doesn’t seem to be an issue for you.
You can say God has love, but “God is Love?” You believe that guy is going to burn up most of the world for eternity. It takes a ton of negative energy to want something like that to happen, if you could prevent it.
You even know, James, that there’s a spot in the firepit with your name on it if you lose faith in Christ. That’s not love. There’s no way the love of a mother or father exceeds the love of an infinite being. You may think that the mother just lacks the perfect justice of God if she doesn’t want her babies to suffer for eternity, but I would think any mother like that would be a sick person.
If you think you deserve the eternal firepit, it’s just a sign of the guilt that you’ve been taught for way too long. You (YOU, not Adam) were created imperfect, and now you expect to be punished for being imperfect.
If God is love, then there’s no way most of the earth will be tormented for eternity.
Oh, and where’s my afterlife assurance? It’s not there, but neither is yours. It Matthew 7, Jesus makes it clear that your certainty in salvation is worthless, because you can be a Christ Believer and even prophecy in his name and he’ll reject you if you weren’t the “correct” type of Christian.
And even if your interpretation of the Bible guarantees your salvation, it means nothing if the Bible isnt’ accurate. You could just as easily end up someplace bad if another religion is true, but I guess you haven’t considered that.
–Dan
Ah, a god of your own making!
Your argument is for a god that fits your idea of a god, one that your mind can wrap around. A god of your own making – that fits your idea of right and wrong. Such a god is no god at all – for all practical purposes, you are one better than this so called god.
I wish you well, sir! Its been nice talking to you.
Isa 44:14-17
When he heweth him down cedars, he taketh also a holm-oak and a terebinth–he chooseth for himself among the trees of the forest: he planteth a pine, and the rain maketh it grow. And it shall be for a man to burn, and he taketh thereof, and warmeth himself; he kindleth it also, and baketh bread; he maketh also a *god, and worshippeth it; he maketh it a graven image, and falleth down thereto. He burneth part thereof in the fire; with part thereof he eateth flesh, he roasteth roast, and is satisfied; yea, he is warm, and saith, Aha, I am become warm, I have seen the fire. And with the remainder thereof he maketh a *god, his graven image; he falleth down unto it, and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me, for thou art my *god.
I don’t know if it’s expedient to go on and on with anyone about whether God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit, one God, exist or if there is such a thing as Heaven and Hell.
God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are one God who said you come to Him by faith. One hears the word, one believes or doesn’t believe. Because He is a spirit He cannot be seen. However if one believes, as you grow in faith, He shows Himself to you and opens your eyes to spiritual things and to Himself. Spiritual things can’t be understood be being educated or well read. Eternal life with God is a gift given to us by God. A christian does not have salvation to give. They were given eternal life by believing that Jesus is who He said He is and who obey what He said is needed to please Him and the Father. Then He sends the Holy Spirit to dwell within us to counsil and guide us how to obey God. (something like your concience).
God is love is not the complete truth. Some people use this to get people to come to Christ. This is why most of the people who come to Christ as soon as they are told about His love, fall for it, only to be disillusioned when the first crisis in their lives happen. The complete truth is. “God is love, but He is just” Because He is Holy He cannot tolerate sin. Sin separates us from God. One of His 3 attributes is Jesus, (in Isaiah He is called a branch of God) is the salvation part of God. The part that atones for the sins we commit. We either accept that we fall short of the glory of God or reject it.
Humans do not die and go to heaven, their spirit goes to heaven and it is clothed with a new body or covering not made with flesh. We are made up of 2 parts, a physical body and a spirit. Nearly everyone will experience the “first death” It’s after the “second death” one either goes to heaven or to hell. One’s spirit can NEVER die. So I think if those who don’t believe “God is love but is just” and refuse to believe they are sinful, they will never be able to accept Jesus. Man is basically arrogant and selfish. They’ll have to be humble, (not foolish). But I think the main reason why some do not believe, is because they’ll have to stop indulging in the sinful things that make them feel so self righteous fulfilling and good about themselves. The peace they talk about is not really what peace is. It’s a self fulfilment with no accountability. They don’t have to answer to anyone, nor feel guilty of anything. They are not responsible to anyone, they can be as selfish as they want which can be explained by “karma” which is Amoral. Que Sera Sera. “Later for a God who is going to tell me what I can do or not what to do.” However, all that confidence in themselves changes, when death comes, or a love one who they truly love is sick and the doctor tells them there is nothing he can do. Ah! “a fool says in his heart there is not God”
Christians should always always remember they can’t save anyone. We are asked to praise God for your salvation and pray for those who doubt.
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I’m also skeptical of these “deathbed recantation stories,” mostly because I have trouble finding the original sources for them.
Can anyone give me the original sources for the deathbed recantation stories?
Ben and Dan A.,
Daniel Kolenda is putting together his sources for the story. We’ll provide those in a note as time becomes available for him to do so.
Marcus
Dear Dan,
Just wondering what you mean by your reference to ‘Zen’? Being a former fundamentalist Christian myself for at least 10 years, I can appreciate both sides of the afterlife argument. Although thankfully I no longer have any use for religious doctrine, I know what it’s like not to be able to see outside of it. I wish all of you much love and blessings. BTW I really appreciate Osho, too! :)
Belle,
Not sure what you’re asking. By ‘Zen,’ I guess I mean the spiritual/philosophical thought you would get from most Zen books, particularly “The Platform Sutra,” and “Zen Flesh, Zen Bones.”
What I love about it is you’re not required to believe anything you haven’t experienced, and you’re supposed to question everything, even what the Buddha himself says. Glad you like Osho as well. I can’t stop buying his books. Send me a message through my site (wordofdan.com), if you’d like to talk more about this.
–Dan
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