This evening R. L. Culpeper shared a link to a cringe-worthy two question quiz on Elucidations on Atheism. How bad could it be? Well, he thoughtfully linked to Check Your Spiritual Health at RaptureReady.com. It is a Friday night, I’ve got nothing better to do… yeah, it is cringe-worthy.

Question 1:

How would you best describe your relationship with God?

1. There is no God
2. God, if there is one, is not the Judeao-Christian God.
3. I believe there is a God, but I’m not interested in anything religious.
4. I’ve been a Christian most of my life, so I feel I’m cool with God.
5. I have a personal relationship with my Savior.

Question 2 is directly influenced by what you pick. I tried it a few times.

The first time I picked “There is no God” and was given:

• Why do you think God does not exist?

1. I have no evidence that He does exist.
2. The problem is the lack of action on God’s part.
3. Hypocritical Christians prove there is no God.
4. Religion is was invented to control people.

I picked “religion is was invented to control people”

• Religion was invented to control people.

• The average person who makes this claim generally does not have any idea who may have invented a given religion. The statement is generally made by people who are in rebellion against all authority. It could be said that government is about controlling people.
• Sin has a far greater control over people’s lives than religion. The God of the Bible wishes to release people from the power of darkness.
• “For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate” (Rom. 7:14-15).

I take issue with the first point, I KNOW who invented Christian Science, it was Mary Baker Eddy, although, arguably she did a fair bit of liberal borrowing, but that’s not the point, her name is on the books and she is held up as the Discoverer and Founder – and occasionally Our Beloved Leader – of Christian Science. I also don’t disagree that government is about controlling people (see the Old Testament, it is very controlling).

Point two, if the God of the Bible really created everything, why would GoB create this darkness – RLC helpfully answered that with “Free Will. Ridiculous, but that’s their answer.”

Ms. Eddy says the belief  in sin is punished only so long as the belief lasts. She also says this material existence is part of the Adam dream. The book of Revelation, as it was taught to me in Sunday School, is allegorical – although there is the group that thinks Ms. Eddy is the Woman in Revelation and that Christian Science is the Second Coming, but I don’t subscribe to that view.

Question 1

• God, if there is one, is not the Judeao-Christian God.

Question 2

• What casues you to have an agnostic view of the Christian God?

1. Most other religion have the same amount of truth.
2. Over the Years, the Bible has been currupted.
3. There are too many bad things in this world.
4. I really don’t know why I’m agnostic.

The first time I picked “most other religions have the same amount of truth” and was given

• The supremacy of Christianity over all other faiths is not based on arrogance. It is simply based on facts. If your house were to catch on fire, what do you think would be superior at extinguishing the flames–water or gasoline? They are both liquids, but one is obviously better suited to quench the fire.
• God has plainly said that Christianity is superior to all other faiths. There is no coming together for the sake of love and understanding. Many liberal churches try to use the fight against racial hatred as an excuse for forming alliances with other faiths. The Christians who resist the unity movement are called intolerant.
• The only intolerance we need to worry about is God’s abhorrence of sin. If people reject Jesus Christ’s gift of salvation, they will simply end up eternally lost.
• “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6).
• “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” (Mat. 7:13-14).

OF COURSE the God of the Bible and his followers are going to say he’s superior, no one likes competition, and honestly, I’m OK with being lost to GoB forever, he’s a jerk.

Then I picked “I really don’t know why I’m agnostic”

• An agnostic is a person who feels that God’s existence can neither be proved nor disproved on the basis of current evidence. An agnostic’s lack of decisiveness is generally the result of doubt.
• The Bible states that anyone who who rejects Christ will be lost. Because we are born into sin, it important for agnostics to resolve the problems they have with God’s existence.
• If you visit the ruins of any number of ancient civilizations, you will find the concept of a Supreme Being has long been very popular. Even in our age of technical advancement, most people are convinced that there is a god who watches over them. Given the abundance of evidence in nature, faith is reasonable. That is why the psalmist declared: ‘The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God’ (Psalm 14:1).

I’m not doubting the existence of a “Supreme Being” – there are huge forces beyond my comprehension (most of physics, astronomy, the “hard” sciences) – I’m just not buying into THE BIBLE’S VERSION OF A SUPREME BEING. Other groups worshiped the Sun, the Earth, Thor and various other deities.* Whats wrong with them? If I must have a “god” I’ll take Agnostos Theos**, I’ll take it over Bible-God any day.

This group also seems really caught up in the idea of sin and being “born into sin” – I thought the Catholics were the ones who declared newborns to be innocent which is why if they die immediately they get to go to purgatory and not hell, but I’m pretty sure this group thinks Catholics aren’t “really Christians” (but neither are Christian Scientists…) so what they think doesn’t matter.

I don’t see what Biblical corruption or “bad things in the world” have to do with my view of Christian God.

I was going to pick another question, and contemplated “I have a personal relationship with my Savior” but it felt too creepy. I’m more the self-rescuing princess type, it is getting late, and I suspect I’m going to need to rescue myself at least once tomorrow. I’m also starting to think I need to invest in a bunker, because while I don’t think any of this “rapture” stuff applies to me, clearly there are a lot of people who think it applies to them and I’m going to need to face all those who are Very Angry that they think they may have been “left behind.”

* Thor looks a LOT like Mormon Jesus

** or Thor, he’s a hottie