Prostitutes vs. The Proud

My blogs circulate via alphainventions.com, and among the posts today flashed one belonging to my old "friend" Mark at Proud Atheists. In it, he asserted, once again, his beliefs in atheism, on this, Good Friday.

Shortly after, I received an email notification that the debate against Christians was continuing on the Proud Atheist site.

One person commented, "I am aware that, apart from some unpleasant exchanges, this has generally been a healthy debate between bright people but if there are any christians (or members of any religious group) reading this who feel pity in their hearts for me because I don't have a relationship with their god know that I am the one who pities you for all the hours, of this one shot, you have wasted talking to someone who just isn't there."

I find it ironic, in a way, that this debate has arisen (pun intended) during this Easter weekend.

Check out what Paul writes in I Cor. 15: 12-23(New Living Translation) ... and what I've highlighted in bold (verses 19 and 20):

"12 But tell me this—since we preach that Christ rose from the dead, why are some of you saying there will be no resurrection of the dead? 13 For if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised either. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless. 15 And we apostles would all be lying about God—for we have said that God raised Christ from the grave. But that can’t be true if there is no resurrection of the dead. 16 And if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless and you are still guilty of your sins. 18 In that case, all who have died believing in Christ are lost! 19 And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world. 20 But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died.
21 So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man. 22 Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life. 23 But there is an order to this resurrection: Christ was raised as the first of the harvest; then all who belong to Christ will be raised when he comes back."

Here's the thing ... We are going to be "pitied," I suppose, among those rational and proud atheists. As our friend at the Proud Atheist site asserted, she (he?) pities us for all of the hours we've "wasted" to talk to "someone who isn't there."


And yet, we are compelled to continue to talk to Him, aren't we?

Why is that?

Do you suppose it's because He HAS risen from the dead, that He IS the Son of the Living God and that He has redeemed us?

I so long for these people to know it like we know it!

I'll leave you tonight with one other parting thought, which popped up today on my iGoogle page. I subscribe to a feed that sends me daily quotes from C.S. Lewis. It can't be a coincidence that this was my quote of the day:

"Prostitutes are in no danger of finding their present life so satisfactory that they cannot turn to God: the proud, the avaricious, the self-righteous, are in that danger."


What do you think? Do you have anyone in your life who is in that "proud" category, who you long to experience the love of Christ? How can I pray for you? How can I pray for them?