Thoughts On the "Does God Exist?" Debate

APOSTASY ALERT - By Sherry Neese - May 12, 2007 I have been asked my take on the recent debate. If you missed the debate on Nightline or would like to see it in its entirety, you can view it at Nightline Faceoff: Does God Exist? Ray and Kirk are certainly to be admired and respected for their courage and their passion for reaching out. Seeing the hatred and disdain the atheists have for Christians was revealing and disturbing. To get an idea of just what Ray and Kirk were up against, go to The Blasphemy Challenge. It is a real eye-opener. The mockery defies description. These are not all fringe people – there are many "normal-looking" folks who were formerly professing Christians, apparently tares growing among the wheat. It should give us pause to be certain that professions are genuine to the best of our ability. Unfortunately Ray stepped out on a limb by boasting that he could prove the existence of God outside of the realm of faith and the Bible. This in my view was a HUGE mistake. In a sense they went into battle unarmed. The Word of God is our weapon and THAT is where the power is, not in the words of men. He broke his own rules during the debate by bringing up the Bible and his own faith in Christ which the opposition jumped on like a turkey on a June bug. Some of their dialogue came across as preaching which went against the rules of the debate. Kirk brought out some good points in rebuttal that should have been presented in the opening statement, such as the existence of DNA. Only the Lord knows if there will be fruit from this event and it is easy to be an armchair quarterback. But I think it is fair to say that it would be best for brother Ray and Kirk to stick to evangelism. I can only wonder if Ray and Kirk’s judgment has been clouded by associating themselves with TBN. If the atheists considered them in the same camp as the TBN flash and trash, then that was one strike against them from the get-go. I don’t believe for a moment that Ray and Kirk endorse the heresies on TBN, but by airing their program there and appearing on TBN’s Praise the Lord, they are compromising and endorsing it by proxy, pragmatically thinking the means justifies the ends. The "Way of the Master" style of evangelism, judging from their program, seems to be a bit on the confrontational side, and that was played up in the promos for the debate. That is not to say there is not a time or place for that style, and this is in no way intended as a criticism of our brothers as they are certainly preaching the true uncompromised Gospel. But I can’t help but recall the story that a close friend tells about a mission trip he took to Mexico. He wanted to go to go into the community they were visiting to share Christ, but time had run out and there was only opportunity to go to one home. He had some friends with him and he so much desired for them to see someone come to the Lord to encourage them to share the Gospel. Lo and behold, a big, burly, tattooed, hard-looking guy came to the door. My friend’s heart sank as he had fervently prayed for the Lord to give him a receptive soul. But he forged ahead, greeted the man and asked permission to share with him. To his surprise the man agreed and he was given the opportunity to share Christ’s love and the good news of the Gospel. That man melted before their eyes and tearfully gave his life to Jesus Christ. It is the Word of God carried with love and compassion that reaches people. God’s Word and His Holy Spirit have the power and do the work – we are merely messengers. http://www.apostasyalert.org/Sherry/god_debate.htm FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of religious, environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.