As a Christian, Expect Attacks

There I was just minding my own business when, out of the blue, I got an e-mail from Mario. Now, I don’t know Mario … in fact, never heard of Mario. But he came across the MarketFaith Ministries website, saw a point of view he did not like, and went on the attack. As you will see, our interaction was quite brief, but it is so typical of what we see in modern culture. Here is the short exchange we had.

Mario
You people are so arrogant.

Freddy
Really? How’s that, Mario?

Mario
Christianity is an arrogant religion, by sheer virtue of it professing to be the only source of morality, and religious-fueled bigotry, specifically religious-fueled bigotry that gets its adlebrained followers to convince themselves that they aren’t actually bigots, is the epitome of arrogance. I’m thoroughly fed up with religious lies and its holding back the progress of humanity.

Freddy
So, let me get this straight. You, by sheer virtue of your pronouncement, decree yourself to be the judge of everyone’s morality? It seems to me that your judgment of me and my beliefs (though you obviously have no clue what you are railing against) is at least as arrogant as what you perceive as arrogance by others. Do you not realize that by saying what you have said, you have expressed a religious-fueled bigotry based on a different set of religious values. What progress of humanity do you think is being held back by Christian beliefs, and what progress are you looking to promote with your religious beliefs?

Freddy

Mario
http://www.marketfaith.org/are-christians-really-bigots-and-homophobes – I’m talking about this, you f______ moron! It may be an older article but it’s found on YOUR website, along with probably hundreds of other articles just like it, and plainly shows the disastrous and antiquated way you view the world! Views that will one day be left in the dust of history where it belongs! I’m not being a judge of anyone’s morality. That seems to be what believers like you have declared themselves to be good at, “by sheer virtue of your pronouncement” that there is a religion you follow, with beliefs of this and that, with a so called “holy book” that tells you who and what is bad in the eyes of your so called god, thus giving you justification of who to hate and fear just because they think or act differently from you. Morality is irrespective of anyone’s beliefs, and certainly has nothing to do with any single religion, so Christianity is certainly a religion of arrogance to claim to be the sole arbiter of anything right and that any other way is wrong. And oh look. How cute. The bigot calling the person who called out his bigotry as a bigot himself. Haven’t seen that before. What’s been held back by Christianity? Oh please don’t flatter yourself. Religion in general holds back humanity’s progress, but the Abrahamic religions are notorious at it. It’s been that way since the Dark Ages, but people like you are proof enough in the modern times, with your shoehorning your religion into every aspect of life and education and consenting adults’ bedrooms, and driving politicians to govern by their bigoted and outdated beliefs to pass laws for who should be discriminated against and why. You’re so brainwashed by your religion that you can’t even see that this what’s going on, and that you are on the losing side of history. I will not attempt further discourse with you. Getting through to thickheaded fundies is darn near impossible.

Freddy
Seriously, Mario, that is rich. So, you declare yourself the arbiter of what is moral, and call anyone who disagrees with you vulgar names and accuse them of being on the wrong side of history. I find it ironic that you don’t see that you are doing to me exactly what you are accusing me of doing.

So, who do you think you are to determine what is right and wrong? Did you get your beliefs out of some book or did you make them up? What makes your beliefs right? Are they right just because you have decreed it? I don’t remember you introducing yourself as God.

You don’t even recognize the religious nature of what you have declared, do you? You rail against the Christian faith based on beliefs which you have not justified as being true or right. You accuse me of “shoehorning” my religion into every aspect of life and education while you are doing exactly that – just based on different religious beliefs.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the teachings of the Bible do represent reality concerning how to know God. If you choose to ignore that, it is you who have decided to reject eternal life. I cannot make your life decisions for you, nor do I wish to. But at the very least you should man up and own your beliefs, rather than trying to pass your problems on to someone else. I have never done anything against you – in fact, never even heard of you before you came out of nowhere to insult me. I truly hope that one day you will come to the place where you can know peace from the anger and hatred that is currently exploding out of your life. It can be found in a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

Blessings,
Freddy

It is exactly this kind of thing we are seeing play out at political protests, on college campuses, and in personal encounters out in public. The ones calling for tolerance are so intolerant that they not only refuse to let other people have their own beliefs, they, by means of force, try to shut down anyone who disagrees with them.

As Christians, our response should not be to simply lay down and let people run over us. People who are bullies will never listen to a person who simply rolls over. It is okay to stand up against bullying and proclaim the truth of Christ.

But when we do it, we need to be sure that we do it correctly. There are two things that need to be in play. First, we must have the knowledge necessary to give an effective response. Second, we have to have the right attitude. Standing strong in our faith is not for the purpose of defeating an adversary, it is to share a witness for Christ. You never know when God will use your words to reach into a person’s heart.