Love and War is John and Stasi Eldredge’s newest book on marriage. Christa and I have started it and we already love it. Marriage is an epic love story set in a world at war. With many poignant insights and encouragement John and Stasi Eldredge have a message desparately needed today: It is worth it! If you are just passing by click on the link below to see if you live near a church that the Eldredges are visiting on tour. You’ll benefit, your spouse will benefit, and the kingdom of God will be stronger because of it. Get a ticket if you can!
I have an admission to make: I kind of like Christopher Hitchens. One of the “four horseman” of the new atheists, Hitchens is perhaps the most articulate. His erudite style and ironic wit have earned him a reputation as a significant public intellectual; one actually worth listening to. To a point. In my opinion Hitchens is at his best when he’s on the front lines of political debate. His consistent warnings against self-immolation in the name of multiculturalism are poignant. But when Hitch gets into religion – an arena of debate where some consider him a heavyweight (see his book: God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything) – we see just how much a featherweight he really is. His last two articles on Slate, you can read them here and here, show how little he is actually engaged with what Christian theologians have to say about the problem of evil; a problem many are facing as they consider recent events in Haiti and their belief in a benevolent deity.
Christopher’s rhetoric in these articles is not only empty, its also very old (nothing “new” about atheism here). Douglas Wilson, an Idaho pastor who made a documentary with Hitchens called Collision, summed up his argument best when he described his atheism in two points: 1.) There is no God. 2.) I hate him. The thing that troubles me most about Christopher is that he’d rather score points than tackle these issues honestly. Despite his appeal to natural causes as the only explanation for disasters like the earthquake he still maintains an air of accusation. Christopher has used words like capricious, arbitrary, and sadistic to describe a God he does not believe in. The irony is that his objections actually work better if God exists. Otherwise the point rings rather hollow, doesn’t it? What Hitchens is actually saying is this: if God exists then he must be capricious, arbitrary, and sadistic. But this puts him firmly, and again ironically, on theistic ground. He has entered theology. He has become a theologian. And it is precisely here, in the realm of theology, that he betrays his ignorance by attacking straw men. Straw men are easy to burn, and even easier to blame. Especially when they come in the form of an inexplicably capricious, arbitrary, and sadistic God. Perhaps he should read the apostle Paul, or read the dignified response of Albert Mohler. Hopefully Christohper will recognize one day that Christians have offered more than guesswork about why these things happen. Of course, it is too easy to point out the grotesqueries of men like Pat Robertson, who blamed the earthquake on a deal the Haitians supposedly made with the Devil.
For my part I would only say that both prayer and the gospel are needed in Haiti, along with the aid now coming into the country. C.S. Lewis once said that pain is God’s megaphone to rouse a deaf world. The root cause of human pain and suffering in the world is sin and rebellion against God. People may lay blame, but God has done all he can do in the work of Christ, and it is my sincere hope that God gives grace to Hitch so that he may see the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
CNN International is reporting that hundreds of thousands of people are feared dead in Haiti after an earthquake struck there yesterday. Apparently the quake has leveled the capital city of Port-au-Prince. Unsettling scenes of the city’s destruction and human loss are now being plastered on tv. Hopefully aid will arrive quickly and the people in charge of the rescue and recovery operations will overcome the obstacles that such a catastrophy causes.
Please pray for the people of Haiti.
Mike
Six months and a day. The blog has undergone a bit of a revamp: new theme, new name, and a new attitude. I pray God would use this for his glory. More family stuff will appear here more often. Chirsta will be dropping in to share her thoughts on things and I will be writing down my thoughts, as always.
Blessings,
Mike
