Surf'n the Net - Archived Story

Our surf'n safari took an interesting turn recently. We decided to surf at a spot we haven't been to for awhile called "Point Usenet." After all, we constantly hear nothing but: "the waves are too big for you guys" and: "you don't stand a chance there." So we thought we'd see if we could master the waves or totally wipe-out.

As when ventured forth, we weren't even close before we started to hear the loud CRASH of the waves! As we continued to get closer, the crash turned into a rumble and the rumble gave way to a continuous, deafening BOOM! The ground shook and we could barely stand as we picked a spot to park, still a distance from the water. A small hill hid our view of the waves, but we could only imagine their immensity. When we climbed to the top of the hill, we lifted our gaze to the water. We were shocked, to say the least! The loud roar was coming from a few tiny waves. Where were the monster waves we were expecting? Was it even worth going into the water to battle these tiny ripples?[1] After doing so for awhile, we began to wonder...

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Arguing with Atheists on the Internet

I just finished an E-Mail debate with an atheist I met on usenet over in talk.origins. When all was said and done, he was decisively defeated but could not even admit that I may have gotten the better of him.[2] In fact, after I posted the debate to talk.origins - with his blessing - only one atheist in the usenet group plainly admitted that I won this particular debate.[3] The rest could not, simply because the one I debated was a fellow atheist and he was debating a Christian! His arguments didn't matter. So I'm asking, what's the point? Atheists seem to hold on to their belief system (their religion) tighter and more blindly than most Christians do. To be a Christian, you don't have to have blind faith. To be an atheist, it appears that you do. So should we argue with atheists? Here's what the Bible has to say:

• The Bible says that as Christians, we must preach the gospel. If the gospel is not accepted in a place, we are to leave that place and preach it elsewhere. Preach it and go.

• The Bible also says that we are to have an answer for everyone. Paul used forms of debate and logic popular in his time to get the gospel message across.

• The Bible also warns that the wisdom of man is foolishness to God. So why use the wisdom of man to get God's message across?

• Preach the gospel. Don't ever stop preaching it wherever you go. But realized that it's up to the Holy Spirit to actually convert someone.

• Get the Word out. Use man's wisdom, which is foolishness to God, on the foolish.[5] The Bible says, "A fool says in his heart, 'there is no God.'" But the wisdom of man should only be a springboard to the saving Word, the Gospel of Christ. I believe Paul used this method.

• And always have an answer for everyone, mostly for your fellow Christians' sake whose faith might be weakened if they don't get an answer. A strong faith knows that if an answer cannot be found, it will come eventually.

"I have found that nothing is more dangerous to one's own faith than the work of an apologist. No doctrine of that Faith seems to me so spectral, so unreal as one that I have just successfully defended in a public debate. For a moment, you see, it has seemed to rest on oneself: as a result, when you go away from that debate, it seems no stronger than that weak pillar. That is why we apologists take our lives in our hands and can be saved only by falling back continually from the web of our own arguments, as from our intellectual counters, into the Reality-- from Christian apologetics into Christ Himself."[6]

Never forget "the Reality." Also, read your Bible and meditate on it, strengthen your faith and put on the full armor of God (Eph. 6:10-18). And never, never anchor your faith on the foolishness of man's arguments.

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Wow, what a long Surf Report! I better bail for now. You know the drill - keep your (key)boards waxed and ready. Until next time - surf's up!

- Mark "Moondoggie, the Internet Surfer, the guy with a really long nickname" Harpt

Notes:

1. This is not a veiled attempt to belittle atheists. Everyone is "tiny" when battling against a Christian because a Christian has the creator of the universe on his/her side (if the Christian is acting according to God's will in a situation, that is).

2. See the actual debate, which is a debate on the first point of the Argument From Design found on the WWCW under Bible Q & A: Has modern philosophy and cosmology disproven the existence of God?.

3. One other atheist gave it to me on a nonexistent technicality.

4. This is only my opinion. If you have other insights, please let me know.

5. I'm sure I'll get letters on this point. Here's my E-Mail address.

6. The Joyful Christian: 127 Readings by C. S. Lewis (Simon & Schuster, pp. 184-185).

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