Saturday, September 27, 2014

PRACTICAL ATHEISM - BURGOO THEOLOGY?

"So that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father....Philippians 2:10-11

Astrophysicist Dr. Stephen Hawking has again stated what everyone knows about him - he is an unrepentant atheist.  He is again making news for the same tired old argument that "there is no God". Anyone who has seen God's Not Dead, (thereby seeing the best movie of 2014) knows how to deconstruct all those "learned" arguments. But there is no debating people like Hawking, or Richard Dawkins or...name your favorite atheist. Even Bill Maher, America's top celebrity atheist, while he still hates God (thereby proving a contradiction in terms: i.e. "how can you hate someone who does not exist?") is more logical in his rants than these so-called brilliant scientists. It is not worthwhile to explain here what Hawking said again, as it is the same old song, with a different beat. It can be read here.

This purpose of this is not to discuss the current abode of people like Charles Darwin, Einstein, Marx, Lenin and other famous atheists. We know those people now believe there is a God and His Son is Jesus, because they can see across the Great Divide which Jesus discussed in Like 16:19-31. The purpose is to send out an urgent appeal to those who are "practical atheists" and whose souls are in mortal danger like the men just named here.

A practical atheist is basically what we have in the western churches today, where people call themselves "Christians" or "Evangelicals" but whose lifestyles do not match up with what they say they believe. They live just like the unsaved (which most of them are anyway) and while they be huge church members, one cannot tell the difference between them and the average elitist, whose god is himself.

A practical atheist is one whose core belief system is drawn from the culture of the day - music, movies, books, motivational speakers and the multi-media brainwashing that comes from man-made theologies like "prosperity gospel' and "name and claim" Word Faith. They are adherents of any new fad which is not convicting as the Bible is. In fact, they will own the best Bible app on their iPad or a copy of the Message, and read neither of them. However they will chase after drivel like books by Deepak Chopra and Oprah while indulging in pornography like the Fifty Shades series of books. In fact one of the big controversies in the Christian world in 2012-3 was the revelation that a large portion of those buying those filthy sex-laden bondage fiction books were Christian women! Are all of these women lost and unsaved? No - they're just not mentored properly by our easy believism in the western church, so they see no problem ready what the woman in the other cubicle is ranting and raving about. This is dangerously close to practical atheism, though. Where is our discernment?!

CLICK HERE FOR CREDIT AND BURGOO RECIPE/HISTORY ETC
Still, it is even worse that just incorrect and mixed-up theology as to the nature of the Blessings of God. It is mixing secular humanism and/or thinking that "this religion or that" each has something that the practical atheist can mix with the "Word of God". This Heinz 57 thought process is more like the local "burgoo" than the Saving Faith of Biblical Christianity! 

In case you're wondering, it is now "Burgoo" season in the Midwest. Burgoos are usually held in small downs and are basically a community cook-out in a giant cast iron caldron. All and various types of meat (from venison and possum to chicken, beef and mutton) are mixed in with all available types of veggies. The "anything-goes-in" recipe is then simmered over an open fire in the small town square; while being constantly stirred with a canoe oar or something similar! While many attest to its wonderful "outdoors cooking" flavor, it is a giant turn-off to most women and men who like to know what they are eating. Also, most cannot vouch for the freshness of the meat and/or vegetables!

So it is with practical atheism. Jesus told the church at Laodecia (Revelation 3:14-22) that He wishes they were either hot (on fire for the Lord) or cold (atheist) but since they were lukewarm (practical atheist), He was about to literally spew them out of not just His Mouth but His Presence and the Kingdom of Heaven. Just as some would rather not put some of that hot burgoo over white rice in their mouth and stomachs, so is the kind of faith which says "anything goes", as long as I say I believe in God, displeasing to Him.

We have gone through Barna surveys of the state of the church and true Biblical Christianity, ad infinitum in this blog. What we really need to start doing now is calling this confirmed and increasingly troubling decline in Biblical worldviews, by its true name - Practical Atheism.  This way, we can start by addressing those almost 60% of young so-called "evangelicals" who believe there is more than one day to Heaven than the Jesus Christ as Lord, Whom they say they believe in. We either start doing something to disciple and mentor those folks NOW, whom the church is depending on for the next generations, or leave them to wait and go through what the following cartoon illiustrate.....because in the end, the bottom line is - a Practical Atheist is no different than Stephen Hawking. Both do not belief the Word and the Character of God. They believe only in themselves and their "burgoo theology".
VISIT CREATIONISM.ORG FOR MORE POWERFUL MESSAGES LIKE THIS!  

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