Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious; for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription:
TO THE UNKNOWN GOD.
Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you: God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands.
(Acts 17:22-24) NKJV
It’s one thing to talk about God with Christians, they know God from the Bible. It’s something else to talk with people who don’t go to church and whose knowledge of God comes from atheist propaganda.
The book of Acts can teach us how to talk about God with people who don’t know, or who are antagonistic towards God. When Paul preached to Hebrews he started with Moses. That was their frame of reference. When Paul preached to heathens he started with creation. He had to make a frame of reference and so he took it all the way back to the beginning.
The first thing that we need to know about the heathens in our world, secular humanists (normal people in all walks of life) is: what’s their attitude towards God?
Secular Humanism vs. God
- God [He/She/It] is only valid if He/She/It complies with humanistic values.
- Who does God think He/She/It is to judge people?
- How can one person be good and another bad?
- if the God person is going to punish people in hell,
- then the God person is bad!
- How can one person be good and another bad?
- God is unacceptable.
Rather than dismiss this as pathetic and whiny, providing a satisfactory answer to this dilemma ought to be our top priority. It’s going to become increasingly obvious that global warming is much worse than anyone thinks, and the rate at which it continues to worsen is going to be far greater than anyone could imagine. If people connect the dots between the growing core of the Earth and conditions on the surface then they may actually want to re-evaluate their relationship to God. We can only hope.
Matty's Paradigm 