god is not great… I have much to say

My flight delayed in Baltimore, I began searching for some light reading to help pass some time.  Enter god is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens. 

I figure that I will have to publish my thoughts in a number of posts, as to place all of my observations in one blog entry would make it entirely too long and cumbersome for even me to read.

So I’ll begin by mentioning how heavy my heart has become even as I read through the first chapter.  I’m burdened, not because Chris Hitchens is an atheist (though I must admit that this bothers me); I’m burdened because of the reason for his lack of belief.

In the first few sentences of his book, Hitchens mentions a teacher that he had when he was but a boy in England by the name of Mrs. Watts.  She was given the responsibility of teaching students everything from “nature” to Bible (I dare say a downfall of government run education—first the utilization of teachers educating students outside of their areas of expertise, and second, government mandated religious education… Once the government begins instituting religion in the schools, then the government begins controlling not only what my children learn about science and writing, but about God as well… this makes me too uncomfortable to bear).

Back to Mrs. Watts.  An  offhand comment, innocuous in and of itself.  She hadn’t thought all the way through her statement, nor had she realized that a 9 year old Hitchens would be in her class.  “So you see children how generous and powerful God is.  He has made all of the trees and the grass to be green, which is exactly the color that is most restful to the eyes.”

Immediately, Hitchens recoiled with “embarrassment” for his teacher.  He mused, “the eyes were adjusted to nature, not the other way about.”

This statement by Mrs. Watts seemed to be followed by many other ignorant (notice I didn’t say stupid) statements by religious leaders and teachers throughout his life.  He discusses another such statement by the headmaster of his school who stated, “You may not see the point of all this faith now, but you will one day when you start to lose loved ones.”  This implies, as Hitchens surmises, that religion, regardless of its validity, is good in as much as it gives us comfort.  Hitchens (as do I), rejects this notion at once.

The entire first chapter is filled with statement after statement taught to this brilliant man about the church and its doctrine by church leaders, pastors, and teachers.

And most of it is wrong or badly misunderstood.

And this is why my heart is heavy.

You see, it is people who claimed (or had thrust upon them) authority to teach the truth about God and religion.  Their well intentioned, but poorly thought through lessons and quips have led this poor gentleman away from God, and because I believe the Bible is true, straight towards an eternity separated from God in Hell.

Even in my post now, as a pastor of a Southern Baptist Church, I see church members who have been taught that the Bible teaches all sorts of things that simply aren’t there, and the truth that is taught is often relayed in shadowed half-truths wrapped up in one or another religious cliché

I have been the Senior Pastor of a church for two years and I have served for the largest portion of my adult life.  So far in my ministry career one of the hardest part of my job is re-teaching all of the doctrinal inconsistencies that have been taught as the Word of God when they are nothing more than interpretations (accurate or inaccurate) of men.

Now Hitchen's heart is so hard that he will never listen to the truth that lies behind the inaccurate understanding of scripture that he has in his heart.  Aside from a supernatural work of God, this will never happen.  (Interestingly enough, it requires a supernatural work of God for all of us to be changed though doesn’t it?)

In short, if you claim to have authority.  If you claim to speak for God.  If you are a parent answering a question your child has asked; if you are a nursery worker in a church rocking babies;  if you are a Sunday School teacher, RA leader or confidant of a child… please, please, please make sure that what you are saying is doctrinally accurate and the complete truth about God.  If you don’t, many could be led astray.  Many like Chris Hitchens may be turned away from the truth, and in turn lead many others astray in the process.

The stakes are simply too high, and eternity simply too long to be cavalier with our teaching.