Today is Easter Sunday, and as is typical and predictable, two things happen on Facebook when a Christian Holiday occurs. The first is enjoyable: people post their plans for the day or proclaim the message. The second is about as frustrating as having someone you don't know try to join your conversation: people post obnoxious anti-Christian straw men arguments.
Overall, I suppose the frustration was at a minimum considering what it could have been. I saw two things posted that made my irritation alarms go off: One person posted "I choose senses over blind faith." The question is: who chooses blind faith over their senses? That isn't a Christian concept, and even people who don't know much about their faith definitely value their experiences as Christians over this abstract 'blind faith' concept. In reality, it doesn't mean much as a term, because people don't embrace worldviews without reason. Even if individuals have arguably 'bad' reasons for doing so, they don't do anything 'blindly'. But straw men tend to be the theme of a lot of arguments against Christians. What I typically see is people pulling out examples of extreme 'Christians' on their worst days saying things that are way out there and then acting as if those statements are standard Christian viewpoints. The trick of it is that Christians then fall into a trap of arguing against the absurdities, which makes them appear to support the extremist in their attempt to justify what they actually believe. It ends with the person behind the original claim having to do no mental processing whatsoever, although such people seem to develop a talent for manipulation.
The second annoyance revolved around 'zombie Jesus' references and other various jabs at Christians for no other reason than to spark stupid conflicts. I don't use the term 'stupid' lightly either. I suppose I don't quite understand what it takes to drive a person who calls themselves simply 'nonreligious' to be anti-religious in every possible situation they can involve themselves in. In fact, it is very often the 'nonreligious' that tend to have a religious zeal for something: the mockery of people who believe in God.
As I said, this is a rant, and therefor I don't intend for things to flow like a standard train of thought, and as I was typing I also remembered another annoyance that's crossed my mind recently: know-it-all college undergraduates. It is amazing the difference of personality between a person who thinks they know everything and a person who actually knows something. The one can't stop talking and often fills the void of their ignorance with enough wordiness that the listener gives up. The other doesn't say much, they just do whatever it is they do with their knowledge. My frustration is amplified when people can't tell the difference between the two and ignore the quiet knowledgeable person and follow the loud-mouth.
And a final rantish point that may lead to a discussion in another post: The topic of hell. It is absolutely amazing how many misconceptions there are about it. I'll often read things like "God loves you but He also will send you to hell to burn forever and ever if you don't do what He says."
There's something curious about this though. The Apostles and early Christians were not stupid people. A lot of the Theologians throughout the centuries were some of the smartest men of all time. These men realized the love of God and the reality of hell simultaneously. The reason? They didn't interpret hell the same way a modern non-Christian does. Isn't that an interesting thing? Who do you think has a more accurate stance- the people who have studied Scripture their entire lives or the people who have hobbies insulting Christians?
Like I said in the title... it was a rant... and now I'm going to bed.
