Porn in exchange for Bibles at UTSA?
I don’t know if you’ve heard about the “Smut for Smut” campaign at UTSA. It is absolutely blasphemous. I am aware that some may think it is in bad taste for me to even bring attention to it, but oh well. I believe that many times people do not remember the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.
So anyway, this smut for smut campaign is sponsored by the student organization Atheist Agenda and they are asking everyone to bring in “sacred texts” such as the Bible in exchange for porn. Student President Thomas Jackson says in the MSNBC video, “Atheists tend to be rather knowledgeable about the scriptures.” This is laughable. His statements betray him. For example: When he refers to some of the material in the Bible he says, “These things aren’t acceptable in our society.” Young man, let me enlighten you. Since the fall God’s law has never been acceptable in any society, but you’d know this if you had read and understood the Bible. Man universally rejects God. This is Bible 101. It’s called The Doctrine of Human Depravity. Jackson agrees with the Bible more than he knows because he goes on to say that humanity is able to find morality independently of the Bible. Uh, yeah, buddy… this is one of Paul’s argument in the book of Romans. He writes,
14Gentiles, who do not have the law (no Bibles handy), by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law (a Bible).15They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts (they don’t need a Bible to know right from wrong), while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them. Romans 2:14-15
This is the reason the Apostle Paul says that men are held accountable to God. It is precisely because they intuitively know the difference between right and wrong. People inherently know that it is wrong to murder regardless of the century they lived in, their culture and their educational level. I guess that’s strike two for Jackson. So “atheists tend to be rather knowledgeable about the scriptures”? Really? Then why is it that atheist heavy weight Sam Harris cannot even define one of the most basic biblical concepts such as faith? I briefly wrote about that here and here.
Jackson makes the loaded claim that, “If you read the Bible it contradicts itself nearly on every page.” This young man is obviously a fool and I agree with the interviewer when he says, “You need to think through it a little bit more Thomas.” Personally, I’d love Thomas Jackson to demonstrate how “the Bible it contradicts itself nearly on every page.”
Comments
If you'd like to debate or discuss openly with us we'd be glad to do it at the smut for smut table or at any of our meetings mondays @ 5 :)
Hope to see you there
I believe we agree on this. There are atheists and Christians alike who are Biblically ignorant. This is my suggestion to the Atheist agenda. You guys should learn how orthodox Biblical scholars have interpreted the entire Bible especially the Old Testament. What annoys many learned Christians is the obvious lack of understanding on the atheist’s behalf. There is a difference between understanding and simply having raw knowledge about the scriptures.
For example: One of the most common errors I see is the failure to distinguish between the different types of law in the Old Testament (civil, ceremonial and moral). Anyone can pick up the Bible and inform themselves of its content, but it’s an entirely different matter to sort it out. You’ll disagree on the interpretation, but you should at least learn the opponents’ position before making a case against.
I am not totally opposed to the idea of giving you a platform on my blog to "pick [the Bible] apart and show that it is not valid in the least bit." We could go back and forth forever, but obviously we can't do that so we'd have to come to some sort of pre-agreement on limiting the number of words, topics etc. Let me know how'd you like to do this. I'd publish our dialogue on my blog.
So in essence you are saying that we don't need religious texts to tell us what is good and bad which is exactly what Thomas said. It's in our nature to a degree, and the rest, we as a society have to make laws about.
Also, in regards to the "laughable" comment, a large percentage of Atheist I know grew up in very religious households. This is why they are so active in the movement, because they see the irrationality in what they have been taught and have a compulsion to educate. I think this is what Thomas was remarking on here. They tend to be well verse in the theology.
Thomas made it seem as if we Christians make the claim that morality cannot be known apart from religious texts, but this is not so. The Bible itself makes the claim that morality can be known apart from "sacred texts." It was a misrepresentation of our position. Secondly, he seems to make a false assumption about the Bible in that the Bible is assumed to be mainly a rule book to follow in order to become moral and model citizens.
If you would not be opposed, but if you have yet to read my blog please educate yourself on what you are getting into here. I have studied religious history from christianity to mormonism to Zoroastrianism. I promise you I am educated on the subject. :)
You stated, “…to believe in Jesus as your savior you must believe that these laws given by god himself were just…” This is precisely what we believe and, yes, Jesus was a Jew.
Thus far you’ve made these claims:
1) That you are knowledgeable about “how the bible was put together”
2) That the Bible “makes no sense”
3) That you can “"pick [the Bible] apart and show that it is not valid in the least bit" (You’ve yet to demonstrate this)
4) That the Old Testament God is evil: (On what grounds do you call God evil? From where do you take your measuring stick to determine what is evil and what is not? How do you account for that standard?)
I’ve stated before that I am not opposed to the idea of giving you a platform on my blog to "pick [the Bible] apart and show that it is not valid in the least bit," but I am telling you upfront that I am not a trained textual critic (point 1). Googling on these topics doesn’t qualify one to speak with authority on such maters by the way. My area is to deal more in the areas of misrepresentations that permeate the New Atheism books (point 2, 2 & 4). We could go back and forth forever on several number of tropics, but obviously we can't do that so we'd have to come to some sort of pre-agreement on limiting the number of words, topics etc. If we agree on the conditions we could publish our dialogue/debate on my blog.