Because the Bible connects to things I see, hear, do, and think. And every time a connection is made, another verse is written on my heart.
I find that when a Bible verse links up to something that has happened or is happening, the remarkable nature of the coincidence never fails to trigger my long-term memory, and helps me to recall that verse. Even its location. And when the most important book ever written becomes more and more internalized and committed to memory, well, that is just sweet.
I was watching a video, which I ran across on a political blog, Dr. Roy’s Thoughts. It was a debate between Christopher Hitchens, famous atheist and author of “God is Not Great” amongst others, and Frank Turek, co-author of “I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist”. In the debate (if you’d like to watch it, it is here – watch out though. It is 2 hours in length), Turek provides a battery of proofs for the existence of God, whilst Hitchens basically says, repeatedly, “I don’t have to prove God doesn’t exist. We all know he doesn’t, but if he does, he’s a cruel tyrranical monster.” Not much of a debate as far as that goes. One person in the audience even challenged them both to state what it would take to cause them to doubt their position. Turek answered honestly, stating what would have to change for his faith to be shaken. Hitchens refused to answer.
Then this morning when I picked up my Bible, I opened to 2 Corinthians 3. Paul spoke of the effects of the Law on the Hebrews when he wrote, but this blindness affects all who do not turn to the Lord.
But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
Hitchens’ mind is hardened – calcified even. All he sees is the wrath of God, much like those under the Law. He refuses to even consider the possibility of God, because he sees the condemnation and wrath and he hates the idea of anything greater than him that he must submit his authority over himself to. Like Turek pointed out in the debate, hating your father doesn’t make your father not exist. Even if your brother is a mass-murderer, and he claims his daddy told him to do it, this does not mean that your father doesn’t exist. But yet, Hitchens continually appealed to such emotional images to turn people emotionally away from God, rather than consider his existence rationally.
But all it takes is one turn towards the Lord. Just to look into who God really is, and the veil will be drawn away. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. That is the truth that Hitchens utterly lacks. All he sees God as is a monster that seeks to steal his freedom. But he does not grasp that freedom to wrong himself and others is no freedom at all – it is enslavement to evil. He demonstrated over and over that he knows right and wrong, yet he values the wrong he does so much that he will not consider the freedom of love.
So, now, I know. 2 Cor 3 – Now God is Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. Thanks, Christopher Hitchens for writing that truth on my heart.
Tags: atheism, Bible Reading, Chrisopher Hitchens, Frank Turek, Freedom, judgement, Law, spiritual disciplines
