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Sermon & Worship Packages: Time to Remember
Rodney Buchanan
For me, my belief in God was reaffirmed recently by something I would not have expected. While I was in England I visited St. Paul’s Cathedral. Worshiping in that great cathedral your eyes are drawn to the great dome. It is actually three domes, one on top of the other, with the highest and smallest dome having windows, making you think they are the very windows of heaven. I stood there in that great place, surrounded by exquisite art and architecture, and said to my friend: “This building makes me believe in God.” I think he was somewhat taken back by my statement that a physical, man-made building could make me believe in God. But I said, “What else could inspire such a sense of transcendence and create a feeling of otherworldliness — a world of unspeakable beauty and holy purpose?” These glorious monuments to God are all over England and Europe — countries which were strongly influenced by the Christian faith. “Name me one monument to the devil which has been built in his honor,” I said to my friend. “I can’t think of one.”
But then I began to think. Actually, I have seen a monument to the devil. It exists in a country I visited a few years before, whose national religion is Voodoo, or devil worship — the country of Haiti. We drove by it on our way to the mission station in Cape Haitian. It is the center for Voodoo worship — a large mud hole where chickens are strangled and their blood poured into the pool. Rumors are that there are even secret rites where human sacrifices are offered to the devil, and their blood becomes a part of the mud as well. There are unspeakable acts of evil performed there. Worshipers come to cover themselves with the mud of that cursed place. So there I stood thinking about one country whose religion worships Jesus Christ, and another country whose religion is devil worship. The monument to Jesus Christ was an exquisite cathedral, and the monument to the devil was a mud hole. One was transcendent in its themes and beauty, and the other was vile and ugly. One inspired noble thoughts and holy lives, the other aroused perverse thoughts and evil acts. One was elevating and the other degrading. One made you look up and the other made you look down.
We live in a strange community, where it is not uncommon to see bumper stickers that say things like, I am Light, or Due to circumstances within our control Armageddon has been cancelled. But the one that really gets me is the one that reads simply, I AM. Thank God, the I AM doesn’t drive a VW van. If the guy driving that van has numbered our days, we’re in trouble. Somehow I don’t think he was the one that hung the stars in space and sustains all things by his word. It would be funny if it weren’t so sad.
Abraham Lincoln said “I can see how it might be possible for a man to look down upon the earth and be an atheist, but I cannot conceive how he could look up into the heaven and say there is no God.”
A preacher and an atheistic barber were once walking through the city slums. Said the barber to the preacher: "This is why I cannot believe in a God of love. If God was as kind and loving as you say, He would not permit all this poverty, disease, and squalor. He would not allow these poor bums to be addicted to dope and other character-destroying habits. No, I cannot believe in a God who permits these things."
The minister was silent until they met a man who was especially unkept and filthy. His hair was hanging down his neck and he had a half-inch of stubble on his face. Said the minister: "You can’t be a very good barber or you wouldn’t permit a man like that to continue living in this neighborhood without a haircut and a shave."
Indignantly the barber answered: "Why blame me for that man’s condition? I can’t help it that he is like that. He ...
Poem: He was just a little lad,
and on the week’s first day,
Was wandering home from Sunday School,
and dawdling on the way.
He scuffed his shoes into the grass;
he found a caterpillar
He found a fluffy milkweed pod,
and blew out all the filler.
A bird’s nest in a tree o’er head
so wisely placed and high
Was just another wonder
caught by his eager eye.
A neighbor watched his zig zag course,
and hailed him from the lawn
Asked him where he’d been that day,
and what was going on.
"Oh, I’ve been to Sunday School,
(He carefully turned a sod,
And found a snail beneath it);
I’ve learned a lot about God"
"M’m’m, a very fine way," the neighbor said,
"for a boy to spend his time;
If you’ll tell where God is
I’ll give you a brand new dime."
Quick as a flash his answer came!
Nor were his accents faint -
"I’ll give you a dollar mister,
if you tell me where God ain’t."
Mary Farwell of Green Castle Missouri, told of the time she was listening to her 5 year old son, Matthew, as he worked on his Speak and Spell™ computer. He was concentrating intensely, typing in words for the computer to say back to him.
Matthew punched in the word “God.” To his surprise, the computer said, “Word not found.” He tried again with the same reply. Staring at the computer in disgust he declared: “Jesus is not going to like this!”
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Quickly, God was faced with a class action suit for failure to file an environmental impact statement. God was granted a temporary permit for the project, but was stymied with the “cease and desist” order for the earthly part. Then God said, "Let there be light!"
Immediately, the officials demanded to know how the light would be made. Would there be strip mining? What about thermal pollution? God explained that the light would come from a large ball of fire. God was granted provisional permission to make light, assuming that no smoke would result from the ball of fire, and that he would obtain a building permit and to conserve energy, He would have the light out half the time. God agreed and offered to call the light "Day" and the darkness "Night". The officials replied that they were not interested in semantics. God said, "Let the earth put forth vegetation, plant yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit." The EPA agreed, so long as only native seed was used. Then God said, "Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth." The officials pointed out that this would require approval from the Department of Game coordinated with the Heavenly Wildlife Federation and the Audubon Society. Everything was okay until God said the project would be completed in six days. The officials said it would take at least two hundred days to review the applications and the impact statement. After that there would be a public hearing. Then there would be ten to twelve months before...At this point, God created Hell.
DILEMMA OF AMERICAN ATHEIST SOCIETY
For some reason, Christians feel intimidated by atheism. They assume that the atheist and the intellectual are on the same level. The assumption is groundless:
A recent article published by the American Atheist Society was written by a zealous but discouraged atheist (a graduate of the U. of Texas, and president of "American Atheists") who related 5 basic coronary problems plaguing contemporary atheists of the U.S..
1. The 1st dilemma he cites is a "lack of unity." He begins with a word on how unified Christians seem, in their stand against abortion and in the fact that they do not openly criticize one another. He says history has shown atheistic attitudes towards each other have been nothing but outride hostility... The atheists hate the agnostics, who hate the humanists, who cannot stand the rationalists, who keep their distance from the realists, who will not speak to the Unitarians, and on and on it goes - they cannot even agree on the simple concept that "there is no god."
2. The second symptom is one of "lack of zeal." He says "atheists will simply not get involved with the promotion of their chosen life-style. I cannot think of a group harder to motivate... atheists seem to feel that their position with regard to religion is a deeply personal thing that does not need to be shared with others."
I suppose it is hard to be enthusiastic about the nonexistence of God, when the word "enthusiasm" actually comes from the 2 Greek words "en" and "theos," meaning "in God." If I denied the existence of the sun, I would find it rather difficult to be zealous in my convictions in the light of its brilliance.
3. The 3rd dilemma is "a lack of faith." The writer admits, "I have met many atheists who cannot surpass the ’what if I am wrong?’ stage." The cause of their problem is obviously a lack of unbelief.
4. The 4th ailment is one of "lack of boldness." The president of the society remarks about an incident where a newspaper reporter wanted to do an article on the subject of atheistic life-styles; and how he found nothing but the "fear of man" in tho...
Kenneth Roberts
Here’s a list of all variations of the "God Speaks" billboards that appeared in the Metropolitan Dallas-Fort Worth area. The billboards are a simple black background with white text. No fine print or sponsoring organization is included. The sponsorship for these “God Speaks” billboards is anonymous.
“Let’s meet at my house Sunday before the game.” - God
“C’mon over and bring the kids.” - God
“What part of "Thou Shalt Not...didn’t you understand?” - God
“We need to talk.” - God
“Keep using my name in vain, I’ll make rush hour longer.” - God
“Loved the wedding, invite me to the marriage.” - God
“That `Love Thy Neighbor‘ thing... I meant it.” - God
“I love you and you and you and you and... “ - God
“Will the road you’re on get you to my place?” - God
“Follow me.” -God
“Big bang theory, you’ve got to be kidding.” - God
“My way is the highway.” - God
“Need directions?” - God
“You think it’s hot here?” - God
“Have you read my #1 best seller? There will be a test.” - God
“Do you have any idea where you’re going?” - God
And now here is one “God Speaks” that we might apply to ourselves in our daily life:
"Don’t make me come down there.” - God
When the infidel Robert G. Ingersoll was delivering his lectures against Christ and the Bible, his oratorical ability usually assured him of a large crowd. One night after an inflammatory speech in which he severely attacked man’s faith in the Savior, he dramatically took out his watch and said, "I’ll give God a chance to prove that He exists and is almighty. I challenge Him to strike me dead within 5 minutes!" First there was silence, then people became uneasy. Some left the hall, unable to take the nervous strain of the occasion, and one woman fainted. At the end of the allotted time, the atheist exclaimed derisively, "See! There is no God. I am still very much alive!" After the lecture a young fellow said to a Christian lady, "Well, Ingersoll certainly proved something tonight!" Her reply was memorable. " Yes he did," she said. "He proved God isn’t taking orders from atheists tonight."
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