Thursday, May 31, 2007

"Why Is Mr. Harris So Angry?"


Amongst helping my two sons with their tons of homework, and studying for my final exams, I finally got to finish reading Sam Harris' little rant of a book, "Letter to a Christian Nation." I'm not an eloquent writer by no means so let me get through all the fluff and get straight to the point by responding to some of his flare ups and assertions.

Page viii: “...to arm secularists in our society, who believe that religion should be kept out of public policy, against their opponents on the Christian Right.”
So, Hollywood is not enough to "arm secularists..." with films like "The DaVinci Code", "Deliver Us From Evil", "Jesus Camp", Bill Mahr and his rants? What about Rosie O'Donnell and her kind words towards Christians? Then there is the government public school system in unity with the ACLU and the leftist controlled universities. Mr. Harris, isn't that enough to "arm secularists"?

Page X "...nature offers no compelling evidence for an intelligent designer..."
In order to have evidence, one must presuppose logic and reason. So let's back track, as an atheist, how does Mr. Harris account for logic and reason if his worldview believes we're all products of random processes and molecules-in-motion?

Page 4: "There are Christians who have no fear of hell and who do not believe in the physical resurrection of Jesus."
Seems like Mr. Harris has been asleep at the wheel of his studies of the bible. A follower of Christ should not fear hell because they've been saved from it...along with all who call upon the name of Christ—1 John 1:9. Furthermore, a "Christian" who does not believe in the physical resurrection, is not a Christian. Belief in the resurrection is one of the major tenets of Christianity (1 Cor 15:12-16).

moving on...
Page 30: “The naive idea of souls in a Petri dish is intellectually indefensible..."
Mr. Harris, Christians also believe that souls in a Petri dish is intellectually indefensible and to add, just plain wrong.

And in closing, if you've read this book, I challenge you to balance Mr. Harris' worldview rant by reading, "Letter from a Christian Nation", by Douglas Wilson. Mr. Wilson cleverly states, "It's a lengthy rant. It has all the charm of a gas station bathroom."

In closing, if all us humans are just products of evolution and bags of molecules and such, then we're all like ice cold soda from bottles freshly opened. The atheist's soda foam fizzes just as much as the Christian's soda foam fizzes—our brain cells are reacting differently.
I can't wait for his next book, "Letter to a Santa Clause Nation".

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Steve I am impressed by your blog. It is very informative and it is obvious you are very passionate about apologetics. May the Lord use you and this desire He has placed in your heart for the good of others and most importantly for HIS GLORY!
God bless you!
Johanna

Steve Solis said...

Thank you JB!!