Humanism?

After church last Sunday, one woman asked if I was saying that you could count on a human to be there for you through thick and thin? I guess she got that from the song “I’ll Follow You Into the Dark.” Of course, I’m not saying that, or do I believe that at all. Humans do fail us and let us down and even stab us in the back.

I also think that it would easy for Christians to develop a “Humanist” point of view where God is small, or God is dependent on Humans’ ability to do good to/for/with one another. Humanism is not the same as Christian.

I think there are two important things to balance here. One humans are fallen, sinful creatures who will do terrible things to each other. Two, humans, by virtue of being created in the image of God, are capable of doing heroic good deeds, especially when we work together.

Imagine the song (“I Will Follow You into the Dark”) as though sung by Jesus himself. It gives us a different look at the idea of the afterlife. It’s not who’s out or in, but an assurance of we are not alone, and life is not over. We are in God’s presence. That’s what I hope we proclaim. Otherwise we run the risk of excluding people for superficial reasons instead of really getting to know them.

When Religion Goes Bad

This is part 2 of Conversations with an Atheist. Finally, a success at recording my actual sermon. Part of the sermon is discussion, so people’s response are hard to hear, but I think you can still get the point. Basically, people have done a lot of bad things in the name of God and Religion. For instance the attacks of 9-11, the holocaust, slavery, pastors/priests who abuse their authority, etc. Also, folks do a lot of good in the name of God. This doesn’t prove he exists one way or the other. However, Christians could learn a lot from folks who are annoyed by Christians because Christians often come across narrow/closed-minded. We (Christians) need to learn to listen if we want to be heard.

So, in this sermon we listen to a song by Death Cab for Cutie called “I’ll Follow You into the Dark.” I don’t know if the author is atheist or religious or not. The person very well could be a Christian. You can find the lyrics here: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/deathcabforcutie/iwillfollowyouintothedark.html

I hope you enjoy our discussion. Here’s the sermon audio:

http://www.epworthit.com/clientimages/40317/sermon_1-20-2008.mp3