Debate 4: Disturbing Passions

As the title above suggests, this is part of a series; and, in my last post, I mentioned that it may be wise to watch the debate that prompted all this before continuing. To start, I will stop calling it the-debate-that-prompted-all-this. It definitely needs a new name. For the remainder of this series, we’ll call it “the masturbation debate,” although it bears another title on YouTube.

Amazing Christian Apologist Destroys Atheist In Debate (YouTube, posted Dec 17, 2012 by Athanasius TV).

So, in the masturbation debate we have an atheist, NEGATIONofP, contending with a theist, Jason Burns, that he has developed an absolute proof, in the form of a video, that all people of faith are shams. Earlier, I said the original title was misleading— that all the two managed to do was bamboozle me into watching an ill-conceived video, but after last night, I’m not certain of that. The theist actually had the atheist concede that all Scripture—what is written in the Bible—is true; and he articulated his point, if not amazingly, then at least convincingly. He never really followed up his point, which is only to say, fashioned it into a spear, destroying the atheist’s faulty logic and exposing the atheist’s disingenuous concessions; but I only expected that because of the original title.

Before I go into more detail, perhaps we need to revisit what happened last night to alter my opinion. I remembered something relevant that didn’t seem applicable to the masturbation debate before last night. I promise it will tie back to the masturbation debate and the topic of this installment. For now, just humor me. Last night, I was up late watching TV—Spike. I watched an episode of Ink Masters, followed by two episodes of Tattoo Nightmares, then Tattoo Rescue. On Ink Masters, they were doing a competition of anatomically correct tattoos. I began to entertain the notion that I should get an anatomically correct tattoo. They looked pretty cool. Then after Tattoo Nightmares, where they deal with covering up bad tattoos, I began to wonder what I might get to cover the tattoo on my arm. Then after Tattoo Rescue, I thought the tattoo industry is hot right now; maybe I should open a tattoo shop. Forget that I don’t really care to get a new tattoo. Forget that I still like the tattoo on my arm. Forget that I cannot draw a stick man. Finally, at 1:00 AM, I shut the TV off and went to bed thinking of how great it would be to own a tattoo shop and get an anatomical tattoo to cover my arm band.

What I remembered: people are impressionable. It seems the more tired they become, the more impressionable they become. Jerry Seinfeld covers this nicely in one of his stand-up routines ending in him buying a Ginsu knife. Whether it is true or not can be examined, but I’m certain you will find, at the very least, that it is mostly true. Meaning, true for some people most of the time, or most people some of the time, but not all people all the time. The marketing industry makes billions every year exploiting our impressionability. In just a few minutes, I’m going to make some of the men reading this lie to his wife, but certainly not all of the men reading this. I’m more interested in determining what makes us impressionable. More than that, I want to show that what makes us impressionable about some things also makes us thick as molasses when it comes to accepting facts. Let’s consider an example.

Consider these facts about men who have a robust sex life, where “robust” is defined as 3 or more times per week: They are 68% less likely to be involved in an accident resulting in serious injury or death. Supporting evidence:
1) They are 25% less likely to take risks where serious injury might occur.
2) They have greater focus and concentration when taking risks.
3) They are 30% more likely to prefer domestic settings where accidents are less common.
In other words, they are happier with their life and take greater care in protecting it.

All of these facts are hogwash of course; made up just now to make a point. When it comes to sex, most men will believe whatever seems to reinforce having more of it. Despite being told these facts are bologna, some men will still keep them in their memory as fact and use them whenever their spouse needs just a little nudge of encouragement. “You don’t want me to die in a horrible accident, do you?” A word of caution though: be sure the answer is “no” before you ask that question.

So, maybe some of us, due to disturbing passions, are preconditioned to accept certain things. Sex sells. It’s a billion dollar principle in marketing. It follows then that we may also be preconditioned to deny or reject certain things. Oftentimes, what is true or false takes a back seat to what supports our passion or what mortifies our passion. Let’s consider another example.

Richard Jeni, in his comedy special: “A Good Catholic Boy,” says it is a proven fact that ninety percent of all men masturbate. The other ten percent have no arms. An avid masturbator might consider it unlikely that ten percent of all men have no arms, in which case, he’d estimate that ninety percent is a little too low. A man who never masturbates might consider this merely hyperbole. They would both laugh hysterically. (Richard Jeni’s delivery is impeccable!) Generally speaking, people have a tendency to believe they are normal and think everyone shares their basic assumptions. Most are reluctant to accept things that cause them to doubt their goodness relative to others. I say this is generally true, not absolutely true. I don’t think I’m normal, I know lots of people consider my beliefs a little weird, and I do not pretend to be a good person. I’m quirky and a little mean.

Another example then— In the Bible, 1 Corinthians 6:12-13, 18-20 says:

“I have the right to do anything,” you say —but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything” –but I will not be mastered by anything. You say, “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy them both.” The body, however is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. . .Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.

An atheist, who is an avid masturbator, may read this Scripture and decide it isn’t for him. It is just another book. He may even determine that it is a hostile book and should be loudly disqualified—excluded from any public forum. He may devote considerable time trying to convince others not to believe it. A Christian reads this and accepts the authority of God regardless of whether he was an avid masturbator. He may only become a reluctant masturbator, or a repentant masturbator. He may even convince himself this isn’t talking about masturbation at all. It may be a difficult truth to accept, but it is not one he can argue against because he has already determined to submit himself to the authority of God—all preexisting passions aside. And the Holy Spirit, who is in every believer, testifies to the truthfulness of Scripture—even those that run contrary to our disturbing passions.

One more example, then we’ll get back to the masturbation debate. 1 Corinthians 6:7-11 says:

The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated? Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong, and you do this to your brothers and sisters. Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

I include this Scripture because in the masturbation debate, lying and stealing were included alongside masturbation as a part of NEGATIONofP’s proof against actual belief in God. It provides ample scope and runs contrary to a number of disturbing passions people may hold; so for now, it can stand and we’ll refer back to it.

NEGATIONofP, the atheist, labors under the assumption that because he believes in gravity, he doesn’t jump from tall buildings or step out of his airplane while it is in the air. In other words, he perfectly obeys the law of gravity. And because he perfectly obeys what he believes, all people perfectly obey what they truly believe. Of course, no mention was made of the people who do jump off tall buildings or the people who do jump from flying airplanes. We can presume they don’t truly believe in gravity. We can also presume that NEGATIONofP has never accidentally fallen down and taken injury — a scraped knee or abrasions on the hands. We should not presume, however, that a disturbing passion is preventing NEGATIONofP from acknowledging what is obvious to his counterpart in the debate.

By now, you’ve watched the debate and know why I’ve renamed it the masturbation debate. The original title, as I saw it, was what you saw up there under the first paragraph of this post–a bit prejudicial. The moderator announced the title/topic to be: “Why do you act the way you do if you believe God is watching?” This is also a little prejudicial. It implies that belief in God immediately nullifies our human failings. The atheist’s argument hinges on this assumption: people do not lie, steal, or masturbate in front of people they want to impress. He asserts this is a universal truth that is perfectly believed and obeyed by everyone. The fact, however, is most people lie in order to conceal unflattering things about themselves or to avoid negative consequences. In other words, they lie to people they want to impress. Also, some people are criminals and want to impress their criminal friends, so they brag about what they have stolen, or commit theft in collaboration with those friends. And let’s be honest, some people masturbate in front of people they want to impress. Stop it, yes they do.

Now, let’s get to the crux of the debate. “Assuming you want a continued relationship with Barbara, if you knew it wouldn’t impress Barbara, but would make her think less of you, would you masturbate in front of Barbara?” NEGATIONofP contends that all people would answer no, hence, all people of faith actually don’t believe in God, or else they would never do anything that would make Him think less of them. Just like the “Where did the dollar go?” puzzle from part 1 of this series, the error is built right into the question and is apt to get missed by someone who shares NEGATIONofP’s disturbing passion.

First, Barbara is not like God. There is none like God. Second, we do not have a works-based relationship with God, but a grace-based relationship. Go back to the passage of Scripture above. We are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus, who was without sin, paid the penalty of our sin on the cross. To an unbeliever, this is foolishness. He cannot grasp the message of the cross, because it is a message of perfect grace. Perfect grace does not depend on our perfection but God’s perfection. God does not think less of us because of our sin. Our sin is revealed to us by God to remind us of our dependence upon Him. Sin is not condemning to a believer but convicting, leading to repentance. Compare this to a father correcting a wayward child. A father does not correct a child he has written off, but one he loves. Sin is destructive. This world is passing away. God is eternal and we are made in His image. Therefore, we will either share in His eternal life or, like fruitless limbs on a tree, we will be cut off and cast away into the fire of eternal torment. Our eternity is assured either way. God did not create some people to be finite and others eternal. I bring all this up because in the masturbation debate, NEGATIONofP accepted that all Scripture is true. That being the case, it would be monumentally rude of me not to ask this question. Since everything written above is true, isn’t the reality of your eternity far more pressing a matter than establishing the fact that people sin? After all, that fact was established in Genesis and confirmed by the entire course of human history.

To accept any of this, we first need to accept that the authority of God is superior to our own authority. Has the Holy Spirit begun to confirm this truth? I cannot confirm it for anyone. I can only testify that I believe. The disturbing passion behind atheism is self-rule. An atheist determines in his heart that there is no God, which makes him a god unto himself—no authority exists beyond his own, and he can establish his own reality, his own truth. Of course, he cannot. He can only look and observe the world as it was created. Perhaps he will accept things he cannot deny, like gravity, as long as it does not impose upon his autonomy. He can learn and do what seems right. He can try to follow a kind of morality, but he will deny that he observes the hand of his Creator, so he will deny absolutes in morality. He will be preconditioned to accept a theory of his origin that does not involve God. He will not accept evidence contradicting this theory, nor will he ever be convinced that the evidence he now has all points to his theory being wrong. He will not accept certain facts. . . not because he cannot, but because he doesn’t want to. His disturbing passion for self-rule trumps fact.

That’s it for today. This entry is way longer than I anticipated. Sorry for that. Next, I will tackle the two truths that blow open the masturbation debate: There is none like God, and the grace-based relationship. Maybe all at once, maybe in separate posts. It will be a shorter post!

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