(I apologize in advance for this extremely long post! )

Over the last 3 years, I have received many emails and comments that are less than kind.  Mocking blog posts like this (by a blogger who has over 163,000 twitter followers) and forums that have devoted threads to attacking me,  have brought a lot of angry emails into my inbox.   In the beginning, I attempted to dialogue with angry commenters.  I found that it always was a deadend road.  Now I hit the delete button on every mean comment (ie. swear words, name calling, threats). I leave up people who disagree with me in a respectful manner because I am comfortable with honest dialogue.

My older Youtubes on marriage have brought a lot of criticism.  I think it’s because my videos, taken out of the context of my blog, can easily be misunderstood.   I’ve had to delete comments and block viewers on Youtube regularly. 

So this week, I got another one of my typical comments and I chose to engage in the conversation. I want to acknowledge that sometimes my tone was a bit stronger than may have been best and my answers could have been more thorough.  But I humbly share it in hopes that it could help someone who may be in this dialogue with a loved one.

This comment came in under my video titled “Learning To Submit.”

*****Commenter:  Grow-up and get an education in History. I can not believe there are so many ignorant people here in the U.S. – If you would just take the time to look very closely at the Historical facts/events surrounding that era, you would understand how metaphorical writing was very popular and the illiteracy rate at that time was near 90%.

Me: Your comment reveals a heart issue. This is how I have chosen to live my life – and I invite you to click the red X if it bothers you. I have great peace and joy in my life that has come from knowing God – I wish you peace and joy also

Commenter: Saying you are ignorant is like saying you breath oxygen, everyone does it and everyone is ignorant. It simply means ‘You don’t know something’. The problem comes when we choose to believe in things that are factually not true. Religion isn’t about faith, its about ‘Blind Faith’ – believing that something is true without ANY evidence, Zero!”Not knowing” facts that do exist, which overwhelmingly disprove a belief is a type of ignorance humanity can not much longer afford.

Me: No evidence? Are you sure about that? 1) Jesus did walk the earth, the calendar proves that = B.C. (Before Christ) A.D. and no one has his bones – he rose from the dead proving he was God; 2)Creation speaks to a creator; 3) your conscience speaks to you to tell you right and wrong – that’s God’s law on man’s heart 4)hundreds of prophesies from the Bible came true – no other book can make such claims & 5)changed lives of people including mine. You do not lack evidence you lack faith.

Commenter: Courtney, There have not been ANY prophecies from the bible come true. There is No evidence of any ‘divine’ Jesus. There may have been “A” Jesus. The people who wrote the gospels never met Jesus. All of the gospels were based on Paul’s writings which were 20 years after Jesus ~died~ and other earlier Mythology, Paul wrote 80,000 words, yet had no concept that Jesus ever walked the Earth, No Birth, No Miracles, Nothing except some vague concept of a spiritual realm – DUBIOUS IS AN UNDERSTATEMENT!

Me: So what you are saying is you have chosen to place your faith in Gilgamesh, Sargon of Akkahd, and later literature…I have chosen to place my faith in the writings of the Bible – how is that different? You still have placed your faith in man’s writings. Your man’s writings say I’m wrong and my Bible says your wrong. Who’s right? If you’re right – I lose nothing – I soul sleep. If I’m right – you lose everything and end up in hell. Creation, Conscience, changed lives – point to God

Commenter: I have Faith in myself, in People who, through experiences and observation, I believe will do the right thing, I have faith that the Sun will Set tonight and Rise tomorrow through observation and inductive reasoning. You are putting BLIND FAITH in some bronze age allegorical literature, that has been re-written, misinterpreted, and manipulated by men in power. Without the SocioPath Emperor, Constantine sanctioning christianity (300 years post Jesus)- You would certainly have a different belief.

Me: Sounds like you have it all figured out. So if you die tonight – where will you go?

Commenter: The reality of it is is that NOBODY knows what (or where), if anything happens after we die. And just because Science hasn’t found any answers doesn’t give religion the luxury of making it up! Religion has historicall gotten everything dead wrong! And religion ensures that every single person on Earth is born with millions upon millions of instant enemies who want to either convert you or Kill you! The Judeo-Christian-Islamic god is the same god, they are all Abrahamic. That’s an idiotic god!

Me: Nobody knows…so U don’t quite have it all figured out…you are placing your faith in science – man’s study of the physical world. I am trusting in the spirit world – something you cannot study with science because you cannot see it. Just because you say ZERO evidence or I have Blind Faith doesn’t make you right. I do have evidence. Historically Jesus did live – non-Christian historians say this. So where are his bones?

The crux of Christianity all lies in whether Jesus was JUSTa man or was GOD in the flesh. If he rose from the dead – he was God – because no other man can do this. Over 500 witnesses said they saw him alive after he was crucified. So you believe Scientists-mere men. & I believe 500 witnesses-mere men. How is this different? You have to have just as much faith to believe what you believe as I have to believe what I believe.

Commenter: Where are his bones? Nobody has ever known EXACTLY where any of the death, burial or supposed ressurrection actually happened. There are locations that religious officials “believe” he was buried, crux, Ressur.. There is a Roman record of a person by that name being crucified, that’s ALL! That’s all your non-Xian historians have! I have a faith in the “Scientific Method” because it is PROVEN literally millions of times over to be correct-Observe, Test, Verify, Duplicate.

Me: Evidence#1-Bible’s uniqueness: written over 1500 year span by more than 40 authors from every walk of life-kings, fishermen, poets,scholars. It was written in different places-wilderness, prison, palaces, in different times of war & peace, during different moods of despair & joy, on 3 continents-Asia, Africa, Europe, in 3 languages Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, addressing hundreds of controversial topics with an amazing degree of harmony. Find me 5 men who could do this with harmony

 The Bible is the #1best selling book of all time. No other book in history has been translated retranslated & paraphrased more than the Bible. The Bible has been translated into over 2,200 languages. No other book comes close to it’s unique influence on civilization including calendar dates (B.C. Before Christ) If you are an educated person you will read the one book that has drawn this much attention in your search for truth.

Commenter: #1 The Xian Bible is not 1500 years old – It is well verified that anybody who wrote the Xian bible lived after Jesus and Never met him! The Dead Sea Scrolls are only dated to about the 2nd Century B.C.- You think ‘IT’ is true because IT SAYS SO! Somebody could do that with any book! That’s just gullibility! And as far as the various locations of Authorship, there is NOTHING to support it! Just “The book says so!” Of course its translated to so many languages-The Crusades made it Viral

years ago I set to understand what is TRUE of life, and I started by reading the ENTIRE bible. It proved then to be hypocritical and nonsensical, but since then, the multitude of FACTUAL Historical and Scientific knowledge has completely exposed the absurdities, and that it is nothing more than a Astro-Theological Hybrid of various ealier religions and writings. The slightest inquiry by anyone would show this! 

 Me: Many of your arguments are false but it’s hard in this little box to disprove you. One example is the Septuagint dates back to 250 B.C. and scribes wrote and rewrote scripture with perfect accuracy or the document was thrown out. Capitalizing NOTHING doesn’t make you right. “Evidence Demands a Verdict” by Josh McDowell has 750pgs of evidence. Do you believe in a spirit world or only that which you can test with science? How do you explain your own soul, spirit, and conscience?

Commenter: Evidence demands a verdict” does not contain evidence, it only contains philosophical circular reasoning. It’s well argued as for its philosphical approach to an argument, but nothing can be taken from it that can be concidered evidence. – What I believe..? There is no evidence for a soul or spirit. Your conscience has been developed thru Evolutionary processes. Generations of developing Social and Personal order from personal and social chaos – That is where morality came from.

Me:  But if you trace morality back, you end up at God. If there is such a thing as evil, then there is such a thing as good, if there’s such a thing as good & evil then there’s a moral law, if there’s a moral law – there’s a moral law giver – unless you prefer to throw out Newton’s law that says for every action there’s a reaction and there’s no moral law giver – therefore there’s no moral law and we can all go out & kill one another. What is the meaning to life? Do you have hope? In what?

Commenter: You have hope in a perposterous fairy tail, that again, has no evidence to support it. Your Newton reasoning is that same circular reasoning that doesn’t add-up. So what is your cause and what is the effect in your morality arguement? That because there’s morality that all moral judgement was just dumped on primitive humans in one fail swoop. No. It happened just as our current system does, with gradual, incremental steps over time, using observation and determining the greater good.

Me: If we are evolving morally then man would be becoming more moral as time progresses…yet our jails are full, the statistics of women abused and used (especially in other countries) on the rise, harsh rulers oppress their people in other countries – how is man becoming “more” moral?  Are you happy? Full of love, joy, peace. Your faith sounds empty, dark, angry and hopeless.  Why would I want that?  Why are you on my youtube channel?

Have you watched my other videos – I’m a happily married woman of 14 years – with 2 beautiful children, a fabulous church, wonderful friends and family, I love God and reading my Bible daily and sharing what I have learned. I have peace and a hope of heaven. What do you or your science and belief system have to offer me that I don’t already have?

 I think you are missing out so much on knowing the creator of science. You’d love knowing Jesus – he rocks! He sees you, he knows your every move & he loves you. But your sin has separated you from him – you have to first see that you are a sinner and that you need God…but I see that you are very far from needing or wanting God or what he has to offer in your life. I think you have chosen a hard road in life. Your lack of faith will have consequences in this life and the next.

 

 Me: You spout so many falsehoods that it’s impossible in a typed form to take each line by line apart and disprove you – but to be honest I could if we were in person. But alas, I’m a homeschooling mommy who has dinner to cook. So I’d like to close this conversation and agree to disagree. Feel free to look over my other youtubes or blog. You will find a blessed woman who sees through all your words to emptiness, despair, hopelessness & meaninglessness. Your path leads no where.

 

 Commenter: I can assure you there are no falsehoods in what I say. I am quite happy, and plenty hopeful in this life. Atheists are the fastest growing group on Earth and has been since Jan. of 2010. Now over 1,000,000,000. Rational thinking and reason will ultimately win out and get humanity on a truly purposeful track.  Enjoy your Dinner!

Why am I sharing this conversation? 

 

I Peter 3:15 says: “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.”niv