God and the Gospel don’t need nuancing - GBC Bulletin Column #4

Renowned atheist Richard Dawkins once wrote bitterly that “the God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.” Now, just a few short years later, The Spectator magazine has published an article (dated 13 April 2013) entitled “Richard Dawkins has lost: meet the new new atheists.” The first paragraph of Theo Hobson’s piece declares “The atheist spring that began just over a decade ago is over, thank God. Richard Dawkins is now seen by many, even many non-believers, as a joke figure, shaking his fist at sky fairies” The gist? Emerging atheists are turning their backs on the vitriolic, crude rhetoric of atheism’s poster boys. Toning down the “religion is only good for starting wars” type of rhetoric, the “new new atheists” shun the simplistic for the nuanced as they ponder the complexities of existence, the frailty of humanity, and the benefits, if any, of religion. In short they are moving away from questioning to just asking.

Christians should be ready with the answers. When it comes to God and the gospel, there should be no nuance. The only God lovingly created a perfect world. Man sinfully did the only thing God told him not to do, rebelling against God’s perfect rule. The only God made it clear that he would perfectly punish man’s sin with death and destruction. All sinned. All died. By sin, the perfect world became a painful world. But God loved the world and had a perfect plan to save it. He gave his only Son to become Immanuel, God with us. The perfect God lived with sinful men in the person of Jesus Christ. Suffering from the Father what sinners deserved and dying for them on the cross in perfect sacrifice, Jesus rose from the dead so that sinners have only to believe in him, turning from their sins, to be forgiven and remade as faithful so that they can endure this life by his power and enjoy eternity after life in his presence. All who reject God’s perfect gift in word or deed will only receive condemnation. Unlike atheism, the Gospel of God doesn’t need nuancing. It is only perfect. 

This was printed in the worship bulletin of Grace Baptist Church (Wood Green) 19/05/2013.  

The article cited in the column may be found at http://www.spectator.co.uk/features/8885481/after-the-new-atheism/