26 thoughts on “Illustration: God, the Atheist, and The Marine”
So, according to this jerk, God relies on an act of unprovoked violence to prove his existence??? Give me a break. First of all, I have never seen or heard of an atheist street preacher. Fundies do that, and man are they annoying. That being said, I wouldn’t knock them down, even as much as I’d like to. 🙂
Are you sure this guy is a fundie preacher? I see tell-tale signs (thrones, purple carpet, and “sacred desk”), but he’s not wearing a suit jacket!
@Stan
If you follow through the related videos and whatnot, I get the impression that this sermon is being preached on a mission field in a church without A/C. Notice the big fan up in the front.
Even fundies will sometimes take off their suit jackets when the temperature is above 90 inside the church building.
And that illustration proves…what??
@Stan @Darrell
He might have thrown it across the platform in a fit of rage a bit earlier. It’s also ok to discard it if yer preachin’ fire.
True. But if you do that, you have to make sure to apologize to the ladies present before you take it off. Them are the rules.
Boy that illustration was a nail bitter…God gets bailed out at the last second…Hurray for man.
Poor, pathetic, too-busy God. He needs a big strong American Marine to stand up for him and fight His battles.
On the other hand, God couldn’t ask for any one more capable.
“When the Army & the Navy
Get to gaze on Heaven’s scenes,
They will find the streets are guarded
By United States Marines!”
Hoorah!
This preaching (?) is an extension of their theology that God needs man. One of their great (?) leaders preached a sermon on the eternal humanity of Christ and said that Christ was always man because needs a man to do His work. If God has no hands but my hands we’re in trouble.
Yeah, I have talked with several atheists who have made that argument. Basically they are saying that unless God does what they tell him to do then he is not God. Really? The atheist thinks that he can manipulate God into doing what he wants him to do by things he says or does. At first I dismissed it as ignorance of God when an atheist says these things, but ironically the atheist view of controling God is not that different from the Fundamentalist view of controlling God. I find it fascinating.
That smacks of a fundy email forward.
I want to know what’s up with the balloons? Can I pop one, please?. The balloons are like the message, just a lot of hot air.
Though I could not view the illustration on my computer, the title evoked all kinds of memories (nightmares) of fundy preaching. I am convinced that my hearing loss is at least partially attributable to preachers who really did not need a microphone holding said microphone 1 micro-inch away from their mouth and yelling into it.
I’m going to guess this was either a.) a “Bible Conference” (or, the “I invited all the preachers I know who aren’t as good as me but who graduated from the same Bible Institute as I did” conference) or b.) some sort of preacher boy rally. Am I just weird because I’ve never cheered for God the same way I cheer for my Eagles?
SFL: nonsense illustrations.
I don’t know, this seems typical of Fundy sermons to me. There is always some anecdote or sensational story about man turning to God, or some way God shows his presence. I just don’t get where this particular story came from. I’m sure there are guide books with examples to use in sermons, or maybe this guy actually made it up himself. It’s just way to convenient to be a true story. Besides, like Mike said in the first post, when has anyone seen an atheist on a street corner preaching? Fundies make athiests out to be some kind of anti-religious zealot, much like themselves, only preaching about there being no God. However, most athiests are not militant. I suppose this comes from Fundie’s lack of knowledge of the secular world and actually bothering to even talk to atheists. In their mind, anybody who doesn’t believe in God must be foaming-at-the-mouth to prove he doesn’t exist.
Also, how nice that this preacher uses a Marine, and violence to get his point across. How American “patriotic” is that? It’s like three messages all rolled into one!
I remember a former pastor of mine using the same illustration, so it’s not original with this guy (anyone know who he is by the way?). However, my pastor said it in more of a joking way compared to how this guy preached it (I didn’t wave my Bible and then do back-flips down the aisle).
Good illustrations always make their rounds in fundy-land. If there’s a pastor’s conference with 100 in attendance, you can almost guarantee any illustrations used will be repeated 100 times the following Sunday.
I always heard that it was t 6-5 300lb line men who did it. Maybe he was a marine too…..
Darrell, are you sure you didn’t get this from the Trinity Broadcasting Network? It seems like this stuff is on TV, with all the men and women jumping up and down. Or is it some rampant mix of fundy meets his arch-nemesis TBN?
I can’t believe I use to consider this “good preaching”. Back in my fundie days, I thought this was preaching…it’s not! Like most fundie “pastors”, his “sermon” has nothing to do with the Word of God and everything to do with his own personal belief of what is right or wrong. Another favorite past time of fundies is to mock others who are not of their church or belief system. We are called to preach the gospel to every creature not mock them or physically attack them because they are not believers. Does this guy think it is good to go around and punch whom ever doesn’t believe in God? How is that part of the Great Commission?
God needs YOU to punch an atheist in the face! Do it for Jesus.
Not “Jesus”, it’s “JAYY-zuz!!!” (extra points if you can cram more syllables in) if you want to say it right.
I just received this illustration as an email forward. Good thing I found this post earlier today as I systematically make my way through the archives. Weird. It’s like god really is telling me this particular vignette is totally wrong.
“Why aren’t you doing it?!”
You know, I came across an atheist doing the same thing yesterday, so I punched him like the preacher told me to. Now he’s pressing charges, so the police are persecuting me! 😆
(yes, I am kidding) 😉
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A silly blog dedicated to Independent Fundamental Baptists, their standards, their beliefs, and their craziness.
So, according to this jerk, God relies on an act of unprovoked violence to prove his existence??? Give me a break. First of all, I have never seen or heard of an atheist street preacher. Fundies do that, and man are they annoying. That being said, I wouldn’t knock them down, even as much as I’d like to. 🙂
Are you sure this guy is a fundie preacher? I see tell-tale signs (thrones, purple carpet, and “sacred desk”), but he’s not wearing a suit jacket!
@Stan
If you follow through the related videos and whatnot, I get the impression that this sermon is being preached on a mission field in a church without A/C. Notice the big fan up in the front.
Even fundies will sometimes take off their suit jackets when the temperature is above 90 inside the church building.
And that illustration proves…what??
@Stan @Darrell
He might have thrown it across the platform in a fit of rage a bit earlier. It’s also ok to discard it if yer preachin’ fire.
True. But if you do that, you have to make sure to apologize to the ladies present before you take it off. Them are the rules.
Boy that illustration was a nail bitter…God gets bailed out at the last second…Hurray for man.
Poor, pathetic, too-busy God. He needs a big strong American Marine to stand up for him and fight His battles.
On the other hand, God couldn’t ask for any one more capable.
“When the Army & the Navy
Get to gaze on Heaven’s scenes,
They will find the streets are guarded
By United States Marines!”
Hoorah!
This preaching (?) is an extension of their theology that God needs man. One of their great (?) leaders preached a sermon on the eternal humanity of Christ and said that Christ was always man because needs a man to do His work. If God has no hands but my hands we’re in trouble.
Yeah, I have talked with several atheists who have made that argument. Basically they are saying that unless God does what they tell him to do then he is not God. Really? The atheist thinks that he can manipulate God into doing what he wants him to do by things he says or does. At first I dismissed it as ignorance of God when an atheist says these things, but ironically the atheist view of controling God is not that different from the Fundamentalist view of controlling God. I find it fascinating.
That smacks of a fundy email forward.
I want to know what’s up with the balloons? Can I pop one, please?. The balloons are like the message, just a lot of hot air.
Though I could not view the illustration on my computer, the title evoked all kinds of memories (nightmares) of fundy preaching. I am convinced that my hearing loss is at least partially attributable to preachers who really did not need a microphone holding said microphone 1 micro-inch away from their mouth and yelling into it.
I’m going to guess this was either a.) a “Bible Conference” (or, the “I invited all the preachers I know who aren’t as good as me but who graduated from the same Bible Institute as I did” conference) or b.) some sort of preacher boy rally. Am I just weird because I’ve never cheered for God the same way I cheer for my Eagles?
SFL: nonsense illustrations.
I don’t know, this seems typical of Fundy sermons to me. There is always some anecdote or sensational story about man turning to God, or some way God shows his presence. I just don’t get where this particular story came from. I’m sure there are guide books with examples to use in sermons, or maybe this guy actually made it up himself. It’s just way to convenient to be a true story. Besides, like Mike said in the first post, when has anyone seen an atheist on a street corner preaching? Fundies make athiests out to be some kind of anti-religious zealot, much like themselves, only preaching about there being no God. However, most athiests are not militant. I suppose this comes from Fundie’s lack of knowledge of the secular world and actually bothering to even talk to atheists. In their mind, anybody who doesn’t believe in God must be foaming-at-the-mouth to prove he doesn’t exist.
Also, how nice that this preacher uses a Marine, and violence to get his point across. How American “patriotic” is that? It’s like three messages all rolled into one!
I remember a former pastor of mine using the same illustration, so it’s not original with this guy (anyone know who he is by the way?). However, my pastor said it in more of a joking way compared to how this guy preached it (I didn’t wave my Bible and then do back-flips down the aisle).
Good illustrations always make their rounds in fundy-land. If there’s a pastor’s conference with 100 in attendance, you can almost guarantee any illustrations used will be repeated 100 times the following Sunday.
I always heard that it was t 6-5 300lb line men who did it. Maybe he was a marine too…..
Darrell, are you sure you didn’t get this from the Trinity Broadcasting Network? It seems like this stuff is on TV, with all the men and women jumping up and down. Or is it some rampant mix of fundy meets his arch-nemesis TBN?
I can’t believe I use to consider this “good preaching”. Back in my fundie days, I thought this was preaching…it’s not! Like most fundie “pastors”, his “sermon” has nothing to do with the Word of God and everything to do with his own personal belief of what is right or wrong. Another favorite past time of fundies is to mock others who are not of their church or belief system. We are called to preach the gospel to every creature not mock them or physically attack them because they are not believers. Does this guy think it is good to go around and punch whom ever doesn’t believe in God? How is that part of the Great Commission?
God needs YOU to punch an atheist in the face! Do it for Jesus.
Not “Jesus”, it’s “JAYY-zuz!!!” (extra points if you can cram more syllables in) if you want to say it right.
I just received this illustration as an email forward. Good thing I found this post earlier today as I systematically make my way through the archives. Weird. It’s like god really is telling me this particular vignette is totally wrong.
“Why aren’t you doing it?!”
You know, I came across an atheist doing the same thing yesterday, so I punched him like the preacher told me to. Now he’s pressing charges, so the police are persecuting me! 😆
(yes, I am kidding) 😉