It’s the Work of the Devil

In my previous blog, we examined the writings of christian author Dr. Elizabeth Youmans. She believes that our English vocabulary is being “robbed and pillaged” by none other than the devil himself. She also thinks that education should be based solely on the bible. I contacted her to ask about what she had written, and to my great surprise she actually responded. Here is her reply…

Dear Dale,

Thank you for your inquiry. There is a series about the power of words and their effect that I wrote that will answer your questions. If you read through all three of these articles (short) you will find answers to your questions.

1. Words make a difference.
2. Who controls language controls culture.
3. God’s word creates virtuous nations.

For the record, I read all three of these articles and rather than finding answers to my questions, I have even more questions. I will be addressing each one of these articles in future blogs. Can’t wait to address the one entitled “God’s Word Creates Virtuous Nations”. That should be really interesting.

Dr. Youmans did however answer my first question. Who exactly is the enemy? It’s the only one of my three questions that she chose to answer directly. Her articles didn’t actually address those questions either, and like before were so laced with christianese that it was difficult for me to decipher what she was actually saying. As a result, I have even more questions. But, for now, let’s look at her reply about who exactly is the enemy?

• Dr. Youmans: The Christian’s enemy is and always has been since the dawn of time a spiritual enemy, Satan, who used words in the garden of Eden with Eve to persuade her to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. From the Bible, Genesis, chapter 3: The Fall of Man: “Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’…” 

She goes on to quote the entire passage from Genesis 3 to prove that the devil is, and always has been, the real enemy. On a side note, it continues to surprise me how someone with a doctorate degree can still believe the biblical myth of Adam and Eve and treat it as a historically accurate event as Dr. Youmans obviously does. She closes her email like this…

• If you have further questions (and your interest in understanding is legitimate) I will try and assist you. Respectfully, Dr. Youmans Ed.D.

If my interest in understanding is legitimate? What this really means is, if I don’t ask too many questions that challenge her beliefs, she might continue the conversation. She doesn’t want to be challenged, no one does. Her articles are written to an audience of evangelical christians who accept her views without question. We’ll see just how willing she is to answer questions from a non-believer.

“When your God shrinks, your demons tend to multiply; which is a good way to spot people with an undersized deity.” John Pavlovitz

As a secularist, I don’t believe in the supernatural. I agree with Youmans that language is being dumbed down for a myriad of reasons, but unlike her, I don’t believe that it is the work of the devil. Perhaps the dumbing down of language is a result of the internet or even more so, the abbreviated language of texting. But it’s certainly not the work of the devil. Let’s get back to the topic of who is the enemy.

Satan is the enemy

Okay, Satan is the enemy and not me. Whew, that’s good! But, as most non-believers can corroborate, this has not been my personal experience with Evangelicals. It seems that most Evangelicals believe that as a non-believer I AM the enemy. It didn’t take a lot of searching on the internet to find an article, on a christian website, that explained just who could be considered an enemy of Christianity.

Who is an enemy of God?

• Nothing more terrible can be said of a person than to suggest that he is an enemy of the Son of God.

Oh my! Even worse than being a serial killer, or a rapist, or a child molester or even worse, a human trafficker?

• There are those who, with eyes wide open and jaw set, are confessed Christ-haters.

I know quite a few non-believers but I wouldn’t call any of them “confessed haters of Christ”. The opposite of love is not hatred. The opposite of love is indifference. With that in mind, I do know people whose “eyes are wide open” and thus are simply indifferent to the “anointed one” as found in the gospels. In the words of a very popular singer, “It isn’t love, it isn’t hate, it’s just indifference.”

• Certain sensualists, who have made lust their god, have also declared their enmity for Christ.

Lust is their god? This is simply made up, right?

• Modern advocates of homosexuality, live-in sexual relationships, “open” marriages, etc., have made no secret of their hatred for the Son of God and His lofty system of ethics.

This one made me both laugh and cry. Religious “lofty system of ethics”? OMG, isn’t that an oxymoron? Are they getting their “lofty ethics” from the same book that promotes genocide, misogyny, slavery, homophobia and all manner of intolerance all endorsed by a “loving god”? That one made me laugh.

On the sad side, saying that homosexuals (or anyone who affirms the inclusion of the LGBTQ community) hate the Son of God is simply not true and also a very harmful thing to claim. I have gay friends who devoutly love God and profess to a personal relationship with God, even though other (so called) followers of God hate them. (see my blog “A Conversation with Pastor Jenny”.)

Also, to say that anyone who has a sexual relationship outside a marriage makes no secret of their “hatred of the Son of God” is simply ridiculous. This guy needs to get out more and mingle with real people rather than judging from afar.

• Those who have simply decided that they have no personal obligation to submit to His authority.

I must admit that I feel no personal obligation to submit to the authority of Jesus.

• The Bible classifies as an enemy any person who refuses to yield to the Lordship of Christ.

Guilty again.

• All are enemies of Christ who seek to emasculate the Bible of its supernatural elements. For example, some would relegate the Genesis account of man’s origin to the realm of mythology in an obvious attempt to accommodate the Mosaic record to the evolutionary scheme. Jesus charged that any such subversive procedure was in reality an attack upon Him.

So, if I don’t believe in the 6-day creation story, the fable of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, the Noah flood story, or any of the numerous myths that can be found in the bible, I’m an enemy of Christ? Guilty, again.

• Those who are apostates from the faith have become enemies of the Lord Jesus.

Guilty again. Personally, I don’t see how a god, who supposedly created the entire universe, could be threatened by people who are questioning what they are being told by religion. Many of the apostates I personally know left the church in search of the truth. And when they actually found the truth, they were shunned and no longer welcomed by the church. The only ones who are threatened by apostates are those christians who believe that they already have the truth.

• Lukewarm Christians are pathetic souls who, though they have not severed formal fellowship ties with a local church, nonetheless are so spiritually apathetic as to be practical enemies of the Lord.

At least I’m not a lukewarm Christian.

• The choice is ours. We can be a friend of Jesus Christ, or we can be the enemy.

Those who say they are friends with Jesus Christ are lying to themselves and to others. I know of no scripture that calls for followers of Jesus to be his friend. Doesn’t the article say that having a relationship with Jesus is to be his slave and to yield to his Lordship? Slaves usually aren’t friends with their masters. So, if I refuse to surrender myself to be a slave, I’m an enemy. I can live with that.

Friend of Jesus

I googled the expression “Friend of Jesus” and found an article on a christian website entitled What It Means to be a Friend of Jesus. Let’s see what they have to say a about this.

Jesus said in the gospel of John, “You are my friends if you do what I command you. That’s interesting. It certainly would be easier to have friends who don’t question anything you ask of them. The article continues by saying…

• In the entire Old Testament, only two men were ever referred to as a friend of God: Abraham and Moses. They enjoyed a close relationship with the Lord, and he revealed himself to them in unique and special ways. The children of Israel feared that kind of revelation.

The children of Israel had good reason to fear that kind of revelation. When someone in the scriptures claimed to have a close relationship with God, people started dying. So, what did Abraham and Moses do that caused them to be called friends of God? Remember, you’re a friend of God if you do what he commands. Abraham was willing to sacrifice his child to a god who demanded it of him. Some friend! Was it Abraham’s willingness to kill his son that made him a friend of God?

Moses committed mass genocide at the bidding of his god. Did that make him a friend of God?

If that’s what it takes to be friend of this god, then I respectfully decline.

Coming up next:

We will return to my correspondence with Dr. Youmans. I responded to her with my concerns that evangelicals consider me an enemy of God. Will her response finally answer some of my questions? Will my interest in understanding be legitimate enough for her? We’ll see.

 

 

From Where I Stand

Dale Crum

mt.toll@comcast.net