Christian Atheism, Part 2

Today on Summit life with Jeannie Greer when you take God out of the equation.

The strong, and notably begin to oppress the weak. We were in positions of strength ought constantly to make sure that justice is not being skewed toward the strong, because that happens inevitably and very easily and we ought to empathize with those around us would not enjoy the same positions of strength throughout history that we have. After author theologian Jeannie Greer. As always, I'm your host Molly benefits. Today we come to the final message in our series on the book of Judges, titled broken saviors and if you missed any part you can hear all the previous messages and access. This month's book honest questions quick answers when you visit Jeannie Greer.com today were looking at the collection of stories from Judges chapter 17 to 21.

These are accounts that reveal the tragic outcome when a society turns its back on God's leading. Ever wonder what Christian atheism like get a clear picture today so grab your Bible and let's join Pastor Katie several stories and show what happened when you redefine God. And when you try to use God to show you what life looks like on a cultural scale and on an individual scale when God is absent. I will try to summarize them as best I can to move the will, but nothing on you ready jumper 19 verse one. Now another priest of the concubine from Bethlehem in Judah. She was unfaithful to him.

She left and went back for mom and dad's home in Bethlehem so he goes and tries to convince her dad to make her come back with him. You know, since he purchased repairs wear and so make a long story short, he commences her dad to let her come back and he puts on his donkey and start the journey back up to where he lives, as well as their traveling. They get near this town called W in the tribe of Benjamin.

When I stop there to spend the night they go out of the city square. The night discount rate.

Finally, an old guy shows up and he says, verse 20 are welcome at my house, the old man said, whatever you do not spend the night in the city square whether settling in for the night when suddenly verse 22.

Some of the wicked men of the cities around the house pounding on the door. They shout to the old man who owns the house bring out the man who came to your house so that we can have sex with him. The old man and the priest now scared all throughout the concubine and say why don't you take her leave us alone.

You have her write her instead.

Verse 25 to the Levi took his concubine and center outside of them and they raped her throughout the night.

At daybreak the woman went back to the house for her master was staying and she fell down with her hands outstretched on the threshold of the door.

She lay there until daylight when the master got up in the morning and open the door the house and stepped out to continue on his way there lay his concubine falling in the doorway of the house with her hands on the threshold. Many said her get up. Let's go. There was no answer when the man put her on a donkey and set out for home. For 29 when he reached home and took a knife and cut up his concubine, limb by limb into 12 parts and sent them and all the different areas of Israel. Verse 20 then all Israel from Dan to Beersheba came together as one and assemble before the Lord in a place called Mizpah and they said to the priest Levi tell us how this awful thing happened to the Levite explains the story conveniently leaving out the part where he said his concubine out to get Ray to save his own skin. While the story provokes moral outrage verse 11 so the Israelites get together and unite as one against the city may amass an army of 400,000 soldiers to march against the Benjamite and they demand that the Benjamite surrender the men of the city did this thing. But the leaders of Benjamin will do it for this massive fight breaks out. First, the armies of Benjamin or Winnie verse 26 all the Israelites, the whole army goes up the Bethel where they sit weeping before the Lord, Lord, response to them go again tomorrow.

I will give them in your hands, and God did it was around verse 48 minute Israel put all the towns of Benjamin to the sword killing the animals and everything else they found they didn't leave a single thing alive, only 600 Benjamite escapement are all male soldiers. They William and go hide in some caves in the mountain. Chapter 21 the Israelites going to be 600 have escape take about they say, not one of us will give his daughter in marriage to a Benjamite of these guys ever emerge well few months go by temper school be 600 Benjamite come out from hiding MSA look all of our wives and daughters rolled dead were a bunch of guys and so we have nobody to marry and have kids and continue on our lineage of our tribe. Well, now they're in a pickle because all the Israelites have made this vow that nobody can ever marry a Benjamite, but now they cool down. They don't want this tribe to go extinct. Is it part of their heritage servers to the people go up to Bethel again where they sit before God until evening weeping bitterly, Lord God of Israel, they cry. Why is this happening to us, why should one try be missing from Israel today as if it's God's fault. What you can do God, why did you let this happen while they not God. They come up with a plan birthday. They say what it was there any tribe of Israel, that when we sent out a summons to go to war was and it probably didn't show up in a figure of those is one region called Jabez, Gilead didn't send anybody to the war Council much here, for they do verse 10, so they sent 12,000 of their best warriors to Jabez. Gilead didn't send any representatives with orders to kill everyone there, including women and children.

This is what you want to do kill every male and every woman who is not a virgin, so they do that but they keep alive 400 virgin girls to serve as wives to be Benjamite but that's not enough, there still 200 short so verse 20 they tell the minute Benjamin, there's this other region in Israel, where they have a tradition where every fall they come out before the harvest, and they do this ritual dance but they don't bring them in with them to want to go hide in the woods. And when these women verse 21 we see the young women come out for their dances and rush out from the vineyards in each one of you can take home one of them to the land of Benjamin to be your wife. We call that kidnapping and so they do that and then the book of Judges, just dance.

Verse 25. In those days Israel had no king.

Everyone did what was right in his own eyes/verse when God is absent, smutty lives like an atheist. Atheism always results in two things, always strong to press the week and despair. What rhymes through these last chapters is a horrific callousness for the week. Israel is mercilessly oppressive toward weaker tribes and weaker groups like Israelite women. The most profound achievement of the American Constitution was to ground our rights not in democracy not in the will of the majority, but in God's created order. We are endowed by our Creator. They said inalienable rights. They are inalienable because they don't complement majority. They come from God and the majority didn't storm the majority can't take him away to the not subject to the whims of the majority of flabby was Ben Franklin who said democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch.

The liberty is the Lamb having grounds before God on which to contest the boat so the guy like Martin Luther King comes along, he could say that the American majority was wrong and how it treated black men and women, even though it was the law of the land of the will of the majority. If violated, he said the higher law, the law of the creator.

Martin Luther King had only had the will of the people to appeal to. He would've had no leg to stand on. He said there is a higher law that gives inalienable rights and no majority, no matter how strong can ever take them away because they didn't give him in the first place. It was the law, the creator. When a society or a person dismisses God the strong, inevitably will begin to oppress the weak.

So was asked this question. You were the weak among us today. For many years in our country.

It was people of different races for a large part of our history, the African, Native American, Hispanic, was subject to a different standard of justice, then the majority was even today the laws themselves have been corrected. We who are in positions of strength ought constantly to make sure that justice is not being skewed toward the strong, because that happens inevitably and very easily and we ought to empathize with those around us who have not enjoyed the same positions of strength throughout history that we have read an article recently on the Gospel coalition site caught my attention because it was written by guy named Isaac Adams. The reason it caught my attention is because Isaac Adams came to faith in Christ.

On the fourth row sitting right there. He was an African-American Chapel Hill University student came to faith in Christ in our church. You hung over from being drunk the night before.

Scott say the next Sunday morning here in our church company was writing on the anniversary of the death of Eric Garner. He was not trying to pass judgment on the merits of the case. He was just trying to urge his white brothers and sisters in Christ to at least put themselves in the place of their black brothers and sisters and try to see some of the situations through their eyes. He says and I quote. Imagine being white and every copy surrounds you with black the cops pulling up in their car to your once peaceful scene while their black to your the only guy in this situation it was white. One of the cops just descends on you did two of them. Then three of them begin to pin you down. This is imagine this happening to you.

You wouldn't think twice about whether race were a factor, imagine them saying I can't breathe. I can breathe only to have your face further pressed into the unforgiving sidewalk and now imagine all of this in the context of having seen the slaying of 12-year-old Tamir Rice and the brutal murder of 14-year-old Emmett till in the memories of situations like Rodney King or the lynchings that took place throughout history. Might you be even just a little weary of the police, maybe a little discouraged now. He is not saying that the police are bad. He's not saying the police or even guilty in each of those situations he's not in a place to judge that and he knows that and he supports the due process of law.

He just wants those of us in the majority culture to consider things from the viewpoint of somebody who has not walked in our shoes and speak up and down the way that we would want someone to speak up for us or our children, why, why do we think that because all people, black, white, brown or whatever color are created in God's image and are given the same inalienable rights and ought to be subject to the same due process of law of anybody else, and ought to be treated like such wanted to quickly remind you that today the final day to get our latest resource. Just like in the book of Judges.

Our new book, also cover some strange but brutally honest topics we have created a second volume of honest questions quick answers this new bucketful of new questions and answers from Pastor JD like anything I don't and it's okay to ask God for success. We like to urge you to reserve your copy today by calling 665-5220 or visit us online.

JD Greer.com. Thanks for being with us today. Now, let's return for the conclusion of our teaching series. Once again, here's here's another bring the fatherless in our country.

One in every three kids United States is growing up in a single-parent home in most cases it's the absence of a data in Durham County alone, 20,000 kids will never know what it's like to have the love of a father, foster kids, many of them are in the foster care. There 716 children in foster care in wake County alone.

It's up to hundred from last year. Many of them bounce from one house to another constantly feeling like nobody wants them or loves them every year, hundreds of them age out of the system were 99% of the time they say they end up on the streets today not deserve the love of a parent are they not created in the image of God. Just like your kids are, would you not want your kids to know that kind of love are these kids invisible to us that we felt their pain that we treated them like people made in the image of God like us and our children, the homeless tonight in Durham in wake County, 333 children will go to bed homeless recovering prisoners read a study recently talking about how one of the primary predictors of whether somebody was back in the crime when they're released primary predictor is whether they have healthy relationships with people on the outside but 40% of prisoners and runaway County have no one. Not a single person come visit them. A single time when they're in prison, not family, not friends, not somebody from church about the unborn.

The revelation that Planned Parenthood traffics the body parts of aborted babies ought to make us ask a very uncomfortable question. What is it say about us as a society that we have a use for aborted human organs but not a use for the baby that provides them only process a little farther because I know this is controversial you in one sense, Planned Parenthood's logic makes sense.

They maintain that the unborn is not human, just a piece of tissue. It's like a piece of hamburger. If that's true then nobody should have any problem destroying it or selling it. A woman does have a right to her body and she wants remove part of her body and sell it that's on her. What does not make sense is when somebody says you none of the unborn is human being, but a woman still ought to have the right to kill it but selling it that's barbaric listen.

If the unborn is not human, then no justification for abortion. No justification for selling body parts is really necessary if the unborn is a human being, then no justification could we ever give would be adequate. Our children in the womb, human beings made in the image of God. If so, then how could we ever be okay with a human being being killed simply for convenience and if you say well I don't know if it's really human life, life is both science and logic demanded. It's a human organism is human life.

It is life in wake County alone.

There are 23 abortions every single day and we need to be brokenhearted about it when we need to be righteously angry and we need to do something. Why because every human created in the image of God has the same right to dignity and respect of love is any of the rest of us. We cannot do is be silent and I should see in the face of every aborted unborn child. The face of my own children because the children that are killed in the womb are not any different than my own children. They're both made in the image of God. If there is no God.

We do not need to be worried about anybody's pain but our own, but if there is a God and we recognize that each person created in the image of God is worthy of respect and dignity and to be ought to be loved. We believers we Christians ought to speak up for anybody in the position of weakness. That's how you can measure whether or not we understand God and the gospel that we switch here from in high school students you speak up for those who being picked on in the lunchroom there a few times were more like God than when you stand up for someone who is being oppressed and there a few times that you anchor God, like when you participate in or sit silent during the bullying of somebody else to give one more Christians for us.

We know that there are millions of people in the world had never heard the name of Jesus each one of these people is made in the image of God just like you and me, then I would like to feel pain. Then it was like to feel lonely. They notice like to be afraid for them. Going to hell would be every bit the tragedy that it is would be for you or me for our kids is announcing we talk about people around the world that have no access to the gospel. We cannot just put it in the category of statistic 2.2 billion people never heard the name of Jesus. Joseph Stalin who I typically don't hold during sermons. But Joseph Stalin said the death of one is a tragedy, the death of the millions just a statistic. This is not a statistic. These are people made in the image of God and what that means is that we ought to love them, the way we want somebody to love us because they are eternal suffering will be no different than if it was for us or our children. I realized that each of you cannot be involved in all of these ministries. But one thing is true of people who really believe in God and really understand the gospel that they give themselves away for the week is the sign that you have met God you can't be involved in all of them, but you should be involved in some of them here is that the last thing here when God is absent. We live with despair when God is absent. We live with despair as I noted, this book ends with a note of desperation. It tells these horrific stories in the author, put his hands up and then process in those days Israel had no king. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes so appealing at the beginning was not. You want to swim. I cannot always get to make his own God is like. He wants God guarantees it is life is given a goody-goody blast that always ends in darkness, I get to define God as I wanted to be.

He becomes my lucky rabbit's foot, but it ends with hell on earth as it is for the story takes a turn. The book of Judges does not exist by itself in the Bible. In fact, listen, there is another book in the Bible that is written in parallel with the last chapters of the book of Judges, you know this but there's another book was right after Judges that actually overlaps with judges when chapter 17 begins or does this book and the book is called the book of Ruth. Ironically enough, Ruth is a woman is not even an Israelite and she's a widow when you're a non-Israelite widow in Israel. That's about as low on the totem pole you can get. But unlike the Jewish heroes of faith.

Unlike Samson she's in a trust God in the face of impossible odds, and though she is weak and there she is poor.

Her book ends with this verse before 21 number Judges ends with, there's no king. Everybody's doing what's right in his own eyes. Ruth ends this way and Boaz, who married Ruth through her father got into bed and know that father Gunning Jesse Jesse father Gunning David and David when they would have a son who have a son would have a son would have a son would have a son whose name would be Jesus see these books written in parallel show you that were the strength of Israel fails, God would save the one considered weak like Ruth one who was an outcast like Ruth the king that Israel did not have, but clearly needed would come not as one who is strong like Samson not as one who would force people to obey, like Samson did, he would come as one who was weak like Ruth, it would be an outcast. Like Ruth, who would not force people to obey, but he would change their hearts so that they wanted to obey his death would be a horrible gruesome thing a distorted version of justice just like we see here in the last chapters of the book of Judges. You see, though these chapters in Judges are dark and they are gruesome, they are not the darkest and most gruesome chapters in the Bible the most gruesome, perverted, distorted, dark chapters of the Bible about the crucifixion of Jesus. The Roman historian Cicero said that when the Romans crucified somebody.

Their goal, their goal was to send a message that would make somebody terrified of the thought of ever ever rebelling against Rome so they come up with a way of torture that they thought was was sufficient, they would be the man before they crucified him with a cat of nine tails that would basically rip the flesh off of the abdomen in the back.

Cicero, the historian says it was not uncommon during the beating to see a rib go flying off of me of a man's framed or in the scourging they say that Jesus was almost surely up at least partially disemboweled after the beating the prophet Isaiah said that he was beaten to a point that he didn't even look like a man. He was unrecognizable. I didn't know we was to tell that it was Jesus. They would choose a public place to crucify because they wanted to humiliate him it would strip them naked.

It was so painful that men would weep and vomit and urinate all over themselves.

All the while the Jewish leaders putting themselves in the back saying were doing justice were doing God's work.

Why why are those chapters serve dark and bloodied and gruesome. He's going into Judges 17 to 21.

That's why dark is the stain I cannot hide what can avail to wash it away. Look, there is flowing a crimson tide brighter than snow. You can be today. The reason the cross was so bloodied was because our sin was so bad in the price that Jesus paid for our sin had to be equal to or greater than the wickedness of our sin.

So yes dark was the stain that I cannot hide what can avail to wash away grace, grace, God's grace grace that can pardon and cleanse within grace grace God's grace grace that is greater than all of our sin you see is definite only pays for our sin and transforms us to be in the kind of people who begin to obey because we love not because we have to, but because we want to is his love and his gift for us that makes us into the graceful loving people he always wanted us to be.

You saw this played out recently in one of these horrific stories when Dylan roof went into Emmanuel AME church in Charleston, South Carolina killed nine non-African-Americans there, you remember some of you that at Ruth's hearing his arraignment. When they brought them in several of the families stood up and said to him you took something from us that we can never get back. Jesus is forgiven us. We forgive you what give somebody the power to do that. It's not a general sense of morality is not even really a belief that God exists within the compels. That is a belief that in your moment of weakness when you deserve the condemnation of Judges 17 to 21 he became weak for years and grace grace God's grace grace that will pardon and cleanse within grace that is greater than all of our sin, marvelous, infinite, matchless grace freely bestowed on all you who are longing to see space will you. This moment is registered for their interest and conversing. No matter where you can come to Jerusalem today and surrender your life you're listening to Senate life are Bible teacher master JD Greer titled today's message of Christian atheism. You can hear this program or any of our programs again by going to JD Greer.com JD to resource that we are offering this month is actually inspired by another project of yours right.

Your ask me anything podcast you asked me anything was an attempt to re-create what happens when I'm on college campuses or when I'm sitting in my office and somebody asked me a question that's not a time where I can lay out a full on hour-long theology.

I just got to win be able to answer somebody's question that the struggle and sometimes it's a objection to belief. Sometimes it's a difficulty in the Christian life. And so we just call it honest questions, quick answers, I think this is an important part of of my ministry.

I think it's an important part of every Christian's ministry to be able to answer the questions and remove the objections of people have toward belief and be able to instruct other Christians on how to live out the Christian life. Honest questions quick answers volume to some tough questions from listeners like you, such as you lose your salvation. For how can I trust Christians when so hypocritical and answers are short and concise link and accessible answers to facilitate conversation you missed volume line a couple years ago we printed a new edition that is about today is your final opportunity to reserve your copy. I need to get $35 or more, think 3352 20 forgive online.com Molly benefits tomorrow after dating for begin new teaching series right is better into the starting Friday right here on Senate life by Greer ministry