by Cowboy Bob Sorensen
Many of us with some life experience look back on television, movies, and so on, seeing how moral values were more prevalent in the past. We object to the blatant immorality in modern programming and certain agendas being forced on us. Some of us watch very few modern shows.
This is all relative, however. I will use The Andy Griffith Show for an example. Some Christian values were present, and going to church was mentioned, but there was very little content that had any mention of biblical teachings. Many times, Sheriff Taylor and friends would lie to others. He lied to his son Opie, helped Otis the town drunk deceive his relatives to seem respectable, and more. We cannot expect biblical truth from secular entertainment — and never could.
Misotheists accuse Christians and creationists of being "liars for Jesus", which is something I always found ludicrous. In this ad hominem, there is also an appeal to motive fallacy of being deceptive for what we think is the greater good of getting someone into the Kingdom of God. Sure. We deceive people to repent of their sins and make Jesus Christ the Lord of their lives, trusting a holy and righteous God who hates lying. Makes perfect sense.
Atheists lie. A lot. It's who they are and what they do in their rebellion against God. Their minds are so darkened (1 Cor. 2:14, 2 Cor. 4:4, John 8:44), they even lie to themselves. I cannot see anything that could be considered a greater good to them in their efforts to destroy the faith of believers. Sure, some say they are trying to "help" us be free of the shackles of "religion", but that is clearly false. It is simply hatred of God, and God in us (John 15:18).
There is a great deal of deception from Darwin's acolytes. If evolution were a "proven scientific fact", why is there a need for suppressed evidence, bad reasoning, and outright fraud to support it? (Keep the pressure on and ask such questions.) They hell-bent to indoctrinate people into accepting evolution. Why is that? Again, rebellion against God, and because evolution is the origins myth of atheistic materialism.
It is interesting that theistic evolution owlhoots saddle up and ride with atheists when it comes to denigrating biblical creationists (here is one example). To go further, I have seen TEs praised on their weblogs and in posts by atheists when they denigrate biblical creationists. (It should make any professing Christian pause and wonder why they are receiving acclaim from enemies of God!) Some TEs have made a pretense of acting like they have a superior view of the Bible, and attack biblical creationists for the greater good. Upon closer inquiry, they actually put atheistic interpretations of scientific evidence above the Word of God: They reject its authority.
"But Cowboy Bob, I know of some Christians in a denomination you say is apostate!"
Yeah, so should we give that a pass? Should we avoid calling false teachers what they are despite biblical examples and admonitions like Jude 1:3-4, 2 Peter 2:1-3, and Ephesians 5:11? Some may think that they should try to influence a church or a large denomination for the better, but I contend that the responsibility of Bible believers is to get out of there (2 Cor. 6:17).
I'll allow that there are some professing Christians who will lie for whatever good they perceive. However, they are not following biblical teachings when they do this. (Indeed, one major creation science ministry is going off the rails and spreading falsehoods about natural selection!) As Christians (especially teachers and apologists), we must bring glory to God with truth, biblical accuracy, and rational thinking. The ends do not justify the means. You savvy that, pilgrim?