ALWAYS UNDER ATTACK

Robert Ingersoll (August 11, 1833 – July 21, 1899) was the son of a Congregationalist minister. He was a Civil War veteran, American political leader, and orator during the Golden Age of Freethought.(1) Noted for his broad range of culture and his defense of agnosticism, he was nicknamed "The Great Agnostic." Ingersoll was an extremely intelligent man, was considered to be an "electrifying" orator, and was and viewed Christianity and the Bible with great disdain. Consider these quotations:

“If a man would follow, today, the teachings of the Old Testament, he would be a criminal. If he would follow strictly the teachings of the New, he would be insane.”

“Religion can never reform mankind because religion is slavery.”

“The inspiration of the Bible depends upon the ignorance of the gentleman who reads it. ”


Speaking of the Bible, Ingersoll said “In 15 years I will have this book in the morgue.” (Ironically, Ingersoll died 15 years later. A pastor purchased Ingersoll’s desk and spent his life writing sermon’s on it.)


Robert Ingersoll it just one example of how the word of God has been attacked over the years. In fact, the attacks have continued non-stop for centuries. Yet the word still stands, and millions still read the Bible, study it, and seek to order their lives according to the truth found within it.

Why is the Bible (and Christianity) under constant attack? The answer is found in Romans 1, where we read that "The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness." (Romans 1:18) The truth is suppressed because there are consequences associated with the acknowledgement that God exists, and that the Bible is His inspired word. If I tell myself that there is no God, then I can live my life as I wish, and I can rationalize my immoral behavior. If I acknowledge His existence, and that His word tells me what I am to believe about Him and how I am to live my life, there are negative consequences to continuing to live as though this were not true. Rather than deal with reality, it's just "easier" for me to deny (suppress) the truth.


Suppression of the truth comes in a variety of belief systems. There are some who say that God does not exist (Atheism). Some would say that human reason is incapable of providing sufficient rational grounds to justify knowledge whether God exists or does not (Agnosticism). There are others that agree that yes, there is a God and that this is obvious from reason and observation of the natural world, but this higher power does not intervene in human affairs or suspend the natural laws of the universe.(Deism). There are many other systems of belief that suppress the truth, and the reality is that God's word and Christianity have always been under attack, and will continue to be under attack.


As believers, we must remember that we are in a war, but we do not fight this war as the world does with the traditional weapons of warfare. No, the weapons we fight with have divine power, sufficient to demolish the strongholds of atheism, agnosticism, deism, and all other false belief systems (2 Cor. 10:4). What is this weapon? It is the "sword of the Spirit" - the word of God (Ephesians 6:16-18).


If the body of Christ is to have any significant influence on the declining culture of our nation, we must be prepared for the battle. So, fellow Christian, equip yourself to make war - pick up the Sword of the Spirit - read it, study it, and most importantly, live it. Nothing will stand against it.


May it be so...


In Christ -


John

Soli Deo Gloria

  

(1). The Golden Age of Freethought describes the socio-political movement promoting freethought that developed in the mid 19th-century United States. The Golden Age was encouraged by the lectures of the extremely popular agnostic orator Robert G. Ingersoll, the popularization of Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species, the push for woman’s suffrage, and other political, scientific, and social trends that clashed with religious orthodoxy and caused people to question their traditional ideas about the world.