God of the Illogical

I've been following the "War on Christmas" thing very closely this year, in no small part due to John Gibson's wonderful book The War On Christmas. Plus Fox News has been giving it a lot of play to support the book as well.

So I've been trying to imagine the best way to respond to an atheist who debates the logic of it all (and lets be frank -- all atheists at some point or another will inevitably begin to debate the logic of there being a God or His actions.) Oddly enough, I can't even begin to frame that debate.

Broad Overview of God's Interactions with Humanity: God creates Man (an intelligent being with Free Will) as a "companion" to interact with. Man complains he's lonely, so God creates a "woman" to be Man's companion.

Okay, so far so good -- right?

Unfortunately, the humans rebel against God by doing the only thing they're forbidden to do -- eating of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. (Q: "So Why would God forbid humans to do anything if he loved them?" A: "Because Free Will is worth nothing if choice isn't involved.")

The entire resto of the Old Testament is the story of how God gave mankind rules to live by; Mankind screws up the rules; and God charges in to the rescue again by forgiveness of their sins. Cases in Point: (1) The Flood, (2) Deliverance from Egypt, (3) Conquering Canaan, (4) The Prophets, (5) Babylonian Captivity, etc., etc.

And that's just the BROAD strokes -- In the life of King David alone there's a TON of examples -- enough to fill this blog to capacity and crash the server, had I enough time and inclination to type my fingers to the bone today.

Fortunately for you, I don't.

So after mankind completely screws up Paradise in Eden, God makes the ultimate sacrifice -- literally -- for mankind. He comes down to earth -- physically -- and dies trying to rescue us all.

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ[a] the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests." Luke 2: 8-14.

I'm sorry -- there is Absolutely No Logic to this event. To come to earth? To experience Pain? To be rejected by the very people who profess to love and revere you? To die a lonely, embarrassing, lingering painful death on a cross?

No-Logic-Whatsoever.


Really, it's all about keeping promises. Promises like "I will never forsake you." It's about trust -- it's about never losing Hope -- and most importantly . . .

It's about Love.

If you don't understand the logic of Love, there's no having a discussion with you about it.


Merry Christmas, everybody.

~~JD~~