I do not know how to clarify it further.
Except, prima facie, this is simply false, and you've yet to clarify what you mean by "faring well".
I think it might just be impossible to have a subjective conservation with a non-theist. I made comments that were indicative of general direction and quality and were never intended for a legal brief or to semantically confine an issue. I will give a few examples to indicate my experience. Voltaire's apocalyptic comments that Christianity would be dead in 50 years when he was and his house used to print Bible's is a good start. The "scholars" claims the Hittites never existed. Literacy during the days of Moses. The Roman empire tried to wipe out Christianity, God converted them instead.
The Greek writer, Porphyry, tried to destroy the credibility of the BIBLE back in 304 A.D. In the process he wrote fifteen books against the BIBLE and Christianity in general. Did he succeed?
Apparently not. The BIBLE is still around (even stronger than before). And as for Porphyry, well, let's put it this way; can you name his fifteen books? Can anybody name just one? Can anyone even pronounce his name?
Porphyry is just one of the many people who, throughout history, have tried to
ban, burn, destroy, outlaw, restrict, ridicule or discredit the BIBLE.
Here's another example: A Greek writer of satire, by the name of Lucian, wrote two books in the second century to ridicule the BIBLE. These books were named
The Dialogue of the Gods and
The Dialogue of the Dead. There's an extremely good chance that you don't have a copy of either of these two books in your personal library . . . Yet you probably have a BIBLE somewhere around the house; a testimony to the BIBLE'S ability to
"out survive" its attackers. If Porphyry and Lucian would have just read the BIBLE instead of attacking it they could have saved a lot of time, because the BIBLE says:
"The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.
Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever." PSALM 12:6-7
In A.D. 303, the Roman Emperor Diocletian issued an edict to stop Christians from worshipping and to destroy their Scriptures. Twenty-five years later his successor, Constantine, issued another edict ordering 50 Bibles to be published at government expense. Too bad Diocletian didn't realize the promise from the BIBLE . . .
"The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever." ISAIAH 40:8
Atheist Robert Ingersoll once boasted;
"within 15 years I'll have the BIBLE lodged in a morgue."
Well, within 15 years, Robert Ingersoll was lodged within a morgue, but the BIBLE lives on!
In the 1700's the atheist French writer Voltaire said,
"within 100 years, the BIBLE and Christianity will be swept out of existence, and pass into history." Well, within 50 years, Voltaire was swept out of existence and passed into history, but the Geneva Bible Society used Voltaire's house and printing press to print and distribute thousands of BIBLES. This ironic twist of events should not have surprised anyone, because God had promised that . . .
"Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." MATTHEW 24:35
The BIBLE has an uncanny ability to simply stick around, while at the same time other books just don't have the staying power. For example:
L A man named Herodotus wrote his Greek history in 425 B.C. and 1500 years later, there was only one copy left.
L The very year that Voltaire said
"50 years from now, the world will hear no more of the BIBLE," the British Museum paid $500,000 for an old manuscript of the BIBLE, while at the same time in Paris, one of Voltaire's books sold for eight cents.
Neither of these authors could make their writings survive the test of time. However, God has always kept His Book, the BIBLE, flourishing more and more with time. And no wonder, since GOD INSPIRED King David to write. . . .
"...thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name." PSALM 138:2
DOWN through the centuries many attacks against the BIBLE have come through bitter persecution along with outright attempts to destroy it . . .
- Christian martyrs in the 15th century were burned at the stake with a BIBLE tied around their necks.
- William Tyndale was burned at the stake in 1536 because he translated the BIBLE from the Greek language into English. A few years earlier, the authorities had paid a large sum of money to a German man to have Tyndale's Bibles confiscated and burned. What the authorities didn't know was that the German was a friend of Tyndale and he used the money to help Tyndale further his efforts to print more Bibles.
MANY attacks against the BIBLE have come from scoffers. But there have been some, who after examining the facts have changed their opinion. Here are two examples:
- General Lew Wallace was a Territorial Governor following the days of the U.S. Civil War. He had been a Senator in Indiana at the age of 29 and was considered a very scholarly man. He had no confidence in Christianity or the BIBLE, so he set out to write a skeptical book to disprove both. In his study he instead found the BIBLE and Christ to be true, and became himself a devout Christian. General Wallace never wrote his book against the BIBLE. He wrote instead the classic Christian novel,
Ben Hur.
- William Ramsey, the English scholar went to Asia Minor with the expressed purpose of proving the BIBLE was historically inaccurate. As he painstakingly poured over the ancient artifacts and details, to his amazement he found that the BIBLE was accurate down to the tiniest detail. The evidence was so convincing that Sir Ramsey himself became a Christian and a great Biblical scholar.
True history, science and archaeology will always line up with the BIBLE. Not a single scientific fact or discovery has ever disproven a Biblical statement. In fact, the advances of science, history and archaeology have repeatedly confirmed the accuracy of the BIBLE. Down through the years, the BIBLE has been a mighty anvil that has worn out many of the puny hammers of the scoffers.
Christian Home Bible Course _ Lesson 1 (CD)
This is far from obvious.
As I have said non-theists simply have no foundation for discussing any moral absolutes with. If the common ground that killing unborn children is denied then what then is wrong enough to be considered grounds for resolution. When wrong has no actual definition then discussing what is obviously wrong is meaningless and I imagine that has something to do intentionality. Truth is an exclusive category and so defies liberal interpretations. If 2 + 2 = 4 as it does then we have a basis to know if a view point that claims it can equal anything is wrong. Dawkins has famously said that within evolution what is to say Hitler was not right? Within Dawkins and those honest enough about atheism to agree with what he stated how can any discussion of what is right take place? I have given links to thousands of stats that show at least the US swung in the immoral direction as secularism began in the 60's but what good is that with a worldview that does not recognize wrong or right as objective truth?
Don't hold your breath- the ubermensch is an ideal; according to Nietzsche, there had never been nor would there ever be an actual overman. (although, in his estimation, certain artists had come close- particularly Goethe)
Without getting into whether I think this summary accurate or not what hope does this leave? If we have torn morality aware from it's foundation and can't supply a better tether point even if God did not exist that is the wrong direction. He and those like him have pointed out we have left the harbor and sailed into the storm and now you suggest that no other harbor exists. That was not smart if true no matter how hated the original harbor might have been.
This is not a court room. I can include things in the name of interest can't I.
Google "Isaac Newton" and "arrogant" (or any synonym thereof)... He extreme egotism is well-documented.
EDIT: or Google "Newton/Leibniz calculus controversy", for a specific episode of Newton being a *******
The squabble over calculus is not what I thought you meant. Newton had been betrayed by lesser minds on the issue of publication and resented the political side of academics from that date with good reason but it is a side note.
