Christian Love or Atheist's Brilliance?

October 16th 1555. The one day marked in British history as "victorious" for two Anglican clergymen who were burnt alive at the stake outside Balliol College of Oxford University. The two referred to cannot be any other than Nicholas Ridley and Hugh Latimer.

But why this waste of life? Could it be their conviction that the Catholic Church who ordered their execution believed in the Transubstantiation while these two didn't? To make things a little simpler, this long word simply means a change of a substance from a loaf of bread to the body of Christ and red wine into the blood of Christ. The Catholic Church taught - and still teaches - that at every altar around the world, at the Eucharist or Holy Communion, a miracle takes place when a piece of bread changes into the actual flesh and blood of Jesus Christ, and the eating of this assures the partaker of entry into Heaven after death on condition that no mortal sin is committed without penance whilst still alive.

Ridley and Latimer denied the reality of the miracle - and they had a point. The host, which is not bread but a thin round wafer, remains the same after the blessing. Latimer and Ridley insist that these two substances are only symbols representing the body and blood of Jesus Christ crucified, and with this, they paid with their lives, with one of them crying out that may the light of truth will never be extinguished here in England as the flames started to lick.

Then came the publication of Charles Dickens' writings some 283 years after Ridley's demise, giving quite a detailed description of the Anglican Church in his day, and it wasn't pleasant! He likened it to riding the high horse of morality whilst heavily judgemental towards sinners, right to the point of hating them and condemning them all to Hell - and yet still remaining mutually exclusive from such sinners. And such was English society during the 1838 Dickensian era when theft and prostitution thrived in the city streets amidst dirt and squalor. And each Sunday, these well-to-do people, dressed in the most expensive height of smart fashion would be seen filing into a nearby church where no thief or prostitute dare venture.

Moving forward into the present and with the advance of the Internet, I see something very sinister happening right before me. Sinister? In Italian, the word is sinistre, meaning left, such as my left hand or left foot. Maybe "weird" instead? Perhaps that's more appropriate. But it's not good. I'm referring to the closure of our church at Ascot, along with most if not all other churches, and the advance of popularity towards atheists on YouTube. This coronavirus pandemic had our Government order the shutdown of all public gatherings including churches, creating instead, "virtual meetings" on the computer screen, followed by "virtual coffee" on Zoom. And so each of us appears in a small individual frame, set in a structure which is not unlike a pigeonhole. 

Although our elders are excited that "more people tuning into our services than before" - in referral to outsiders, whether Christians or unbelievers - nevertheless such virtual meetings cannot hold a candle to the real thing, the proper church meeting where strong bonds, body contact and hugging have all proven to be very beneficial to all three, spiritual, physical and mental health alike.

Lack of physical contact brought in by fear of this pandemic has already proven detrimental to me personally, but I'll come back to that. Instead, I have become rather intrigued by up to nine celebrities which I'll divide by three groups of three. Three authors: Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and the late Christopher Hitchens, all self-confessed atheists. Then I'm already familiar with three BBC reporters: Andrew Marr, Simon Reeve and Brian Cox, of whom only Andrew Marr is the atheist, the other two are more likely agnostics, although both might have had bad experiences with organised religion, at least Simon Reeve admit this. Then the three YouTubers, all self-confessed atheists: Cosmic Skeptic whose real name is Alex O'Connor, Genetically Modified Skeptic, whose real name is Drew McCoy, and SciManDan, whose only clue to his name being Dan or Daniel. Of the three YouTubers, I have met and spoken to Alex O'Connor face-to-face at Oxford.

Concentrating on the three YouTubers, their popularity is reflected by some stats I did in preparation of this blog. Between them, at midday on 8/8/2020, they have 133,794,891 views. This is divided as follows: SciManDan: 76,238,071 views and 371k subscribers. Drew McCoy has 26,546,736 views with 296k subscribers, and Alex O'Connor has 31,010,084 views with 360k subscribers. Boy! I wish that many would read my blogs!

Of the three, SciManDan I found to be more intriguing. Married with children, he has several channels, one of the rebuking the Flat Earth theory. Another is a tutorial on physics, where I learn that energy is always transferred from one source to another without petering out, a concept I should have learned at school.

His rebuke against Flat Earth and his knowledge of physics bring out his high level of education. And for a Christian such as I am, this poses a level of embarrassment. This is due to the awkward fact that Flat-Earthers are generally Christians who believe that our planet is a divinely-created flat disc covered with a solid glass-like dome which is referred to as the firmament, according to Genesis 1:6-8.

Among Christians, Flat-Earthers are a tiny minority. Although here in the UK, committed Christians makes up about 2% of the population, a great number of them believe in Theistic Evolution, thus accepting that the Earth is a sphere billions of years old and organic evolution went through its process under God's guidance and supervision. Over the years I have associated with Christian graduates who were committed to Theistic Evolution, on a regular basis. Then there is a class of Christian believers who are Biblical Creationists and I'm in that class. Therefore what do I believe in?

I believe that the heavens, that is, the entire Universe, and the Earth were created supernaturally in 6x24-hour days as narrated in Holy Scripture. The Earth is a sphere wrapped by an atmosphere, and it has always been that, a sphere. As for the firmament, this was not a glass-like dome covering a flat disc. Instead, the Hebrew indicates an expanse, a layer of water vapour in the upper atmosphere surrounding the planet. Whether it was in the stratosphere or the troposphere, I cannot be sure, but as any meteorologist would agree, the firmament or expanse is not there now. Therefore, what has happened to it?

Could the collapse of the expanse, along with tremendous tectonic movements within the Earth's crust be the cause of the Noachian Deluge which wiped out all antediluvian life? And that which is endorsed as historic by Jesus Christ himself? However, that's a topic for another day.

Thus I could be classed as one of a small minority who stands by my conviction. The likes of SciManDan could laugh aloud if he were to read this. But this along with the embarrassment is the presence of what I would call Hyper-Creationists who believe in a flat earth and also partakes in the Christian faith. Such people make me ashamed to be a Christian, especially under the scrutiny of well-educated atheists.

But going back to the Coronavirus pandemic, I miss the church service and fellowship resulting from being physically present. However, one friend of mine runs an outdoor Bible class at South Hill Park, not far from my home. Eight people, I think, were present including two couples, three single men and myself. Then I was involved in an incident there where, I'm sure, would convince any learned atheist that Christianity is nothing more than man-made religious opium.

Months of lockdown was beginning to take its toll. Unable for us to travel, repeated hospital appointments along with repeated calls for an ambulance, watching my beloved suffering intense pain, her immobility, this wretched compulsion to wear facemasks when having a covering over my face affects my throat, causing irritation and coughing, watching a Democracy turn into a Police State where anyone not wearing a mask in public is likely to get nicked...

This fear. This universal hysteria! This universal and hysterical fear of a virus which seems to be proving that it's far, far less fatal than that which is spewed out by the Government, its allied scientists, and the Media, both TV and newspapers. Figures of death statistics are shown to be inflated, including the death statistics of those who were tested positive but had died from a different cause, even after recovery from the initial pathogenic infection. And so far, although the rate of infection is rising again, forcing quarantine for everyone returning from certain countries overseas, the rate of hospital admissions and death numbers remains static.

One afternoon this week, I return from a shopping trip to see my wife lying on the floor with the phone in her hand, trying to call for an ambulance as she lay gripped in agonising back pain. Quickly I took out the bottle of Morphine oral solution from the cupboard and gave her seven millilitres, which is below the maximum ten, and spoke to the person at Ambulance Control at the other end of the phone saying that everything is in hand and an ambulance is not required. I then watched Alex recover as I laid her on the sofa. One sidekick of morphine is sleepiness, and so she slept as I made my way to the Bible study group.

Seeing my beloved lying on the floor when returning home is not a new thing at all. The first time was when she was pregnant with our second daughter and she was rushed by ambulance to hospital where she was kept in overnight. Fortunately, both she and the baby were okay. But there were other times, later in life, when I find her unconscious and not breathing, as her throat muscles had involuntary tightened around her airway, and I had to carry out a resuscitation procedure on her.

Therefore, my spirit was very low when I made off to the Bible study group. Only seven other people were there but the circle was very wide in relation to the few who were present. When looking for a place to settle - straightforward, really - a panic began to ensue as if I was the disease itself and people began to fuss, lest I pass the (non-existent) virus to them.

And that was when I tipped over the edge. My anger and frustration, up to the present contained, suddenly exploded. And out came language so strong that any thick iron bar would buckle under its force. Six of the people took my onslaught in silence, most likely realising that such a release of tension was necessary for my future wellbeing.

But not Steve, the unmarried moralist who had to mount his high horse to shout back at me not to swear like that. Oh, I could have knocked his lights out! Nothing - indeed nothing - could have added insult to the wound in a way this moralist had just done! This episode gave me a very bad worldview of the Christian faith.

It's not the first time my view of the Christian church had dipped so low! As I might have said before: If it wasn't for God's grace and familiarity with the Bible, this experience would have cemented my atheism forever! I actually believe that the likes of Steve would have sent many to Hell rather than to Heaven. Therefore, by making a comparison, had the likes of Alex O'Connor, Drew McCoy, SciManDan, or even Andrew Marr or Sam Harris had been present, I believe that one of them would disregard any virus threat to lay both hands on my shoulders and quietly instruct me to breathe deeply and smoothly. 

"You are right in everything you have said. Now gently... Breathe in, breathe out, be calm and let your emotion gently settle."

And guess what, during my lifetime I have calmed a few angry men by using that very method. And it works.

Brian Cox - more approachable than many a religious moralist?

All this makes me ask: Do other Christians ever get angry? If not, then indeed they are truly regenerated in Christ - whilst I'm still in my sins. But if they do, how do they deal with it? Especially the likes of Steve. An interesting point here.

This Dickensian attitude among Christians could become a thing of the past if Christians show true agape love for each other. And that, I feel, is what the Church desperately needs in order to outshine the most clever of atheists. And according to what I have seen and heard, Christians just don't have such agape love. Plenty of education, yes, plenty of wealth, yes, holding down good jobs, yes. But having the same love God has for us? - Er, no. We all fall short in this area, including me. Until we change, atheists will always run rings around us in mocking ridicule.