"Nothing" Is "Out"

Our world is a religious smorgasbord. If you don't have a religion you like very much there are tons of them out there just waiting to hear from you. Some of them are trendy and tend to rise and fall with their celebrity endorsers. Others are so esoteric that even celebrities can't make them popular (see: Madonna, Kabbala or Travolta/Scientology). Religions tend to be clumped in together, like we arrange buffets and smorgasbords by salads, vegetables, meats, breads, desserts, we see the world's religions as Christian, Islamic, Jewish, Pagan, and Other/Schzoid/Bizarre (see Madonna and Travolta, above).

At the end of the day, as the worker bees at the Country Buffet or Golden Corral are cleaning out the bins of food, I imagine there are always one or two foods left over; foods so unpopular that, although they must be offered, they don't appeal to very many people. In the world of religions, it seems that the leftover food that no one really wants anymore is atheism. I never thought I would see it in my lifetime, but atheism is in a serious tailspin. When I was a teenager in Scotland I ran across more atheists than kilts but even in "we're too sophisticated for religion" Europe, atheism is so rare that one sociologist recently said there weren't enough of them for a viable study. See the article at www.washingtontimes.com/world/20050303-115733-9519r.htm.

It seems that belief in "nothing" is "out." A stampede of scientists are leaving Darwinism just as National Geographic and the usual suspects are hilariously proclaiming its vindication. Philosophers who railed against the existence of God are now saying "It" is there. Scientists are forming groups to teach Intelligent Design (but our academics -- always the last to realize when they've backed the wrong horse [see: communisim/socialism/anarchism] will be decades catching up).

None of this means that people are fighting their way through the crowds to get to the baptistry, of course. Many are replacing belief in nothing with a "something" that is so vague as to be, well, functionally, nothing. God has given us this window of opportunity to tell people the story of Jesus. Christianity stands in stark contrast with Islam and Judaism in its character and teachings. It also stands in starker contrast with paganism and nothing-ism. We cannot sit idly by and watch people replace one "just so" story with another "just so" story. We need to give them, at this moment of receptivity, the rest of the story -- the truth: there is a God. He is Creator of all, Judge of all, and Savior of those who come to Him through Christ.

This is not a time to pitch our tents. Pull up the pegs and get moving. The fields are white unto harvest....