Isn't Christianity Simply Superstition?
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Thesis/ Central Idea:
New Testament Christians are not superstitious but are reasoned and informed in their faith.
Text:
22 So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.
Introduction:
Critics against Christianity come in all shapes, sizes and varieties. Particularly the New Atheists have employed an approach against Religion they themselves term “Militant Christianity.” One of the biggest ideas they try to get across is that religion is simply superstitious.
This sermon will refute that claim where its focus is not on Religion at large but where it goes up against New Testament Christianity in particular.
What to feel:
The statements that Christianity is simple superstition are wrong and sometimes purposefully misleading.
What to know:
Following Christianity with reason not superstition is possible and preferable.
What to do:
Begin building and or strengthening your faith by reasoning with God by His Word.
Objectives:
Superstition Defined
Reason Together
objective three
Superstition Defined
Superstition Defined
It is the delight of the New Atheist to ridicule and embarrass you in public and in private. They believe you to be ignorant and foolish. Even more they do not consider you to be very intelligent.
Quickly they will some you up as; ignorant, foolish; dumb, naive lunatics.
Wikipedia
A superstition is "a belief or practice resulting from ignorance, fear of the unknown, trust in magic or chance, or a false conception of causation" or "an irrational abject attitude of mind toward the supernatural, nature, or God resulting from superstition." Often, it arises from ignorance, a misunderstanding of science or causality, a belief in fate or magic, or fear of that which is unknown. It is commonly applied to beliefs and practices surrounding luck, prophecy, and certain spiritual beings, particularly the belief that future events can be foretold by specific (apparently) unrelated prior events. The word superstition is often used to refer to a religion not practiced by the majority of a given society regardless of whether the prevailing religion contains alleged superstitions.
Dictionary.com
superstition
a belief or notion, not based on reason or knowledge, in or of the ominous significance of a particular thing, circumstance, occurrence, proceeding, or the like.
a system or collection of such beliefs.
a custom or act based on such a belief.
irrational fear of what is unknown or mysterious, especially in connection with religion.
any blindly accepted belief or notion.
<<New Testament Christians are not superstitious for they have reasoned with God …>>
Reason Together
Reason Together
18 “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord:
though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red like crimson,
they shall become like wool.
24 You have not bought me sweet cane with money,
or satisfied me with the fat of your sacrifices.
But you have burdened me with your sins;
you have wearied me with your iniquities.
25 “I, I am he
who blots out your transgressions for my own sake,
and I will not remember your sins.
26 Put me in remembrance; let us argue together;
set forth your case, that you may be proved right.
7 Now therefore stand still that I may plead with you before the Lord concerning all the righteous deeds of the Lord that he performed for you and for your fathers.
5 Thus says the Lord:
“What wrong did your fathers find in me
that they went far from me,
and went after worthlessness, and became worthless?
2 Hear, you mountains, the indictment of the Lord,
and you enduring foundations of the earth,
for the Lord has an indictment against his people,
and he will contend with Israel.
2 And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures,
25 And as he reasoned about righteousness and self-control and the coming judgment, Felix was alarmed and said, “Go away for the present. When I get an opportunity I will summon you.”
<<By hearing the Word of God one can build faith…>>
Build a Reasoned Faith
Build a Reasoned Faith
God has revealed Himself to us through Jesus so that we would not have to be superstitious and earful.
7 for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.
In the ignorant times, men were always trembling at their own superstitions. If some old crone—perhaps some good old woman—sat by the fireside, they dreamed she had an evil eye. They thought that she might scatter plague among the sheep or mildew over the corn. They were afraid of the timid hare that crossed their path or of the raven croaking in the old oak tree. The air was full of omens and presages of ill. Even the insect that cried “tick” as it scratched the old decaying post was a warning of death, and candles and coals and all sorts of things alarmed them.
It is just the same spiritually with us. We are ignorant of what God means, and so we say with Jacob, “All of this is against me” (Gen 42:36), with about as much reason for saying so as our benighted ancestors had for being afraid of these omens and signs. We are profoundly ignorant when we dream that we are most wise. The best-taught man among us, if he could compare the little that he does know with the tremendous mass that he does not know, would be surprised to find himself so great a fool. This mass of ignorance always becomes the fruitful parent of fears and doubts, and consequently our chastisements seem to be very sore to us.
Spurgeon, C. (2017). 300 Sermon Illustrations from Charles Spurgeon. (E. Ritzema & L. Smoyer, Eds.). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
I think it fairly plain that our sins make us fearful, and fear makes us superstitious. God wants to remove that fear that men have which makes us hear things go bump in the night, but you must listen to Him.
46 “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? 47 Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: 48 he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. 49 But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.”
Do you listen to Him?
Have you reasoned with Him?
Or do you blame the unreasonable things of this world for your failures and your fears.
<<Build a reasoned faith…>>
Conclusion:
Surely the world will continue to ridicule and mock you in public and private.
It is in vogue to call the faithful, superstitious unreasonable and ignorant fools.
Fear is the bedrock foundation of superstition and Christians do not have the spirit of fear.
Reason with God, by reading and listening to His Word.
It is a revelation of deliverance, and we all need to be delivered.
Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.
Hear the invitation of the Lord...
Invitation: