The God Desire: On Being a Reluctant Atheist

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Quite apart from existing beyond logic and reason, Christian theism states that God is the foundation of logic and reason. Made for more Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, … I’m not sure how he came to this conclusion. Ironically, the development of science in the Western world was largely predicated on the conviction that God is a rational being, and that his creation could be explored rationally. As a fan of Baddiel and a Pastor, I feel compelled to write this response to “the God desire” as someone who meets the challenge of this book.

In this very short book, comedian David Baddiel damns religion with praise that is both faint and under-researched. Atheists, he laments, have a habit of denying “the ­presence in themselves of what religion is there to serve”, pretending they are “too hard and adult to require comfort and hope in the face of death”. Baddiel’s well reasoned argument is not against the God of the Bible, but a culturally misrepresented god. A god that has been designed to provide buffers from cold dark reality, a god of the gaps that can potentially explain the unexplainable, a god of comfort that promises jam tomorrow. These gods who still whisper in our ears tell us we are never really forgiven, that we can never really be healed. They tell us we have gone too far and done too badly. They tell us to try harder, work more consistently, sacrifice more, fast, pray, flagellate. Eros demonstrated the effects of his two arrows on Apollo, one of the Olympian gods. The Roman Poet Ovid interprets the myth of Apollo and Daphne, which shows that Eros’ power was so potent, that it could overcome the senses of even the strongest gods. When I was a teenager someone asked me if I was scared of dying. No, I said, but I’m a bit scared of living.Even the animal sacrifices of the Old Testament were about fellowship with a God of love, a God who provided a way of atonement that was accessible to all. They were about worship, thanksgiving, and grace. Coming Home Again Another Greek philosopher, Parmenides (485 BCE), similarly writes that Eros predated all the gods and was the first to emerge. The Cult of Eros But even its target audience of atheists will find it insubstantial, for Baddiel has made as little effort to understand them as he has the ­God-botherers (in a recent interview, he admitted that he hasn’t “really read Voltaire”). The most popular later story was that Pothos had been born to Iris, the goddess of the rainbow, and Zephyrus, one of the wind gods. His connection to these two showed the fleeing, changeable nature of desire. That he may incline our hearts unto him, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and his statutes, and his judgments, which he commanded our fathers.

In fact, Jesus was calling those traitors and apostates home, and he was doing it in the name of God and in the heart of God. He was sharing his own life with them so that they might find their way home again. Not in the Way of Other Gods Baddiel is correct in his conclusion that human beings invest in stories. But not in stories that cost them. Void of any persecution the Church in the west has tragically warped Christianity into something that appears no different (to Baddiel and millions of others) than any other story offered by purveyors of morality whic The birth of Aphrodite or Venus (Roman) was a favorite subject of ancient art. In the scene Eros and another winged god, Himeros, are present. In later satirical works, Eros is often depicted as a beautiful blindfolded boy. By the Hellenistic period (323 BCE), Eros is portrayed as being a mischievous beautiful boy. Eros in Roman Mythology Psyche was the youngest of three children and, by all accounts, the most beautiful and graceful of the siblings. Aphrodite was jealous of Psyche’s beauty, and the attention she was receiving. Aphrodite decided to send her son Eros to use one of his arrows to make Psyche fall in love with the ugliest creature in the world. Eros and Psyche Fall in LoveIt’s an interesting book, offering a candid insight into a man wrestling with life’s big questions and, whether you agree with his conclusions or not, it’s an enjoyable read. Driven by desire And yet God wants us. That’s why the way to him is open. Because it is his desire for us to be restored to relationship with him. I have just hit the milestone of forty years and I have been an ordained Christian Minister for nearly a decade. My new life with Jesus began in my mid-twenties from a place of atheist machoism that Baddiel is correct to critique in this book. I grew up in a secular home in North London where football was one of our many god’s. I remember fondly as a child being able to stay up late during a sleepover with my friends to watch our favourite programme “Fantasy Football League” staring David Baddiel, Frank Skinner and of course ….Statto!