Iron Works: Atheism

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Crisis Magazine: A New Devastating Critique of the Global Sexual Revolution

"It is quite remarkable that we are fighting the same battle from before the French Revolution, the fight between sexual license and sexual morality. The fight has been non-stop. Sometimes we are winning, other times, like now, we are losing."

-Austin Ruse, Crisis Magazine.

Crisis Magazine: A New Devastating Critique of the Global Sexual Revolution

The link above is to a remarkable article about a powerful book that analyzes the roots of the sexual revolution and its resulting destruction all around us. The most eye opening part of this article is that the immoral sexual ideology of today's progressive movement can trace its roots to cultural Marxism and arguably as far back as before the French Revolution. The battle between sexual license and morality really goes back to the serpent in the garden convincing our first parents that they could be like God and determine for themselves what is right or wrong.

I recommend this book as well as Takedown: From Communists to Progressives, How the Left Has Sabotaged Family and Marriage by Paul Kengor, Ph.D. Both these books provide the reader a much better perspective of what is really driving the LGBTQ agenda in today's culture and the historical roots of this revolution.

My hope is that books and other media like this will be successful in waking people up to the madness around us before it is too late.

Militant Atheism

I want to share with you my observations on the following article I found on CNN's Belief Blog:

My Take: When The Fat Girl Got Mad At God

It is a inspirational story about Lysa TerKeurst and how she is overcoming her battle with her weight through faith. She details how she learned to control her desire for food by making God the center of her life and turning to Him for comfort and to fulfill her deepest needs. I thought it was a wonderful story and a great example of how we can so easily fall into the trap of using material or worldly things to fill that deep desire we all have for God.

The most interesting and shocking part of Lysa's article is not what she wrote, but instead, it is the comments written by readers of this article. There are over 1,100 comments posted on this blog post. I have read through some of them. Many congratulate Lysa on her weight loss and thank her for her inspiring story. But I couldn't believe how many nasty comments there are attacking her and ridiculing her because of her faith. It goes beyond just being an atheist and not believing in God. There is a sense of evil in these comments. You can almost see Satan lurking in the background and using these people to viciously attack and tear down anyone who dares mention God or Jesus. Lysa and those Christians who support her are accused of being delusional, unintellectual, fanatical, hateful, as well as not caring about starving children in third world countries.

It is pretty disturbing because it gives you a pretty good picture of how dark this world is becoming. While we in the US are not facing the same type of persecutions and attacks that Christians face in communist countries and in the Muslim world, we are witnessing a growing intolerance and hatred toward Christians in this country. I have seen this countless times on many blogs and mainstream news websites. I find it deeply troubling that over the past few decades we have gone from being a predominantly Christian nation to one where so many want to silence Christianity and force it completely out the public view.

I will end with a quote from Lysa TerKeurst's own blog where she responds to these verbal attacks:

Well, here's my take on what happened:
1. What an honor to have so many atheists reading my article.
2. I'd rather be criticized than ignored any day of the week!
3. With over 1000 comments, it was one of the most talked about articles over at CNN that day. Who would have ever thought a simple article, written by a very simple Jesus girl, could cause such a fun ruckus?

To be honest, I was thrilled that so many people cared about my article. And I just had to giggle at how much it helped the sales of "Made to Crave." Truly, God can take what people mean for evil and use it for SUCH GOOD!

Catholics Rank Poorly in Religious Knowledge Survey

Some of you may have seen in the news the results of the latest survey from the Pew Forum which tested the religious knowledge of average Americans. Catholics ranked behind Atheists, Jews, Mormons, and Protestants in the number of questions correctly answered. This survey asked 32 questions on the beliefs of many various religions, so it's not surprising that people would have difficulty answering questions about beliefs other than their own. What I found most disturbing was that according to this survey 45% of Catholics did not know that the Eucharist is not symbolic but the real body and blood of Christ. Fr. Steve Grunow from Word on Fire Ministries had some strong comments about this sad fact on his blog:

The recent Pew Forum survey confirms data published years ago that indicated that Catholics understanding of the Eucharist is deplorably inadequate. More than four in ten Catholics (45%) do not know that the Church teaches that presence of Christ in the Eucharist is not merely symbolic. Whatever efforts the Church took years ago to correct this deficiency has proved to be woefully inadequate. The Second Vatican Council declared the Eucharist to be the source and summit of the Christian life. If the Pew survey is to be believed, this declaration has fallen mostly on deaf or indifferent ears.

Based on these results, it's easy to see why so many Catholics either fall away from their faith or become just lukewarm. If 45% percent of Catholics don't know the Church teaching on the Eurcharist, then one can only imagine what else in regards to their faith that they don't know. This is a big reason why so many Catholics support politicians and groups that advocate pro-abortion and anti-family policies. These Catholics don't know their faith well enough to defend Church teaching and are easily convinced to vote otherwise. While I agree with Fr. Grunow that religious education has been "woefully inadequate", I also feel that some of that responsibility falls on us as lay Catholics. We have to take that initiative and continually strive to learn more about our faith as well as educate our children on it. Unfortunately, many of us have followed the secular world's example and have chosen to fill our days with our careers, sports, and other material pleasures, leaving no room for religion.

The Holy Spirit at Work in the Church

It seems as if you can't turn on the news or read a newspaper today without some so-called journalist attacking the Church and the Pope with lies and distorted facts. Just look at headlines over the past several months. Old stories of sex-abuse allegations in the US and Europe were being dragged out and twisted in every way possible just to find even the most remote link to Pope Benedict XVI. I am not trying to deny or make light of the pain suffered by the victims of these predatory priests. However, it is sickening to see how enemies of the Church exploit the victims of these crimes in order to unjustly implicate the Pope who has done more than anyone else in the Church to clean out this filth.

In the face of this anti-Catholic crusade by the media, faithful Catholics shouldn't forget that the Holy Spirit has not abandoned the Church. As evidenced by the recent stories below, the Holy Spirit is leading the Church into what Pope John Paul II called the "new springtime."

The Coming Vocation Explosion
Wisconsin men’s group spreading nationwide, emphasizes restoration of the sacred

The mainstream media choose to ignore the fact that God is blessing us with workers to rebuild his church. Throughout history, each time the Church has been plagued with scandals, God has called forth great saints to restore His Church. Many seminaries and convents are reporting significant increases in the number of men and women entering to answer God's call. It is also worth noting that these young seminarians and postulants are very devout and orthodox in their faith. It is a true sign of the Holy Spirit that some religious orders are looking the build new facilities to accommodate their growing numbers. That is the type of vocation crisis we need more of.

Adults Acting Like Spoiled Children and the Pope's Visit to the U.K.

As many of you already know, Pope Benedict is visiting Great Britain for the beatification of Cardinal Newman. As expected, the media and the rest of the anti-Catholics are piling up the verbal attacks on the Holy Father. Just look at the list of headlines from CNN.com this morning:

Pope: Priest abuse came as 'a shock'
Pope hasn't done enough to stop abuse, British say
Why I oppose the pope's visit
Our moral code is out of date

These articles are beating the usual drumbeat of how organized religion is bad, the Pope is out of touch and intolerant and the Catholic Church is evil. Blah, blah, blah. We are living in a world were the Pope can't even sneeze without someone attacking his every action, this includes some Catholics. But what I found most interesting about England recently was this article:

Catholic Marriages Plummet in Britain

According to this article, Catholic marriages in Britain have declined dramatically over the past three decades. A Catholic priest in London made some interesting observations about this decline:

Fr. Timothy Finigan, a parish priest in the London diocese of Southwark and founder of the Association of Priests for the Gospel of Life, told LifeSiteNews.com that in general Catholics of Britain have followed the trend in the secular world of rejecting marriage.

“Sadly, Catholics who are not well catechised tend to follow the prevailing culture.”

“In the UK, marriage is regarded by many as risky because of the possibility of divorce,” he said. “They have not been helped to understand that non-marital relationship are far more likely to break up.”

He also pointed to a deeper cause, saying that men in particular are unwilling to commit to a permanent relationship. They suffer from “a mistaken belief that commitment involves predicting the future instead of making a promise whatever the future holds.”

There is a connection here between the reaction to the Pope's trip and the plummeting marriage rates. People are are forgetting what it means to be real men and women. In Britain and Europe, as well has here in the U.S., people are being brainwashed by a hedonistic culture that tells them it is normal and good to avoid commitments and true virtues such as loyalty, honor, humility, and self sacrifice. Instead they are acting like selfish spoiled little children whose only goal is their personal pleasure and entertainment. They choose cohabitation and contraception over marriage and children because it allows them to selfishly focus only on themselves.

Steven Hawking Claims God is Not Needed

This editorial cartoon in response to Steven Hawking's latest statement about creation was just too good to pass up.