You might have seen the meme:
Missionary: Before we came, you worshipped the sun.
Tribal native: At least the sun is real.
Score one for the atheists. It’s such a burn on Christians, right?
“At least the sun is real.”
Classic!
Slight complications in this triumph of wit, though.
Chances are there’s a stinky sock not far from you right now.
It might be in your laundry or your luggage.
Or it might be on one of your feet.
Failing that, there’ll be someone else’s sock not far from you. A neighbour’s in their home, perhaps.
That’s real – so go worship that.
Oh, and there’s the other wrinkle: even if you’re not a Christian, Jesus was real. The secular/Jewish take is Jesus was an ordinary man with a few exaggerated stories to His name. As ridiculous as that take is, Jesus was still a real person and therefore valid of worship.
So this fine atheist meme – which shows up on my feed every now and then – doesn’t quite make the point it thinks it does.
Besides, how wrong it is goes even deeper.
Despite what the meme says, God is real.
And the sun is a beautiful thing. It’s worthy of your admiration, gratitude and attempts to study it.
But worship?
At best, that won’t do anything for you.
At worst…?
Well, we won’t talk about that.
Instead, let’s keep the conversation rolling here: