The pearls before swine issue

"I just want to say that after reading all the whining and petty complaints of the atheists and their nonsensical logic, it makes me scratch my head how some of them can hold a job or even have a friend and I suppose maybe they don't have either. Ray, how have you attracted the crabbiest and godless nitpickers in the world -- aren't there any intelligent atheists anymore? They just hate everything about you and Christianity. Serious hate. You could put up the ingredients to sugar cookies and they would argue against it. What sad souls this world contains. At what point are Christians giving to dogs what is sacred (Mat 7:6)." Adam Reed

It’s interesting that you mentioned "the ingredients of sugar cookies." I have been recently recalling how, a couple of years ago, I put up a picture of the most pleasant thing I would think of--a delicious-looking chocolate cake. I did it to see if atheists would whine.

While there are some in the category of which you speak, most are reasonably polite, and I would count it an honor to have a meal with them. This is because I sincerely sympathize with their gripes. Many of their complaints are justified--there is dead religion, there are money-hungry preachers, much hypocrisy, etc. What they don’t realize, is that on Judgment Day everyone will give an account of himself to God--not of other people.

So I deal with the "pearls before swine" issue in the same way I deal with it in open air preaching. In every crowd there are unreasonable nitpickers who are often very vocal. I may speak with them, but I keep in mind that I am also addressing many in the crowd who are humbly listening to what’s being said. They are the "good soil" that receive the Word.

There’s quite a crowd that get this blog. It goes out via email, and some large websites also carry it. God knows where the seed lands. Meanwhile, I keep pleading with the lost, and praying for patience.