The Battle of the Bills!

Issues, Etc. did an open lines segment yesterday on a recent discussion between Bill O'Reilly and Bill Maher, which aired on "The O'Reilly Factor" last week.  Here's a video of the exchange:  


What this video reveals is that neither of the "Bills" has any clue whatsoever about Christianity.  O'Reilly is just as clueless as Maher.  Not only that, but if I'm judging this little debate objectively, Maher wins hands down.  I mean, it's pretty sad when the proud atheist is the one defending the claim that the Bible is the Word of God.  Granted, he thinks it is wildly absurd that anyone would actually believe the Bible to be the Word of God, but at least he gets it right that we crazy Christians do believe it.  O'Reilly, the supposed Christian, doesn't believe it.  He says it's all "allegorical," not "literal."  He also says that his being a Christian means that he "believes in the New Testament," as if Christians need not bother themselves with all that Old Testament stuff.  And then, at the end of the video, O'Reilly attempts to make Maher look like a fool by giving us the interpretation of the passage Maher was butchering during the discussion (the one about killing your neighbor if he works on Sunday - yeah, Maher has no clue what he's spewing forth), but actually comes off as the bigger fool in doing so.  I think one of the commenters during the Issues, Etc. segment had it right, that this was like watching "Dumb and Dumber" duking it out.

But, you know what, folks?  This is a good depiction of how the debate between supposed Christians and proud atheists is publicized in the media today.  The loser is always true Christianity, which is almost never represented in the debate.  I've often said that, if Christianity was what is presented as Christianity in our mass media, I'd want nothing to do with it.  And I mean that.  If Christianity is just another religion of the Law with a nice, moral leader named Jesus, the whole point of which is to love our neighbor and make society a better place to live, as people like O'Reilly imagine, count me out.  But, thankfully, it's not that at all, a fact that is entirely lost on all the O'Reillys out there today.  Christianity is a religion of the Gospel, the only religion of the Gospel that exists.  Jesus the Christ is not just some nice, moral religious leader, who left us an example to emulate for the betterment of our lives and society in general.  He is God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God.  He is the Eternal Word of the Father, the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity, the Son of God, who came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and became man, in order to live and die in our place, that, through faith in Him, we receive the forgiveness, life, and salvation He won for us.  He came to be our Savior, not our example or "life coach."

But, you won't hear about any of that when Christianity is presented in the media, even when supposed Christians are the ones presenting it, which is why most viewers of the above "Battle of the Bills," who fancy themselves Christians, would see nothing at all wrong with Bill O'Reilly's presentation of Christianity.  That's the truly sad part in all this.  People are so inundated with the false teachings about Christianity out there today that most have no clue what true Christianity is.  Which means that they miss out on the Gospel itself.  And which also means that, when confronted by a proud atheist, like Bill Maher, they will have no answer for his accusations against the Bible and Christianity.  Instead of tackling the Biblical passages the atheists put forth in the attempt to reveal the absurdity of the Bible, explaining what these passages mean in their context and how they fit into the entire account of the salvation accomplished by Christ, they resort to name-calling and "holier-than-thou-ism."  And the atheist wins.  A sad sight to behold, for sure.   

Lord, have mercy.  Christ, have mercy.  Lord, have mercy.