Monday, October 22, 2007

A Rational Response?


Mark this date down on your calendars.

On October the 22nd, 2007 at approximately 3:00pm Eastern Standard Time, something amazing happened. Something so incredible that, if I were not an atheist, I would be tempted to call it a miracle.

At this date and time, Todd Friel actually acted in a rational manner.

I know, I’m shocked too! And I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t heard it with my own ears. In fact, I’m so sure that even you, our loyal readers, won’t believe me, that I’m going to supply the link. (It’s the first thing on the show, so don’t worry about searching for it.)

A young man called into Way of the Master’s ‘Beep Talk’.

For those of you who don’t know, this is essentially a voicemail program that they utilize for people who want to call up and leave questions, comments, or criticisms. And while I doubt that they air even a small percentage of the criticisms they receive (in fact, I have yet to hear a single one), I will give Todd this much credit. He has actually chosen to use Beep Talk for something other than a way to have listeners sing his praises.

Call me a cynic, but I don’t expect this to last.

Now, for those of you who don’t want to sit through even a few minutes of Todd’s voice, this is what happened.

A young man called in and left a message of a medical nature. Although the beginning is a bit garbled, it seems that a faith healer told him he was healed and so he decided to stop taking his epilepsy medication. Since then, he has had seizures (obviously), and he asked Todd if this was because he had sinned in presuming that someone other than god could heal him directly.

Todd, shockingly, disabused the kid of this. He told the caller that he should resume taking his medication, because others have stopped taking their meds in similar situations and had died as a result.

That’s right. Todd did the rational, logical thing.

Before you faint, I should point out that Todd’s reasons weren’t completely rational. According to the Way of the Master worldview, god created everything for our benefit. Apparently that includes doctors, science and medication.

While they don’t understand evolution and embrace the pseudo-science of ID (intelligent design), it’s nice to see that the boys at WOTM haven’t gone completely over the deep end and rejected all of science. Todd put the health of someone over shilling his ministry. He may have used his bad philosophy to justify it, but he still deserves some credit for doing the right thing.

Does this mean that there may be hope for Todd, Ray and Kirk? Have they perhaps not gone so far into irrationality that we may yet call them back to the logical world?

Maybe. But I wouldn’t count on it.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Take your meds for miracles do not happen anymore lol.

TrueHeart said...

This shouldn't surprise you. Conservative Christians such as those with WOTM and other ministries such as John Piper, Ravi Zachariuas, John MacArthur, Joni Eareckson Tada, etc... believe the same thing. These are strong theologians that practice what they preach. Nothing like Baker, Hinn, Haggard, etc...

Unfortunately, the fruitcakes on TBN, and their ilk have put a smear on Christianity. TBN cares more about ratings than legitimate doctrine. If all so-called "Christians" were to actually follow Christs' teachings - walk their talk - there wouldn't be so many abuses in the name of Christ.

This can be applied to the horrifying Inquisitians and Crusades - all done for political gain rather than humbly accepting the servant roll models taught by Christ.

Any abuser of scripture that takes the teachings of Christ to murder, lie, and/or cheat people, will be in severe judgment by Christ himself - and that is no happy moment. Now I noticed that you applied these traits to WOTM, but you must understand that the utmost motive of the principle of WOTM is to save people from Hell and to teach Christians how to do this in accordance with scripture - there is no fraud going on at all. Point your guns at the false prophets and "healers" not at the WOTM folk. Honestly if you don't like what they have to say, then shut your ears and move on, you have that right, and they have the right to speak too.

What Todd said there, regarding that beeptalk, is in completely line with his theology. WOTM was created to call the "Church" back to following Christ. Unfortunately too many professing "Christians" have no clue or have never read their Bibles, so they fall prey to all kinds of disillusions and deceptions. WACO, and Jim Jones are prime examples of people who don't read their Bible but put their faith in a man - not following God but following a deception. This (how not to get caught in deception) is aptly taught in scripture.

Unknown said...

Please stop building up strawman arguments.