Comments on: Illustration: God, the Atheist, and The Marine

By: Mandy

Mandy — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 20:04:17 +0000

“Why aren’t you doing it?!”

You know, I came across an atheist doing the same thing yesterday, so I punched him like the preacher told me to. Now he’s pressing charges, so the police are persecuting me!

(yes, I am kidding)

By: law

law — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 22:47:56 +0000

I just received this illustration as an email forward. Good thing I found this post earlier today as I systematically make my way through the archives. Weird. It’s like god really is telling me this particular vignette is totally wrong.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Sat, 08 May 2010 18:52:36 +0000

God needs YOU to punch an atheist in the face! Do it for Jesus.

By: Sandra

Sandra — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 19:20:04 +0000

I can’t believe I use to consider this “good preaching”. Back in my fundie days, I thought this was preaching…it’s not! Like most fundie “pastors”, his “sermon” has nothing to do with the Word of God and everything to do with his own personal belief of what is right or wrong. Another favorite past time of fundies is to mock others who are not of their church or belief system. We are called to preach the gospel to every creature not mock them or physically attack them because they are not believers. Does this guy think it is good to go around and punch whom ever doesn’t believe in God? How is that part of the Great Commission?

By: Nathan

Nathan — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 21:12:57 +0000

Darrell, are you sure you didn’t get this from the Trinity Broadcasting Network? It seems like this stuff is on TV, with all the men and women jumping up and down. Or is it some rampant mix of fundy meets his arch-nemesis TBN?

By: PJ

PJ — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 19:11:46 +0000

I always heard that it was t 6-5 300lb line men who did it. Maybe he was a marine too…..

By: Stan

Stan — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 17:30:33 +0000

I remember a former pastor of mine using the same illustration, so it’s not original with this guy (anyone know who he is by the way?). However, my pastor said it in more of a joking way compared to how this guy preached it (I didn’t wave my Bible and then do back-flips down the aisle).

Good illustrations always make their rounds in fundy-land. If there’s a pastor’s conference with 100 in attendance, you can almost guarantee any illustrations used will be repeated 100 times the following Sunday.

By: Ben

Ben — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 17:18:58 +0000

I don’t know, this seems typical of Fundy sermons to me. There is always some anecdote or sensational story about man turning to God, or some way God shows his presence. I just don’t get where this particular story came from. I’m sure there are guide books with examples to use in sermons, or maybe this guy actually made it up himself. It’s just way to convenient to be a true story. Besides, like Mike said in the first post, when has anyone seen an atheist on a street corner preaching? Fundies make athiests out to be some kind of anti-religious zealot, much like themselves, only preaching about there being no God. However, most athiests are not militant. I suppose this comes from Fundie’s lack of knowledge of the secular world and actually bothering to even talk to atheists. In their mind, anybody who doesn’t believe in God must be foaming-at-the-mouth to prove he doesn’t exist.

Also, how nice that this preacher uses a Marine, and violence to get his point across. How American “patriotic” is that? It’s like three messages all rolled into one!

By: Marsh

Marsh — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 15:26:54 +0000

SFL: nonsense illustrations.

By: mounty

mounty — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 14:25:26 +0000

I’m going to guess this was either a.) a “Bible Conference” (or, the “I invited all the preachers I know who aren’t as good as me but who graduated from the same Bible Institute as I did” conference) or b.) some sort of preacher boy rally. Am I just weird because I’ve never cheered for God the same way I cheer for my Eagles?