Rick Perry Gives Us an Opportunity to Make Christians Think

Texas Governor Rick Perry issued a proclamation on April 21, 2011 for three days of prayer, from Friday, April 22, 2011 to Sunday, April 24, 2011. The prayers were intended to spur God into making it rain over Texas. The prayers did not work. But based on Rick's Christian Bible, they should have worked.

There are many places in the Bible that strongly claim that prayer works. For example, the Bible says at John 15:7 that Jesus said, "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." Does this mean there are no Christians who abide in Jesus in Texas? Based on this Bible promise, it must mean exactly that. Or, it could simply mean that the Bible is wrong and is not the word of God as Christians have been taught.

Matthew 21:19-22 makes an even bolder claim. It states that Jesus went to a fig tree (he must have been hungry and wishing for a fig as this was prior to Fig Newtons) and upon seeing there were no figs on it but only leaves (being the son of God you'd think he would have known there were no figs on it prior to seeing it for himself) he must have gotten angry for the Bible says Jesus cursed the tree and it "withered away." This foolish temper tantrum mesmerized his apostles and they allegedly asked their savior about how fast the fig tree withered away and Jesus allegedly answered, "Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done ." (Wow! Can you imagine all the earthquakes and tsunamis if this were true?!) He then allegedly went on to say, " And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive. " Again, the Bible makes Rick Perry and the Christians in Texas look bad. For, if they had faith and doubted not, according to their own Bible, Rick's and his fellow Christians' three days of prayers would have made it rain in Texas back in April and all the suffering and misery that is happening in Texas right now would have been a thing of the past.

John 14:12 makes it seem like there is absolutely no one in Texas who believes in Jesus. This Bible verse and promise allegedly from Jesus promises Christians, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do ; because I go unto my Father." This means true Christians can do virtually anything since the Bible claims Jesus raised a dead man from the grave. Surely producing some rain showers is easier than bringing the dead back to life!

It is very important that Christians are made aware of what the Bible actually says and of all the empty promises the Bible is loaded with. After all, how can they expect to believe Christianity's biggest selling point, eternal life, if its promises in the here and now are proven to be false?

As a former Christian I know that Thomas Paine's approach to dealing with "revealed" religionists worked for me. The first few pages of his book, The Age of Reason, planted seeds of Deism in me and about two years latter they finally sprouted. Paine wrote to Elihu Palmer regarding Palmer's book, Principles of Nature, "I received, by Mr. Livingston, the letter you wrote to me, and the excellent work [Principles of Nature] you have published. I see you have thought deeply on the subject, and expressed your thoughts in a strong and clear style. The hinting and intimating manner of writing that was formerly used on subjects of this kind, produced skepticism, but not conviction. It is necessary to be bold. Some people can be reasoned into sense, and others must be shocked into it. Say a bold thing that will stagger them, and they will begin to think."

I'm very grateful to Thomas Paine for not mincing words about Christianity, the Bible, God and Deism. If we want to see Deism reach its full beautiful life improving potential then we need to follow the example of Thomas Paine. As Thomas Paine wrote in The Age of Reason, The Complete Edition , "The progress that reason and Deism make in the world lessen the force of superstition, and abate the spirit of persecution."

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