How Christians Annoy Atheists

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ, based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the Apostle Paul said, �But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

In short, if you like smooth, watered-down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn�t for you. By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we�re called by the Divine Trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her King.

Here�s our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth.

Introducing the Atheist Blog Article

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry. My name is Mike Abendroth and we�re supposed to record a couple of shows today with special guests and authors, and it was either my fault, although that�s a rare thing, or their fault and it didn�t happen, so I�m just going to have to record some shows without them to make sure to turn down the guest and caller volumes.

I wonder if they�ll reschedule. Let�s just use Predictive Hen. Not for a million dollars. That one just keeps coming up. Dude, no way. Not for a million dollars, without a doubt. All right, there�s an atheist website, and patheos .com blogs Friendly Atheist.

And he writes, I think it�s a he, I printed this off the internet, and so I don�t know exactly, he, she, I don�t see it here. Boy, this is good radio, isn�t it? Twenty things that Christians do in church that annoy me.

Twenty things that Christians do in church that annoy the atheist. I wonder what he�s going to say. We�re just going to assume that it�s a he. So if you want to type it in, let�s see, it says by guest contributor, patheos .com blogs Friendly Atheist.

Okay, so I�ve given due credit. Credit given where credit is due. Now most of the time, I don�t learn anything new, I simply abendrothize it. And don�t you want a pastor or radio show host, it�s hard to talk when you�re tired, to come up with anything new or not to come up with anything new.

New, novel, we don�t want. We want, tell me the old, old story, to quote the old hymn. How old is that hymn, I wonder? I don�t know. What annoy, what would annoy an atheist in church? Now some of these are kind of funny.

Some of these I haven�t read. Some of these I have. So we�ll just read a few and we�ll see how this works for radio. You get what you pay for, right Fred? Right. Number one, let�s see, I�m sure they annoy other Christians as well.

They detract from what could be a very positive message. It�s not a complete list by any means, so feel free to comment and add to the list. Let�s whack the Christian. Number one, wave their hands in front of my face, make it impossible to see the stage.

Will you put your hands down? I get it, they�re singing a song, I�m happy too. Use your mouths people. Jesus doesn�t love you anymore because your hands are in the air. Sometime you should look at the stills or the reliefs of people with their hands raised as they would worship and be in front of near eastern kings.

You would see their hands were up, not higher than their chin and not lower than their stomach area and their hands would be like that on the way down to their face. So if you put both your hands up really high and wave them back and forth and then try to kneel down to bow, worship, to be prostrate, you would have a hard time doing that and most likely when the hands were up and you would raise them, they weren�t really high making certain motions.

I have other things to say about this topic but right now we�ve got to get back on track. I sit in the front row for lots of reasons. Mainly because that�s where the holy preachers sit. The really, really holy preachers, they sit up on the platform or as this guy called it, the stage.

There�s a special chair up there. I don�t really like sitting up in those special chairs. When I preach at a different church, I just do what I�m told, sit where you�re supposed to. I remember once I was in India and I tried to sit in the back during some messages but I was supposed to sit in the front, not up on the stage but up front because I was an honored guest.

So in that culture, I thought, �Thank you for honoring a Bible teacher. I don�t deserve it but I understand and I�m willing to go along. Number two, yell out random words, �Praise Jesus, hallelujah while I�m trying to listen to the sermon.

The writer says, �You agree with the pastor. We understand this, but just say it in your head or nod silently. Now there are a few Reformed Baptists that might say, �Hmm, while I�m preaching or �Amen, let it be known that I agree with that.

Maybe it�s a very controversial statement and someone wants to affirm, reaffirm or confirm what the pastor says. I�m not saying you shouldn�t ever say anything during a sermon, but nine times out of ten, ninety-five times out of a hundred, I think you should just listen.

That would be a good thing. I preached once at a church and it was so responsive. Not the reading, not the singing. It�s a responsive giving. It was such a responsive thing where I would preach and then they would shout out, �Preach it, chief, amen and back and forth.

It was harder. It takes less time in terms of your preaching content because half of your sermon is other people saying, �Hallelujah, praise the Lord. But you could say, �Amen, I agree with that. It is similar to when you pray.

If you pray in a group setting, when other people are praying things that you agree with, you could say, �Amen, that�s true. Or you could do that in your mind too, right? God knows your thoughts and you could say it in your heart, in your noggin.

Use your noggin. One of the things you have to remember about corporate worship is not trying to focus attention upon yourself. This is the Lord�s church and He has called, Jesus Christ has called, all the elect who are regenerate, all the saints, all the Christians, all those who are born again, all Christ followers, corporately gather and sing praise songs about Jesus, the Father, the Son, triune worship, to hear the Word of God read and to hear preaching that�s about Jesus.

When 2 Timothy 4, verse 2 says what? You should all have this memorized. Preach the Word. Of course it goes on to say in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and instruction.

For the time will come and the verses go on. At least that�s the best memory I have for it. I don�t have my Bible open to that passage. I have my Bible open, but not to that passage. I�ve been using a lot of the NAS lately.

I grew up with the NAS. I first got saved in New King James, then went to NAS, then ESV. Still preaching out of ESV, but I think I like to read the NAS better. Call me old-fashioned. The focus is on the Lord Jesus.

When you look at Revelation chapter 5, you will see the focus of heaven, the Lord Jesus, the Lamb standing as if slain. He has been crucified. He has been raised from the dead, and He is the focus, Jesus Christ, the Lord.

And He�s the one who�s to be focused. We are to focus upon Him, try to get my English right, when we worship. 20 things that Christians do in church that annoy me, patheos .com, blogs Friendly Atheist.

So see, at least he�s friendly about it, right? He�s not mad. He�s an a-theist. He says there�s no God. I guess he can prove that somehow, although Romans 1 would beg to differ. The third thing. Walking after the music, or worse yet, the sermon has started.

If it�s not that important for you to be on time, just stop showing up. Oh man, how convicting is that? Of course, everybody has emergencies in life that would make you late. When people are late for my discipleship class during Sunday school hour, when the men are late, I have to remind myself, did you stop and give CPR to someone on the side of the road?

Did you see an old lady who had a flat tire and you needed to help her change the lug nuts? And if the answer is yes, then of course we want to be very kind and merciful. Well, we always want to be kind.

Sometimes we want to be merciful, but not in discipleship. Just kidding. So there�s a time when we have certain lenience. When we�re lenient, that�s what we�re after. Forgot what we were doing, forgot what I was saying, forgot that this was radio, radio, radio.

As Elvis Costello would say. Some people, they don�t like the music. And I don�t think it happens much around here at Bethlehem Bible Church anymore, but there was a particular family, and they would make sure that the worship music, the praise songs, the non-hymn musical selections were over, kaput, el fin, finito.

And then they would walk in for the sermon. Okay. If the songs are ungodly and unbiblical, I understand that. But part of submission to the leadership of the church is you disagree, but you go along anyway.

And as long as the songs are biblical, what are you doing? And how about you just walk in during the sermon? If it�s not that important for you to be on time, just stop showing up. Very fascinating. And this is a shout-out, a call-out to the men who are married and have families.

Saturday night, maybe you should think about getting everything out so there�s not this crazy Sunday morning when we�re late running around and then tempers can easily flare up because of the pressure of trying to get to church on time.

How about, why don�t you just try to get to church 15 minutes early and look around? Maybe there�s opportunity to serve in a tangible way. Maybe there�s something that needs to be set up, some chairs moved.

Maybe there�s something to be cleaned. Maybe the janitor forgot to come in and you need to do X, Y, and Z. Or, there�s another way to serve, and that is there�s somebody there that probably needs encouragement.

Hello, how are you? How could I pray for you? How�d your week go? Anything that you learned about the Lord that was wonderful that you could tell me about? Lots of different things. The pastor, he can�t get around to talk to everybody, and neither can the elders, but if you get there early, you could, and then you�re not late.

Sometimes the only time, sometimes the only time, always the time, See, he can�t even talk. I regularly notice that during the spring-ahead-fall-back times, you�ll see people finally on time because they got there an hour early, because they didn�t change their clocks.

On Worship Order, Scripture, and Church Polity

Alright, let�s skip a couple numbers. Six, assume that because I know about the Bible, I must believe in the Bible. What was that? That�s dopey. The first three were pretty good, pretty dopey. Number seven, I know we�re skipping some, that�s okay, it�s my show.

Perform a skit that is supposed to tell the day�s message. Insightful from an unbeliever. They�re not funny, and frankly, the kids are bad actors. Let�s get to the sermon already. Wow. Now, maybe you�re Lutheran in your view of what to do on Sunday, that is, if it�s not condemned or spoken against, then you feel the freedom to do it.

Maybe that is what explains the dancing girls with streamers in the dance team. I�ve seen the dance team, and I think the only qualification of the dance team I saw in the Vineyard Anaheim worship service in 1991 or 2, John Wimber was still alive, but barely.

The only qualification I think they had, female, that was one of the qualifications. Petite, that was another qualification. And 15 to 16 years old, that�s about it. As long as you fit that criteria, you were in the team.

And down the aisles they went with streamers. I don�t know where they got the streamers, but I just thought, �This is something�s going on that�s not quite right. Something�s going on that�s REM tonight.

The acting, this atheist has it right, is usually poor. Isn�t there enough drama in the text? Oh, I know, I�m going back to preach the word. I forgot all about that. Preach the word. 2 Timothy chapter 2, chapter 4, verse 2.

Why does he not say, �Preach the scriptures. Why doesn�t he say, �Preach the sacred oracles. Why doesn�t he say, �Preach the sacred writings. He�s talked about the Bible to Timothy two times in chapter 3, using a different word or words.

Here in chapter 4, he uses the word. Because in the beginning was the what? Word. And the word was with God, face to face. And the word was God. Preach Jesus Christ. I think that�s the nuance there. So it�s all about Jesus, the worship service.

And isn�t there enough drama now leading into this point about the skits? Isn�t there enough drama in redemption? Isn�t enough drama found in Numbers, Deuteronomy, Exodus, 2 Samuel, Revelation, Matthew?

There�s enough drama that you don�t need to have bad actors act it out. I am not against acting. I am not against skits. I�m just against skits and acting for worship service on Sunday morning. If you have a Saturday night, Friday night, Wednesday night skitteramovich, you can have as many skits as you want.

And you can have competitions and you can give trophies. And as long as you don�t have uber tight dresses on girls with streamers, I guess you can have dance teams too. What do I care? I�m not against dance.

But I think Michael was. Not this Michael, but Michael. Not Michael the Archangel, who according to the Message Bible, threw Satan to the mat. MMA cage fight. Nobody�s getting out alive. Just get to the sermon already.

That�s what the atheist says. It would be hard for me to take skits. If you go to a skit church on Sunday morning where they have drama, a drama team, drama ministry, skits, skit ministry, skit, skit out of there.

Skedaddle. I couldn�t do it. I couldn�t do it. Say, well, I live in a town. This is the only church for 100 miles. Okay, then show up late. Just kidding. See how we just coalesce with all this stuff. It would be hard for me to do it.

We generally, I don�t know how tightly wound I am with the regulative principle, but have Scripture regulate what we do. Scripture says sing, give, Lord�s Supper, baptism, preach, Scripture reading. And so let�s do those things.

Since it, after all, is not my church, not your church. It�s the Lord�s Church, Christ�s Church. So let�s do what He says. And then we don�t have to worry about all the drama and everything else. Seriously, when you read Sisera, when you read Phinehas, when you read Peter, in these stories in the Bible, there is drama.

The Bible is anything but boring. When somebody says the Bible is boring, they haven�t read it. It�s a convenient cloak for them to sin as they please and sleep well at night. And they don�t want their conscience to bother them.

The Bible is boring, old, irrelevant, not sufficient, written by men. It�s bad. Alright, what else do we have here? My name is Mike Abendroth, NoCoRadio. Don�t forget you can get online, go to the NoCompromise Radio website.

There should be a little link there to take you to the website for the new book, �Sexual Fidelity, No Compromise. Thirty chapters, pretty short chapters. You can read the book in a couple days, but the book is meant to have you read a chapter a day for 30 days to think rightly about the topic of sexual purity, sexual fidelity in a Christian way.

And that is not a fundamentalist way. That is not a �no� way. That is not a �don�t� way. That is, in a God-honoring, God has created this, and He has created it for our pleasure, as we would give Him glory for all things, including this.

But it has to be done within the parameters of God�s design. One man, one woman, who�ve always been a man, who�ve always been a woman, in marriage, in the covenant of marriage. And I think you�ll be helped.

Christian Sexual Fidelity and Church Membership

This will be perfect for especially men�s groups, as you need a book to talk about, get together, and we are excited about what the Lord might do with it. Okay. Number eight. Remember, what we�re doing here is we�re looking at this website, �20 Things that Christians Do in Church that Annoy Me, the Atheist� not me, Abendroth, the atheist, but this guy.

�Tell me I�m on the right path by being there. I was doing just fine a couple hours ago. Thank you very much. I would see why an atheist would not like that, but I�m glad that they sit underneath the Word.

Everything an unbeliever does is sin. In the flesh, it�s impossible to please God. Without faith, it is impossible to please the Lord Jesus Christ. So, it is sin to be in church, but it would be more sin to be someplace else.

So, I�m glad they are. Here�s a big one. Number nine. Pass out Christian business directories. Do you have Christian business directories? First, the new Christian thinks, �That would be good. Let�s just give business to other Christians.

It�s out of a heart�s desire of kindness and care. Let�s take care of our brothers and sisters. But regularly and often, people that say they�re Christians aren�t. Sometimes, even Christians, we�re not perfect people.

We do shoddy work. If I�m going to have heart surgery, I don�t need the best Christian surgeon. I want the best surgeon. I don�t even care if they�re Hindu. Maybe it�s better if they�re Hindu, because if they make a mistake, then they�re going to have to come back and their mind is reincarnated as something lower form, because they killed the pastor.

I don�t care if they have a good bedside manner. These Christian business directories in local churches and locally handed out, I don�t want them around here. There�s maybe only one thing worse than that, and of course there are good business people in those things.

That�s not my point. But overall, the only thing worse is allowing churches to have voter registration guides and voter guides to guide them down the Republican path to post-millennials. Pass out Christian business directories.

It does say in this little handout, �It�s like saying the Christian lawyer is trustworthy, but the Jew lawyer will take your money, and the atheist lawyer will try to lose your case on purpose. Hmm.

Prayer, Evangelism, and Attitudes Toward Non-Christians

Okay. Number 11. This is so funny. This is what the atheist doesn�t want to have happen in the church anymore. �Ask me if they can pray for me, then put their hands on my shoulders and begin praying. Comments in parenthetical statements.

�If you� Oh, sorry. �Stop touching me. Stop. Don�t touch me. Number 13. �Assume that everyone who is not Christian must be saved. Now, that�s just too bad. �You must be born again, Jesus said, to see the kingdom of heaven, to enter into the narrow gate.

That�s just life. But I do like what he says afterwards in parentheses. �I�m quite alright, and stop putting your hands on my shoulder. That�s back to Promise Keepers with the Holy Ghost back rub.

�Don�t touch me. That�s why I want to sit in the back. I don�t want any guy giving me some back rub. Now, if I go to a masseuse and I need a deep tissue massage, and it happens to be a guy, and this is what he�s paid to do, and he knows what he�s doing, fine.

But just some other, I don�t know, a guy that goes to Eagle�s Nest Redeemer�s Rock, I don�t need him touching my back. Number 14. �Bring their children, then proceed to fall asleep during the sermon. The atheist says, �If you don�t want to be there, don�t drag your kids with you.

Now, everybody gets tired. I understand that. But sometimes I think it�s better just to stand up in the back if you�re that tired. A Tuesday guy used to do that when he would hear me preach. He�d have to work all night, study, and he would be out here standing in the back.

But all this talk about sleep makes me kind of yawn a little bit. What about you? Number 16. �Look at their watches mid-sermon. You know this pastor goes on, �If you weren�t prepared to sit through all of it, you shouldn�t have come.

Isn�t that fascinating? You know how long the pastor typically preaches. So now you keep checking your watch, even with TiVo. All right, just a couple more. �Pastors tell stories without giving citations.

Hmm. I�ve heard people who make up stories on purpose for punchlines, and then they�re found out, and then they have to correct it. Heard that once with Chip Ingram in Mount Hermon, and I think you ought not to do that.

�Pastors take an hour to analyze a simple, straightforward Bible verse. �The verse told me to trust in God. I get it. Let�s move on. So on many of these I have agreed, but I disagree on that one because the depth and the riches and the knowledge of God, the sum treasure of the Word of God is amazing.

And then to see the context, to see what the original language might say. There�s a time to preach through more than one verse at a time, but once in a while you just have to, you have to hunker down, don�t you?

And you think that�s like a zip drive. It�s a zip drive, and it�s just been unzipped. The Spirit of God, using this frail, sinful preacher, I now understand who God is, what He does, how He goes about doing things, and He is to be praised, all glory, laud, and honor.

Lord, I pray that this atheist man, unless he�s been born again since this, in 2007 might get saved.

Closing Credits and Disclaimer

No Compromise Radio, with Pastor Mike Abendroth, is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church, firmly committed to unleashing the life-transforming power of God�s Word through verse-by-verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 10 .15 and in the evening at 6. We�re right on Route 110 in West Boylston. You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.

The thoughts and opinions expressed on No Compromise Radio do not necessarily reflect those of WVNE, its staff, or management.