What Is The Tone Of Sam Harris Letter To A Christian Nation

In the non-fiction philosophical book, Sam Harris, publisher of Letter to a Christian Nation, demonstrates his views of the flaws of Christianity. He contends the many contradictions he finds with the beliefs Christians hold to with their own lives and interactions with others. His goal in the book is to expose these errors to Christians themselves and present the question to them in a challenging tone. Harris does this by painting a vivid picture of the controversies surrounding Christians opposed to non Christians. He goes into great detail about his beliefs against Christianity and covers a broad scope, along with many topics.

Harris does make some points in his book that I agree with. A few examples include: when he objects to the biblical

For one, his entire basic premise is faulty, and uses a lot of misconceptions and misapplied contexts of the bible to defend are arguments against Christianity. He constantly takes Old Testament and old covenant rules, laws, and the standard way of living and then applies them to the New Testament and New Covenant, which is not based on the Jewish law but on the teachings of Christ. For instance, he does this with the teachings on a man being able to stone his wife if she is not a virgin and the teaching on selling daughters for sex slaves. However, these applied to the old Jewish covenant, but not the new covenant of Christianity. Harris attempts to disprove that theory by quoting the verse in Matthew where Jesus states that not one part of the law will be removed until Heaven and earth pass away. What Harris and countless other atheists and skeptics fail to realize is this was not a contradiction of what Jesus said and what Christians practice today. Jesus was not saying the law would be upheld and should be kept in practice. To a Christian, it means exactly what he said. The law had its purposes and still has purpose today, but different. This is exactly in line with Jesus statement in Matthew. Before his crucification and resurrection, it was the standard by which Gods people had to uphold. After that however, the law lost its purpose in that regard and is now used for different purpose. Today it is to convict people

If someone lived their life by the Bible and lived what is known as a “good” life and goes to Heaven, if there really is one, they would be rewarded. However, if there was no such thing as going to Heaven and one lived their life with good morality and in a way that God would accept, you would basically just die and be “in the dark,” knowing you lived up to the right standards. On the other hand, if there really is a Heaven and one didn’t live his/her life in a good way by committing murder, stealing, or cheating on his/her significant other, they would burn in Hell. Everyone is hedging their bets by either living the “right” or “wrong” way because no one really knows if there is another life after this one besides the deceased people. I believe in God and that there is such a thing as a Heaven and Hell but have not fully read the Bible; therefore, I cannot battle with a non-believer or believer. Despite that, I know that I’m taking the better “wager” by believing in God. I know this for the reasons stated previously, plus when compared to the alternative, it makes more sense. Who would want to burn forever? The benefits of one are superior to the other, and the consequences are far more severe than the other. This is what Pascal was referring to and I support that belief and ‘’’wager’’ as