Atheists and Christians - Attacked From All Sides
When I try to connect with Christians they are mostly friendly and welcoming. Often times I will ask, what do you have to do to be saved? I often get a response such as:
Accept Jesus as your Savior.
How quickly these terms change when we disagree on Scripture. Suddenly we must agree with everything that person says or we are lost and going to hell. In a matter of minutes you can go from "brother" to "lost". Even asking a questions can get you shunned in many Christian circles.
Many of the Atheists that I run into have something in common, not all- but many. They have grown up in Christian homes or went to Christian schools, often of the Catholic religion. They too have asked questions and they too see the hypocrisy or faults in some of the Christian groups. Unfortunately they have walked away from faith because of these very situations, or even much worse ones.
Atheists, I can say that I don't share your world view. I love God and I trust in Jesus Christ as my Savior, but we do have one thing in common...many Christians dislike us. I'm a non-trinitarian Christian and this is one of the biggest taboos in Christianity. I rather just believe what the Bible says. I accept that there is one God and He is one being, one person, whole, and undivided. For this I am sort of an outcast. Mainstream Christians want nothing to do with me, while many Atheists assume that I am one and the same with them. This becomes especially interesting when debating religious topics because I often have to bear the weight of beliefs that I don't even adhere to.
This is not to attack anyone in particular or put down certain people and I don't support the decision to walk away from God. I just want to say that we can all be a little more consistent, a little more honest, and a little more willing to listen. If you feel alone, don't be discouraged. Don't let people get you down, the truth is preserved for those who seek. Be willing to listen, even if you have heard it before.
1 John 3:23
And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.
Agnostic FTW
"agnosticism is the view that human reason is incapable of providing sufficient rational grounds to justify either the belief that God exists or the belief that God does not exist"
There is no argument to beat it =)
The God of the Bible was smart enough to design and create the physical universe with every living creature. He revealed Himself through the prophets of the Bible and finally through his Son Jesus Christ. Those of us who are saved are indwelt by the Holy Spirit who changes us to become more like God and who guides our actions.
(Romans 1:20 NIV) For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
if god created everything, what exactly is there to be saved from. And if all is made by god why would there be need to become more like god. Would we all not ultimately becomes gods.
Or we could use our CPU power to better ourselfs with out relying on being saved and figuring out answers to actual issues rather than ones than we can not possibly fathom one way or another.
just try harder.
It's starting to look that way, but nonetheless I believe that God preserves the truth for those who seek.
If you believe in one undivided God, what does Jesus play in this? He can't be his son because why would God have a son, so he would be a creation of God, no more no less than any other part of creation, perhaps more evolved but that's it, so how would he be a saviour? I am not asking you to try to sway you. I have read the bible, heard a lot of arguments and have never been able to come up with any answer, so I ended up not believeing in any book and just believing there is a creator.
God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are all one just as liquid water, steam, and ice are all the same substance.
You're free to make excuse in order to justify your unbelief but that doesn't change the fact that one day you will face the Judgment Seat of Christ.
First, the old testament is normally overlooked by most Christians as it is full of very ugly happenings, like sacrifices, genocide etc and is only used when they try to prove Jesus is the Messiah, which I find strange because the Messiah is only for Jewish people, nothing to do with Goyim, God can have a son? Why in the world would he have a son? He can create anything he wants, and you can say we are all sons of God, but if he has a son then that son is equal to him, that would give us two Gods, and remember the 10 commanments, there is only one God. And then I will face the Judgement Seat of Christ, ok, but don't you think burning in hell for eternity is just a little to much punishment for whatever bad deeds I made here, and another thing, suppose Hitler before he pulled the trigger repented and accepted Jesus, does that mean he is going to heaven, and the millions of people he killed in concentration camps will be going to hell because they didn't?
gduran, Valid points. Some of the bad things make more sense in light of more information. I believe God can have a son in the sense that he is created directly by God. In the Bible, the title Son of God is also synonymous with the Christ so it's sort of a multi-faceted title. I don't have an entirely solid position on hell, but I know there are some who believe that the concept of eternal torment is false.
Something to keep in mind...a lot of the stuff we know about Christianity is taught by tradition. For example, most people want to go to Heaven, that is the goal, but the Bible teaches over and over that we will inherit the earth; That is what Jesus preached, The Kingdom of God, eternal life, peace on earth. It makes you wonder.
barncat, You are really proving the point of my article here. There's no need to try to give someone a hard time just because they asked a question. You didn't offer any helpful information and didn't add anything to the conversation.
Water changes its state depending on temperature. Are you saying that God changes His state, that God becomes Jesus and Jesus becomes the Holy Spirit at different times? Or do you believe the mainstream view that they are three existing in different forms at once?
Also, where do you draw your view from? I would challenge you that the Bible clearly shows that the Father alone is God and Creator if you are interested in hearing. Follow me and I'll be glad to answer your questions.
In the Old Testament, God chose humans (bearing His image) to shepherd and watch over His creation (ex: animals, land, etc.) and to cultivate something good out of it. However, human conditions have the power to reason, think, and decide; thus, allowing sin to creep into our hearts and choose to turn our hearts away from God and serve something else. Just giving you historical background up to now! With the 1st Adam, we fell into sin. God had mercy into allowing His chosen people to serve Him, but sin grew among His own people and among the other nations.
Yes, Jesus was created by God - but He also is God. 100% God, 100% Man. That's the only explanation. He is the Second Adam, who brings life, salvation and peace from this broken, fallen world. We all need a Savior, and who better to get it from than the Creator of this Universe!
I'm not trying to push you to believe in Christianity again, just answering your questions! Thank you for your insight :)
@mrray, It might seem like the splitting of hairs, but Christianity professes that Jesus was not made by God the Father, but rather begotten, not made, one in being with the Father.
You're right @thomasaquinasftw - I apologize. I think the right choice of words is important in explaining viewpoints, so I appreciate the clarification!
You have an interesting viewpoint. I don't believe Jesus is God. How do you personally reconcile the idea of being created and being God?
Hey @pretradition! Sorry for the late reply - had a busy couple of days so I was not near a computer long enough to reply to this comment, I apologize.
As I was humbly corrected by a fellow Steemian, I believe Jesus was begotten (brought into existence) through the virgin birth of Mary. Through this process, we cannot claim He is Man because it would be impossible for man to procreate without a human being of the opposite sex. Thus, the perfect birth of Christ is one miracle work that was prophesied in the Old Testament, and fulfilling the work of the Lord.
Jesus also lived as a human being; but did supernatural activities including healing the sick, casting out demons, bringing the dead back to life, etc. Now, did Jesus ever specifically mention that He was God? No, not explicitly; but, we can conclude with confidence that His life was sinless and perfect, characteristics only God could have.
I'd be curious to know what you think about John 10:30 in the NT, where Jesus states that "I and the Father are one" Father being God the Father, not Joseph.
I'd like to end with this. If Jesus was not God, then His death and resurrection would being meaningless, since He'd be a mere man. Jesus must be God, or else all Christians would be fools to follow a superior man. This is my viewpoint!
Thanks for sharing :)
I too believe in the virgin birth as described in the Bible. I believe that just as God has to power to form Adam from the dust, God can form life within Mary. I believe the Bible is true though in saying that Jesus is a man.(Matthew 1:21 And she shall bring forth a son)
Jesus' power was not his own. (John 10:37 If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not.) This power was also given to the Apostles (Matthew 10:1 And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.). Jesus was sinless and that is why he is able to atone for our sins but it is wrong to assume that this makes him God.
In John 10:30 Jesus says "I and the Father are one". If being one meant one being or one God, then how do we reconcile that with John 17:21-23 where Jesus prays that we would be one as they are one. Should we consider ourselves equal to God? No, of course not. We are one in Spirit.
I do follow a man, but not just a mere man. I follow Jesus Christ, God's chosen one and His beloved Son. This is what the Bible teaches and I accept it because it is God's will. To even say that God can die is beyond understanding. To say that a resurrection from the dead is meaningless is crazy. If sin and death came to all by one man, then why cannot grace and life come to many through another? We put our faith in Jesus because the resurrection proves that he is the Son of God, the Christ.
1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
No writer in the Bible believed in a Trinity and no Jew believed in a trinity. If this doctrine were true don't you believe it would have been taught? A new understanding of God would be a huge deal. Take a moment to really think about it.
I believe God can have a son. From my understanding, Jesus is a Creation of God. In the Bible Adam is called the son of God because he had no Father other than God. Jesus is called the last Adam, but instead of being formed from dust, he was formed within Mary directly by God himself, so he is the son of God- no earthly father, God alone is his Father.
I don't think this devalues him in any way. He is the perfect son of God, a perfect man made in God's image. God formed him and chose him to be our Savior. I believe that by believing(trusting) in Jesus, we in return have faith in God because for there to be a son there must be a Father and he proved to be the son by his works and resurrection. So we have faith in God by believing that Jesus was sent by Him if that makes sense.
I also believe that Jesus became a sacrifice for us and that through our faith in him, he will atone for our own sins. Through perfect obedience Jesus fulfilled his rolled and became our Savior. The Bible says that all things are of God and by Christ..this is kind of deep but to put it as simply as I can, all things are from God and reconciled by Christ.
Why? because it pleases the Father. It's hard to explain things clearly in a single comment but I hope I explained my point of view somewhat.
I would be happy to see you as a Christian. These arguments over semantics can miss the point of a heart set on the pursuit of God.
The evidence of a Godly life, are the fruits of the Spirit.
Thank you.
Is mainstream Christianity lukewarm Christianity?
Mainstream Christianity like Catholicism isn't real Christianity. They don't have the same beliefs. Catholicism doesn't change you like accepting Christ as your Savior and Lord does.