I don't buy that claim. I think there are many people who don't seek to be Jesus Christ's disciple, but a disciple of their pastor and peers. This creates a culture of in-club mindset. I remember one of the brainstorm ideas actually brought that up, and it was an atheist who said it. I think atheist's hold a vital role in developing a culture that is less divisive but the key is to get Christians to hear what the atheist is saying. That is sometimes going to be difficult because we do have opposing mindsets on many issues.
Many issues, or just one big issue?
I don't believe that our sense of identity should make us enemies though.
Perhaps it shouldn't. I'm simply saying that it doesn't change that fact that practically speaking, it does.
'Round these parts, in the sermons I've read, and in the rants I've heard, atheists are the defacto enemy. As an atheist, Christians accuse me of being a communist because atheists are communists, which is untrue. At the same time, Christians have accused me of being a callous capitalist who cares about nothing other than money, because all atheists are callous capitalists as well. Why all of these conflicting reports? Because if our accuser sympathizes with capitalists, then atheists must be communists, because we're the enemy. If the Christian sympathizes with communism, then atheists must be capitalists because we're the enemy. They're conservatives? We must be liberals. They hate illegal immigrants? We must be sneaking them in. They're up? We must be down. They're Team Edward? Clearly, we're Team Jacob. Why? Because we're the enemy. How can atheists be both hippies and nazis at the same time? Because Christians hate hippies and nazis, so we must be both.
I believe that there are Christians who are enemies of the cross and we have touched on that in another post. You don't seem to be interested in acknowledging that though, which is why you don't have enthusiasm for this project.
Yeah, but that's not the point. There can be Christians who are enemies of the cross, but Christians aren't going to simply label all Christians as enemies. They would have to essentially learn about that person's beliefs, and actions to label them an enemy. Atheists, you already know everything you need to know.
This demonstrates that there are people in this world who declare that they belong to God, yet they serve Satan's cause. What harm they do to Gods good name when they make enemies of their neighbors. What are we going to do about that? I know what I'm going to do about it, I'm going to feed His sheep. Jesus said to Peter three times "do you love me?". Peter replied being hurt by such persistence "Lord you know everything, you know I love you". Jesus replied "then feed my sheep". There are many sheeple in Jesus' church, of course it is profitable for certain pastors to keep them sleepwalking. We need to wake them up and tell them to serve Jesus to their full capacity and that means to love your neighbor as you love yourself. How will they be woken unless the light shines on them?
I've been running across some threads lately, basically getting an understanding of where atheists sit in the eyes of Christians. I found one entitled "Do you love atheists?" The responses were overwhelmingly one of two responses: "Yes, but..." or "Yes, because God commands me to." Nobody said no, but people either qualified their "yes," or essentially responded that God commanded it, so obviously they do.
At the same time, I've also read on more than several separate occasions people who say "I don't hate atheists, I just really dislike them," or something silmilar (one was God doesn't hate atheists, He just dislikes them a great deal). Which begs the question: just what do Christians imagine hate is? What do they think love is when they qualify it qualify it with conditions, or exceptions, or when love is implied simply because it's been commanded?
So, when you challenge them to love their neighbour, do you really think they're going to reconsider, or are they simply going to respond "I already do." Because it's fairly clear that love and hate aren't really fully formed concepts among Christians. They're defined as "That thing Christians do/That thing Christians don't do." They're simply empty words that serve as answers to a question.
The irony is, I PM'ed the OP of the thread I mentioned above entitled "Do you love atheists?" I wanted to thank him for asking the question. I received a reply a few weeks later in which he informed me that he started that thread when he was a teenager. Lo and behold, in my search for Christians saying something about atheists that even approaches positive, I had to go back to 2007 or 2008. On the other hand, so far today, I've already found a post condemning atheists for killing 60 million people in Soviet Russia (a fairly huge overstatement that I can't be bothered to correct anymore), and another round of why atheists hate God. Yet if you ask any Christian whether they hate God, they'll say "Yes, but..." or "Yes, because God says I have to."
I can't help feeling that you are resisting the call to action due to some sort of spite.
I hear no call. I see no truth in Christianity. Certainly not an all encompassing, infallible one.
Don't forget that becoming Christian is not the end of learning but the beginning.
I also read another Christian gloating with "If man are descendants of monkeys, why are there still monkeys?" I don't think Christianity and learning are particularly condusive.
Who are the teachers? I have observed that anyone with an opinion is a teacher. So teach! Teach if you really care as much as you say you do.
I don't really care as much anymore. I'm just tired of it. I've been trying to explain one atheist's point of view for nearly a decade, and really what's the point? Some teenager gets a prayer banner taken down in New Jersey, and then Christians remember why they hate atheists so much. Why bother? The sides have been set. There's "us" and then there's "them." It's the fundamental principle of Christianity (or so I recently read).
