Does atheism even really exist?

[another_lost_guy]

You may have read this thread title and thought "of course atheism exists, my coworker is an atheist" or something like that.

No, your coworker just calls himself an atheist, but in reality he just worships lower gods than Christ (such as video games, anime, porn, money, etc

Here is the scripture I see as backing this up:

“Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.” - Philippians 3:19

In my opinion, as someone who is neither a priest or a theologian, this shows that all atheists worship their own god(s), which dismantles many pretentious atheist arguments such as "I just worship one less god than you do" and "religion is inherited", etc;

Scripture does not really define what atheism is aside from it being foolish so I wanted to make this thread to ask if we as Christians should even believe in such a thing as atheism

 

[d taylor]

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Well you know many who call themselves an atheist, at one point in their life were either a member of some type of church.
And actually if some of them ever believed in Jesus for Eternal Life, God's free gift. Then, even though they may no longer say they are a believer, they still remain a pernamnet born again child of God.

 

[jonojim1337]

Atheists become the biggest believers on their death bed, a wise man once said.

 

[PloverWing]

I don't see Philippians 3 as addressing atheism in particular. Paul talks in 3:18 about "enemies of the cross of Christ", which is not the same thing as thinking that the available evidence is insufficient to prove the existence of God.

I believe atheists when they say that they are genuinely not persuaded that God (or a pantheon of gods) exists.

 

[RileyG]

I don't see Philippians 3 as addressing atheism in particular. Paul talks in 3:18 about "enemies of the cross of Christ", which is not the same thing as thinking that the available evidence is insufficient to prove the existence of God.

I believe atheists when they say that they are genuinely not persuaded that God (or a pantheon of gods) exists.

Agreed. Faith is ultimately a gift from God, and it’s not something that can be forced upon someone, in my opinion.

 

[another_lost_guy]

I don't see Philippians 3 as addressing atheism in particular. Paul talks in 3:18 about "enemies of the cross of Christ", which is not the same thing as thinking that the available evidence is insufficient to prove the existence of God.

I believe atheists when they say that they are genuinely not persuaded that God (or a pantheon of gods) exists.

I also believe atheists when they say they are genuinely not persuaded that the true Christian God exists. The problem is that atheists do not realize that they worship other gods. Their gods are their stomach, neil tyson, reddit.com, etc;. It's true that many atheists doubt Christianity, but it's not true that atheists don't worship their own gods. If it is possible to worship one's own stomach and even inanimate objects here on earth (Genesis 31:19) then there are many other false gods out there that atheists absolutely worship

 

[another_lost_guy]

Agreed. Faith is ultimately a gift from God, and it’s not something that can be forced upon someone, in my opinion.

I also agree with this.

 

[another_lost_guy]

I don't see Philippians 3 as addressing atheism in particular. Paul talks in 3:18 about "enemies of the cross of Christ", which is not the same thing as thinking that the available evidence is insufficient to prove the existence of God.

I believe atheists when they say that they are genuinely not persuaded that God (or a pantheon of gods) exists.

My argument is this:

It is possible to worship one's own stomach (Phillipians 3)
It is possible to have gods made of inanimate things on earth (Genesis 31:19)

Therefore the Christian definition of 'god' and 'worship' is looser than most of us (including atheists) realize, meaning an atheist can worship a false god without believing in an all-powerful deity, making the term 'atheist' itself contradictory. An example of this happening is an atheist prioritizing financial success over giving to the poor. In doing so would be worshipping a false god.

 

[jacks]

Sometimes it is hard to distinguish between "false god" and "idol". I tend to think that people make "idols" of many things. That is they place that thing above God in importance. An obvious one is money. Not that they think money is something that is truly a god (false god), rather that it is something they value above all else. (idol).

Hopefully what I said makes some sense...