Changed perspective on atheists- yes, this is a rant

[TG123]

OKay on the rant

God does love His creation....For God so loved the world that He GAVE His only BEGOTTEN Son... that WHOSOEVER will... may come...

I don't believe in atheists. LOL while this may be a catchy funny statement, it really is what I believe. God's Word says there are no atheists.... so while I can understand the "Jewish atheist" as one can be born a Jew but not Jewish in faith, he can also be atheistic in faith...IF I believed in atheists, which I do not.

People are part of God's creation...and thus "know" from within that He exists...God created man in His own image...triune..with the knowledge of the Creator.




We are not to judge the unbelievers...but we are not to compromise our beliefs to work with them, either. We are the salt of the earth and not to isolate from non-believers though... we are to love them...but we are not to love what (sin) they do.

Thanks sister for everything you wrote, I agree with everything. My fellow activists and I had some great discussions about God.

I don't think I compromised my faith when I was with them- I prayed and went to church like I always do, and we had some great "God talk" as previously mentioned.

I don't respect my friends' atheism, but I respect their kindness, courage, sense of humour, and care for me and each other and the Palestinians we worked to help stand with and protect. They are my friends, and always will be, God willing.

 

[Zoness]

It's fine no harm done. I probably misread your intent which isn't fair. No worries.

 

[Jane_the_Bane]

I don't respect my friends' atheism, but I respect their kindness, courage, sense of humour, and care for me and each other and the Palestinians we worked to help stand with and protect. They are my friends, and always will be, God willing.

Excuse me for pointing this out, but I detect a blatant double standard at work here. You have described in great detail how your friends' tolerance of and, yes, even RESPECT towards your religion has forced you to re-evaluate your prejudices towards them. At the same time, you point out that you do NOT return the courtesy, expressing adamant disrespect towards their world view.

So, you expect people to treat you in a certain way, disdaining them if they do not, and yet YOU act (or at least think) in a manner that runs contrary to your expectations. If you cannot respect their world view,how can you possibly expect them to respect yours?

 

[pyramid33]

I'm a little disturbed that it is specifically battlefield virtues that convinced you that atheists can be virtuous people, but I'm happy that you see the diversity among atheists, and that atheists can be just as principled as anyone else.


eudaimonia,

Mark

I don't even know what an atheist is.

 

[pyramid33]

Excuse me for pointing this out, but I detect a blatant double standard at work here. You have described in great detail how your friends' tolerance of and, yes, even RESPECT towards your religion has forced you to re-evaluate your prejudices towards them. At the same time, you point out that you do NOT return the courtesy, expressing adamant disrespect towards their world view.

So, you expect people to treat you in a certain way, disdaining them if they do not, and yet YOU act (or at least think) in a manner that runs contrary to your expectations. If you cannot respect their world view,how can you possibly expect them to respect yours?

That is easy. I have a view and those who reject it have errored.

I'm sure that make's sense to you eventually.

 

[Eudaimonist]

I don't even know what an atheist is.

Thank you for your honesty.


eudaimonia,

Mark

 

[pyramid33]

Christ is the way, the truth and the life.

I'm sure you will all agree or I suppose I can start treating you all with, "I'm a believer in God and you hate me for my difference's" speeche's.

Playing the victim is lame. Being the victim is glory.

 

[pyramid33]

Thank you for your honesty.


eudaimonia,

Mark

It's all I have.

 

[TG123]

Excuse me for pointing this out, but I detect a blatant double standard at work here. You have described in great detail how your friends' tolerance of and, yes, even RESPECT towards your religion has forced you to re-evaluate your prejudices towards them. At the same time, you point out that you do NOT return the courtesy, expressing adamant disrespect towards their world view.

So, you expect people to treat you in a certain way, disdaining them if they do not, and yet YOU act (or at least think) in a manner that runs contrary to your expectations. If you cannot respect their world view,how can you possibly expect them to respect yours?

Where did I say that my ISM friends respected Christianity? I wrote that they didn't mock my beliefs, and we had respectful debates during the few times this did happen. I didn't mock their lack of belief in God, and when we had debates I was respectful also.

We both respected each other, this doesn't mean we respected the others' beliefs and worldviews. We strongly disagreed in fact, but because we are friends, we expressed our disagreements in a respectful way.

At one point in our debate (probably the most heated point), one of my fellow activists, a math professor, said that he thinks creationism is "ridiculous". I told him it is far less ridiculous than not believing in God's existence, and instead accepting the theory that people evolved from non-human life.

We didn't necessarily respect each others' worldviews, but we respected each other. They didn't go out of their way to mock my beliefs, I didn't go out of my way to mock theirs.

With people getting beaten up and arrested and gunned down on a regular basis when we were there, we had more pressing things to do.

During our free time, we would usually watch and laugh at stupid YouTube videos and talk about families/friends/work rather than debate. We had some great what I would call "God talk" (or what most others would call "religious debate") but it wasn't most of the time.

 

[JGG]

That is easy. I have a view and those who reject it have errored.

How humble.

 

[Jane_the_Bane]

Where did I say that my ISM friends respected Christianity? I wrote that they didn't mock my beliefs, and we had respectful debates during the few times this did happen. I didn't mock their lack of belief in God, and when we had debates I was respectful also.

Well, a lack of respect seems to imply disrespect, by very nature of what the term "respect" implies, but I see what you were trying to say now.
I'd say that you showed respect to each other (which included firmly held convictions) but did not accept or share the other's point of view.

At one point in our debate (probably the most heated point), one of my fellow activists, a math professor, said that he thinks creationism is "ridiculous". I told him it is far less ridiculous than not believing in God's existence, and instead accepting the theory that people evolved from non-human life.

Well, propping up the theory of evolution as the antithesis of Christianity (and Christianity as synonymous with creationism) strikes me as a rather poor line of argument, but that's a whole different discussion. Let's just point out that the vast majority of Christians - and not the "lukewarm" Christians-in-name-only either - are NOT Creationists, nor does the ToE serve as a fundamental stumbling block to anything but the most simplistic literalist faith.

 

[Zeek]

Well, propping up the theory of evolution as the antithesis of Christianity (and Christianity as synonymous with creationism) strikes me as a rather poor line of argument, but that's a whole different discussion. Let's just point out that the vast majority of Christians - and not the "lukewarm" Christians-in-name-only either - are NOT Creationists, nor does the ToE serve as a fundamental stumbling block to anything but the most simplistic literalist faith.

Faith ain't complicated.