Conversion - How do Christians approach converting an atheist?

[Supreme]

When I asked someone why they thought people were afraid of atheist they said that without religion there would be no morals. If your Excuse for believing in a imaginary person is that you fear the true nature of man I understand why you would be afraid, I understand that mankind in general is stupid and easily mislead, look at how many people believe in god. All these people trapped as sheep doing what they are told for fear of death. People know deep down there is no god, they are just afraid of the fact that it is true, and no one has any answers on what happens after you die, people don't want to accept it so they take shelter in false hopes of religion, a religion created to control the way you think and act. Remember way America broke away from England? The Gov't and Religion were one in the same. So America sought separation of church and state among other things. The sad truth is that Religion is just another form of gov't, taking peoples money and controlling their actions while peddling hope of security. Society now should be intelligent enough to reason that if the "gods" of the past like Zeus and Horus were false that there new popular god is most likely the same. If one takes a small amount of time to research the background of most modern religions they will find they they stem from one Egyptian god named Horus, stories such as Jesus Christ and Joseph in the old testament, the Hindu god Krishna Mithra and Odin are all based on the Horus God model. Horus was born of a miraculous birth and 3 wise men came to his birth guided by a star he was sacrificed for all mankind and he also had 12 disciples. So did Krishna and Mithra, All Three gods were set in history Long before the Story of Jesus, Horus 3000 B.C. and Krishna around 400 B.C. Jesus is a blatant copy of Krishna and Horus, he is also a Blatant copy of Joseph in the Old Testament both born of miraculous birth both betrayed by someone close to the Judas and Judah the Similarities are abundant yet no one takes the time to seek the truth. The truth is that Religion as a whole is False and the Idea of a God started Long Before your Modern Religions it is as False today as it was when people worshiped the Sun.

Just want to pick out a few points there:

-Of course atheists have morals. But can we assume that the morals in society today, shared by theists and atheists alike, would be here without religion? Perhaps, but religion set them in stone.
-America broke away from Britain (look it up) because the American colonists were paying taxes without representation in Parliament. Perhaps it's easy to blame religion for the wrongs of the world, perhaps it may've been a minor long term cause by religious minorities, but it takes a complete fool to undermine historical facts and assume religion is the cause.
-Apart from Scientology and perhaps the Catholic Church, I don't know many religions who take people's money in a greedy sort of way. So what, religion creates jobs in the form of priests, imams, rabbis etc. Is creating jobs bad in your opinion?
-Your last claim is unsubstanstiated (look it up). Call me old fashioned, but I do like a good ol' bit of evidence when making rash claims regarding religion! Horus never died on a cross for the forgiveness of sins. Your arguments bear little ground.

 

[jpcedotal]

Hmmm...I would like to give it a shot.

 

[jpcedotal]

Correct me if I am wrong:

As a naturalist, chance and natural selection are the main answers to questions about life.

 

[ebia]

Yet atheists rarely feel like they belong, and are never welcomed in Christian groups. Even amongst ourselves, we remain the ultimate individualists. We do alright online, but trying to organize us is like herding cats.

I would have to say that a determination to exist primarily as an individual rather than in relationship with others is more of a problem than anything else.

 

[drich0150]

This would imply that atheists are who we are because your god elects to make us that way.

Romans9:
16It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy. 17For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: "I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth." 18Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.

19One of you will say to me: "Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?" 20But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? "Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, 'Why did you make me like this?' " 21Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?
22What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? 23What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory— 24even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles? 25As he says in Hosea:
"I will call them 'my people' who are not my people;
and I will call her 'my loved one' who is not my loved one," 26and,
"It will happen that in the very place where it was said to them,
'You are not my people,'
they will be called 'sons of the living God.' "
27Isaiah cries out concerning Israel:
"Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea,
only the remnant will be saved.
28For the Lord will carry out
his sentence on earth with speed and finality."
29It is just as Isaiah said previously:
"Unless the Lord Almighty
had left us descendants,
we would have become like Sodom,
we would have been like Gomorrah." Israel's Unbelief

30What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; 31but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. 32Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the "stumbling stone." 33As it is written:
"See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to stumble
and a rock that makes them fall,
and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame."

why would a god want people who don't believe?

Respectfully, I don't know that He does. I personally think the business side of christianity may want to include everyone, but what the "church" wants or says can be different from what God wants or has recorded in scripture.

This doesn't mean God won't welcome you home if you so choose to come home, but this doesn't mean God will move Heaven and earth to drag someone who doesn't want to be with Him, in His presents for the sake of numbers, or simply have a complete set.

 

[FutureAndAHope]

You asked how do I go about trying to convert atheists. I generally share a list of stories of Gods interaction with me, to try to build faith in God. Then once there is interest then I explain the method of salvation. Seeing you are an atheist I will attempt this method on you. Here is my list of true stories:

One morning I got up and walked into the hall and I heard a voice say "How would you like to be stabbed in the Valley". The Valley was the rough end of town, and the voice scared me a little, I wondered if I had done something to offend God. I had planned to go down to the Valley to ask people out to church as was my habit at the time. In the end I went anyway regardless of the fear. I walked up to the first person I met and asked him if he would like to go out to church. He said to me "I am an atheist, I don't believe in God". I just said "fine", but hoped to change his mind. He then proceeded to unbutton his shirt and showed me scar marks up and down his chest and stomach. He said to me, "I was attacked by a knife wielding man in the Valley some time ago and spent months recovering in hospital, How could God allow that to happen to me". Then I knew why God had said in the morning "How would I like to be stabbed?". God understood this man, but had a good plan for him. Some weeks latter this man came out to church and became a Christian.

Some time after the second Gulf War an Australian man Douglas Wood was captured by terrorists in Iraq, who made demands for a ransom or he would be executed. I set about fasting and praying for his release, I said to God "You know where he is....tell me". Three words entered my mind ABC, Bizaar and "A-meal". I thought "I am going crazy what has all that got to do with him. Bizaar I though "this is Bizarre". I thought maybe "A-meal" is a town so I searched a map of Iraq for a town of that name, but found nothing that really matched. Some time latter Douglas Wood was freed by US troops who came across his captors. It was not until latter that I actually discovered what the three words meant. I was on a forum libertyunites.us and came across a post by a user called ABC in the post she appealed to the captors to release Douglas Wood because he had gone to a/or the Bazaar and bought food for homeless people and had provided them with "A-meal". I believe God saw this action too and blessed Douglas Wood with an escape from his captors.

One time I thought about suing some one but felt bad about it because I did not want to give a bad impression about what a Christian is like. So I prayed and asked God to show me clearly what to do. Latter that day I opened my bible at random, selecting a random verse and it opened to 1Co 6:7 "Nay, already it is altogether a defect in you, that ye have lawsuits one with another. Why not rather take wrong? why not rather be defrauded?" So I knew what God was thinking, no lawsuit.

At one point in my life I was praying for scientific cures for illnesses like cancer. Because I was on a science kick I thought would it not be fun to create a real life dinosaur. I wanted Jesus just for fun to show me how to create a Real Live Dinosaur, he can show us anything you know if he wants, but when I asked him how to start recreating a Dinosaur. Jesus spoke into my head the sentence "I bood", it entered my mind when I was awake, a term I had never heard before. I decided to look it up on the Internet and I found out the following: You see, the children of Semai are taught from an early age, the concept of "bood." If a parent asks a child to do something and the child replies "I bood," in other words, "I don't feel like doing that," the matter is closed. Bood means gently No.

One day I was witnessing to a Muslim and he asked me why we ate pork. I used the verse out of the bible which says "It is not what enters the mouth that defiles a man but what comes out of the mouth". After some general discussion I finished for the night. I asked God to give me a verse from the bible to encourage me. I opened the bible at random and selected a random verse. It opened to the exact same verse that I had used with the Muslim. The one about food not defiling. So I knew that God was approving of what I had been talking about.
"What goes into a man's mouth does not make him 'unclean,' but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him "unclean.'"- Mat


If you have an interest in God I will share how how a person is saved:


[FONT=&quot]Salvation comes in two parts first forgiveness for sins, then empowerment to enable you to live a Godly life. When a person becomes a Christian, they are forgiven all past sins, and any sin they may commit in the future. This is called grace, unmerited favor from God. This forgiveness comes because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The death was a sacrifice for sins, provided by God. Trust is put in this sacrifice, not in our own works or efforts. Anyone can receive the gift of forgiveness in Christ, nothing in a persons past can disqualify them. Secondly comes the Gift of the Holy Spirit (empowerment to live a godly life). When one receives the gift of forgiveness in Christ, they also receive the Holy Spirit (Gods Spirit). God comes to live within the believer. Gods power can keep a person free from sinning. This does not mean it is impossible to sin, because God does not override a persons free will. However the Holy Spirit does attempt to keep a person free from any sin. The Holy Spirit is also an encourager He encourages a person makes them happier (joyful), He attempts to improve a persons life.
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[MLEN]

So I'm curious. How do all you Christians out there go about actually converting someone to your faith, especially someone like myself?

Personally, whether I know someone is an atheist or not, I just try to let Jesus working in my life shine through on a daily basis. I usually allow other people to start the conversation about why I do things the things that I do in my Christian lifestyle. Such things are mostly obvious like saying grace before eating a meal or attending church regularly. Or sometimes acts of kindness, which are quite natural for Christians to do, may lead to a friendship with an atheist. Which often leads to conversations about what we both believe in and why. But there is an entity in the Christian's life called the Holy Spirit which will often lead us into encounters with non-believers because God wants us to tell that person of his love for them. From a Christian point of view it is quite an adventurous lifestyle to serve a God who we know loves everyone and wants all to come into a loving relationship with him - the creator and sustainer of the universe.

As Christians interact with people everyday, we can't help but let our lights shine for him because he is the very essence of our lives which just overflows from us naturally. And we pray that all could have this eternally life-changing experience with him.