Had a Run-In with a Famous Atheist

[Machachachi]

Ummm, you don't need to be religious to have morals. In fact, those that say that religion is the only thing that keeps them from acting sinfully scare me the most.

To address this particular comment Paul said that if for this life only we have faith in Christ then we are the most miserable of men, if there is not ressurection, then eat drink and be merry for tommorow we die. Its a simple thing really, but in the end, without God, being moral is nothing.

 

[rmwilliamsll]

Its a simple thing really, but in the end, without God, being moral is nothing.

it's also that simple with God, being moral is likewise nothing. No one is saved because he/she is good and moral, were it even possible to be moral.

The average man on the street believes that Christianity is a religion that imposes a particular morality with specific ethical behavior. He has concluded that "a Christian is one who lives by certain rules and regulations imposed upon him by divine or ecclesiastically dictated 'thou shalts' and 'thou shalt nots,' and that behavioral conformity to these moral codes of conduct is what the Christian strives to perform in order to please and/or appease God." The tragic part of this misconception is that Christian religion has "faked" the world into believing that such is the essence of Christianity.

from: http://www.christinyou.net/pages/Xnotmor.html

 

[shernren]

To address this particular comment Paul said that if for this life only we have faith in Christ then we are the most miserable of men, if there is not ressurection, then eat drink and be merry for tommorow we die. Its a simple thing really, but in the end, without God, being moral is nothing.

But look at it another way. This also means that it is quite possible to be moral without God. Even without God atheists easily have quite external and objective motivations to maintain morality. To say that they can't (although certainly some don't, in the general fallenness of the human race) simply because they are atheists is quite unfair.

 

[vossler]

Sure. If you figure you'd like to, you're already guilty

There have been days where I wanted to so yes my guilt, unfortunately, isn't in question.

I never claim that every literal meaning is abolished, but some clearly are. No snakes were harmed at Calvary.

Good, I was hoping you didn't, but when you applied it to the Garden of Eden and Satan I wasn't so sure. As we all know that has never been interpreted literally by any serious child of God.

Pointing out that some OT commands remain in force in their literal meaning does not tell us he never abolished the literal. It just means some things in the bible were always meant literally. We never denied that.

No, but I do challenge you to find a single command or doctrine that was interpreted literally and today because of Jesus is only interpreted figuratively because the literal was never true to begin with.