Why are there so many atheists on a Christian site?

[bhsmte]

I wrote and rewrote certain truths, but realized that all I am doing is shining a torch for those that will not see the light. Their are some who are not even willing to be willing. It is as if fear and evil have starved them to a point where all they know anymore is what has starved them.

Feeding of others is what evil do to sustain itself. Evil has no self-sustaining power source of its own. It can only feed of the tensions bled by others. Evil has no concept of unconditional love - the expression of spiritual truth, for it does not operating from spiritual truth. Evil is imprisoned here on this world, roaming around looking wherever there is tension to feed of. Its greatest fear is starving/losing energy, similar to self-esteem (ego-energy).

This worldly imprisonment also includes imprisonment to only having worldly points of view. It takes faith to grasp another viewpoint. Non-believers only see their worldly view. Believers not only see the worldly view, but also the spiritual view. So who are the losers?

Heavy stuff.

 

[HitchSlap]

Find Him in what?

The cosmos inside you. But you have to do all the heavy lifting.

 

[keith99]

I mean, not that I want them gone, but it just seems strange to me that so many atheists would choose to spend their time and eergy on a site that is antithetical to their worldview. The interesting thing to me is that they don't seem to be here to proselytize, which would make sense to me. I assume that they, or many of them anyway, feela sense of community here if they've been here for a while. So, if not to show the poor theist the freedom of atheism, what is the draw?

Bolding mine.

I knew there was a reason why your thread seemed different than others that seemed to ask the same question. I got the feeling you really want to know, where others wanted to complain.

I came HERE because of a thread on a bicycling site (they have a separate section for non-cycling stuff) about stupid things Christians say, citing examples from several sites.

I have this nasty habit of checking things. Now all the quotes were really there and for some sites they were representative. This site had its share of stupidity, but also some wisdom. I came and stayed.

I started out with a faith symbol of agnostic. I changed the symbol to atheist in reaction to some ongoing attitudes of some Christians here. I still fit as an agnostic atheist.

I've found sites with some focus tend to have more interesting conversations. Christianity is one such focus.

Oh, the final irony. After a while I found a lot of the posts showing wisdom were not by Christians, a lot, but not all.

 

[talquin]

* But atheist do believe something, they aren't a void. They just have different beliefs about the universe.

Yes, atheists do believe many things. But being an atheist only pertains to what they don't believe, not what they do believe.

* Atheist can be very dense people, I'm not saying that God is "readily apparent" but everything we know is from God, for "in him we live, move and have our being" but spirit perception is something one has to want.

If true, then one of the following must be true:

1) You don't know God
2) God is from God

 

[TillICollapse]

Cosmic intuition.

How do you know that I do not know the presence of the spirit of God.

Spiritual laziness us no excuse, with God you have to do the finding yourself.

What do you hope to accomplish with this type of thing ?

"I know this thing, you can't prove that I don't know it, and if you want to know it I can't or won't show you ... you have to go find out on your own."

Is it basically about you wanting to be recognized for something you value about yourself ? I'm guessing here.

 

[Songsmith]

Bolding mine.

I knew there was a reason why your thread seemed different than others that seemed to ask the same question. I got the feeling you really want to know, where others wanted to complain.

I came HERE because of a thread on a bicycling site (they have a separate section for non-cycling stuff) about stupid things Christians say, citing examples from several sites.

I have this nasty habit of checking things. Now all the quotes were really there and for some sites they were representative. This site had its share of stupidity, but also some wisdom. I came and stayed.

I started out with a faith symbol of agnostic. I changed the symbol to atheist in reaction to some ongoing attitudes of some Christians here. I still fit as an agnostic atheist.

I've found sites with some focus tend to have more interesting conversations. Christianity is one such focus.

Oh, the final irony. After a while I found a lot of the posts showing wisdom were not by Christians, a lot, but not all.

Thank you for your response. I'm glad you took my original question in the spirit in which it was asked. I am interested in what the draw is. I appreciate your viewpoint.

It's possible that I'm not as good a person as some other folks. I could understand going to an atheist forum in order to try and convert them ( which incidentally is why I don't go to very many forums. I have trouble not making a case for faith.). I now believe that there will be very very few online conversions. There is no real connection online where an atheist gets the true sense that I actually care about them as a person and not a prospect. I'll make a case for faith on this website obviously because it is a Christian site and those who come here must expect that to happen.

 

[TillICollapse]

Thank you for your response. I'm glad you took my original question in the spirit in which it was asked. I am interested in what the draw is. I appreciate your viewpoint.

It's possible that I'm not as good a person as some other folks. I could understand going to an atheist forum in order to try and convert them ( which incidentally is why I don't go to very many forums. I have trouble not making a case for faith.). I now believe that there will be very very few online conversions. There is no real connection online where an atheist gets the true sense that I actually care about them as a person and not a prospect. I'll make a case for faith on this website obviously because it is a Christian site and those who come here must expect that to happen.

Consider this:

I have befriended people online in forums, whom I realized had needs (financial, "things", etc) and I gave to them. This site included: I have even met some of them in person, and the relationship was symbiotic in that it wasn't just me giving, it was them giving to me as well in various ways. I didn't judge anyone by their belief identification, nor did I feel like a "target" lol. Even though they may have seen me as one, I realized they had needs and I wanted to help them and so I did.

Have you considered that in caring about others, you can *show* you care by paying attention to what they need, and helping them with their need ? No making a case for a belief system necessary ... someone has a need, help them.

 

[Cearbhall]

I mean, not that I want them gone, but it just seems strange to me that so many atheists would choose to spend their time and eergy on a site that is antithetical to their worldview.

For one thing, I'd like to point that this isn't entirely true when you look at religion and theism complexly rather than just as the claim that a deity exists. I do see value in some tenets of Christianity, and I think you would find that many atheists respect Jesus for his teachings in the context of philosophy and social justice. Many aspects of Christianity are compatible with an atheistic worldview. I personally am both atheist and Unitarian Universalist, so I look at lots of different religions and philosophies for wisdom.

 

[Colter]

What do you hope to accomplish with this type of thing ?

"I know this thing, you can't prove that I don't know it, and if you want to know it I can't or won't show you ... you have to go find out on your own."

Is it basically about you wanting to be recognized for something you value about yourself ? I'm guessing here.

Atheist on occasion claim to know that believers do not know God. I ask simply by what tequnique do they claim to know this?

 

[Colter]

Yes, atheists do believe many things. But being an atheist only pertains to what they don't believe, not what they do believe.


If true, then one of the following must be true:

1) You don't know God
2) God is from God

On this first experiential world created by God, atheist claim there is no God. That puts them at odds with reality, ultimatly unreal for there is no salvageable soul growing within them.

 

[bhsmte]

On this first experiential world created by God, atheist claim there is no God. That puts them at odds with reality, ultimatly unreal for there is no salvageable soul growing within them.

Ok, lets break this down.

World created by God. I have no problem with you believing that, but if you can not demonstrate this to be reality in a reliable way, I wouldn't be shocked if some don't buy it.

Atheists claim there is no God? Well, very few atheists make this claim, but they will say; they see no reason to believe there is a God.

Puts atheists at odds with reality? You have not demonstrated what reality is, so that one fails before it gets going.

No soul? Show me a soul exists.

 

[TillICollapse]

Atheist on occasion claim to know that believers do not know God. I ask simply by what tequnique do they claim to know this?

When you asked, "How do you know that I do not know the presence of the spirit of God?" ... if you notice, the first response to you was that "You may," and then asked you to demonstrate that you did. The other poster who said they concluded you were imagining it, gave their reason why they did and again, said they never claimed you did not. So of the two people whom responded to that question, I don't see where any of them claimed the very thing you just said they claimed, that you do not know God. I haven't read every single post of yours in this thread however, just the last few.

I asked you a straightforward question. If you want to try and answer it without the straw, go ahead. If not, I can drop it.

 

[Joshua260]

Atheists claim there is no God? Well, very few atheists make this claim...

I'd like to test this out with you by looking at the so-called problem of evil.

It basically goes like this:
1. An all-powerful God could prevent evil from existing.
2. An all-loving God would prevent evil from existing.
3. Evil exists.
4. Therefore, an all-powerful all-loving God does not exist.

Do you believe this is a valid argument, or would you concede that the existence of evil is compatible with the existence of an all-powerful all-loving God?

 

[HammerOfThor]

I'd like to test this out with you by looking at the so-called problem of evil.

It basically goes like this:
1. An all-powerful God could prevent evil from existing.
2. An all-loving God would prevent evil from existing.
3. Evil exists.
4. Therefore, an all-powerful all-loving God does not exist.

Do you believe this is a valid argument, or would you concede that the existence of evil is compatible with the existence of an all-powerful all-loving God?

That's not the same question. Atheists may note that certain types of gods are logically impossible, but I doubt an atheist would assert that the god I believe in, a pantheistic god, cannot exist.

 

[bhsmte]

I'd like to test this out with you by looking at the so-called problem of evil.

It basically goes like this:
1. An all-powerful God could prevent evil from existing.
2. An all-loving God would prevent evil from existing.
3. Evil exists.
4. Therefore, an all-powerful all-loving God does not exist.

Do you believe this is a valid argument, or would you concede that the existence of evil is compatible with the existence of an all-powerful all-loving God?

Let me put it this way.

A God may possibly exist, but looking at the reality of the world and comparing that to the Christian description of God, it is highly unlikely in my view, the Christian God exists.

Therefore, I am atheist towards the Christian God based on comparing the description of this God to reality, but am agnostic towards non personal Gods, who are not as well defined.

 

[talquin]

I think Atheist fear being dominated by a religion. But yes, I agree that Atheist do have faith in things but when discussing religion they suddenly assert that everything the believe is reasoned out in the math lab first.

Atheism isn't about what one believes, but about what one doesn't believe. So where or how atheists reason out their beliefs is irrelevant.

 

[Joshua260]

That's not the same question. Atheists may note that certain types of gods are logically impossible, but I doubt an atheist would assert that the god I believe in, a pantheistic god, cannot exist.

Thanks for the red herring. I'm pretty sure we're talking about the Christian God in this recent exchange. So when atheists respond with the problem of evil when talking about the Christian god, they are making the positive assertive claim that the Christian god does not exist. They are not simply stating that "they see no reason to believe there is a God" as bhsmte put it.

I see you avoided answering the question. Would you assert that the existence of evil is incompatible with the existence of the Christian god?

 

[talquin]

I'd like to test this out with you by looking at the so-called problem of evil.

It basically goes like this:
1. An all-powerful God could prevent evil from existing.
2. An all-loving God would prevent evil from existing.
3. Evil exists.
4. Therefore, an all-powerful all-loving God does not exist.

Do you believe this is a valid argument, or would you concede that the existence of evil is compatible with the existence of an all-powerful all-loving God?

It's a very valid argument. As a matter of fact, the problem of evil provides proof that an all-loving, all-powerful and all-knowing god does NOT exist.

 

[Archaeopteryx]

You could want Sparky yet never find him because he doesn't exist. We have found God and he does exist. The density and shear arrogance of the atheist is that he or she is unwise to the degree that they think that the billions of people who have found God are just imagining things. You take yourselves to seriously.

Is it as arrogant as this:

That's why I told you once before, you were never a whole hearted disciple of Jesus (if you were you would know it and quite likely still be one) you were simply a member of a religious social club, probably born into Christianity like most people today.

 

[Joshua260]

Let me put it this way.

A God may possibly exist, but looking at the reality of the world and comparing that to the Christian description of God, it is highly unlikely in my view, the Christian God exists.

You didn't answer plainly, but it sounds like you are conceding that the problem of evil argument is not a convincing argument against the existence of the Christian God. God and evil can both exist in the world, correct?