How to talk to an atheist (and you must)

Townhall.com ^ | January 24, 2005 | Mike S. Adams

[7thson]

When I pulled into the parking lot this morning, I saw a car covered with sacrilegious bumper stickers. It seemed obvious to me that the owner was craving attention. I’m sure he was also seeking to elicit anger from people of faith. The anger helps the atheist to justify his atheism. And, all too often, the atheist gets exactly what he is looking for.

[Stone Mountain]

since a belief in God is clearly the default belief for the majority of people, **************

Wow. Believing in God is for the thoughtless?

What's the point in this post? Are you really claiming not to understand the point and take offense here? If so, let me know and I'll explain what a default belief is - we all have them.

[Stone Mountain]

I envision this is what you would do also if you experience temporay death as an Atheist.

Would this also hold true for Jews, Moslems, Shintoists, etc? Even if they hadn't been exposed to Christianity?

[mississippi red-neck]

Even Jesus said He wasn't good.

Mat 19:17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.

In the above verse and the one in Mark you will notice that it is in two parts.

Jesus did not say He wasn't good. He asked the man why he called Him good? Then He made the statement that only God is good.

Basically what Jesus was saying to the man was if you call me good you are calling me God which Jesus was and is.

Joh 10:30 I and my Father are one.

. The other quote you give is from the old testament book of Isaiah and it is not Jesus or God talking but Isaiah in prayer to God confessing his and the peoples sins and seeking forgiveness for himself and the nation.

It starts in Isa 63:17 and ends in Isa 64:12.

All our good deeds are like filthy rags anyway. It's a moot point

Isa 64:6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

My best friend of over thirty years and an older brother are agnostics. We have had a good many interesting conversations about God and the Bible but never have we lost our respect or love for one another.

I have never been the one to bring it up.

I think that one of the biggest mistakes well meaning Christians make is being over zealous.

Everything our Lord and Savior offers is free and subject to the will of those who would accept or reject it. The total price was paid By Jesus.It is not our job to save people or to judge them. We are to be ready to give an answer for the hope that is in us.

Our greatest witness is in the life we live and the love we have for our fellow man.

It is the Holy Spirit's job to call and convict.

I hope that you are not offended by my reply. MRN.

[Stone Mountain]

I still don't understand how this would "start a fight among atheists." What would the fight be over?

Well, Antonius, ready to answer this question yet?

[OB1kNOb]

No irony, unless I'm misunderstanding your response. Those without God are stuck in the material world, for they have rejected a spiritual world. They have nothing to live for but this present physical, material realm. To them, when this life is over, that's it. Pffftt!

I don't think it was the "early Christians" that were doing the stoning. I believe it was the Judaites that were doing the stoning of early Christians.

[Selkie]

Every atheist I ve known (and I work in NYC so I know a plethora) has either had self esteem or daddy issues.

Theyve been self important blowhards or hate their fathers or lost their dads young.

Its very ironic how obsessed atheists are with God.

Ive struggled with my faith having had many difficulties and having lost my dad very early on, but something just draws me back to my faith no matter how I deny it.

And Im not referring to agnostics whatsoever.
Totally different situation.
But there is good hope for all atheists.
C.S. Lewis being the best example.

PAX

[Selkie]

Drat !
You beat me to it.
My thoughts exactly. ROFL

[missyme]

I don't know, I just know it holds true for Atheists that beleive and deny there is GOD.

[ColoCdn]

"Built by a bunch of weenie Canucks."

Weenie canucks, eh?

I suppose you can stop a puck going 105 mph with a half-inch thick chest protector?

I suppose you were at Dieppe?

Or were you using gratuituous sarcasm without the tag, like most weiner/hoser Americans? (Non-gratuituous sarcasm)

[Selkie]

No instead you'll hear an atheist say "If you don't believe what I believe, then you're not a *real* DUer."

[Selkie]

Self satisfaction.

[Tench_Coxe]

" Both Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox believe that works are part of the requirement for salvation. "

That is an oft quoted misunderstanding.
What is practiced in the RC and EO churches can be captured in: "Faith without works is dead:(James 2:20)".

Example:
One can claim to have faith in God. Along with that, one can fervently believe that the Apocolypse is nigh, that going to Church every Sunday is the trump card to get you into heaven, and that when you see your fellow congregation members in the liquor store, they're saved because they have 'faith'.
It means squat. The only evidence that a person truly has faith in God is evidenced in their works ( actions ), no matter how loud they hosanna or beat their Bible. And that is where faith and works applies. A man is justified by faith but only if it is true, and through that faith it will manifest in the way he conducts himself.
The misunderstanding of your quote above is rooted in a time in the Catholic church in which that doctrine truly did carry some weight ( like indulgences in exchange for merely a substantial donation to the Church coffers, or salvation merely for going to war at the behest of the local Bishop ). However, despite that period, the consistent doctrine is as I stated above.

[newgeezer]

If you honestly don't get it, there's no point in taking it any further.

Now, give it a rest. Think some happy thoughts for a change. Rejoice, even.

[Selkie]

What would an Atheist monument be? >>> Well heres a dead atheist monument

Karl Marx

Well Im sure one these famous atheists could come up with something grand for themselves.

George Soros

Warren Buffett

Steve Wozniak

Ted Turner

Richard Branson

Angelina Jolie

Ron Reagan Jr.

[Selkie]

What would an Atheist monument be? >>> Well heres a dead atheist monument

Karl Marx

Well Im sure one these famous atheists could come up with something grand for themselves.

George Soros

Warren Buffett

Steve Wozniak

Ted Turner

Richard Branson

Angelina Jolie

Ron Reagan Jr.

[Selkie]

Dang. double post. me bad.

[annalex]

Earlier someone suggested that a monument to a prominent atheist would be an example of a monument celebrating atheism. I am not sure if these qualify. I can think of many people who are atheists and reached prominence, but I cannot think of a single one who reached prominence primarily as an atheist. For example, when I see a monument to Marx I see a monument to Marxism, or communism, or dialectic materialism, -- all signifying his belief, however misguided, in something, as opposed to an absence of belief in God.

There is a swamp in northern Russia called Solovki. It is a site of a death camp where Stalin put all but most docile of Orthodox priests. The camp is now in ruins. Perhaps coils of barbed wire rotting in a swamp would be a good symbol for an atheist monument.

[annalex]

Mattger of fact, I was wrong. Before Solovki became a death camp, it was a monastery. So while that place is a good illustration of atheism put to practice, as a monument it is still a monument to Christian martyrs.

(See Solovki).

Atheism cannot have a monument.

[GLDNGUN]

Boy, you sure hate having someone tell you they've seen a bumpersticker you don't like, doncha!

No, I see them myself all the time. Living in California I can't drive down the street without seeing a Darwin fish or IMPEACH BUSH sign attached to a vehicle. One I haven't seen here in CA (or elsewhere) is anything close to what you describe.

[GLDNGUN]

Ha! ;->

Laughing with me or at me? :-)