What more can be said, if they will not believe, and He does not lie.
God made the universe and man. Man made his ego the size of the universe.
Why not just agree to disagree about religion and keep him in your thoughts and prayers... Its good to be able to respect people of all faiths.
Send him a copy of Lee Stroble’s “A Case for Christ,” and a copy of C.S. Lewis’ “Mere Christianity.”
<<”Oh, another contributing factor to this Atheistic revival,is the man centered, shallow but pervasive “evangelicalism” of the last forty years, that in the interest of being relevant, have presented a contemptible spirituality, denuded of the real gospel, the real Jesus and the true Spirit of God.”>>
Yep. Exactly.
hi pastor bill,
yes i feel your frustration and pain. i think your honest approach is likely not the way to deal with atheism, as a person who takes that position is all ready in the process of rejecting god.
my two cents: don’t reject atheism out of hand. provide a frame work including history, philosopy and people to explain the rise and purpose of atheism (as a faith in itself, having it’s own creation story in the theory of natural selection) and how it is at bottom a marxist manipulation in order to gain power over the atheist.
explain why people in power what you to believe in atheism.
hope that helps.
Is he smart enough to see that exchanging an eternal, uncreated deity for an eternal, uncreated universe gets him no closer to the truth? In that context the only answer that makes sense to me is the metaphysical one.
Not saying that this is the only possible approach, but I find that all ills and philosophies and intellectual masks come down to a misunderstanding or rejection of these foundational Scriptural truths:
1. Holy God
2. Sinful man
3. Grace through Christ
Each apprehended in proper sequence resolves nearly every other question; it also puts one in the proper relationship to God for the Holy Spirit to work.
ping- hi everybody!
Religion is often the bane of God, hard to say how much nonsense he took in. Just pray for him and keep a graceful heart.
We are not the ones who draw people to God. That task is given to the Holy Spirit. You can’t convince him about anything.
You either worship yourself — the created — and look to yourself for all things, or you worship Him who created you — the Creator — and recognize your dependence on Him.
Faith is a gift. If an atheist was never offered it or rejected it...that's the way she goes. I can hope the atheist lives as though he believes. It seems that an atheist who lives as though there is a God is better off on the long road than a theist who behaves as though there isn't.
I started my 'faith journey' in a Catholic seminary when I was thirteen. It turned out that wasn't the road I took. I don't think my faith was that strong in those days. My faith started to gel when I was about thirty five. The conduit for my faith, the UPS delivery guy, was the evangelist, John.
In the movie, How the West Was Won, James Stewart said, "I'm a sinful man...deep dark sinful." I think he was playing me when he spoke his lines. John told me I still have a shot at the Blue Ribbon, the Championship Belt. I believe it to be a faith thing.
Heck's bells, the whole New Testament was about a bunch of guys Jesus should have kicked to the curb if he was thinking clearly at the time. Praise the Father and Holy Spirit that he didn't.
Real faith might be the greatest gift of them all. Do you suspect Jesus knew that the adultress was likely to resume her favorite activity the first chance she got or that Zacchaeus would likely resort to the thieving that provided his wealth staring Monday morning? I think he did. I also think if the adultress or Zacchaeus thought for a second, they might just try to do better starting today, even if they failed. They would keep trying.
I think when Jesus delivered the Last Supper Discourse, he had laser vision toward a guy about two millennium hence who needed it...a great deal.
Faith starts out as a seed. If you are lucky it will grow into a Redwood. Today mine is more of a Norway Pine. I never argue with people who have no faith. I will encourage folks to take a run at John. For decadent pleasure, read the (Old Testament) Story of Joseph or Tobit...both stories of irony and faith.
In the end if people refuse to believe, that's the way she goes. Faith is a gift.
I have been using this book with my students for several years. There is an excellent DVD series with him presenting this material, and the study guides are very useful!
Bottom line: he discusses how to shift the burden to the skeptic, getting them to explain what it is they believe, and how they came to that position. Meanwhile, he has you looking for inconsistencies in their arguments, and how to diplomatically bring them into the discussion.
Your young friend sounds like a perfect Presidential candidate for the Democrat Party.
Just ask him:
1. If there’s no God, we exist for no real reason or purpose, but are just a lucky accident. What’s the purpose of pain, suffering, death, love, joy, etc?
2. If there’s no God setting absolutes of good and bad, then good and bad, right and wrong, are really meaningless words because men define “good” and “bad” all by themselves. Good and bad are just arbitrary and relative and totally subjective. What’s good for me might really suck for you. Truth also becomes relative (ie what works for you may not work for me).
3. Our total lives are meaningless. We are born only to slowly die under the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics. Some faster than others. None of our experiences matter. Whatever character issues we go through, mean nothing. Overcoming hardships, in the end, don’t matter. We die. We cease to exist. If we have kids, they will cease to exist. Eventually the earth will cease to exist. There will be no material records of us anywhere. Joy, love, whatever, it’s all an illusion. It’s chemicals in our brains that help a couple stay together to raise kids.
4. Why get up in the morning? Why keep playing along in this random, arbitrary system of living? If there are no absolutes and there’s no right and wrong, why not just live the way you want to live? Why not steal? Why not cheat to get ahead? There’s nobody to punish you. It might be considered by some to be “wrong” but “wrong” is a relative term. So what if most of society considers it wrong, it still boils down to being just a widely-held PREFERENCE. They can’t point to any absolute source that says it’s wrong, there is no God defining right and wrong.
Christianity is by far the most just compassionate and good argument ever made.
Secularism is by contrast empirically ruthless capricious unjust and brutal.
It is intellectually absurd to be ashamed of Christianity.
Habermas was right.
We have nothing else intellectually but Christianity. We are otherwise bankrupt.