Jump to content
  • Welcome Guest

    For an ad free experience on Online Baptist, Please login or register for free

Opinions On Atheists?


Recommended Posts

  • Members

'might be' ?

Hopefully his meaning was more akin to "that you might be saved" as an affirmative meaning repenting and accepting Christ is the means of salvation; might in this case carrying the meaning of shall. Not a common usage of "might" today but once was a part of its meaning.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

He or she--hard to tell with these types--will only be Saved if he/she truly believes in the real Jesus.  Mooslims claim to believe in Jesus, but obviously they don't believe in the true Jesus and will not be Saved. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

The following is a response I made to a brother who sent me a PM.  It sheds a little more light on what and why I believe what I posted earlier.

It is my observation and belief that no one "discovers" later in life that there is a god and is surprised by that revelation because it was so unexpected.  From the youngest days everyone one is aware of a supreme being that is responsible for all that we know and see in this world, it is not until later in life, through "supposed logic and wisdom" that your heart becomes darkened against the truth you have always intrinsically known.  This is why I stated that you have to become educated into being an atheist, usually by godless professors or instructors, or it a is lashing out at god for a traumatic event because you blame god for allowing man to do evil.  Here is the scriptural support with highlights in bold that lead me to this belief beyond my own observations.

Romans 1:18-23 (KJV) 
18  For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;
19  Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.
20  For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

21  Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
22  Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
23  And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.  

I find more Agnostics, as I described in my second paragraph than I find supposed atheists, and even those atheists can point to a time when they "became" atheist and then give me their rationale to defend why they made this decision.  The fact of the matter is that they became atheists later in life, away from a natural belief in a supreme being responsible for all the perfect creation and balance they see.  

Bro. Garry

In His will.  By His power.  For His glory.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I recall believing in God at a very young age, but not 'intrinsically', for example by thinking that God must be real because He created the things all around me. Instead, my school (run by the Church of England, like most) told me that God was 'up there' and that good people went to heaven and bad people to hell, and like most children I accepted what I was taught.

I also remember I didn't really care one way or the other, since no-one ever talked about God—neither my parents nor my friends or their parents. At school, God only came up in hymns and the Lord's Prayer, which we had to do in assembly every day. I remember wondering what is this they make us say: something about tresspassing on private property and God having castles that can move (Thy Kingdom come).

so I just got on with school and doing things that boys do (including a lot of birdwatching). By the time I got to about 11, God was just another thing that I'd been reassured wasn't actually real, like Father Christmas and witches and vampires and ghosts. And since I only ever heard about God in songs and the occassional old story, why would I think any different?

I don't recall thinking or hearing about God at all through my teens, except one or twice in English lessons when we did Shakespeare. When I went to university, I was surprised to encounter folk in their late teens and twenties who apparently sincerely believed in God. I even heard that there was a well-attended Christian society on campus: that astonished me.

After I left uni, I went to work and an office colleague witnessed to me. I feel my 'journey' to Christ really started there—hand on my heart I don't recall experiencing a tug or a pang of conscience or a bout of 'congnitive dissonance' before that. And believe me it's tempting to rewrite my own history to include such, since so many Christians are adamant that atheists actually believe in God, providing verses that they say very plainly support this idea. Of course, if someone wants to pyschoanalyse and say that one can deceive oneself so thoroughly that they are no longer conscious of their own self-deception, I can't argue with that. But the above is just my 'atheist' history as I actually remember it, in case any are interested.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Moderators

"The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good."

Now it's not my place to pick apart Bible verses, but I do find it interesting that you quoted the end of this verse (most people only quote "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.). It's interesting because I believe it's demonstrably wrong from a literal perspective: I and others like me do good all of the time. In fact, I donated to Goodwill last month, which I think we can agree is a good work (not to brag of course).
So I guess my question would be how do you reconcile this verse with demonstrable reality?
Thanks :) 

Simply, why the Bible says "They have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good" is because the works of man, outside of being done for God, are of value only in this short life on earth. We can gain the world, do good, give all we have, but if we are not prepared for the life to come, none of these works are ultimately worth a hill of proverbial beans. The good works you do are only good in your mind, not necessarily in the long-run, especially if they only have temporal value, as opposed to eternal.

Atheism would, I assume, also include a lack of belief in any sort of afterlife, good or bad. However, again, like so many things, what proof do we have? We might hearken to the many who have experienced after-death/near-death incidents, though I personally take little stock in them as they tend to be very disjointed and contradictory.

Evolution, which has been discussed in another place, is really an unviable choice-while creationism demands, "In the beginning, God", and an atheist would say, Where did God come from, evolution demands, "In the beginning, matter and energy", and I would say, where do the matter and energy come from? We know from scientific law that neither matter nor energy cam be created or destroyed of themselves, so that they merely 'are' is a scientific impossibility, barring, of course, matters we don't yet know or understand.

But God, that's different: I don't have to try and explain where God comes from, because simply, God IS. This is what the Bible declares-it doesn't try to explain God like many myths out there-He didn't come from a cosmic egg,  or from some higher, elder god, rather He is the beginning of all things-to ask what He was doing before 'the beginning' is not possible to ask, because there was no 'before', because this is when time began-before time, there was no time, hence, no 'before'. Scripture doesn't seek to explain God, but to reveal Him. "In the beginning, God..." He just IS. and he is called "I AM",  because He, well, IS. He exists outside of time and laws, being the creator of both, but is subject to none unless He chooses to be so.

The main thing to understand, however, is that science cannot begin to explain how DNA comes about, where the information originated from, being in exactly the order and position it needs to be to work. And we know mutation can only move as far as the DNA allows-it is all precoded into the DNA, which is why a fish can never become an amphibian, not an ape, a human. Its not possible. Even a dog can never become a cat, and they tend to be very close in size and structure. But cats have always been cats, dogs, always dogs, monkeys always monkeys and humans, always humans. Is there variation within species, and within humans? Absolutely, but that is limited by the DNA, barring damage to the DNA through substance abuses and such like, which results in damaged offspring, not positive mutations.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I recall believing in God at a very young age, but not 'intrinsically', for example by thinking that God must be real because He created the things all around me. Instead, my school (run by the Church of England, like most) told me that God was 'up there' and that good people went to heaven and bad people to hell, and like most children I accepted what I was taught.

I also remember I didn't really care one way or the other, since no-one ever talked about God—neither my parents nor my friends or their parents. At school, God only came up in hymns and the Lord's Prayer, which we had to do in assembly every day. I remember wondering what is this they make us say: something about tresspassing on private property and God having castles that can move (Thy Kingdom come).

so I just got on with school and doing things that boys do (including a lot of birdwatching). By the time I got to about 11, God was just another thing that I'd been reassured wasn't actually real, like Father Christmas and witches and vampires and ghosts. And since I only ever heard about God in songs and the occassional old story, why would I think any different?

I don't recall thinking or hearing about God at all through my teens, except one or twice in English lessons when we did Shakespeare. When I went to university, I was surprised to encounter folk in their late teens and twenties who apparently sincerely believed in God. I even heard that there was a well-attended Christian society on campus: that astonished me.

After I left uni, I went to work and an office colleague witnessed to me. I feel my 'journey' to Christ really started there—hand on my heart I don't recall experiencing a tug or a pang of conscience or a bout of 'congnitive dissonance' before that. And believe me it's tempting to rewrite my own history to include such, since so many Christians are adamant that atheists actually believe in God, providing verses that they say very plainly support this idea. Of course, if someone wants to pyschoanalyse and say that one can deceive oneself so thoroughly that they are no longer conscious of their own self-deception, I can't argue with that. But the above is just my 'atheist' history as I actually remember it, in case any are interested.

You don't have to psychoanalyze atheists, just read the Bible and believe it.  It plainly says they are fools, they oppose themselves, and God has revealed Himself to them the same as to every person on the planet with enough power of reasoning to be held accountable for their actions.  They are rejecting God.  Saying "I have no God-belief" is a lie, they are deceiving themselves and trying to deceive others.  No psychoanalysis required, all we need to go by is the Truth, the Word of God.

Also, the Bible says they do deceive themselves so thoroughly that they are no longer conscious of their own self-deception.  It's called having their conscience seared, or God gave them over to a reprobate mind, or because they love delusion, God gave them strong delusion...evil doers will wax worse and worse...these are Bible quotes, I don't have chapter and verse now but it's easy enough to find.

Edited by Saintnow
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Hi LindaR!

"Why do atheists try so hard to prove the non-existence of God if they believe God doesn't exist?  Kind of a fruitless endeavor, isn't it?"

I'm going to assume this is a direct question for me so I'll take the liberty of answering it. Most atheists I know don't actively try to prove the nonexistence of God. Rather, they generally object to the evidence presented or point to inconsistencies in belief. At least, this is generally what I'm occupied with doing. For example, my position as an atheist is this: I lack a belief in any gods because of the lack of evidence for said gods. I don't actively believe there are no gods because I'd have to have a definition of every single god and then I'd have to disprove said gods which is practically impossible.

"These verses in Romans 1:18-23 prove that there is no such a person as a true atheist.  God calls those who deny the existence of God, fools."

While, of course, I'd deny that these Bible verses in any way demonstrate there is no such thing as a true atheist, I can at least understand where you'd reach the conclusion. I likewise don't think I'm too big of a fool (hopefully), but I'm always open to the proposition that I'm wrong :) 

"The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good."

Now it's not my place to pick apart Bible verses, but I do find it interesting that you quoted the end of this verse (most people only quote "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.). It's interesting because I believe it's demonstrably wrong from a literal perspective: I and others like me do good all of the time. In fact, I donated to Goodwill last month, which I think we can agree is a good work (not to brag of course).
So I guess my question would be how do you reconcile this verse with demonstrable reality?
Thanks :) 

You cannot justify your life by doing good works, you cannot earn the right to live by doing good works.  All your good works, your acts of righteousness, are part of your entire record of time you are accountable for.  The things you have done wrong, your sin, makes you a wrong-doer no matter how much you think you have done good. 

For example, as I hand you a glass of pure water, I spit in it.  Are you going to drink it?  Of course not.  You cannot separate the good from the bad, the bad makes it all bad.  It's the same with your life when you stand before God...you are polluted and in God's sight, all of your "good" is polluted, evil, attempting to justify your own existence outside of death in Hell.  Your good works are corrupt and useless in buying any pardon from God.

Claiming to have "demonstrable reality" of doing good is a self-deception.  All the good you do can never remove the pollution of sin from your soul.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

An atheist was canoeing on Loch Ness and the loch ness monster surfaced and capsized him. As he could not swim he sank rather suddenly. On the way down he cried, " Oh God , save me" . A voice came to him saying " I THOUGHT YOU DIDN'T BELIEVE IN ME"   The atheist replied " I didn't believe in the loch ness monster until now.!

 

Truth is you will believe someday. There will come a time when "every knee shall bow " to the Lord Jesus Christ. It follows that every one will face an eternity. Some in heaven , some in the lake of fire.  I have a belief that I can not only live with.... but I can also die with it. Now is the time to decide.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
  • Members

In my opinion an atheist is one who denies the existence of God and desires to live their life without being answerable to Him.  I also believe that one is an atheist because they have not yet experienced the presence of God in their life or they are running away from His conviction.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Moderators

Most Atheists believe in God, why else would they want Jesus removed. They never fight against people who believe in aliens or ghosts. They don't get upset and boycott business that have bigfoot items. If they see a cross its a different story. 

You also don't see them making a big deal against Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and other such religions-it must ALWAYS be a fight against Christianity and our God.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Opinion on Atheists? I was once one myself.

The Bible says that God is love. But He isn't just some "force". He is a personality and He isn't just a living being; He is life itself. He isn't just telling the truth: He is truth. There is truth, justice, peace and love in the World. Those good things that pop up into your life; words and acts of kindness, fortunate situations, benefits and gifts, etc. are His way of reaching out to you. God is a giver; the ultimate giver.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Opinion on Atheists? I was once one myself.

The Bible says that God is love. But He isn't just some "force". He is a personality and He isn't just a living being; He is life itself. He isn't just telling the truth: He is truth. There is truth, justice, peace and love in the World. Those good things that pop up into your life; words and acts of kindness, fortunate situations, benefits and gifts, etc. are His way of reaching out to you. God is a giver; the ultimate giver.

Praise His Holy Name!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.



×
×
  • Create New...