Talking about atheists here on Worthy

[ayin jade]

50 minutes ago, thomas t said:

I'm worried. I'm worried that the comments of some keep atheists away from faith.

 

Which is why they are not given access to the forum the atheists are in. 

I want to share with you a lesson I learned long ago. The Lord showed me, or rather reminded me, that it is not up to our efforts. That He can use our words no matter how poor they are, to bring someone to salvation. 

This was the situation. In chat years ago, an unbeliever was in there and had been expressing interest in Christ until that day. I was unhappy thinking she was rejecting Him. Then 2 Christians came in and spoke harshly to her. I was convinced she was going to reject Christ for sure. She started to speak against getting saved, then out of nowhere, she changed her mind and considered Christ again, despite the negative words that were spoken to her. She eventually was saved. 

We cant save. By the same token, we cant keep someone from being saved.

Should Christians be mean to atheists. Of course not. The way the forums are set up, the folks who speak harshly to them  no longer can reply to them.

[Blood Bought 1953]

   8 hours ago,  Blood Bought 1953 said: 

They want to show how they are intellectually superior to weak, dumb Bible Believers.They smugly believe it will be a cake- walk.....

... "they smugly believe"

as if BB could read their minds. I think it is this kind of remarks that endanger the reaching out to atheists. These comments could keep them off rather than win them for faith.



 

I can speak with authority , because I used to be one of those atheists......I am certain that some atheists come here as honest seekers .....I am also certain that I could count them on one hand.....

Edited July 15, 2019 by Blood Bought 1953

[thomas t]

4 hours ago, ayin jade said:

Should Christians be mean to atheists. Of course not.

Hi Ayin,

amen.

4 hours ago, ayin jade said:

That He can use our words no matter how poor they are, to bring someone to salvation. 

[...]

We cant save. By the same token, we cant keep someone from being saved. 

Of course.

But we can make things more difficult for the Lord. "But you have burdened me with your sins; you have wearied me with your iniquities." says Isaiah 43:24b.

Moreover, we should not be working against each other. Some want to reach out... and others do their very best (I mean worst) to destroy their work.

4 hours ago, ayin jade said:

This was the situation. In chat years ago, an unbeliever was in there and had been expressing interest in Christ until that day. I was unhappy thinking she was rejecting Him. Then 2 Christians came in and spoke harshly to her. I was convinced she was going to reject Christ for sure. She started to speak against getting saved, then out of nowhere, she changed her mind and considered Christ again, despite the negative words that were spoken to her. She eventually was saved. 

Ayin, there's also a difference between speaking harshly to someone, but in love, or showing contempt.

Moreover, many show frustration when it comes to reaching out. This isn't the same as "speaking harshly" either.

Imagine a shop verdor who shows frustration towards the customers. This won't be fruitful.

---

Hi BB,

1 hour ago, Blood Bought 1953 said:

I can speak with authority , because I used to be one of those atheists......

ok.

1 hour ago, Blood Bought 1953 said:

I am also certain that I could count them [= honest seekers among the atheists here] on one hand.....

Are you telling me you know each of them?

I doubt your authority goes as far as to judge them each.

Thomas

 

[Dennis1209]

I'd like to ask an atheist if ever in his or her life, they discovered they were completely wrong about something, and changed their attitude and mind about it?  Not believing something doesn't mean it is not true. What if suddenly one woke up to the truth, he or she discovered the error of their deception; and it was too late to change their mind? What if; Christians have it right, and atheists have it all wrong? Can anyone phantom just how long eternity is for making the wrong decision and the wrong choice?  

[Tzephanyahu]

Shalom all,

I used to be an atheist of atheists!  I mocked Christians, Christianity, the Bible,  the Lord Jesus and even God himself.  I was even actively disparaging Yahweh with my art and creativity and lifting up satan, the occult in opposition.

I worked with some Christians who could have easily written me off.  They could have been outraged and offended by me.  They could have had no hope for me and ignored me - as some are hasty to do in this forum.  But, instead, they showed me love, peace, patience and truth. 

Because of their welcoming behaviour, I became more interested in the Bible and respected the Christians a lot more, even before I gave my life to Yahweh. 

I'm thankful that these Christians were like this, despite my arrogant, proud, atheist mindset.  Their light shone forth and it attracted me to the Lord.

It could have been so different if they said a cold word here, gave a short answer there, or had a judgemental attitude towards me.  

We ascribe salvation to the Lord, and rightfully so.  However, we cannot underestimate the role we play and the impact we have on others in that process.  I believe we will be judged on such matters as well - whether we have helped or hindered the lost, and our heart attitude towards them.

Love & Shalom

 

 

[appy]

59 minutes ago, Dennis1209 said:

I'd like to ask an atheist if ever in his or her life, they discovered they were completely wrong about something, and changed their attitude and mind about it?  Not believing something doesn't mean it is not true. What if suddenly one woke up to the truth, he or she discovered the error of their deception; and it was too late to change their mind? What if; Christians have it right, and atheists have it all wrong? Can anyone phantom just how long eternity is for making the wrong decision and the wrong choice?  

I can assure you Dennis that all Christians were unbelievers until coming to the point in their lives, that they first believed. True, some fight against the truth of their true spiritual condition. But none of us that are posting on a message board knows in fact that each and every unbeliever that comes here; will never experience repentance. We can only share the gospel with them and the pray that their hearts will be receptive to it. There have been a few testimonies online where people have said that they struggled with coming to faith in Christ for a long time, and then one day they believed.

One time when I was first trying to share Christ with someone, that person posed a question. He said, “why should I believe? Some have it, some don't. Do you?” Unbelievers can definitely tell from a Christian's attitude, speech and behavior that they don't fully believe the message themselves. And so with that, it increases their excuse to doubt the gospel.

I've also had a few that said my face shined or glowed. Without fully understanding at the time what they meant; I replied that it was Jesus they were seeing. I hadn't realized that what I had spoken was not my own words but the Holy Spirit's words. And you know, that may be all that they needed to hear at that moment in time. Let the Holy Spirit do the convincing that the gospel is true.

Don't let the ones that are only interested in being entertained and amused, rob those who are honestly seeking to understand what its all about. By being upset with them, you are also robbing yourself the joy of seeing them come to Christ. Don't let their negativity rob you of the joy of your own salvation.

[Dennis1209]

1 hour ago, appy said:

I can assure you Dennis that all Christians were unbelievers until coming to the point in their lives, that they first believed. True, some fight against the truth of their true spiritual condition. But none of us that are posting on a message board knows in fact that each and every unbeliever that comes here; will never experience repentance. We can only share the gospel with them and the pray that their hearts will be receptive to it. There have been a few testimonies online where people have said that they struggled with coming to faith in Christ for a long time, and then one day they believed.

One time when I was first trying to share Christ with someone, that person posed a question. He said, “why should I believe? Some have it, some don't. Do you?” Unbelievers can definitely tell from a Christian's attitude, speech and behavior that they don't fully believe the message themselves. And so with that, it increases their excuse to doubt the gospel.

I've also had a few that said my face shined or glowed. Without fully understanding at the time what they meant; I replied that it was Jesus they were seeing. I hadn't realized that what I had spoken was not my own words but the Holy Spirit's words. And you know, that may be all that they needed to hear at that moment in time. Let the Holy Spirit do the convincing that the gospel is true.

Don't let the ones that are only interested in being entertained and amused, rob those who are honestly seeking to understand what its all about. By being upset with them, you are also robbing yourself the joy of seeing them come to Christ. Don't let their negativity rob you of the joy of your own salvation.

I hope my post didn't come across the wrong way? I meant to show an example that many times we all error believing or not believing something; that we're fallible and make big mistakes not realizing or believing something or someone. In life with the flesh we learn sometimes by our mistakes and correct them in 'time'. When time has run out, it's too late to correct and come to the Truth and realization how wrong we were. 

[Firm Foundation]

Just how do you go about reaching a true atheist?  You can't make someone believe.  

As far as disparaging remarks go, the Bible says the fool hath said in his heart there is no God.  Romans says they are without excuse because the creation witnesses of the existence of God.

[Sower]

2 hours ago, Tzephanyahu said:

Shalom all,

I used to be an atheist of atheists!  I mocked Christians, Christianity, the Bible,  the Lord Jesus and even God himself.  I was even actively disparaging Yahweh with my art and creativity and lifting up satan, the occult in opposition.

 

 

 

Wonderful testimony, Tzephanyahu.
Would you be willing to share how you think you might have behaved here on Worthy while you were still an atheist.
Do you think you would have accepted the light of the gospel, here at Worthy,
or was it more the face to face hearing of the word, and your co workers Christ like witness?
Your actual back ground might shed some light to the discussion.
Again, Cool testimony!

[thomas t]

Hi Firm,

17 minutes ago, Firm Foundation said:

Just how do you go about reaching a true atheist?

Please let's leave this issue to another thread, things are complicated enough aren't they? Since you say I'm not able to make someone believe? Well that's for another thread, ok?

This one is really about this...

17 minutes ago, Firm Foundation said:

disparaging remarks

You found two disparaging remarks in the Bible?

Please don't add a third one.

Let Bible speak, yeah, but please don't tell me that the "fool has said in his heart"-Psalms-passage perfectly matches all atheists.

Or is it that you can read hearts? I doubt it.

Most of them are so-called agnostics, they say they don't rule out God's existence. (Speaking from own experience).

Yeah, whenever we come to talk about atheists, this Bible verse is getting cited and that's disparaging already.

Thomas

 

 

 

Edited July 15, 2019 by thomas t
clarity