Thoughts On Atheism and Atheists

[NCAP]

3 minutes ago, Dave-regenerated said:

I've interacted with Atheists for over 20 years on the internet and I even considered myself an Atheist too at one point.  It didn't last long as was rather depressing time in my life.

I've practically given up trying to engage with them now.  In real life it is different to the internet, so most of the Atheists I have encountered online seem to be straight out idiots.  They are not open to reason, often have poor arguments that when questioned on they evade as much as possible unless you probe very far and deeply, at which point they will become an agnostic.  And quite frankly most of them are just jerks.  Really massive jerks.  I truly believe they are satanically oppressed or even possessed.  I've attempted to reach out to some but it never goes anywhere.  And the main point about most of them is that they will concede agnosticism and say there COULD be a God, but it is not the God of the Bible to them.  That much they are very adamant about.  

So in my personal opinion, it is a waste of time engaging with them.

But here is the thing: Pointing out what you think are characters flaws (idiot, jerk, lacking in reasoning skills...etc) and approaching someone with that mindset (your mindset) won't help you in any way in reaching the heart of the person (atheist) you might be trying to reach. And "it is a waste of time engaging with them" leads nowhere and is a relationship killer.

[Dave-regenerated]

5 minutes ago, NCAP said:

But here is the thing: Pointing out what you think are characters flaws (idiot, jerk, lacking in reasoning skills...etc) and approaching someone with that mindset (your mindset) won't help you in any way in reaching the heart of the person (atheist) you might be trying to reach. And "it is a waste of time engaging with them" leads nowhere and is a relationship killer.

Sure, I'm talking about people online.  Offline people are approachable and more reasonable in general.  As far as Atheists online, I don't waste time any more with them.

[Dennis1209]

2 hours ago, Starise said:

This is why I find it difficult to attempt to understand a person who makes the claim God doesn't exist.

I have watched and listened to many personal and scholastic debates between Christians and atheists. Regardless of the facts, the preponderance of the evidence, and who won the debate, I found one commonality. I have never seen a self-described atheist listen to the evidence, recant, or change their view. That does not mean that never happened, but it reminds me of a camel trying to pass through the eye of a needle.

[NCAP]

2 hours ago, Starise said:

For me, God is unavoidable. This is why I find it difficult to attempt to understand a person who makes the claim God doesn't exist.

So, we have a scripture...

In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek him; all his thoughts are, “There is no God.” (Psalm 10:4 ESV)

But since God does not take pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezekiel 18:23), what are we to do but try to reach the heart of those whom we consider wicked?

But trying to reach their heart is to no avail if we approach them with the attitude that doing so is a waste of time.

[missmuffet]

[NCAP]

21 minutes ago, missmuffet said:

Seriously, does anyone think that C.S. Lewis's point of view is the same point of view held by all Christians? That he speaks on behalf of all Christians?

[missmuffet]

5 minutes ago, NCAP said:

Seriously, does anyone think that C.S. Lewis's point of view is the same point of view held by all Christians? That he speaks on behalf of all Christians?

That is a negative way to put it. 

[Starise]

6 hours ago, NCAP said:

Okay, you start an inquire into what is obvious to you and "why" it is not obvious to others.

So why is something obvious to you but not obvious to someone else?

1. Why is something obvious to Person A?

2. Why is something not obvious to Person B?

 

 For clarification, the "others" I was referring to are atheists or person B. 

I didn't see any argument against person A here because I think most here have repented of their sins and trusted Christ for their salvation. Yet we have person B's who sometimes come to Worthy, and while they are not allowed to post here they can still join, but don't have a 'voice'. Still others may never join but watch these forums. In yet another potential group are those who might have misrepresented themselves to join.

Among some of these might be persons who say they experienced a salvation experience and somehow it wore off. Now I don't believe a genuine encounter with God wears off, because Jesus never lets us go. Still- A person who THINKS this to be the case will be more prone to say, " I tried it and it didn't work", or something similar. I am also well aware they can use this as a convincing ploy to attempt to weaken existing believers or to attempt to discredit our faith.

I also need to clarify I am no different than anyone else who can reason, so I have no greater or lesser ability to discern than the next person who asks God for wisdom. The reason it seems 'obvious' to me is because the Lord saved me. After that happens you can tell the difference between God and godless.

My earlier experiences with these people left me with a very dark and very drained feeling talking to them. Like energy leeches and demotivators instead of shedding any positive light. They don't have any positive light to shine. The particular group I was talking to at the time were into subjects that can have occult connections such as the paranormal and UFOs.

Not overtly into it in a public way, but I think some dark stuff hung around and attached to some of them. They would gang on me 3 or 4 to one online and make sure I never had enough time to respond. When I was able to respond to one comment I would get page after page of info. Basically overloading me by clutter. If you have 4 people all bombarding you with information, there's no way you can respond to all of it.

The same people would wave off anything I said, no matter how well done and researched it was, so after some time it felt like I was shoveling info into a bottomless empty hole only to be destroyed as soon as I shoveled it in.

For this reason I pulled away from them. Replying to them was taking an enormous amount of my time and energy, and at one point I was snapping at my wife and she would say, " you've been online with those atheists again haven't you?"  The meaness was rubbing off.

THIS is why most of the time, I tend to look at most of them like goners. No hope of ever reaching them.

But I think that's probably the wrong way to see it because if they are still here and God puts them in your life in some way, so long as they are seeking in some way or maybe only the atheist thing is an act to avoid God, there could still be a chance. There is also a time when you feel the leading to just let go for your own peace and spiritual renewal.

Edited October 1, 2022 by Starise

[Starise]

6 hours ago, Dave-regenerated said:

I've interacted with Atheists for over 20 years on the internet and I even considered myself an Atheist too at one point.  It didn't last long as was rather depressing time in my life.

I've practically given up trying to engage with them now.  In real life it is different to the internet, so most of the Atheists I have encountered online seem to be straight out idiots.  They are not open to reason, often have poor arguments that when questioned on they evade as much as possible unless you probe very far and deeply, at which point they will become an agnostic.  And quite frankly most of them are just jerks.  Really massive jerks.  I truly believe they are satanically oppressed or even possessed.  I've attempted to reach out to some but it never goes anywhere.  And the main point about most of them is that they will concede agnosticism and say there COULD be a God, but it is not the God of the Bible to them.  That much they are very adamant about.  

So in my personal opinion, it is a waste of time engaging with them.

Dave I would love to hear your testimony about how you went from atheist to believer. This shows it is still possible, even for this group.

If you read my above post you will see we have been through what looks like very similar experiences.

5 hours ago, Dennis1209 said:

I have watched and listened to many personal and scholastic debates between Christians and atheists. Regardless of the facts, the preponderance of the evidence, and who won the debate, I found one commonality. I have never seen a self-described atheist listen to the evidence, recant, or change their view. That does not mean that never happened, but it reminds me of a camel trying to pass through the eye of a needle.

I haven't seen a public recanting. I have heard of atheists becoming believers. Usually atheist poster boys for the movement never recant. There was a story going around that one of them got faith on his death bed, then it was quickly hushed up and another article came out saying it was fake news. The same was said of Charles Darwin. 

The fate of many who openly made fun of God in public is something that usually has them meeting a horrible tragic end. John Lennon said He was JesuSo The Beatles drummer took Lennon to lunch, only for a gushing fan to rush up to their table to meet him. Still high as a kite, he corrected the fan, saying: “Actually, I'm Jesus Christ.”Dec 28, 2019

 

 

 

[Starise]

3 hours ago, NCAP said:

Seriously, does anyone think that C.S. Lewis's point of view is the same point of view held by all Christians? That he speaks on behalf of all Christians?

I will tell you this- They constantly make fun of God and Christians. This is either because they don't see the harm in making fun of  something that doesn't exist and therefore holds no implications for them OR they so hate that God they will deny Him.

Many will start off with something like- Why would God do x, y and z if He was really a Holy just God?

My take away here is they are really saying they don't like God, not the He doesn't exist. It might be similar to a person who is so mad at a family member, they refuse to any longer acknowledge they exist.

People who are mad a God are not hard to find either. " God took my 25 year old son ". This person cut God off and stopped attending church. In their mind, if this is God, they want nothing to do with Him.

Edited October 1, 2022 by Starise