Thoughts On Atheism and Atheists

[NCAP]

24 minutes ago, missmuffet said:

They see something in us that repels them. 

Well, maybe so. But for me, I don't expect everyone to have the same interests that I have. And I wouldn't expect everyone to have the same interests that you have.

[Marathoner]

Atheists and by extension, atheism, is not monolithic. Not all atheists are the same nor are their motivations identical; if we find ourselves incapable of loving an atheist as our own selves, then it is our responsibility to avoid their company. If we cannot be a friend... if we are easily offended... and if we refuse to listen to whatever they have to say (no matter what it is), then it is good to steer clear. 

Indeed, many atheists came by their denial over the course of time and truth be told, the conduct of some Christians only fans the fires of their loathing of faith and even the Lord Himself. My adopted mother was an example of this very thing. 

She was abused and treated horribly by her family of believers. In spite of this, she believed at a young age. 

Through no fault of her own (she was the victim of an unspeakable crime), she found herself pregnant at the age of 16. Regardless of what happened to cause this, her family cast her out; she was handed over to the custody of the state who imprisoned her in a school for delinquent girls. This "school" was operated by an evangelical ministry. However, it wasn't a school: it was a prison and the pregnant girls who were imprisoned there served as surrogates whose children were adopted for profit. 

The Christians who operated this "school" beat her, tortured her, and once my adopted mother figured out that if she played their game the evil would cease, she became compliant. After this apparent change of heart, staff promised her that they would help her raise her unborn child. They would see that she would marry a good Christian man so at last, my adopted mother would have a home where she was loved.

This was a lie. 

When she was sent to the closest hospital to give birth, the woman who became my mother bled excessively and died during delivery. When the attending physician announced the time of her death, my mother's heart started beating again.

She was permitted to hold her first child --- a son --- for a few minutes before he was taken away from her for good. He was adopted to a Christian family and my mother never saw him again. The evangelical ministry that imprisoned her... beat her... and subjected her to torture had been lying to her all along. They never intended to help her keep her child. 

By the time the Lord brought us together over 40 years later, my adopted mother was an avowed militant antitheist. That changed, of course, but it didn't happen overnight. The Lord had plans for my adopted mother... plans that started when He sent me to her in the mountains of New Mexico. 

It's not as simple as some make it out to be. Only the Lord knows the hidden things.  

 

[Starise]

This reminds me of several incidents that happened in the RCC.

One man in particular come to mind. This man was an avowed atheist who had been repeatedly abused by a catholic priest. 

I think he probably seen this man as a man of God ( he clearly wasn't) and therefore decided there was no God.

STILL- Every man will answer for himself. I don't see any excuses for ignoring God and denying He exists big enough to substitute for the blood of Christ.

If anything, people like this need to be shown what real love is because maybe they have never known it.

 

[missmuffet]

1 hour ago, Starise said:

this reminds me of several incidents that happened in the RCC.

One man in particular come to mind. This man was an avowed atheist who had been repeatedly abused by a catholic priest. 

I think he probably seen this man as a man of God ( he clearly wasn't) and therefore decided there was no God.

STILL- Every man will answer for himself. I don't see any excuses for ignoring God and denying He exists big enough to substitute for the blood of Christ.

If anything, people like this need to be shown what real love is because maybe they have never known it.

 

I have spoken to many ex-Catholics who have left God because of the abuse of the Catholic Church. Some from Catholic schools.

[Omegaman 3.0]

15 hours ago, Starise said:

What impressed me about your testimony, was that, there you were collecting specimens of God's creation at a young age and never questioned the amazing detail and complexity. Or maybe you did, but those things they told you sufficed, which would seem counter productive to me for any thinking person. Not in any way making a negative statement here about you or anyone else in the same position that you were in, just wondering why we humans tend to trust and accept what we are told by those we think we can trust and how this seems to override any inclination to sometimes scratch our heads and rethink what we were told.

Whether we are wired that way by evolution because it benefits survival, or something similar (I do think selection by survival is valid) or by God's design, it seems that when we are young we are trusting and innocent, and look to those with better knowledge to guide us and teach us. I think in my personal story, I trusted adults entirely, until the third grade, when I discovered my parents had lied to me about tooth fairies, Easter bunnies, and Santa Claus. I felt embarrassed and betrayed. That is when I started being more of a skeptic.

However, somehow I did not distrust all adults. The people who wrote my "Golden Books" about rocks and minerals, astronomy, marine life, fossils, reptiles and amphibians, etc., I thought were trust worthy I can still see the illustrations in my head, and remember some of that facts. I remember that great white sharks grew to be 35 feet long. Apparently, that is not true, but that is what it said and what I believed! Oh well.

Probably it is hormones or something, but in my teen years, and into my young twenties, I had some rebellion in me - I became a part time hippy, lol - not an extreme anti-establishment - don't trust the man type, but it was there somewhat. I think parents have a responsibility to teach their children, but you cannot teach what you do not know, at least not without extra resources. As an adult, I understood how much nonsense I had been taught in school, and I think it is worse now. I knew that I knew a lot more, about a lot of things, than the teacher in our local schools did, so we elected to home school our children - parents have the job of parenting (in my opinion) and teaching is naturally a part of parenting. We were not about to trust parenting to government employees, lol. It was a financial sacrifice to have mom stay home, but trying to raise children better was worth never owning a car with under 100,000 miles on it to us.

So yes, while collecting all those artifacts of creation was a passion, challenging taught notions about them was nit in my mind in my youth. The fact is, my ego was fed by adults who were always telling me how smart I was - so I loved my hobbies, and I loved being thought to be more knowledgeable than I really was. That was not difficult, since I was more knowledgeable about "science" stuff, than most of the adults around me.

[Omegaman 3.0]

On 10/2/2022 at 12:08 PM, JohnR7 said:

the Church began when Peter preached his sermon in the upper room on the day of Pentecost

Peter preaches a sermon in the upper room? I was thinking he did that outside, were all the Jew of various language we outside for the festival!

[Omegaman 3.0]

On 10/2/2022 at 9:22 PM, com7fy8 said:

Now I maybe see the connection: if there is question that God exists, then certainly there is question that I exist.

I have to go with Descartes on that, "I think, therefore I am!"

Perhaps you prefer the other version:

"I think, therefore I am - I think!"

[Omegaman 3.0]

11 hours ago, missmuffet said:

Some people have even stopped talking to me or ignored me once they find out I am a Christian. 

Interesting, if anything, I have had the opposite experience, being a Christian makes you more interesting! Who wants to just talk to parrots and clones, I think most people like people with different ideas from theirs - though maybe not always for the most noble reasons.

[Who me]

As has been said Atheism covers a mutltude of views and there are many reasons why people are atheists.

 

Our role is to be a 'rep' for Jesus, to live a consistent ' holy ' life that actively demonstrates the love of God for All man kind.

 

That is, as you are aware, this is not an easy or simple task.

There are two questions that can help a discussion with anyone.

 

What do you belief?

For a ' hurt ' unbeliever, Does the existence of an abusive teacher negate/destroy what they teach, so does an abusive 'christian' prove there is no God?

[NCAP]

1 hour ago, Who me said:

so does an abusive 'christian' prove there is no God?

Why would anyone think that God is there in an abusive Christian?