What makes an atheist so scary

[cjrose]

Children of God in Christ are free from sin--in other words, they are free from the pull of it. We can actually choose to NOT sin! Those without Christ don't have that freedom. So, as far as your so-called stats are concerned...they are already wrong from the get-go.

I'm going to have to disagree with a part of your statement here. Any nonbeliever is just as capable of living a good, close to sinless life as any Christian. Jesus doesn't make someone a good person, a person is good because they believe in Jesus, (at least in your eyes).

But, on the other hand, I sometimes find atheists, or agnostics, who will judge Christians on a much higher standard than the rest of us. I do not find this fair, and I believe that Christians should be seen as human as the rest of us. I just wanted to get that in there before you strangled me....

And I am going to have to disagree with you system in part at least. Look at Paul and what he was and what he became when the Holy Spirit awakened and became alive within him. He was a man with a wicked heart who was evil in many ways. The light of the Lord transformed him immediately and he made it his mission to go and build new churches meaning, to preach the good news and change hearts so they will then go and build new churches and so on.

To act maliciously against the Spirit is to deny the Lord. So, perhaps these "Christians" who commit such heinous crimes against others and against themselves are perhaps labeling themselves as Christians and demonstrating to others to distort God's Word. This is the kind of thing that the coming adversary is already doing to destroy the love of God and draw the lost toward him and away from God.

The coming anti christ will decieve and renounce God. To pervert and distort Scripture. He is cunning, deceptive, essentially evil. He is working hard to bring others to ultimate destruction.

The Holy Spirit cultivates love, wisdom, faith, and the desire to obey and demonstrate God's Love. I agree that Christians should be viewed as human and fallable but many watch carefully in wait to see us fall and pounce. Christians have been persecuted through history and I don't expect it to change anytime soon.

[Guest ewJim]

Without moral standards and laws which are based on God's authority and His laws, society goes into a rapid downward spiral.

In America, atheists commit less crimes than religions people do, on average. I can't remember where I learned that; I'll dig up the source and post it soon.

An atheist would not believe in God so would have no absolute reason to uphold any laws beyond popular vote or personal opinion.

WHAT?!

Of course they have a reason to abide by laws! Laws instill stability. Atheists want to live in stable societies as much as anyone else.

I'm not afraid of an atheist, but I am concerned at the damage that philosophy could ultimately cause.

Atheists don't believe in God. That doesn't mean they don't believe in other things. Christianity did not invent morality. There are all kinds of moral systems within society that are peaceful, compassionate, and completely nonreligious.

I think that athiests follow rules and laws of society (murder, stealing, rape, etc) for fear of being put in prison, or becuase of their own self-worth and pride, but what about sins that are not against the law?

Is it alright to lie? God says no, but those who don't follow Him could object. What damage does lying do? A Lot, think about if everyone lied all the time, and you believed what they said, you wouldn't believe anything true AND the gossiping and lying about others causes hatred which could lead to fights.

Is it alright to commit adultery? Some athiests believe so. They say it's alright to lust after women and view porn, or sleep with someone outside of a marriage. But what has this kind of mentality done to our society? Do we not see a rise in child pornography, rape, kidnapping, and sexual murder?

I have also found that many athiests who reject the authority of God and live by a "as long as you don't hurt anyone you can do whatever you want" mentality are the biggest hypocrits. Why do I say that? Well, there are hypocrits in the Christian world, mainly those who sin and dont follow the word of God, but pick and chose the commands to follow. But in the athiests world, I see some who would not judge someone by their blasphemy, or lying, or cheating, or adultery, but would judge someone for lesser reasons such as the music they listen to, the clothes they wear, etc. How many times has someone looked, and judged someone for a non-sinful item like this and condemned them in their own minds. This is what I concider hypocritical. The person is not seen in sin. If I judge someone, I judge a Christian who is involved in habitual sin. Not that I condemn them, but I know they need guidance and to follow the Lord, but I see athiests and others judging and taking the throne of God by condemning others for stupid reasons. I think you get my point.

There is absolute authority in this universe, and it is God's authority. All knees will bow down to Christ, either by your will or His will. Please get rid of the pettiness and live according to His authority. It is the one who really matters. Anything else is irrelevant. ewJim

[systemstrike_7]

I think that athiests follow rules and laws of society (murder, stealing, rape, etc) for fear of being put in prison, or becuase of their own self-worth and pride, but what about sins that are not against the law?

Is it alright to lie? God says no, but those who don't follow Him could object. What damage does lying do? A Lot, think about if everyone lied all the time, and you believed what they said, you wouldn't believe anything true AND the gossiping and lying about others causes hatred which could lead to fights.

Is it alright to commit adultery? Some athiests believe so. They say it's alright to lust after women and view porn, or sleep with someone outside of a marriage. But what has this kind of mentality done to our society? Do we not see a rise in child pornography, rape, kidnapping, and sexual murder?

I have also found that many athiests who reject the authority of God and live by a "as long as you don't hurt anyone you can do whatever you want" mentality are the biggest hypocrits. Why do I say that? Well, there are hypocrits in the Christian world, mainly those who sin and dont follow the word of God, but pick and chose the commands to follow. But in the athiests world, I see some who would not judge someone by their blasphemy, or lying, or cheating, or adultery, but would judge someone for lesser reasons such as the music they listen to, the clothes they wear, etc. How many times has someone looked, and judged someone for a non-sinful item like this and condemned them in their own minds. This is what I concider hypocritical. The person is not seen in sin. If I judge someone, I judge a Christian who is involved in habitual sin. Not that I condemn them, but I know they need guidance and to follow the Lord, but I see athiests and others judging and taking the throne of God by condemning others for stupid reasons. I think you get my point.

There is absolute authority in this universe, and it is God's authority. All knees will bow down to Christ, either by your will or His will. Please get rid of the pettiness and live according to His authority. It is the one who really matters. Anything else is irrelevant. ewJim

I'm afraid that you are generalizing atheist. Not all atheist delight in lying. Some of the most honest men I have ever met have been atheists. Second, Christians are just as guilty as lying. I could pick out a few Christians that are compulsive liars, and then say that all Christians lie, but this would be wrong and misleading. Again, not all atheists delight in committing adultery. Plenty of atheists have great marriages, and are very faithful. I could pick out some Christians who commit adultery and say that all Christians commit adultery, but again, this would be wrong and misleading. So are you blaming rape, pornography, and adultery on atheists? I believe this has gone on in the Christian community for much longer than the atheist community.

When you speak of atheists who judge people based off of their fashion choice, I think you are speaking of the "gothic" crowd. I will concede, that this is very prominent, at least in my town, but this is simply untrue for the majority of atheists. I have a feeling that the only atheists you have come across are the type to say, "I hate God" or "God hates me", well this isn't true for most atheists. They don't have a grudge against God, they merely do not believe in God.

And why are you judging people upon their sin? Does this not lead to a decadence of everyone's personality? Why don't you look at who that person really is? How about you don't judge anyone until you finally get to know them? Technically, you have no right to judge anyone at all, according to your Christian scripture.

So before you "condemn" atheists, let us not generalize them. Remember, atheists aren't exactly a group of people that believe the same things, or go to an atheist church together, or anything of that sort.

[Guest ewJim]

Yes, i do see your point and I am wrong to judge, but I also have run into many christians that commit habitual sin and have no repentance about it. I actually started a post called "Turn from sin you must" to talk about it. I don't believe that just because you believe in Jesus Christ or God that you are doing to heaven. There must be that born again experience and there must be a complete change after that, a fight for purity.

You are right I dont know a lot of athiests, but what I'm really trying to say is that when you do remove the authority of God from "morals and values" in society, but denying His existance, it would lead that society into disaster, as what is given to us as sin would then become opinions from one person to the other. So please understand I'm not judging athiests and i'm sure there are morally good ones out there, but the title of this post is what makes athiests so scary, and my point is that they are not what is scary to me. What is scary to me is removing the authority of Christ from His teaching and commands.

This is what is happening in our country, and it is exactly why the younger generations morales and values are diminishing.

Check out the movie called "Time Changer" it was based on this exact thing. ewJim

[MorningGlory]

I'm not sure why a person would be an atheist. Grew up with atheist parents or they feel like the Lord has not been there for them or are so arrogant as to believe they themselves are the be all and end all.........well, there are probably a thousand reasons. But one thing I am sure of; being an atheist, the absence of belief in any kind of Creator or Supreme Being, gives carte blanche to do whatever, whenever, with whomever you please. That's attractive to some people. In other words, if it feels good do it; after all, there is no judgement and no penalty to pay. Or so they think.

[seanpont]

I'm not sure why a person would be an atheist. Grew up with atheist parents or they feel like the Lord has not been there for them or are so arrogant as to believe they themselves are the be all and end all.........well, there are probably a thousand reasons. But one thing I am sure of; being an atheist, the absence of belief in any kind of Creator or Supreme Being, gives carte blanche to do whatever, whenever, with whomever you please. That's attractive to some people. In other words, if it feels good do it; after all, there is no judgement and no penalty to pay. Or so they think.

You know exactly what it is like to be an atheist. The following is not an argument against Christianity, but an illustration of an atheist's thinking or point of view. I could not link to it without breaking the TOS, so I paraphrased it bellow.

"You believe that the Bible is the literal and inspired word of God; meaning that men wrote it, but God inspired those men to write His message. You also believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and that His sacrifice bridges the gap between man and God, (The gap being sin). You believe these propositions because you think they are true, not merely because they make you feel good. You may wonder how it is possible for an atheist to find these sorts of assertions ridiculous. Consider: every devout Muslim has the same reasons for being a Muslim that you now have for being a Christian. And yet, you know exactly what it is like not to find these reasons compelling. On virtually every page, the Qur'an declares that it is the perfect word of the Creator of the universe. Muslims believe this as fully as you believe the Bible's account of itself. There is a vast literature describing the life of Muhammad that, from the Muslim point of view, proves his unique status as the Prophet of God. While Muhammad did not claim to be divine, he claimed to offer the most perfect revelation of God's will. He also assured his followers that Jesus was not divine (Qur'an 5:71-75; 19:30-38) and that anyone who believed otherwise would spend eternity in hell. Muslims are convinced that Muhammad's pronouncements on these subjects, as on all others, are infallible.

Why don't you find these claims convincing? Why don't you lose any sleep over whether or not you should convert to Islam? Please take a moment to reflect on this. You know exactly what it is like to be an atheist with respect to Islam. Isn't it obvious that Muslims are not being honest in their evaluation of the evidence? Isn't it obvious that anyone who thinks that the Qur'an is the perfect word of the Creator of the universe has not read the book very critically? Isn't it obvious that Muslims have developed a mode of discourse that seeks to preserve dogma, generation after generation, rather than question it? Yes, these things are obvious. Understand that the way you view Islam is precisely the way every Muslim views Christianity. And it is the way I view all religions.

Christians regularly assert that the Bible predicts future historical events. For instance, Deuteronomy 28:64 says, "The Lord will scatter you among the nations from one end of the earth to the other." Jesus says, in Luke 19:43-44, "The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God's coming to you." We are meant to believe that these utterances predict the subsequent history of the Jews with such uncanny specificity so as to admit of only a supernatural explanation. It is on the basis of such reasoning that 44 percent of the American population now believes that Jesus will return to earth to judge the living and the dead sometime in the next fifty years.

But just imagine how breathtakingly specific a work of prophecy could be if it were actually the product of omniscience. If the Bible were such a book, it would make specific, falsifiable predictions about human events. You would expect it to contain a passage like, "In the latter half of the twentieth century, humankind will develop a globally linked system of computers-the principles of which I set forth in Leviticus-and this system shall be called the Internet." The Bible contains nothing remotely like this. In fact, it does not contain a single sentence that could not have been written by a man or woman living in the first century.

Take a moment to imagine how good a book could be if it were written by the Creator of the universe. Such a book could contain a chapter on mathematics that, after two thousand years of continuous use, would still be the richest source of mathematical insight the earth has ever seen. Instead, the Bible contains some very obvious mathematical errors. In two places, for instance, the Good Book gives the ratio of a circumference of a circle to its diameter as simply 3 (1 Kings 7: 23-26 and 2 Chronicles 4: 2-5). We now refer to this constant relation with the Greek letter p. While the decimal expansion of p runs to infinity-3.1415926535 . . .-we can calculate it to any degree of accuracy we like. Centuries before the oldest books of the Bible were written, both the Egyptians and Babylonians approximated p to a few decimal places. And yet the Bible-whether inerrant or divinely inspired-offers us an approximation that is terrible even by the standards of the ancient world. Needless to say, many religious people have found ingenious ways of rationalizing this. And yet, these rationalizations cannot conceal the obvious deficiency of the Bible as a source of mathematical insight. It is absolutely true to say that, if Archimedes had written a chapter of the Bible, the text would bear much greater evidence of the author's "omniscience."

Why doesn't the Bible say anything about electricity, about DNA, or about the actual age and size of the universe? What about a cure for cancer? Millions of people are dying horribly from cancer at this very moment, many of them children. When we fully understand the biology of cancer, this understanding will surely be reducible to a few pages of text. Why aren't these pages, or anything remotely like them, found in the Bible? The Bible is a very big book. There was room for God to instruct us on how to keep slaves and sacrifice a wide variety of animals. Please appreciate how this looks to one who stands outside the Christian faith. It is genuinely amazing how ordinary a book can be and still be thought the product of omniscience.

Of course, your reasons for believing in God may be more personal than those I have discussed above. I have no doubt that your acceptance of Christ coincided with some very positive changes in your life. Perhaps you regularly feel rapture or bliss while in prayer. I do not wish to denigrate any of these experiences. I would point out, however, that billions of other human beings, in every time and place, have had similar experiences-but they had them while thinking about Krishna, or Allah, or the Buddha, while making art or music, or while contemplating the sheer beauty of nature. There is no question that it is possible for us to have profoundly transformative experiences. And there is no question that it is possible for us to misinterpret these experiences and to further delude ourselves about the nature of the universe." -Sam Harris

[ted]

Why doesn't the Bible say anything about electricity, about DNA, or about the actual age and size of the universe? What about a cure for cancer? Millions of people are dying horribly from cancer at this very moment, many of them children. When we fully understand the biology of cancer, this understanding will surely be reducible to a few pages of text. Why aren't these pages, or anything remotely like them, found in the Bible? The Bible is a very big book. There was room for God to instruct us on how to keep slaves and sacrifice a wide variety of animals. Please appreciate how this looks to one who stands outside the Christian faith. It is genuinely amazing how ordinary a book can be and still be thought the product of omniscience.

Why?

Because the Bible, when taken in total context, was designed to reveal enough for you to make an informed choice regarding His plan of Salvation. It serves no other purpose. Each piece of the Bible is designed and included to reveal to you something which always leads to Christ. However obscure a piece may be, it's designed to bring you closer to a choice which God presents to you, and leaves the final decision completely in your hands.

The "why" to every specific question may or may not be given to us, for God does have His secrets which He chooses not to reveal to us, yet (Deu 29:29), but He does give us enough to make the choice for Him.

Each inclusion, ultimately, leaves us with a choice: Accept the Gift, or not. Personally, I don't think the Bible was ever meant to be something which would answer every question presented by mankind, but rather, it was enough for us to make a choice concerning the future plans which God has in store for us. You'll never answer every question of science, mathematics, philosophy, or any other subject we have questions about by reading it, but one: The question of whether we should accept the sacrifice of Jesus or not. In that regard, it answers the question in full.

So, all told, if you want to learn algebra, buy the proper text book. If you want to learn how to make a meatloaf, buy a cook book.

If you want to know how to attain the free gift of Salvation through Jesus and learn how it was made possible, get a hold of a Bible and you'll have all you need.

May this be the day that you choose Him.

t.

[sylvan3]

Why?

Because the Bible, when taken in total context, was designed to reveal enough for you to make an informed choice regarding His plan of Salvation. It serves no other purpose. Each piece of the Bible is designed and included to reveal to you something which always leads to Christ. However obscure a piece may be, it's designed to bring you closer to a choice which God presents to you, and leaves the final decision completely in your hands.

The "why" to every specific question may or may not be given to us, for God does have His secrets which He chooses not to reveal to us, yet (Deu 29:29), but He does give us enough to make the choice for Him.

Each inclusion, ultimately, leaves us with a choice: Accept the Gift, or not. Personally, I don't think the Bible was ever meant to be something which would answer every question presented by mankind, but rather, it was enough for us to make a choice concerning the future plans which God has in store for us. You'll never answer every question of science, mathematics, philosophy, or any other subject we have questions about by reading it, but one: The question of whether we should accept the sacrifice of Jesus or not. In that regard, it answers the question in full.

So, all told, if you want to learn algebra, buy the proper text book. If you want to learn how to make a meatloaf, buy a cook book.

If you want to know how to attain the free gift of Salvation through Jesus and learn how it was made possible, get a hold of a Bible and you'll have all you need.

May this be the day that you choose Him.

t.

If what you are saying is true, why do so many interpret the Bible so differently? How does one know what the "true" interpretation is?

The people from Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas believe they have the correct interpretation. Their interpretaion allows them to protest at funerals of American servicemen. They claim that America is being punished for tolerating homosexuality (those who doubt the validity of what I am saying can Google and go to their website). Yet, they have "accepted the gift" to which you refer, as evidenced by their citations of Biblical verses in order to justify their actions.

Edited February 14, 2007 by sylvan3

[Masked Chris]

As an atheist, I worry about the distrust and fear that some theists have for atheists. Because of this, I want to ask a general question.

What is it about atheism or the atheist that you find frightening or damaging to society?

I have included some information that theists and atheists alike might find interesting about the fear and discrimination in America.

According to a study done by the Sociology department at the University of Minnesota, the atheist is America's most distrusted minority.

From a telephone sampling of more than 2,000 households, university researchers found that Americans rate atheists below Muslims, recent immigrants, gays and lesbians and other minority groups in

[seanpont]

Why doesn't the Bible say anything about electricity, about DNA, or about the actual age and size of the universe? What about a cure for cancer? Millions of people are dying horribly from cancer at this very moment, many of them children. When we fully understand the biology of cancer, this understanding will surely be reducible to a few pages of text. Why aren't these pages, or anything remotely like them, found in the Bible? The Bible is a very big book. There was room for God to instruct us on how to keep slaves and sacrifice a wide variety of animals. Please appreciate how this looks to one who stands outside the Christian faith. It is genuinely amazing how ordinary a book can be and still be thought the product of omniscience.

Why?

Because the Bible, when taken in total context, was designed to reveal enough for you to make an informed choice regarding His plan of Salvation. It serves no other purpose. Each piece of the Bible is designed and included to reveal to you something which always leads to Christ. However obscure a piece may be, it's designed to bring you closer to a choice which God presents to you, and leaves the final decision completely in your hands.

The "why" to every specific question may or may not be given to us, for God does have His secrets which He chooses not to reveal to us, yet (Deu 29:29), but He does give us enough to make the choice for Him.

Each inclusion, ultimately, leaves us with a choice: Accept the Gift, or not. Personally, I don't think the Bible was ever meant to be something which would answer every question presented by mankind, but rather, it was enough for us to make a choice concerning the future plans which God has in store for us. You'll never answer every question of science, mathematics, philosophy, or any other subject we have questions about by reading it, but one: The question of whether we should accept the sacrifice of Jesus or not. In that regard, it answers the question in full.

So, all told, if you want to learn algebra, buy the proper text book. If you want to learn how to make a meatloaf, buy a cook book.

If you want to know how to attain the free gift of Salvation through Jesus and learn how it was made possible, get a hold of a Bible and you'll have all you need.

May this be the day that you choose Him.

t.

As I said in my post I wasn't arguing against christianity; I was just showing an atheist perspective. I was also trying to show that christians and atheists agree when it comes to islam and other religions.

By the way I just moved from FayetteNam about a year ago!