I am a spiritual person far from being religious, but to an Atheist, there’s no difference so I won’t bother trying to explain. Atheists call people who believe in God delusional because they see past what is seen. I call that insight, something they clearly lack, yet these people have the audacity to denigrate and reduce people of faith and call them unintelligent.
“Where is the evidence?” they ask. Yet if you ask them to produce the evidence of their faith in evolution, they themselves fall short and so they resort to ad hominem attacks on God’s character (How could such a good God allow people to suffer in Hell for eternity is the standard script) to appeal to an emotional level, clouding people’s logic, rather than accepting the fact that they are arguing to their own defeat. Feelings are feelings, logic is logic; two different things but an Atheist can resort to emotions to argue their case about a logical concept. Yet they can easily invalidate our arguments when we bring up faith. Such a double standard.
It is not their fault however. Rather, it is originating from their puppet master, Lucifer who coined the slogan, “Do what thou wilt.” When you truly look at it, Atheism rejects ANY notion of God and accountability to God, while Satanism rejects God and accountability to God. These two avenues both lead to the same end; the former is cloaked in an “intelligent” deception, the latter a raw form acknowledging the origin of such blatant defiance.
If you’re going to cry tolerance, you better make sure you walk your talk.
These very same people judge people of faith when we talk about God. We have every right to talk about God just as they have every right to talk about their unbelief. Yet society approves when they violate and marginalize people of faith, an inalienable right for them so it seems while they point their fingers at us for being judgmental. Ahhh the injustice is insufferable but this is the price we pay for being citizens in Christ’s kingdom. This world is not our home.
If you happen to be an Atheist and you are reading this, I have no beef with you. You however have beef with God. I am merely practicing my free will to believe in Him as you are practicing your free will to believe you don’t have free will, living to do as you will, yet not having free will? I can say, that is quite something to truly think about. At least the Satanists are honest in saying they want to do their own will rather than God’s, but then again, don’t Atheists do the same thing?
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”
Proverbs 9:10
Amen
According to them, that would make you stupid for agreeing. Seriously.
I’m happy to be stupid for the Lord
Amen to that.
I understand that there are some pretty bad atheists, but I try to be respectful and logical when defending atheism myself. I’m sorry you’ve had some bad encounters with atheists, and let me know if you think I’m being disrespectful here.
So I completely agree with your right to worship whatever you want and write about whatever you want. Most logical atheists aren’t going to say you don’t have that right. I would do anything to defend that right. I just see a lot of harm particularly with organized religion. I could get into that if you wanted to hear it.
Also, I don’t have a “beef with god.” I just don’t believe in him. I’m presuming you don’t believe in Zeus, Ra, or any of the other thousands of gods that have existed throughout history. I just go one god further, because I see the equal lack of evidence. I understand that you are referring to a “feeling” but I choose only to believe in provable things. Also, feelings can be measured through chemicals released in the brain. It actually all comes back to evolution. People get a great deal of comfort from their faith, I understand, and maybe this is what you’re referring to. But in terms of actually believing in one of these gods, I just can’t do it without evidence.
Also, there is plenty of evidence for evolution. Darwin’s theory of natural selection has been tested and consistently holds true, and the fossil records are there to back it up. If you’re interested, I can point you to some great readings on the subject.
Thanks for your time. I know I’m not going to change your mind. I guess I’m just hoping to clear up some generalizations about atheism and clarify our position. Have a great day!
-Travis
You cannot apologize for the likes of Richard Dawkins and some others and nor do I want any apologies. I don’t force my beliefs on people. I do share and talk about it and if they disagree, it’s totally fine with me. I won’t call them names or consider them mentally challenged simply because they would rather believe something else. I can say I rarely remember an atheist debate (from what I’ve seen anyway) that didn’t end up with atheists calling God a tyrant or megalomaniac with such hatred in something they profess they don’t even believe in. It doesn’t make sense for me to see someone hate with such passion for something they claim to not even be there.
I have not yet met an atheist whose belief is not somehow influenced by some emotional traumatic event they have experienced which caused them to completely toss God out altogether. I’m sure they exist all thanks to embittered college professors hired with the very purpose to inculcate such hatred.
Anyway, my post is not to stir any debates. It is just to voice out the hypocrisy I see in some things. I do appreciate your visit.
I think you are stereotyping atheists. That’s not a good thing.
Nothing traumatic made me an atheist. The lack of evidence did.
I also don’t believe in Satan fir the same reasons I don’t believe in your deity. Equating us to Satanists is a poor attempt to demonize a whole section of the population.
Your very existence is evidence but it is your choice not to see it. I was making a parallel between Atheism and Satanism. It is so similar the only difference really is the terminology.
You can think I’m “demonizing” atheists, but even you can’t deny the blatant similarity. Also, both Atheists and Satanists happen to hate Christianity. There, another common thread.
I would categorize myself as an atheist. I can’t help but notice that you state you don’t have a beef with atheists but your telling a different story in your blog. You state they resort to ad hominem attacks but you are using them yourself. Someone says “Amen” and you respond with “According to them, that would make you stupid for agreeing. Seriously.”
As the other poster pointed out, atheists do not have a beef with god, they just don’t have a belief in a god. The same thing with “Lucifer”, No God, no Lucifer, nothing mystical. Although I am sure that there are people who play it up such as when Dawkins may call out the thought of god as a tyrant. Like you state “It is just to voice out the hypocrisy “.
Atheists don’t always come from a background of God, I dated a girl whose family came from a long line of atheists. I tossed out God all together because I didn’t find the teachings credible. Why does that bother you? Does it bother you if people are Buddhists? or believe in a different god than yours?
Over the last few years my blog has focused on belief and the more I write and interact, the more I think people should accept that the world is filled with various religious beliefs, philosophies and world views and try to get along with others. I tend to avoid the “My religion is better than yours” arguments now because they really get us nowhere.
Avoid the toxic folks and find an “atheist” that you can really get to know their world view. Don’t listen to the ones who are looking for a fight.
My initial comment “ad hominem” that you brought up was my reaction to a common atheistic disdain for people of faith. You can deny it for yourself if you don’t call people stupid. It would be valid since it doesn’t apply to you. You can try to label me a hypocrite as well and you’re certainly entitled to it. Of course I don’t think I am because there is truth to my statement, especially for those Atheists who really do call people stupid.
1 Corinthians 4:10 states, “We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honored, we are dishonored!”
I said “Amen” to Spaniard’s comment because what he said was actually biblical as I referenced above. I hope that clarifies that part.
I will stand on my statement that I don’t have “beef” with Atheists because I truly meant it. I don’t have a problem with Buddhists, Hindu or anything else for that matter as long as they can talk and I can talk without being called anything. However, one thing I do have a problem with is Islam (the Ideology itself, not the people) since (if one is born in it and wants to leave) that happens to be the only religion as of today that you can’t leave without dire consequences.
D’OH! Didn’t realize it was my NY friend 🙂 Hope all is well.
I know there are certain atheists that bother you but understand that sometimes the use of the labels can leave otherwise innocent people feeling stung by your words. Similarly, if I called Christians “fools”, it would be like calling my family fools.
Hi David. The truth is, we Christians know we will be marginalized. Jesus warned His followers that that would be expected. Some of us happen to be more tolerant to let offenses roll off our backs but as humans however, we are not exempt from feeling the “sting” in people’s words.
As a matter of fact, it is Jesus’ teaching in Luke 6:28-29 to “bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them” that spurs most people to make Christians the butt of the joke and get away without retaliation because we are taught to rise above that. I can guarantee no one will dare do that with Muslims as it could mean severe retaliation (they are entitled to act as they see fit to slanderers in their Sharia Law).
I can say being a “practicing” Christian is hard because my natural inclination would be to lash out on people and I’m not gonna lie, there are times I want to do exactly just that, but doing so would nullify my claim to be a follower of Christ.
Thanks for visiting.
I’m not sure why Christians would feel marginalized, Christians are the most populist religion in the US, they have a stranglehold on public office. An atheist has little chance of getting elected. Sometimes I wish people would walk in the shoes of an atheist for a while just to see what it is like.
Buddhism is the same way when it comes to turning the other cheek/offering someone your shirt, who has just stolen your coat. We often figure that someone needed it more. (Although, I will have to say my Christian brother in law doesn’t understand why I am so giving, go figure).
I know some fabulous atheists and Muslims. You should not label all people as your enemy, especially since, for instance, not all Muslims follow the religion of Islam. and not all who follow Islam are the terrorists you think they are.
I can’t really do anything to change your opinion other than show you that there are good atheists. I know based on experience that there are some Christians who are far removed from the teachings of Jesus but I don’t brand all Christians as such.
Peace 🙂
You don’t see Christian marginalization because the media doesn’t cover it. You could go to Liberty Institute if you want to look into that yourself and also you won’t feel it especially if you don’t identify with the group. I don’t view any group as my enemy either. However, I looked into Sharia and they have things that are unacceptable. Now, those good Muslims you know are not really strictly under Sharia since they are here in the US. If you are more interested about that, I wrote a post regarding the subject here https://modconspiracy.wordpress.com/2016/07/08/sharia-not-santa-is-coming-to-town/
I also suggest seeing the video within the post if you have time. It is quite interesting and eye opening and maybe you can ask your Muslim friends about it. It’s interesting you say not all Muslims follow the religion of Islam because their very own Islamic people (the hardcore ones) consider those you mentioned to be non-Muslims actually, especially those who befriend infidels.
I emphasized the word “practicing” because there are those who claim to be Christians by association (also just like those born into a Muslim family who are non-practicing) but pick and choose what they want to believe and don’t even believe the Bible to be authoritative. How can they be true followers if they don’t even believe it? Now we all falter, that is a given and I for one don’t claim I am better than anyone and have my weaknesses which I talk about openly in some of my blog posts, but you will know the makings of a true Christian, the one who lives by what they profess.
Also, there’s no need for convincing. You and I both know where we stand but what matters is ending amicably.