Ask an atheist thread

[turnorburn]

Correction: (A humans greatest fear is death) (A Christians greatest Joy is death)

To forever to be with the Lord.

turnorburn

 

[JoJo]

Jojo if you would like me to remove this response from the public feel free to PM me.

It's fine here too.

 

[Slippermen]

I was an atheist...but I was 15...I became an agnostic after a wise 14 year old pointed out I didn't know (beep) and had no proof
so i was back in square one lol-now I got no real clue and am open to suggestion lol

 

[Flaccid Rigidity]

To ask you a question, it would stand to reason that I thought there was something I could learn from you. That is not the case.

 

[azlan88]

I have a question. How has atheism been a light to the world the way that Jesus has? You know, like keeping people from committing suicide and giving life meaning? I challenge atheism on every level until no speck of dust is left unswept from under any stone that is turned, and I urge you to challenge Christianity with three times that measure. So, how wonderfully can your atheism save me from my Jesus?

 

[zer0das]

A human's greatest fear is death. We are so afraid of death, that our minds consider the idea of there being "more" to life after we die. We cannot cope with the idea that everything ends. Humans, Christians and non-Christians from around the world and throughout history, have always considered the idea of an afterlife. It is the ultimate comfort. It brings us motivation and meaning. It gives us a purpose in life.

I have a couple of questions for you. My first is do you personally fear death? I considered myself an atheist for a while, and I can't say that during that time I particularly feared death. Perhaps because I'm not too terribly old yet and haven't had to deal with issues regarding my mortality. Though I did nearly drown as a kid... and yet strangely, it never really traumatized me or made me think about death all that much. It may just be me, but I think if everything were to just end at death, that wouldn't be all that bad.

As far as the believably of the Bible, that was also my main reason for becoming an atheist for a while. I couldn't accept a literal creation, Noah's flood, and a number of other Old Testament stories. However, I think a lot of this has to do with a lot of Christians insisting that everything must be literally true, when I don't necessarily think that is the case, especially with regards to the creation and the flood. I started wrestling with this again when God started moving me back to him, and I discovered most Jews never took creation literally, nor did Christians until the Protestant reformation. It is fairly like the flood story was a product of other cultural flood myths. This lead me to the conclusion (which will likely irk some people) that the Old Testament is a mix of mythology and salvation history.

A few months later this verse came up in church "As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain men not teach false doctrines any longer nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. These promote controversies rather than God's work- which is by faith" (1 Timothy 1:3,4). Now some would argue this isn't necessarily referring to Jewish mythology, but given the endless genealogies I think it does. Compare it to 1 Timothy 4:7 "Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives' tales; rather train yourself to be godly." I think it is pretty clear there are two different myths being referred to here: the Jewish ones and the pagan ones. Otherwise, why would Christians be devoting themselves to myths at Ephesus? If they were pagan myths in the first case, I suspect Paul would be less kind toward them.

This brings up the question, so why keep the Old Testament if it isn't all literally true? Because the Jewish mythology is the chosen one. It doesn't have to be literally true to aid us in our walk with Christ.

Which leads to my second question: what do you make of Jesus? To me, he was the one thing about Christianity I could never dismiss about Christianity even as an atheist. In retrospect, it seemed kind of foolish to toss him aside simply because of other misgivings that were relatively minor (although given how many people take the creation, flood, etc as literal to the detriment of many people I think would be believers if it were not for this, perhaps it is not so minor. I know I felt as if my church would condemn as a heretic for the longest time if I expressed views such as these).

 

[coelacanth]

I have a question. How has atheism been a light to the world the way that Jesus has? You know, like keeping people from committing suicide and giving life meaning? I challenge atheism on every level until no speck of dust is left unswept from under any stone that is turned, and I urge you to challenge Christianity with three times that measure. So, how wonderfully can your atheism save me from my Jesus?

Challenge accepted. Let me know if you would like a debate.