Anti-atheist?

[Smartie of the Soul]

I know that there's a lot of "Christians suck", "They caused every war" going about, and that's wrong. Most of these people don't know what they're talking about.

But I'm concerned that Christians are being anti-atheist... they're not making completely unfounded remarks, but I just get the feeling that they feel like they're talking down to me, or that they think I'm a lowly little worm because I don't have a faith. The voices just sound cold/snooty.

I'm not a lesser human being because I don't have a God. I've studied Religion in various forms for 4 years, then for the past year I've studied the Philosophy of Religion; the latter helped me to logically work out what I believed in.

I've made an informed decision about what I believe in: humans.
I believe that one should act in consideration for other people, and animals. Although I put people before animals. People should have free will and right, as long as their rights and actions do not infringe the rights of others.
I just believe in faith in humanity- in human compassion, and morals to guide us. We should be taught in childhood to, basically, follow the Christian life style apart from the presence of a God.

You may argue that God is a reason for morality, or goodness- or that Heaven, Hell, and God put our behaviour into perspective. But I think that people can live without it. I'm a good person. I live my life in a way, I think, Jesus or God would approve. But I don't do it for them. I do it for the people around me, and the moral force inside me that drives me to do the right thing.



http://www.humanism.org.uk/site/cms/

(if you click on the link, I think the 2nd statistic in the middle of the page is B*llocks. ^^)

[YLTYLT]

I understand your concern and you are right that there are definitely many "Christians" that can seem to look down their nose to people of differing faiths. But I think you would agree this is not the Christianity that Jesus taught. Am I aright?

But the very idea of our faith: that Jesus is The Way, The Truth and The Life, not just implies by requires exclusivity. And if I truly believe then I will share my beliefs and how it changed my life. Correct?

I think many Christians try to "sell" Christianity, I know I have found myself doing it, and just had to stop because I was working in the Flesh not in the Spirit. A Christian's Job is only to share their testimony and then see if the "potential christian" is open to listen how it changed their life. Then share the Gospel if they are open to it.

I am curious what knids of things they taught in the philosophy of Religion class. I doubt if I would agree. But I migt with some things.
My idea is that "Religion" is something that was made by man to come to God. But I do not believe that Christianity - the way that Jesus intended - is a religion. although I do believe that many men do treat and use Christianity as a "Religion".

Christianity is about what god did for us not about what we do to become closer to God.

Does that make sense? It sounds like you may have heard this before, so I was just wondering what your ideas about that last sentence I wrote and if your philosophy of Religion addressed this idea.

[zoegirl]

My hope is that my posts didn't come as a insulting. Sometimes it's hard to interpret written word. My apologies if they did.


However, you must understand that as CHristians, we will be against the atheist philosophy. To us, any belief denying GOd is abhorrent, denying His right as God.

You say you believe in humanity. And yet, humanity as a whole does evil. From mass homicides, brutal rapes, sexual abuse down to basic evil thoughts (How dare he cut me off! I was there first! She's so petty...I'm better than her, how dare they...)

There is, in society, this idea of morality...of what is proper. But where does this idea of "proper" and "right" come from...and what makes it right? Some say this is obvious. Rape is evil, murder is evil. However, throughout the US right now debate rages on with what is considered right. Homosexual behavior? Downloading music from the internet? Abortion? Some people even consider sex with minors right and claim it is compassionate and loving. These perversions may be obvious and others are subject to debate. Many say "To each his own" Even these ideas speak of the confusion over right and proper. For me, then, it is not enough to say you believe in humanity and simply saying we should act in consideration of others. How often, really and honestly, do we fail to be considerate? Even in a day? In our thoughts?

Even your point, about Christians being snooty and cold, illustrates that we are all fallen. We are prey to to same pride and anger that everybody else is.

Unfortunately, you are at a Christian discussion forum, and as such we are happy to try to dissuade you .

[FFC]

Smartie,
I'm a christian and I just want to tell you that I have quite a few athiest and agnostic friends that are great people and I love them. They don't murder, rape, steal, or anything like that that I know of. they are kind and generous and great family people. I don't see devil horns or smell brimstone when I am in their presence . Most have the philosophy much like yours, to treat people like you would want to be treated and not do anything that would hurt anybody. I agree, if everybody acted like this it would solve much, if not all, of the worlds problems...

However, Christians look beyond this world to the next. We believe that there is a heaven and a hell and that there will accountability... even for us who are going to heaven.

So don't think we look down on you because we think you are the scum of the earth. We just believe that there is more to this world and all that we observe with our physical senses and we hope and pray that you would come to see that too before it is too late.

[Smartie of the Soul]

I am curious what knids of things they taught in the philosophy of Religion class. I doubt if I would agree. But I migt with some things.

We're not taught to believe in one thing. My teacher is Catholic after all, and she's not going to be pressuring me to be atheist.

We just study various different topics-
The problem of evil and suffering, creation, marriage/divorce/sex, etc.
We then look at many different views from both the atheist and Christian side. Then, we look at the strengths and weaknesses of every view. We can come to our own conclusions.

[YLTYLT]

I am curious what knids of things they taught in the philosophy of Religion class. I doubt if I would agree. But I migt with some things.

We're not taught to believe in one thing. My teacher is Catholic after all, and she's not going to be pressuring me to be atheist.

We just study various different topics-
The problem of evil and suffering, creation, marriage/divorce/sex, etc.
We then look at many different views from both the atheist and Christian side. Then, we look at the strengths and weaknesses of every view. We can come to our own conclusions.

Would'nt you agree that your Catholic teacher's view has the possibility of skewing or influencing the results of her teaching, even if she does not intend to. I mean if her view of Christianity is different than the way Jesus intended, how do you know that you are looking at Christianity correctly? Are you looking at all the different denominations and how they interpret the bible and what doctrines they believe. Although there are some similarities, I do know that Catholic doctrine is considerably different than Protestant doctrine.

[Vassal]

The first misunderstanding you have is that God would approve of any life-style that does not include him, regardless of how “good” a person is. The most important thing a person must do is accept Christ as their King and Savior (John 6:28-29, John 3:18-21). Without that, nothing short of being sinless will grant you favor with God. If you do your best to live a “Christian” lifestyle with the exception of worshiping God you may do ok here on Earth, but what about when you die? All sins must be punished, so if you have not allowed Christ pay for yours then you will have to pay for them. It doesn't matter how “good” of a person you are. Even Stalin, Hitler, or Saddam could have found approval with God if they had acknowledged their evil ways and turned to Christ before they died.

If you want to post some more specific topics you've discussed in class I can give you some better replies, but as far as certain Christians being rude to atheists, or anyone, you must understand that not everyone who calls themselves a Christian is really a Christian. Being a Christian isn't just a belief, or just going to church on Sundays, it is following Christ every day of the week. Christians aren't perfect, so maybe you ran into someone who was just having a bad day, but a true Christian's actions should be similar to Christ's. Someone who consistently acts opposite of Christ is not a Christian, even if they claim to be.