In the next few weeks, we’ll look at the atheist position.
Is it a valid option? Why do people pick that option? Can it be defended? Ect…
I’ll just start today by posting this ebook, The Infidel Delusion a great book that is, in fact, a response to The Christian Delusion.
I hope you enjoy this.
Oldchurchfan's Blog 
What makes you think that atheism is a choice?
Faith is a “gift” right?
”Faith is a gift” says who? The Bible. But you don’t believe the Bible because ”God doesn’t exist”, that’s your position from what I can see on your blog.
Atheism is a choice… Be consistent with your own position.
There are a lot of verses in the Bible where people are called to believe and call upon the name of the Lord in order to be saved.
You speak of that which you do not understand.
Have you ever been an atheist?
Do you know what it is like when everything you Know to be True one day appears false?
I was once like you. I believed what you believe. I said what you say. Now I am on the other side of this imaginary war. All I do is talk about how I see things and ask questions with no convincing answers. Is that bad? Should I take my ball and go home?
I didn’t choose to be an atheist. I love Jesus and prayed every day. I have read the bible many times. I use to give away pocket new testaments and play in the church band. I was even a church board member for a few years. Then, one day, something shifted in my mind and I saw everything in a new way. I tried to go back but I couldn’t. Like looking at one of those double image drawings, once I saw it the other way I could not help but see it.
I did not choose it. I just woke up.
Can you love me the way your Jesus would love me? Or is the fact that I am not like you to much for you to handle? I don’t care would you believe. But if you are going to follow your Christ, then sow love. Not hate.
The fight between world views is pointless. I mean what could I say to you that would make you stop believing in god? What kind of evidence would it take? You answer is nothing, right? Their is nothing that would change your mind. Well, the same is true for atheists. We see the world too. Just not like you see it. Why do we all need to be right? Why can’t we accept the possibility that we might be wrong… All of us?
Peace.
Thanks for your comment Zebulon, I appreciate you took the time to share it with me.
No, I have never been an atheist. I still think you made a choice based on what you read in the Bible or your experience or something else.
You are right when you say that nothing you can say will change my mind and, from what I see, nothing I can say will change the mind of an atheist. Let’s say it is rare to see people change from Atheist to Theist and vice versa.
If you didn’t make the choice to become an atheist and no one could’ve convinced you to become one, what caused the ”shift in your mind” and why did you believe in God in the first place.
How did everything you know to be true became false…? I spoke with many atheists, unbelievers, former believers, agnostics, ect… And I never receive a good argument or proof that what I believe is not true. Of course, sometimes there are doubts but a lot could be explained and my faith just got stronger.
You said what I say, you believed what I believe, you ”love” Jesus, ect… ( You still love Jesus, or is it just a typo…)
The possibility that we might be wrong, all of us?… No. I don’t accept that and I don’t believe I am wrong. And we can’t be all wrong, at least when it comes to God’s existance.
He exists or He doesn’t…
You are on the other side of this ”Imaginary war”, and I can see from your blog that you do fight it, even though it is imaginary.
God bless you!
I can’t think a great metaphor so I will try this one. Let us say you lived your whole life in a windowless bomb shelter. You never went outside and you never saw the sky. For whatever reason your parents told you that the sky was red. Your whole life you believed this to be true. Then when you were an adult you got to go outside for the first time and to you shock the sky was blue.
Now do you have a choice in what color you believe the sky is? You may have had a choice to go outside, but can you keep believing the sky is red?
As for what changed my mind, I wrote a post on it here http://zebulonthered.wordpress.com/2010/03/08/the-last-straw/ Noting I give as reasons will be good enough for you. I understand that.
Yes that “love Jesus” was a typo. I don’t hate him, how could I? I don’t hate Santa either… Jesus had some good things to say. If he was indeed the one who said them. He seems to be a very enlightened man. The Buddha and Jesus agree on most points.
Your inability to see the possibility that you are in error is a dangerous fault. Wars come from this human trait. I have fought to remove this tendency from myself for years, and am still trying now.
The idea that either god exists or he does not is erroneous. What is god? Is it or he what you think or is it or he something totally outside human understanding? Is it a personality or a set of mathematical formulas? We don’t know and we may never know. Just because you think you have it right, it is right… But you can not prove it. Neither can I. No one can.
I an not fighting you war. I am asking questions in the hope of civilized discussion. I stopped fighting some time ago. If you don’t talk about it it will not get better. I try not to attack people on my blog. Sometimes, when I have a bad encounter with someone I will say things that are outside on my goal, but I am human. What can you do?
Peace.
I like your example of the red sky and I see your point. At the same time, not all believers are believers because of what their parents taught them when they were kids and you are a good example that it is not always true for atheists. Your example also suggests that you have ”proof” or ‘fact” (blue sky) that God doesn’t exist. We know that’s not the case.
Yes, the person God is certainly outside of our understanding but He revealed Himself, in ways we can understand, through the creation, the Bible and Christ. (I understand you do no believe that anymore.)
Making up ”definition” of who God is doesn’t help you defend your position. Even if you had a point, God exists or He doesn’t. He may be one of the definition you gave or something else that we don’t know and may never know( if He exists) or He doesn’t exist. So you can only be right or wrong regarding the existance of God ( or ”a god” for the sake of the argument).
When I read your comment, there are some things I don’t get. You say that you don’t hate Jesus and you don’t hate Santa either. Basically saying that Jesus never existed. Yet, you continue your comment saying that He had some good things to say.
My inability to see the possibility that I might be in error is dangerous? I didn’t say that I am always right and that I never doubted, in fact I said that I do have doubts sometimes and I do need to find an explanation to understand. Having strong convictions is not something dangerous.
Thanks for the link, I’ll go read it now.
God bless you!