Category Archives: Atheism, Belief, Perspective, Religion, Viewpoint

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Atheist or Christian? A Matter of Belief and Viewpoint

Belief or unbelief, Believer or Unbeliever, believing or unbelieving. . . .There are many ways to say it, but it can be reduced to a state of belief.

Yet, again, I read through another blog written by a former minister of the gospel who is now a professing and sharp-tongued critic of the faith. His world view is that of a rather new atheist who has found his peace in non-belief. I read his words and, actually, appreciate his honesty and transparency. His views along with others I have been reading who left the faith and have embraced atheism, shares a bitterness toward what they once believed and proclaimed but now whole-heartedly reject.

Even though I find it disheartening and sad beyond measure, I do somewhat understand their angst and desire to be removed, disconnected, and distant from what they once proclaimed. Christianity takes heart-belief not religious conformity. I can see anyone dissing that from their life. It offers emptiness. The falseness was overwhelming to them.

In my life, it worked just the opposite. I was floundering in my faith, feeling empty and lacking in joy, when I gave up. I couldn’t sustain the effort and hated the “going through the motions” that scripted religiosity serves to a person. But I loved God. I knew there had to be a better way. I asked God to show Himself to me and to change me.

Everything changed as a result of that prayer of sincerity. God came up close and personal. My spiritual life went through a radical renewing, I came to lose interest in Christianity that is performance driven. Instead I came to Jesus in heart, soul, and being. Then He gave me His love, and I accepted it. God’s love is earth-shattering real. I wish all would partake of it.

What drove some Christians into godless atheism, effectively drove me into God-inspired realism for lack of a better term. I didn’t want to continue living as I was, with a faith that is lacking in life and substance. The atheist and I have that in common. However, I went “to” because I still believed in God and His goodness, but they went “away” because they no longer believed in the truth and realness of God as a good God or as an entity who offers hope and life.

Resurrection is what I embraced in my inner self, my spiritual life. On this Easter weekend, I can truthfully say, you and I can go through our own crucifixion experience, where we die to self and become alive to God. It is so alive that it causes “joy unspeakable and full of glory.”

“The love of God is greater far, than tongue or pen can ever tell.”

Why do they no longer believe in God? It’s hard to explain, but if the thing is no longer “real” to someone, then it is useless and lacks in value. Add to that the “harsh” side of rigid views, people that only “love” those who are like them. And you have something that is easy to loathe because it lacks a genuine spirit of love.

Love is what brought God to man and man to God.

It is Easter weekend. I went to a three hour Passion Play last night in Elk Grove. The day before, I read the complete offering of the atheist I mentioned in the first paragraph. The contrast is great. As I watched the play, I kept thinking of former Christian believers who no longer share the faith. I was trying to see it through their eyes, and, quite frankly, it wasn’t that hard to see. One can’t help but wonder about it since there are so many who have “turned away” as Christians like to term it (but I prefer not to). I take their views as valid, and ask myself many questions. Christ needs to be real and life-giving or it is a mockery.

The Christ Story is a hard one. It isn’t neat and tidy or even happy. The love of God, when it is seen as brutal or belittling, cannot reach the soul. Is God’s love, real love? Is it pure? Are we at liberty to embrace His love? I cannot answer that question for you. It is a personal question one must grapple with.

I  do know this, though, God cannot be embraced through another person’s beliefs. It is through your own. I find God to be life-giving life-changing real. He completes my life. I would be much less a person without Him. I don’t believe I am making my emotions become who I am. It is not false or a facade. We live in a cursed world, one that is angry and struggling. The cross of Jesus Christ provides a way of escape for in Him new life is given.

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Atheism Today and Why It Matters to the Christian

The church needs to wake up! We have our heads buried in the sand. Christians, did you know that nearly a third of Americans under the age of thirty have no religious affiliation? This is the highest ever, according to Hemant Mehta’s blog, Friendly Atheist @patheos.com and his book, The Young Atheist’s Survival Guide. People are rejecting God, faith, and Christianity in droves. A few internet searches easily confirm this.

The church has become irrelevant and weak, and we don’t even realize it. If it has happened in your family, it can be quite painful. Yet we must pay attention. We can’t bury our heads in the sand. This isn’t a talking point, it is an unfortunate reality, at least in some ways.

I am in serious thought these days due to the changing scene of religion in the world. Catholic and Protestant churches are being divided in thought because of the changing moral compass of society through the acceptance or rejection of changing lifestyles and its drift toward social acceptance and cultural norms. Anger is everywhere. I would be scared if it were not for my trust in God. It is not just an unbelief and rejection of Christian principles, there is a new venom and a repudiation of Christian thought.

I have been reading blogs and their blog comments written by Christian believers, newspaper reporters and by former Christians–the new atheists. It is an affront to read the anger and attacks–from both sides. In the church, views concerning biblical interpretation of morality are the dividing ground. In essence, it is effectively pulling the church apart. Other blogs are written by former believers, former Christian home-schooled, preachers, theologically schooled and so forth, who feel they were victimized by what they now consider “abusive” teachings in the church, who say they were brainwashed. They are glad for their freedom from religion and are celebrating their new life apart from its influence. Most believe they have found a better way, the true way.

The bitterness and resentment found in the new atheists’ words is what particularly saddens and concerns me. There has to be a reason for that. It is as if they must attack back and then try to turn others away from religious “foolishness” and “wrong thinking” and “lies” that they believed hurt or misguided them. It is more than disillusionment with God or the church. Their writings contain many arguments about (perceived) inaccuracies in the Bible and some of its harsh teachings. I have to say, if we are really honest with ourselves, some of these same things bother us even as Christians. The way the unbelieving present their objections and arguments seem valid and display intelligent rationale. Many are well reasoned.

It is obvious to me that in rejecting Christianity, with many leaving their religious roots, these same people have become activists against it. Why? Why such deep-seated anger? Why the many arguments to take it down, to influence others against it? Why can’t they leave it alone and say, to each his own? Even more disconcerting (but of great importance), why has Christianity left such a bad set of feelings that these people feel wounded and scarred by its dogma, practices, and teachings? I have read many of these Millennials, the growing group of new atheists as in Why are Millennials leaving church? I have listened to their criticisms and watched their videos.

In a way, it is fascinating to me. Why do people do a 180 from “believing” to “unbelieving”? I can follow most of their thinking. It makes me reconsider my own arguments in defense of my spiritual beliefs. I even confess to some unhappy feelings about the falseness of religion, things I’ve determined to leave behind as much as possible.

Rather than feeling angry, ugly, or even betrayed, I feel something quite different. I am saddened, surprised, and wondering. Why do they believe Christians are nincompoops? It makes me evaluate my faith, its realness. Is it based in both faith and reason?  Were great intellects like Lewis, Merton, Chesterton, and Augustine, right and clear thinking or were they way off base and deceived in their conclusions? I don’t think so. They have a lot to say that is worth paying attention to. They make the Christian argument speak. However, what is it that makes me, like them, believe with my whole heart that God is real and relatable? (To be honest, God is as real to me as is my family) What makes a martyr willing to suffer or die for their Christian beliefs? These are good questions that we should consider.

Truly, we must know why we believe what we believe, trust what we trust, and value what we value. The other thing is, if God is not personal, then it’s not going to work very well in the long run for any of us.

These considerations have intrigued me ever since I listened to an atheist who spoke to a local group of skeptics in my hometown: Freedom from Religion Foundation, Dan Barker. He said that after he left the faith, stopped preaching the Christian gospel (he was an evangelical evangelist), when he had distanced himself from what he once believed as true, he felt free, and freedom from what he now considers a false belief. I found him interesting and his doubts logical. He made me think.  He is now an active voice for the skeptics, atheists, and Nones of today. He makes Christians look/seem silly (that part isn’t so comfortable for me).

I do hear what the non-faithed are saying. They do not see anything in the church or Christianity that resonates with them. I can see why. They see the church as out-of-touch with the modern world, hypocritical, and lacking in genuine caring. Their belief is in something else, concrete and measurable, a known, like science, as the foundation for their world view. From what I can tell, to them the god that I believe in is seen as cruel, unjust, and irrelevant. Some are of the opinion that Christians always lose when they debate these issues (read Hermant Mehta, an atheist and activist).

I believe Christ would be a source of conflicted views if he were to walk on earth today. He would expose the church of its duplicity and mediocrity. He would cause people to sit up and take notice. I believe the skeptics would be drawn to His unaffected way of living life.

I make no apology for my faith in Christ, but I do dislike arrogance found in the church. Christian people who live like Mother Teresa did are the ones who are authentic. She was the real deal. More Christians need to follow her example, let go of the self, and live lives that are the hands and feet of Jesus. Maybe then the Millennials and those who doubt the validity of the Christian message would see something worth at least considering in the claims of Christ and His followers.

I wish I could remove all the anger and the misconceptions that fuel social bashing in the name of religion, and belief, and  non-belief, but I can’t. All I can do is to choose to be loving anyway.

It all comes down to belief and how we reason our belief. Even “belief” is a term that seems suspect. It can be reasoned away. I guess that is why faith is needed for there to be a presence of “heart” belief. And, I also understand why wanting something “real” makes sense. Why would we want to waste our time on something invalid? I wouldn’t. For the church to keep its saltiness and its light, it must take a harder look at how it lives out its Christianity. If it is only about form rather than substance it will continue to lack in relevancy to a growing group of people. And I mean that. I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas any more.

Truly, there is nothing new under the sun. Doubt is where most arguments originate. Many center around doubting the goodness of God (like in the garden). Disbelief follows quite handily. Here is something to think about.

THOMAS: “Unless I see Him for myself and touch the nail prints in His hands and the wound in His side, I will not believe. . . . .

JESUS: “Look at Me. Touch My hands and My side. Stop doubting and believe!”

THOMAS: “My Lord and my God!”

JESUS: “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen Me and yet believe!”

I think it is time for a new type of Christian. We need to become Christians who live and talk in direct response to the voice of Christ expressing His presence in and through our lives. We could be known as the “New Christian,” the “Haves,” and the “Sures.” The part I like, and it is somewhat to be accentuated in response to the atheist voice, is that we can’t continue conducting business as usual. We need to be part of a spiritual awakening that has meaning and substance—and has the power to make the world stand up and take notice. God is not silent, and He is not dead. It is time for Christians to come alive in a new way just like in the New Testament days.