I am a Christian

[apaulo13]

Aug 12, 2014 11:25:32 GMT -5 gearylutz said:

Aug 9, 2014 23:08:14 GMT -5 apaulo13 said:

Wow this surprises me how many people on here are Christian, because there are more and more atheists now a days. I'm Methodist (which is a branch of Christianity) and it makes me glad that a lot of people on here are Christian as well

I think it's largely due to the "separation of church and state" that has been used by a small yet vocal minority of Atheists to try to shove God into a corner of society by using "rights" which stem from Christian belief.  Rights are a Christian concept with no basis in any sort of evolutionary thought process (unless you want to use "it's my right 'cause I'm bigger"...) 

It also hasn't helped that the Internet is a very easy place to cycle ridiculous arguments fast enough that they appear to be plausible (think one of those Atheist meme pages on Facebook...).  I run a website devoted to persuading Atheists of the truth of Christianity, and it seems that it's largely the same arguments being cycled over and over no matter what sort of Christian response is offered.  A lot of "facepalm" and "lol" responses, but not very many who actually want to be engaged with regard to their worldview and its implications...

Sorry for the preachy response (my degree is in Biblical studies, so this type of thing sets me in gametime mode...)  I can throw a cat picture or something on here if you want me to lighten it up a bit, lol.

just had to say I love this post haha. What is the website you run?

[agee1131]

The "downfall" of Christianity (if you can call it that. I read the back of the book, we win!!!) is mainly due to the degradation of the family.

I am 34 years old, will be 35 next month. When I was a kid, every Sunday my dad's whole family went to my grandparents house. All 5 siblings and us 8 grandkids were there every Sunday without fail. No, we were not a Christian family (I got saved at 18 and most of the rest of my family has fallen like dominos) but we had a strong family bond. Just like most families did in the 70s-80s and before. In Christian families, that bond included prayer and devotions and wonderful times talking about Jesus and what he has done for us.

Fast forward to the 90's and now. "Social reform" and well fare has made the family a thing of the past. Families rarely strive to stay together. Women have the attitude now of they can just leave and the government will take care of them and their children. Or they go nuts and drop their kids on grandparents who are past the age of raising kids and typically just let them do whatever.

The Bible sets up our focus like this: 1-God, 2-Family, 3-the church. we are seeing this drop off in reverse order. People quit going to church, then the family falls apart, and then God is forgotten.

If I preached too much, oh well it's what I do

[agee1131]

Here I go again.

Another thing aethiests lean on is evolution. I have aethist friends who tell me I just lean on my beliefs and prejudices and I can't see both ways.

What they fail to realize is, Darwin's grandfather came up with the idea of evolution, not Darwin himself. He went to the islands not to do an independant study, but to prove (no matter what) his grandfather was right. They captain of the boat who helped Darwin recorded this in his journal and spoke out against him frequently.

The vocal minority has hid this information as much as possible.

[cardinals507]

Aug 12, 2014 13:48:11 GMT -5 agee1131 said:

Here I go again.

Another thing aethiests lean on is evolution. I have aethist friends who tell me I just lean on my beliefs and prejudices and I can't see both ways.

What they fail to realize is, Darwin's grandfather came up with the idea of evolution, not Darwin himself. He went to the islands not to do an independant study, but to prove (no matter what) his grandfather was right. They captain of the boat who helped Darwin recorded this in his journal and spoke out against him frequently.

The vocal minority has hid this information as much as possible.

if aethists knew that they're wasn't a god at all then why do they fight so much with Christians instead of just saying "Whatever. That's stupid." Like I would if you told me the Astros would win the World Series this year haha

[guineapirates]

Aug 12, 2014 14:25:18 GMT -5 cardinals507 said:

Aug 12, 2014 13:48:11 GMT -5 agee1131 said:

Here I go again.

Another thing aethiests lean on is evolution. I have aethist friends who tell me I just lean on my beliefs and prejudices and I can't see both ways.

What they fail to realize is, Darwin's grandfather came up with the idea of evolution, not Darwin himself. He went to the islands not to do an independant study, but to prove (no matter what) his grandfather was right. They captain of the boat who helped Darwin recorded this in his journal and spoke out against him frequently.

The vocal minority has hid this information as much as possible.

if aethists knew that they're wasn't a god at all then why do they fight so much with Christians instead of just saying "Whatever. That's stupid." Like I would if you told me the Astros would win the World Series this year haha

Because their lives are so empty.

[cardinals507]

Aug 12, 2014 14:30:18 GMT -5 guineapirates said:

Aug 12, 2014 14:25:18 GMT -5 cardinals507 said:

if aethists knew that they're wasn't a god at all then why do they fight so much with Christians instead of just saying "Whatever. That's stupid." Like I would if you told me the Astros would win the World Series this year haha

Because their lives are so empty.

exactly!

[gearylutz]

Aug 12, 2014 14:25:18 GMT -5 cardinals507 said:

Aug 12, 2014 13:48:11 GMT -5 agee1131 said:

Here I go again.

Another thing aethiests lean on is evolution. I have aethist friends who tell me I just lean on my beliefs and prejudices and I can't see both ways.

What they fail to realize is, Darwin's grandfather came up with the idea of evolution, not Darwin himself. He went to the islands not to do an independant study, but to prove (no matter what) his grandfather was right. They captain of the boat who helped Darwin recorded this in his journal and spoke out against him frequently.

The vocal minority has hid this information as much as possible.

if aethists knew that they're wasn't a god at all then why do they fight so much with Christians instead of just saying "Whatever. That's stupid." Like I would if you told me the Astros would win the World Series this year haha

That's a great analogy.  I don't believe in unicorns (call me an "acornist"...), and yet not once have I felt an urge to 1. start a blog about how ridiculous belief in unicorns is, 2. make a twitter account devoted to abolishing belief in unicorns via mocking memes and 140 character strawman arguments, or 3. really allow it to impact my life at all, because it's ridiculous in my mind that anyone would really believe in it at all.  Yet at this moment, you can google and find about a near-literal google of blog sites dedicated to toppling belief in God.  It's really rather ridiculous to fight what you believe to be ridiculous...

[cardinals507]

Btw my dads a Pastor

[gearylutz]

Aug 12, 2014 12:00:46 GMT -5 apaulo13 said:

Aug 12, 2014 11:25:32 GMT -5 gearylutz said:

I think it's largely due to the "separation of church and state" that has been used by a small yet vocal minority of Atheists to try to shove God into a corner of society by using "rights" which stem from Christian belief.  Rights are a Christian concept with no basis in any sort of evolutionary thought process (unless you want to use "it's my right 'cause I'm bigger"...) 

It also hasn't helped that the Internet is a very easy place to cycle ridiculous arguments fast enough that they appear to be plausible (think one of those Atheist meme pages on Facebook...).  I run a website devoted to persuading Atheists of the truth of Christianity, and it seems that it's largely the same arguments being cycled over and over no matter what sort of Christian response is offered.  A lot of "facepalm" and "lol" responses, but not very many who actually want to be engaged with regard to their worldview and its implications...

Sorry for the preachy response (my degree is in Biblical studies, so this type of thing sets me in gametime mode...)  I can throw a cat picture or something on here if you want me to lighten it up a bit, lol.

just had to say I love this post haha. What is the website you run?

the website I run is called Engaging #Atheism, and it's at www.engagingatheism.com .  I honestly haven't posted on it in a little while (although I have a couple posts lined up to post in the next week or so...), but my main focus in a lot of my posts is attempting to get my Atheist friends to see that they can't really pretend that they are standing on some neutral position and arguing about God.  They live in God's universe, and they are borrowing God's gift of reason and logic, and using their God-given brains to argue against His existence.  Unless they can prove that absolutely everything can make sense without God, it's a serious uphill battle for the Atheist side. It's a really hard point to make, but I think it has to be made before any real ground can be made with an Atheist in the God discussion.

[guineapirates]

For me, the militant atheism appears to stem from a true fear of the unknown. They need to convince themselves that there is no Heaven, no God, no salvation in order to develop this certainty that death is the end and there is nothing more. Otherwise, the fear consumes them.

The sad thing is that what they deride about religion is exactly what they are doing to those of us that are religious. The fact that they cannot see the hypocrisy in what they say shows how immature, blind and arrogant they are. Personally, I don't care if you're an atheist so long as you're also not an a*****e to everyone around you that is religious.

[gearylutz]

Aug 12, 2014 14:43:13 GMT -5 cardinals507 said:

Btw my dads a Pastor

Well, obviously he's raising you right on more than just a love for baseball then... ha

[tim28]

Aug 12, 2014 14:45:23 GMT -5 gearylutz said:

Aug 12, 2014 12:00:46 GMT -5 apaulo13 said:

just had to say I love this post haha. What is the website you run?

the website I run is called Engaging #Atheism, and it's at www.engagingatheism.com .  I honestly haven't posted on it in a little while (although I have a couple posts lined up to post in the next week or so...), but my main focus in a lot of my posts is attempting to get my Atheist friends to see that they can't really pretend that they are standing on some neutral position and arguing about God.  They live in God's universe, and they are borrowing God's gift of reason and logic, and using their God-given brains to argue against His existence.  Unless they can prove that absolutely everything can make sense without God, it's a serious uphill battle for the Atheist side. It's a really hard point to make, but I think it has to be made before any real ground can be made with an Atheist in the God discussion.

SITES AWESOME!

[gearylutz]

Aug 12, 2014 11:35:14 GMT -5 guineapirates said:

Aug 12, 2014 11:25:32 GMT -5 gearylutz said:

I think it's largely due to the "separation of church and state" that has been used by a small yet vocal minority of Atheists to try to shove God into a corner of society by using "rights" which stem from Christian belief.  Rights are a Christian concept with no basis in any sort of evolutionary thought process (unless you want to use "it's my right 'cause I'm bigger"...) 

It also hasn't helped that the Internet is a very easy place to cycle ridiculous arguments fast enough that they appear to be plausible (think one of those Atheist meme pages on Facebook...).  I run a website devoted to persuading Atheists of the truth of Christianity, and it seems that it's largely the same arguments being cycled over and over no matter what sort of Christian response is offered.  A lot of "facepalm" and "lol" responses, but not very many who actually want to be engaged with regard to their worldview and its implications...

Sorry for the preachy response (my degree is in Biblical studies, so this type of thing sets me in gametime mode...)  I can throw a cat picture or something on here if you want me to lighten it up a bit, lol.

I blame Dawkins and Hitchens for the atheist "holier than thou" arrogance. I've engaged in truly good intellectual discussions with some of my atheist friends but I find that the online breed of atheist acts like their s*** doesn't stink.

My personal favorite is Dan Barker (head of the Freedom from Religion Foundation).  That man's thinking is so clouded by his hostility that his group is probably currently suing a Mayor for saying "god bless you" at a city picnic.  

Also, the group's reach is so far, The mods will probably get an email threatening to sue them unless this topic is removed from the internet forever... lol

[gearylutz]

Aug 12, 2014 14:47:42 GMT -5 tim28 said:

Aug 12, 2014 14:45:23 GMT -5 gearylutz said:

the website I run is called Engaging #Atheism, and it's at www.engagingatheism.com .  I honestly haven't posted on it in a little while (although I have a couple posts lined up to post in the next week or so...), but my main focus in a lot of my posts is attempting to get my Atheist friends to see that they can't really pretend that they are standing on some neutral position and arguing about God.  They live in God's universe, and they are borrowing God's gift of reason and logic, and using their God-given brains to argue against His existence.  Unless they can prove that absolutely everything can make sense without God, it's a serious uphill battle for the Atheist side. It's a really hard point to make, but I think it has to be made before any real ground can be made with an Atheist in the God discussion.

SITES AWESOME!

Thanks Tim, I really appreciate that!  I'm actually working on writing a short e-book that I can delve more into the issues that I'm finding to be the most common among the atheists I encounter... if I could only step away from Bunt for a sec, lol

[cardinals507]

If any of you guys have seen Gods Not Dead then yeah. If not it's at Redbox right now. Great movie!