So I had an opportunity to review the thread, 'fanatical atheism' comes to mind in reference to becoming ordained ministers in the 'first church of atheism' which I find hilarious they use the term church; generally thou I think most atheists (nonbelievers) wouldn't attend those groups either because they want to control themselves!
Loved the reference to Star Wars, that was fantastic!! Oh here's something that clicked with me:
Moreover, the institution, a non-profit like traditional churches, does not have a doctrine and allows anyone, with any belief, creed, religion, or culture to attend. The only difference is that there is no mention of a Godly creation, Higher Power, Supreme Being, or idol for worship.
This was one of the statements for the 'first church of atheism'. How on Earth can you follow, or have rules, or laws when everyone would have their own opinions!?
Sadly this kind of mentality has crept into Modern Christendom, where people feel that Scripture is something that can mean one thing for one person, and something completely different to another.
The Church stands or falls on Doctrinal Purity. It is our job to bring out of Scripture what is in there, rather than make it what we want to mean. John MacArthur mentioned a preacher that said, "I have a great message, now...if I can only find a verse to fit it."
That is the typical approach of those who do not understand the necessity of approaching Scripture and finding it's intent for us. God has spoken to man, and it is our obligation to understand it as He spoke. And I think this is one of the things that bothers Atheists, there are parts of Scripture that they do not want to understand, and it is a bit of a vicious circle: they misunderstand the context, then base their hostility towards God and His Word on their own misunderstanding. I have yet to speak to an atheist that has a legitimate complaint about God and His Word. Most of their complaints are easily seen as contextual confusion, and are easily explained. But even explained, that does not mean this will lessen the atheist's enmity toward God. That doesn't mean we do not show them that error, and we trust God to do the work we cannot do, which is convict of sin, righteousness, and judgment.
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There's this book I began (began meaning I got through the first chapter and then it went flying into the garbage at warp speed!) reading 'God Is Not Good' by Christopher Hichens if I recall. His atheist negative book was so full of rage and arrogance it was preposterous that anyone could take it serious!! Frighteningly people do.
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Anger is a common thread in many atheists, but not all of them are like that. I have had some great discussions with atheists who have been very cordial. Once, on an Atheist Forum, one of the members was calling for me to be banned (which I think was because he wasn't able to walk all over me, lol, but perhaps that is delusions of grandeur? lol), and the atheist moderator told him I had just as much right to be there as anyone else, lol.
And this is one of the primary themes among atheists, which I suggest everyone pay careful attention to if they expect to minister to atheists: they take a position of moral superiority over the God of the Bible.
What I mean by that is their mentality is, "If God is 'good,' why does He allow bad things to happen to 'good' people?"
We know that the horrible things that take place in this world are a result of sin, and that all sin can be traced back to man, not God, but they have no understanding of sin and the curse upon this world, which man brought about. They think, "Why, if I were God, I wouldn't have killed all those people in the flood! I would have spared the children at least!"
But what they don't understand is that God in fact spared those children in the flood, who would have grown up and fell into the transgressions of their parents.
They ask, "Why doesn't God just make everything right?" But we know the only way that is possible...to destroy man from the face of the earth. God's mercy and grace is simply not understood by the natural man. So we have to consider their exaltation of themselves as morally superior to God, which is another example of a position based on ignorance.
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I was once reading this blog, a man was bashing Christians for not volunteering at the local Salvation Army and he professed he was atheist. Politely I told him that I doubt only atheists are volunteering at the Salvation Army; and I also informed him Salvation Army was founded by William Booth who was a Christian. The feed caught fire; and everyone like a cult tore down the positive influence of Christians!!! It was insane!!! Instead of generalizing everyone should volunteer, it's a part of humanity- it become solely the role of Christians to do more!?!?
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Truth seldom matters when it comes to the emotional responses of, not just atheists, but pretty much everyone. We can set truth to the side sometimes when we let emotions to rule, and forego self control. In a recent thread, someone I view as liberal in their views was defending homosexuals and bashing Christians. To listen to her...all Christians are hateful and treat homosexuals rotten. That is not the truth. While it is true some lose their temper in discussions with homosexuals, and treat them rotten, that doesn't mean every Christian does. One of the few "Forum Missionaries" I know has a specific ministry that seeks to help believers understand how to minister to gays, and he tries to raise awareness to the ugliness that can take place when those discussions come up.
But that doesn't mean we ignore the serious nature of sin, and while we can minister in a civil manner, we understand that any time we present an opposing view emotional response is the likely result.
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Approximately a year ago an atheist website made a graph that showed atheists donated more to charities; although it was debunked many still believed Christians spent all monies towards tithing or church funds. The graph showed only atheists donated to other organizations throughout United States not taking into account, that Christians donate to church AND charitable foundations. Unfortunately this is the type of garbage that is being pumped into the social media that people are feeding into.
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It is pretty much common knowledge that believers donate more than any other singular group in the world. Even secular media acknowledges that.
But we have to be careful about statistics and polls, because it doesn't matter the agenda, data can be manipulated, and is, by all sides. It is best that we keep it doctrinal, and in regards to atheists, this should be pretty easy, because for most of them their primary problems are going to be Biblical and their enmity is directed at Christians. The more militant among them are going to have a "gospel" that religion is the primary evil in this world, and their goal is to "save" people from religion itself.
As Christians...we have a similar goal, we too want to see people liberated from Religion and enter into Relationship with God on an eternal basis.
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Here's a current study in relation to donating
Atheism and charity - Conservapedia
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And we see again a reference to religion that is non-theistic:
A beggar in Cambodia. In Cambodia, the vast majority of the population adheres to a nontheistic form of Buddhism called the Theravada school of Buddhism.
A comprehensive study by Harvard University professor Robert Putnam found that religious people are more charitable than their irreligious counterparts.[SUP][1][/SUP]
Atheists do their best to deny they are "religious," and some of them are not. But, we have only to look at the progressive organization of Atheists to see that they are quickly beginning to accept their place among religions, lol.
In England an "Atheist Church" was formed as a gag by a couple of comedians. They get together, sing, have a message, and fellowship.
But this isn't like what other religions do, is it? lol
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Anyway, I feel I've gotten slightly off topic. Atheism is a force that is building momentum because they can rapid fire there propaganda through social media within minutes. Instead of the populous researching it, they take it verbatim. How is it stopped when it's so feverish?
Many blessings!!! XooXoo
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I see everything you mention as right on topic.
I don't think people realize just how powerful this minority is. We are seeing laws change, and a general acceptance of immorality. I think it is safe to say that Atheists have a similar stranglehold on information which might be compared to the stranglehold the Catholic Church once had on knowledge of God.
And while I don't think that Atheism will ever exceed a certain percentage of the world's population, they are without question one of our greatest mission fields out there. How we are to be equipped to confront their error is to first be informed about them, and understand, that like any religious person, they have to be addressed on an individual basis. Again, they range from nominal to fanatic, like any other group. The more fanatical are going to be seen on Atheist Forums, and I have personally seen that they have "missionaries" who go to Christian Forums with the intent that is identical to mine when I go to Atheist Forums...to combat the Doctrinal Positions.
How we stop Atheism is one person at a time. And believe it or not, it is in our own ranks we can start. Many who profess to be Christians have bought into the propaganda and their compassion has turned to certain agendas of Atheism/Secular Humanism to the point where they turn on Christians. Some of these areas of liberal mindset would be the Homosexual Agenda, the "Women's Rights" Agenda, "Equal Rights" Agenda (and I am all for equal rights, just not for "special rights"), and the Agenda of Evolution.
So this is why I run this thread. One of the first things we can do for the atheist is show the irony of their hatred for Religion and the parallel of their own position and practice as very...religious.
God bless.
