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I wrote this up for other Christians, after I talked to a few people who worked on The Atheist Experience. It's a really good TV show, out of Texas I think. They have a YouTube channel if you'd like to watch. I just thought I'd share with the group. Needless to say, it wasn't well received haha.
What I Learned From Atheists.
Being a Christian is hard, not necessarily doing good, but doing the right thing. It's hard, and it will put up a fight, and you have to fight for it if you truly want it. Letting go of long held personal beliefs that really have little to no basis in scripture is frightening to a lot of people, but this has to be done. Letting go of false teachings, is as important as dying to self.
I recently opened a dialog with a couple of atheists, and these are wonderful, really funny guys. Also very intelligent, which I dig on big time. I told them that a lot of the views fundamentalist Christians hold are false and have no basis in scripture, some are downright hateful. I used to have fundamentalist views, passed down to me from my Mother.
Thank God I have a Mother who loved me enough to bring me to church, even though I had to walk away from church to find Christ.
I wanted to talk to these guys, to apologize for things Christians said to them on their show, that were full of hatefulness and judging condemnation, and there was no love in them. In coming to know Christ post-fundamentalist, I read about "crossing the battlefield" to meet people where they are. That is really hard to do when you have long held beliefs about certain groups of people. Like atheists. But I wanted to ask them for forgiveness, and tell these guys that even though I believe and they didn't, that I was sorry that they've been spoken to by such hateful people, people who call themselves Christian, but didn't seem Christ-like at all.
The response I got was so encouraging, and heart warming, and I'm so glad that I took that step. We disagreed on the existence of God, but we agreed that some people are very hateful, and hide behind Christ while they hurl that hate at others. That's wrong, and it needs to stop. Stopping that has to start with Christians though.
Do I still believe (or did I ever?) those things I was taught about atheists? NO!! These are wonderful people, the ones I talked to. Full of forgiveness. They said that these people being hateful didn't bother them, and that they accepted my apology, even though they thought it was unnecessary.
If you want to be a Christian, it's going to fight you, and challenge you. If you want to be a Christian, you have to have radical compassion, and unconditional non-judgmental love for others. You have to meet people where they are and love them where they are, and expect nothing in return. You have to forgive blindly.
That's another thing, forgiving people that say things that deeply hurt you is hard, this is something I'm fighting for very hard right now. I don't want to be angry when they tell me that being transgendered is sinful. I don't want to lash out when they tell me I'm going to Hell because of the way I was born. I don't want to lash out when other Christians say people like me make them want to vomit. I don't want to be angry when people want to hate on me, bully me, or even possibly harm me physically. I've already been wounded deeply by the church emotionally, I don't want to be wounded physically. Even more though, I don't want to hate them, or be angry when or if they do. I want to understand them. I want to understand why they do these things. And I want to walk across that battlefield, open my arms wide and hold them, and tell them I love them.
I beleive they are out of Austin. I have watched some of it on YouTube and have listened to several podcasts. They do get some people who think that atheists just have not heard about God or Jesus yet and other callers who mock people who believe in a god.
Being a good person is not dependent on which God if any you believe in or how you intrepet your God, not dependent on if you are male or female, old or young, left or right or perfer dogs or cats. Find people who accept you and avoid those who wish you harm. A good post by you and I wish you the best from an old straight white non believing guy who comes from a non Christian background. You will find that posters on both sides of the belief-non belief spectrum have good posts and bad posts.
I beleive they are out of Austin. I have watched some of it on YouTube and have listened to several podcasts. They do get some people who think that atheists just have not heard about God or Jesus yet and other callers who mock people who believe in a god.
Being a good person is not dependent on which God if any you believe in or how you intrepet your God, not dependent on if you are male or female, old or young, left or right or perfer dogs or cats. Find people who accept you and avoid those who wish you harm. A good post by you and I wish you the best from an old straight white non believing guy who comes from a non Christian background. You will find that posters on both sides of the belief-non belief spectrum have good posts and bad posts.
Yeah! I love those guys. They really are amazing people. Matt is incredible. I got to email with him and Frank.
Quote:
A good post by you and I wish you the best from an old straight white non believing guy who comes from a non Christian background.
Yes there is a lot of Christian preachers and people who are legalistic in the faith and condemn others who are different and basically it is not the role of the people to judge others , as Jesus said if you judge you will be judged , and if you condemn others , you will be condemned , but Jesus Words are minuscule , and the devils words are easy to speak ........ See Jesus is the judge of the living and the dead , and Christians are not and there is very few ministries from Holy Spirit that will centre out any sin , and theses ministries come with redemption from Jesus and No condemnation
If you want to be a Christian, you have to have radical compassion, and unconditional non-judgmental love for others. You have to meet people where they are and love them where they are, and expect nothing in return. You have to forgive blindly.
Hi Kristine,
My only question is why do you think it takes being a christian to accomplish any of the above?
I see no indication that she thinks that. Where do you get the idea she does?
Probably from bias caused by expectation. But indeed, what she said was that a Christian needed love and forgiveness, nor that only a Christian can love and forgive.
Sadly, most bibliolaters do say the latter because their idol states that for disbelievers "there is NONE GOOD AMONG THEM" and that "only fools say there is no Yahweh."
Of course, those two "letters that kill" are in the same spirit as that of Pagans that said There were none good among Christians (no one good in illegal cults) and that only fools say that there is only Yahweh/Jesus and there are no Pagan gods to deserve worship (only fools join groups that are against the legal religions).
My only question is why do you think it takes being a christian to accomplish any of the above?
I wonder does she mean ONLY a christian can do this or if she means as a Christian we MUST be able to do this. After reading other posts, I think she understands that such actions of forgiveness and love are not christian ONLY attributes, but that the attributes love and forgiveness HAVE be practiced if you claim to be christian?
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