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| The Atheist V The Christian? |
The Atheists Vs The Christian. Another one of those infernal battles of what initially looks to be polar opposites, but do they have more in common than we think. One of my favourite topics. It is an absolute minefield, many advise not to even start going down this road it's a road to nowhere or a road to maybe a total loss in faith, exactly why I've dived in head first, I'm confident that the Atheist arguments will not have a dent on my faith! So who is right if anybody?
Before we start I am a Christian (new and born again) but I have the utmost respect for Atheists being a former rebel, love to hear their views and hear them out. Some of the most intelligent people on this planet are Atheists, but then a lot of highly intelligent people are Christians as well. This is a blog post where I let the Atheist have his day, a complete open ended article, you decide who is right and who is wrong.
The Atheist is a non believer, doesn't believe in God, is not religious and believes only in things that have a scientifically proven or rational explanation that we can see with our own eyes. Everything else is rubbish or false.
The Christian is a believer of Jesus Christ and God, is religious and only needs spiritual proof
and faith for this belief and accepts the written word as the evidence and absolute truth. Those who have had some sort of religious experience will have spiritual proof that something is out there that cannot be explained but again it's difficult to make visible as proof.
In this article we will see both sides of the God argument, who or what created the universe, some definitions of an Atheist and a Christian. Some of the most renowned Atheists out there have their say including Richard Dawkins, Friedrich Neitzsche, Ricky Gervais and Christopher Hitchins from various sources and some good old fashioned arguments and debates showing Atheist and Christian views on the street and TV chat shows and a couple of forum links.
You will find that 9 times out of 10, both parties normally are not convinced of the others argument and go there separate ways. They basically agree to differ. It's that 1 in 10 that MAYBE the seeds of belief have been sown. But you will always notice the Atheist is asking the question and the Christian is providing the answer, when the Christian asks the Atheist a question back he gets accused of avoiding the question or trying to confuse or side step the issue. You will also find the Christian understands the Atheist but the Atheist quite passionately NEVER understands the Christian. You could even say the Christian is passionate about Christianity and the Atheist is passionate about Atheism to the extent Non Belief almost becomes a religion in itself. So bizarrely they do have something in common !
Dictionary Definition Atheist and Christian
atheist :
(n.) someone who does not believe in the existence of a god;(adj.) related to or characterized by or given to atheism; “atheist leanings”
christian :
(n.) a religious person who believes Jesus is the Christ and who is a member of a Christian denomination;(adj.) 1. following the teachings or manifesting the qualities or spirit of Jesus Christ; 2. relating to or characteristic of Christianity;
Wikipedia Atheist
Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities. Most inclusively, atheism is the absence of belief that any deities exist. Atheism is contrasted with theism, which, in its most general form, is the belief that at least one deity exists.
Wikipedia Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ as presented in the New Testament. Christianity is the world's largest religion, with over 2.4 billion adherents, known as Christians. Christians believe that Jesus is the Son of God and the savior of humanity whose coming as Christ or the Messiah was prophesied in the Old Testament.
The classic questions that an Atheist will pose to a Christian are "Was the earth created in 6 days " "Is the earth really just 6000 years old?", If God created the universe, who created God?", "Do you really believe we are decended from Adam and Eve", "was there a great flood and did all those animals and people fit in that boat", "If god is a loving God why did he let his only son die such a horrible death", "If god is a loving God why is there so much death and destruction in the Old Testament?", "Did Abraham really exist?", "If there was no Religion in the world there wouldn't be half the problems" and not forgetting "The bible is just inaccurate myths and fables written by desert dwelling people of limited intelligence?" and finally "Does Science clash or prove that scripture is not correct"
Questions a Christian will ask an Atheist are "If the world and the Cosmos were created via the "Big Bang" theory, what came before the "Big Bang?", "When you die what will happen if that heaven or hell you don't believe in... actually exists?", "Do you really believe in Darwins theory of Evolution and we are descended from Apes", "How does Science explain Love and wanting to spend the rest of your life with one person?", "Can science or rationalities explain miracles and near death experiences?"
Let's take a closer look
1. If God Created the Universe, who created God?
This is cause and effect. This is simple but complicated
The universe requires a cause because it had a beginning, as will be shown below. God, unlike the universe, had no beginning, so doesn’t need a cause. In addition, Einstein’s general relativity, which has much experimental support, shows that time is linked to matter and space. So time itself would have begun along with matter and space. Since God, by definition, is the creator of the whole universe, he is the creator of time. Therefore He is not limited by the time dimension He created, so has no beginning in time, he is outside of time—God is ‘the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity’ (Is. 57:15). Therefore He doesn’t have a cause. Courtesy Creation Ministries
Confused? More information here at God and Science
2. Did Abraham really exist?
There are people (naturally Atheists) who state that Abraham didn't exist which means that the blood line throughout the whole Old Testament is a complete farce. A strong argument if this were true, but archeological evidence proves ( as it does with many things in The Bible) that there was an Abraham around at this time with many clay tablets which were found in ancient text around the locations mentioned in the bible. Further details at Ancient History/About.com
Was the earth created in 6 days?
Was there a great flood and did all those animals and people fit in that boat"
Noahs Biblical Flood New Evidence
3. Adam and Eve True or Not?
Adam and Eve Did not exist
Adam and Eve did exist!
Does science clash with scripture?
4. Some General Atheist V Christian Debates on TV and on the Street
Richard Dawkins exploding at BS in the Bible
2 Christian Street Preachers explaining Christianity to a lay person in London
Atheists v Religion on The Big Debate
Atheist v Christian in a park talking about God
Questions for a Campus Preacher from an Aethiest
Frederick Nietzsche A quick summary
Richard Dawkins v Rowan Williams Debate
Richard Dawkins and Ricky Gervais on Religion
Christopher Hitchins on Q & A
Is Atheism an intolerant belief on The Big Questions
Is the Bible still relevant today?
Bill Maher debating with an intelligent Christian
Bill Nye, Ken Ham Bill Maher Debate
Summary
See the problem with the Atheist V Christian debate is the Atheist is fighting from the "Reality" corner and the Christian is fighting from the "Spiritual" corner. Reality is of this world, is always going to be easier to explain than the Spiritual World so the Atheist will have the upper hand every time. He believes when it rains things get wet, the sun rises every morning and there is a full moon every 28 days. These are things you can see and experience with your own eyes. Everything he believes in is the here and now, anything from the past needs valid scientific proof or archeological evidence otherwise it's just myth or fiction or just plain madness.
It's a clear cut approach to life.................faithless ..............but clear. The problem is there are some things in this world despite mans amazing intelligence that defy rational or scientific explanation. I'll give you some examples below.
1. Ever stood in a supermarket, a park, a street, a tube and felt somebody behind you staring, you look round and your feelings were proven correct. They could be the length of a football pitch away or a couple of paces. Makes no difference
2. An ordinary day, you bump into somebody and from within 10 seconds you just know that person is the one you have been looking for and you will spend the rest of your life with. The other person feels exactly the same way? This has been documented too many times for it to be a coincidence.....it's called Marriage.
3. You get that strange feeling that something bad is going to happen what people call a "bad feeling" and moments later it happens?
4. "Gut Feeling" that says "Go for it" or "Avoid this". Why is it nearly always right?
5. Why is it when faced with a catastrophic situation in a nano second we know whether to stand our ground or run like crazy. It's called the "Fight or Flight" response.
6. Many people have got married, had children, got the house, the car and pension, travelled and many say they still feel something is missing in their life..........yet they don't know what it is?
7. Why did David Bowie right that Lazarus song Melanie McDonagh: As he faced death, David Bowie understood the role of God
Cases of Bible Survival in Extreme situations
There are many including bibles that have stopped bullets.
Lady Antebellum’s Bus Goes Up in Flames–You Won’t Believe What Survived
Case of a Rosary Survival
True story, my mother's rosary that was on the wall was the only item in her bedroom that didn't burn in a house fire when she was a teenager. A paint can actually exploded in her bedroom. Everything was completely charred, except the rosary.
It actually freaked her out pretty bad, LOL! I have it now. Via Dogma at Yahoo Answers
Some last words
A couple of last says from 3 people, one is a famous and highly respected Atheist, An Orthodox Christian Website and myself a recent Born Again Vanilla C of E Christian. I'll let you decide!
Richard Dawkins: Athiest
"Faith unsupported by evidence is a lethal weapon"
The Problem with Religion Vid:
Pravmir Orthodox Christian Website
Top 10 Atheist V Christian arguments and why the fail.
Myself Born Again Christian just a matter of months. Founder and Author of thetwelvegates.org
MY Complete madness but it's evidence and the Truth and nothing but the TRUTH Testimonial
Bible Quotes that have some relevance to Atheism
There are Bible verses about atheism. The Bible identifies those who say there is no God as fools. They are fools because the evidence of God is everywhere. Belief and Unblelief is also mentioned many times.
Psalms 53:1 The fool has said in his heart, There is no God. Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that does good.
John 4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
John 6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father which has sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
Romans 1:19 Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God has showed it to them.
Romans 1:20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse
'But just look at you! You are putting your confidence in a false belief that will not deliver you.
Jer 7:8
Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here, and examine my hands. Extend your hand and put it into my side. Do not continue in your unbelief, but believe."
John 20:27
And even they - if they do not continue in their unbelief - will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.
Rom 11:23
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