Right now, I'm going to be one of those people that I can't stand. I'm going to be like the atheist bloggers who rant and complain about the "silly Christians and their fairy tales". You all get to complain about us, so now, I get to complain about you.
I am not a hateful person. I generally like pretty much everyone. I have friends of every religion, even friends who claim they belong to the "church of the flying spaghetti monster", hilarious. I have friends of different races, different cultures, different incomes, the works. My "big sister" is an atheist. But still, posts I see on the internet sometimes just irritate me. This post is all thanks to this post by a very proud atheist. In his last paragraph he says that Christians should start keeping their religion to themselves, which my first thought was "why don't you do the same". Christians are not the only ones who don't "keep their religion to themselves". I'm pretty sure Muslims are quite vocal about their religion, I've gotten in some pretty heated debates with some of my Jewish friends, it's our faith, we want to share it and understand others.
It is the same thing as an atheist speaking about how they think we believe in fairy tales and that we were brain washed. So were you, just in a different way. Everything is learned, nothing but basic survival skills (and probably sexual and gender identity) is wired into us. I was not hard wired to be a Christian, I was born into a family that attended a Christian church.
I, however, was given a choice. For me, it was a rather easy one to make. In middle school at my church in Colorado Springs, you have the choice to go through confirmation. Don't go all Catholic on me, we just call it joining the church, but confirmation is quicker to say. We get to go with the rest of the kids in our class and discuss our church for a month or so of Sundays. We get to ask questions, we more importantly get to ask "why". Sure most everything is backed up Biblically, but we are given an answer, and a chance to discuss. My parents did not force me to go, and I was not pressured by anyone at church or by my friends. I went because I wanted to learn about my faith, and see if it was really what I believed.
I decided to join my church, it was a choice that I made. I feel it in my inner most being that there is a God and He is good. I know that there is a higher power helping me navigate this crazy wonderful life, and I know that I have been blessed by Him with all of my amazing talents and with all of the wonderful people in my life. I do not see it as a coincidence that I started this new journey of trying to be closer to God and then within 6 months got a new fantastic job, where my car can be fixed with WAY less cost, and a fiance to spend the rest of my life with. Everything I ever wanted came to me when I "let go and let God". I needed to return to him before I could understand all of these wonderful blessings.
To all of my atheist friends out there, I love you. And I don't say that because I'm a Christian. I say that because I am human and you are my friend. That being said I would like to argue of the points that have been made to me over the years about "being a Christian".
1. If God is so real, why does he let __________________.
Many of my atheist friends make this point. If God is so real and is your protector and creator, why does he let people rape and murder and send all of these crazy wars and weather and.....on and on and on. That's actually the most popular question I get, the biggest defense of atheism I get, and also the easiest one to answer. God gave us free will. WOOP! If I want to jump off a bridge He will never stop me. He may be shaking His head, He may try to convince me not to (that's that feeling in your stomach you get when you're about to do something really bad or really stupid.), but He won't stop me from making a decision that is purely my own. So yes, rape and murder and wars happen, because humans are flawed, because we get to be imperfect, which is why He sent us JESUS, duh! Jesus died so we may be forgiven, Jesus died so that we may be imperfect. Hurricanes that kill thousands of people and destroy houses. Take a meteorology class, shit happens. He doesn't send those things. Sure, He did it once, but He also promised never to do it again. So don't try to combat Christianity by saying God can't be real or if He is he sucks, he also sent us Mother Theresa, so there.
2. There is no proof of God, it isn't logical.
Don't care. No, seriously, I don't care. The people in the Bible are real. They all actually lived. Jesus was a real person documented in history. I don't know of a historian who would say that He didn't exist. It's just a matter of opinion what you think He was doing here. Was He just your average joe shmo who was coocoo for coacoa puffs? Maybe. But maybe He really was God on Earth, maybe He did save our souls and die for our sins...can you prove that He didn't? Which leads to...
3. It's not on us to prove He doesn't exist, it's on you to prove that He does.
Okay, I'm alive. Proved it. Before I go into that I would like to also say, in a court of law, it is up to both sides to prove their case. Sure there's the burden of proof, but their is also reasonable doubt, which comes from, oh wait, proof. You either have to prove the person committed murder, or you have to prove that they didn't. As Marshal Erickson would say "lawyered". But back to my point. In a very dark moment in my life, I was angry, depressed, and just really over it. I slammed my hand on my desk, which made it shake, my Bible fell over and opened to my favorite chapter of the Bible, Romans 5, and I knew God was up to something. 1 minute later my best friend called and said "I just had this terrible feeling that something was really wrong, without realizing it I dialed your number, are you okay?". Yeah, He's real. I realize many atheists might not think anything of that, but to me, that was a defining moment in my faith. God saved me that night, He sent me a friend to ease my pain. He is amazing.4. Atheism is not a view or belief.
Yes it is, you're wrong. just watch this. I love it, it's hilarious, and it's fantastic. You have a belief. You believe that the universe was created in some way other than by God or any god for that matter. But you still believe that. Your opinion is that God or any god does not exist. define opinion - An opinion is a view, and it's first synonym is belief.
5. The Bible is a fairy tale, it didn't happen.
Yes it did. These people actually existed, the Sermon on the Mount happened, Jesus died on a cross, it happened, that doesn't mean you have to believe in the miracles, or that God was "behind it all", but that also doesn't mean I can't. It is essentially a history book. Maybe Jesus didn't heal a blind man, maybe He didn't save a dying boy, maybe He didn't heal the bleeding woman, maybe He didn't make the man walk. But maybe He did. And these Kings and places and historical (non miracle) events actually did happen. So you don't believe Jesus rose from the dead after 3 days, okay fine. But there are plenty of things in the Bible that did happen, so just deal with it.
6. Christians hate gay people.
No we don't. Not everyone attends Westboro Baptist Church, really, I could punch every one of these morons that attend this church. They also protest soldiers' funerals, they are idiots. One of my best friends is gay, you best step off! I have heard many Christians say "love the sinner hate the sin" when actually, Jesus said the opposite. He said (and I'm paraphrasing here) "love the sinner, hate your sin". Rather than lawyered, to all of my Christian friends I would say "boom, Saviored". Ha! God doesn't hate anyone, but He's not a huge fan of sin. And then He realized, "oh right, I gave them free will. Okay, I can fix that. I'll send my son to pay the ultimate sacrifice and save everyone". Hooray! Unfortunately that leads into #7.7. How could any "loving father" kill their own son?
This one gets tricky. Technically, Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost, all the same thing. God is the "father", but Jesus is technically the "Messiah" which literally means "God with us". The only reason he is called the "son" is because of the whole Mary being a pregnant virgin and Jesus was born, so God had to be His "father", really, God killed himself if you look at it literally translated. Jews sacrificed lambs, God sacrificed himself instead. It's really complicated, and I don't 100% understand it myself, but I'm only 23, I'm not done learning about my faith.
8. Why would you rejoice in your sufferings?
Enter yet again my FAVORITE Bible verse!!
Romans 5:
5 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
Also, we rejoice in our sufferings because we are rejoicing that we are still here, we are alive, and we are praising God for what we do have. Christians are generally more cup half full than half empty kind of people, so we like to thank God for the stuff He put in our cup!
9. When you say "I'll pray for you" it makes me mad/uncomfortable/sad.
One of my roommates gave me a great response for this one I never heard before. It was brilliant. "why? afraid it will work?" Boom. To me, saying "I'll be thinking about you" is the same as "I'll be keeping you in my prayers". If you don't believe in God then why do you care if I pray for you? If that is how I practice my faith, if that is how I think many pains can be hurt and I can support you in a way that I know how, then I am going to. Granted, I don't say it very often unless I know the person is a Christian or doesn't care if I say it/do it. However, what different does it make if I pray for you. I don't believe that prayer solves everything, but especially since I have started living as a "let go and let God" kind of person, that's what I do.
Here's my issue. I used to carry this enormous burden around with me all the time. It was so heavy that I couldn't carry it without immense pain. It was every worry about every friend and carrying their load on my shoulders was awful. Not that I don't love hearing my friends vent and try to help and support them, absolutely adore it, but I can't keep that for myself. I hate to get rid of them, they are not my burdens to bare. BUT, God loves to hold on to those. He would rather take on your worries than have you suffer. So I let them go. I still try to solve a problem, but that's what I do rather than worry and panic, I find a solution. Or at least I just become a really wonderful pair of ears or shoulders. So I'm sorry it makes you mad that I'm going to pray for you, but even if I don't say it out loud, I'm still going to pray for you.
10. De-baptisms.
This one isn't something atheists say, it's something they do, and it infuriates me. Not everyone does it, but to me not only are you making a huge point that you are a "religion", you are also mocking mine, and that is simply not okay.
Baptism is a very big deal in the Christian faith. Sure, every church does it differently. Some sprinkle, some do full immersion, some baptize babies, others wait until you're older. Lots of different ways to do this. But the goal is always the same. You are clean. All of your sin, past, present, and future, is all gone. You are clean in the eyes of God. That is a BIG DEAL!
If you don't believe in God anymore, you do not need to go through "de-baptism" to undo it. If you don't believe in God, then you don't believe in sin, and you don't believe in the practices of our religion. So really, if you were a Christian and you were baptized at some point in your life, basically someone either sprinkled you with water, our dunked you in a pretty pool, but it's water. By undoing it, you're basically saying you believe in the power of baptism and want to undo it. KNOCK IT OFF. That would be like me going and interrupting Muslims during their call to pray and ripping off their head pieces. Come one, have a little respect. The president of the atheist club on campus did this in the middle of the pasture that you can see from any point on your way to class, and then had everyone walk around with a towel on their heads saying they were "de-baptized" and were unclean again. Seriously, are we in middle school. Stop! It's disrespectful, and it is just as bad as some nosier Christian who just toss a Bible at you and say that's the answer.
Honestly, you can believe, or not believe, whatever you want. I am a Christian, and no matter how much you try to convince me that God does not exist, you won't. I am grounded in my faith, it is something that I hold very dear to my heart, something I live by, something I will never sway from. I am a BELIEVER and I will be a believer until I die, and I will teach my children what I've been taught, and then I will let them decide what they want to do with that information, just like I did. And I chose to believe...no brainwashing or harming of children occurred during the making and living of this life!
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