Posted on 06/27/2017 4:14:39 PM PDT by jonno
Sometimes my natural skepticism asserts itself, but I cannot walk away.
My father-in-law is one of the fairest, most patient, and most virtuous people that I know. He’s always available to help out, his capacity for forgiveness is immense, and when he’s unavailable it’s usually because he’s caring for or teaching people in his community. He’s intellectual honest, and he’s a profoundly decent human being. He’s also an atheist.
He’s part of the reason why I have respect for people in the atheist community, and why when I write about atheism I usually have positive things to say. I don’t think it’s true that all atheists are fundamentally driven by selfishness, pride or immorality. Sometimes people are atheists because they’ve been intellectual or morally scandalized by poor catechesis or by the bad behavior of those who represent the gospel. Others may just be like those laborers standing around in the marketplace who haven’t yet been called into the fields. Conversion, after all, is a grace that comes to us according to God’s timetable.
(Excerpt) Read more at aleteia.org ...
Will save for later.
As the old saying goes:
“There are zero Atheists in hell”.
For me, belief or nonbelief is not an optional thing. Either something is found to be true or it is not. Do you direct your own religious leanings willfully, just by choosing to do so?
90% of Atheist self-Identify as Liberal-Leftist, who the Hell would want to be associated with them?
The first couple of lines of “Amazing Grace” (my favorite Hymn) come to mine especially “I once was lost but now I’m found. Was blind but now I see”.
Thank you for this post. The Truth will out, if we but seek it earnestly. God love’s earnest questions and - as pointed out in the article - is fully capable of answering them to our satisfaction.
It took Jesus’ disciples 3 1/2 years to learn the “truth”, and then they were ready to start REALLY learning!
Faith is a journey with many turns - the only real danger is a u-turn.
C.S. Lewis mused that as a teenager, he was angry at God for not existing.
There’s an interesting thing about being an atheist as opposed to being a believer in an afterlife.
If atheists are right, they’ll never know. They’ll only know if they are wrong.
If believers in an afterlife are wrong, they’ll never know. If they are right, they’ll know.
Makes it an easy decision if one is agnostic. You want win-win or lose-lose?
I’ve many friends who were atheists until they had an NDE.
One of the most bizarre situations is a woman who is somewhat famous. Been on a few tv shows and wrote a few books. Very Jewish. Raised Jewish, Jewish schools, married Jewish, raised her children Jewish... and confided in me that her world was turned upside down when she met Jesus during her NDE. She never told anyone except me, including her family!!!
If she’d just stop and think, and familiarize herself with the actual Bible, both New Testament and Old, she would realize that they were Jews who accepted Jesus as Messiah. Not alien at all. It was later innovations that arose, that made the distinction far more stark and seemingly hostile.
I appreciate you posting this. I can identify with things the author of the article wrote. Like him, I struggle sometimes….but all I have to do is go outside and see this grand and complex creation that He designed. As believers we shouldn’t look down on atheists. My mother used to say “But by the Grace of God it could be me.”
and confided in me that her world was turned upside down when she met Jesus during her NDE. She never told anyone except me, including her family!!!
Sounds like she valued her image with her family more than she valued her family.
Maybe you can correct my impression.
Sounds like she valued her image with her family more than she valued her family.
Maybe you can correct my impression.
You are 100% correct. She lost the benefit of the experience.
I could not agree with you more....
The Jewish Old Testament is about self-actualization.
The Christian New Testament is about self-transcendence.
Some people are still stuck in trying to build a Taj Mahal ego self identity.
The Second Coming is for the Jews, not us, not really. That flips people out, too.
I realized that Christianity and God had to be real, just because liberals don’t believe in them. They are like a mislabeled compass - if you pay attention, you still know which way to go.
Interesting that she has not confided in her family.
Did she convert from Judaism to Christianity? Catholicism?
Just because you are not affiliated with one of the filthy left wing organized religions doesn’t mean you are an atheist.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.