Do we Christians have something to relearn from Atheists?

Question

The early church was unified under a singular belief, just as today's Atheists are. The early church believed and was held together by the idea that Jesus is Lord. Today's Atheists are a tight and cohesive unit because they all share the same simple belief, there is no God. In the early church you were welcomed and accepted if you believed Jesus is Lord. An Atheist today is well regarded and accepted if he or she simply believes there is no God.

Christians are getting their collective butts kicked all over the globe by Atheists and all we can do is utter a few pitiful words about how "persecuted" we are and how not fair this all is.

What if some clever Christian went undercover as an enlighten Atheist, compiled a book of secular science and philosophy that was large enough to contain multiple interpretations? Would that level the playing field in 2000 years?

Don't get mad at me, just answer the question. Meanwhile you might consider if we were better off before the book.

Atheists, I meant no disrespect. I was simply trying to get my Christian brothers and sisters to think outside the box, as you do, and consider, as you do, coming back to the power of a single unifying idea.

Answer 1

Yes. I think that we Christians have become more focused on our church instead of our God. The Christian faith has become too scattered and has many problems within the many denominations. Personally, I think we've been to obsessed with our differences and forget about our unifying similarity. This has ruined the world's view of us. Also, moral standards have dropped and some Christians are hard to tell apart from anyone else. I've made plenty of mistakes of my own.

Edit: I also think that we can be very narrow minded when we condemn everyone else (Jews, Muslims, etc.) We should learn more about other religions before we spread our own.

Answer 2

Erm, atheists are varied and different, they frequently argue amongst themselves, and never really put out much of an attempt at all to do anything as a cohesive unit... So I have no clue where you got that....

But you're also mistaken in terms of the early Church... The early church, when after it had started to be remotely prevalent (Constantine's rule) was united because they declared anyone who didn't believe in a set docterine to be a blasphemer and persecuted/killed them... Maybe you guys should start doing that again?... Or at least that's from around 350-1700. If you mean before the council of Nicea, they realy weren't very unified at all, some believed Jesus was God, some didn't, some believed Jesus was giving word from a plane of existance above that of the "corrupted" existance of Yaweh, some believe Jesus spoke for a good God while the old testament's God was evil, and some just believe he was some half-decent rabbi who spoke out against the wrongs of the pharises... I don't see any coherant unity there...

Answer 3

You make the mistakes of thinking that a belief in God started when the Bible was written and that the Bible has many interpretations. Neither of these is a correct assumption. God has no beginning and no end and exists whether you and I believe He is real or not. The Bible is a love story written to mankind to show them how to deal with their sin. Perhaps you should read it and all the archeological and written historical records that back it up and prove its truth. I haven't heard of any athiest that can stand before an informed, well read, born again Christian. Perhaps you could give an example of this 'butt kicking' that you claim is occuring. (Please remember that just because someone calls themself a Christian doesn't mean he or she is one. Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, many Lutherans, Catholics, Presbyterians, Methodists, Episcopalians, Unity, etc., etc., etc. say they are Christians because they belong to a certain church or because their parents raised them that way or because they believe they live a 'moral' life. This doesn't make anyone a Christian. Christians know Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior and have asked the Holy Spirit to live in their hearts.)

Answer 4

1) You could learn something from us if you weren't trapped in superstition.
2) The early church certainly was NOT unified. Christianity is the result of a mob of Jewish Messiah cults that fought and clawed for dominance. 'Orthodox' christianity EVENTUALLY won out over the Gnostic's.
3) Modern atheists are not a tight and cohesive unit in any sort of (as I assume you mean) 'political' way, which is why we are able to debate you people and easily win. We are able to think for ourselves and that's where we have the edge.
4) You do point out that christians whine about being persecuted, but you didn't point out how absurd that notion is. But I didn't really expect you to.
5) Your mole theory of christian infiltration will not work. We see through your ideology. Why do you think we have the opinions we do? Many of us were once like you. We know the traps and the 'tricks'. The thing is we've learned to overthrow the habit of seeing what we WANT to see and instead try to see thing as they are.
6) After 2000 years and enough propaganda the most absurd combination of messiah yearning, zealous anti-government feeling, and fairy tales will sell to the public if you wrap it up in a security blanket against the cold of death.

Answer 5

Most atheists that I know, are so because of the horrific actions of the early Christian, Catholic actually, church; such as, the inquisitions, crusades, murder of an non-christians, the witch hunts, torture as purification, and all the figures that claim to be Christian that spit on Jesus' teachings, such as Bush, or and all the popes that murdered "non-believers", the rise of atheists have grown. Really they are just trying to rebel in thought from the tyranny the church has displayed the past 2000 years. The cool thing is is that atheists don't judge people, for the most part. But really they are just looking for alternative views, or religions perhaps at times, such as I was.

Answer 6

hello, i am young eyt i am an Atheist. I simply don't believe in religion.I think it is pointless because i cannot find solace in any of the religions.I found some wisdom in Buddhism butr i shrugged it off as too strict.In Catholicsm it's open.It was a religion i was raised in.For the past 11 years (meaning im that age) i found little comfort in religion.But i don't go to meetings..really...well there are things u could learn..


1.Something called free-will(coz i think catholics refuse to do some stuff because the bible said so)
2.Something called science and logic(simply putting the fact that evolution is possible and some things aren't possible)

Answer 7

Atheists all believe there's no God for thousands of different reasons...They just don't believe...IN religion there are many levels of belief...I would say there's nothing really to learn about atheists and there non-belief. The only way to learn from them is to abandon all belief in God, heaven, angels,

...Before the book there was polytheism, but either way the world was always split between faith and no faith... I once thought that was why we were on the planet, to make decisions...and heaven or hell is the ultimate decision. Its a battle within...

Keep fighting the good fight.

Answer 8

You are badly mistaken my dear. Jesus is Lord is NOT what unified the early church and is why the christian church is so divided. Jesus passed His Lordship on to the Spirit of truth. Go to that Spirit now and ask for confirmation of this, GO!

Answer 9

did you miss it, the Atheist Bible came out in the 70's, if you look hard enough, you might be able to find on.

but you do have a great idea, convert atheisism into a religion, and then they could not combine ever belief in a higher power, under the same banner of religion.

Answer 10

I don't think Christians are getting "their butts kicked all over the world". Consider Dawkins for instance. The Atheists love him, but he is clearly a man with very little logic. If he is their icon, I feel very confident in what I believe.