To christians and atheists?

Question

How strong are your convictions? Someone had a gun to your head and told you to deny your beliefs. Christians-deny the existence of God. Atheists-Admit that God exists and recite a prayer yo him. Will you die for your belifs, or go against what you believe to save your skin?

I am not a christian and was offended by that remark.

Answer 1

As a Martial Artists, I'd probably break his arm first...

Besides that, I'd tell him he's proof that religion is corrupt BS. If he believes that he is doing "God's will" by killing me if I don't agree to follow his beliefs, then he is himself not a devout follower of his God and needs to end his own life in shame.

Answer 2

As a christain I would hope that I would die for my beliefs. You can never really know how you'll act in any circumstance until you're in it. But I would hope I would take the route that would honor the God I believe in rather than cower out. As for an atheist, they would have to be a pretty dumb atheist to die for their beliefs. To an atheist there is no eternal consequence, whether it be good or bad - so the only life they have is here on this earth. Why would they give everything up just to let their killer know that... "When I say I believe there is no God - I MEAN IT!"? We as Christain's believe this life is a blink of an eye compared to the eternal afterlife we will be living. So I'll say t one more time, I hope in the face of death, no matter how it comes, that I would have faith and courage to trust God with my life and not deny Him to just cover my own skin.

Answer 3

No such element. An atheist believes in NO god/desses. that would want to include Allah,Ganesh, Kali, Isis, Thor, Gaia, Danu, and so on...maximum English speaking shoppers are on the following and are raised Christian, yet i'd say my morals & beliefs are from a mixture of empathy & society. i'm professional-selection, and so are many Xians and that i'm also vegetarian. The Bible is somewhat contradictory. That total 'no longer killing' element? a lot of Xians do not look to have a issue with production facility farms, the demise penalty or going to war. And in case you study the OT, you do not ought to pass a strategies to study some tale the position the 'chosen ones' are commanded to kill. There are over 30,000 Xian denom's accessible...there's a rationalization why.

Answer 4

I think it's sick how people would rather let themselves be extinguished than say a couple words. Yes, I would declare the existence of God and say whatever prayer. It's such a waste to die for something so prideful as that. I'd put that close to the level of suicide.

Plus, it'd be fun to be an atheist who was saved by God.

Answer 5

Yeah sure. He's got a gun to my head. What does he expect, an intelligent and measured debate?

I hope all Christians would do the same. A God that would expect you do die for no legitimate reason (see previous) can't really be much of a god, can he?

Answer 6

I'm catholic, and I will try to protect my self to the end, the scenario you present allow me to say, i will try to see my possibilities, the one thing for sure i know is that, yes I can deny my believed to save, my self, in Private but not in the open and while there are others watching me, and perhaps expecting something more from my self. Because after all, I can die in silence. But accepting to die for no reason or to satisfied someone else wrong desires I will not do it, and I will try the best not to compromise my self with the same situation.

Answer 7

For me, this isn't a hypothetical.

I've had a gun put to my face when the holder found out I was an atheist. He demanded to know if I believed in God now.

I corrected his aim... his aim would have done significant damage but not been fatal. I didn't want to deal with months of surgical repairs. And I said, "I don't believe in any deity so weak as to be held in a little bit of copper and lead."

He walked away in confusion.

So, would I lie and say I did to save my life?

Experience says no.

Answer 8

Of course I wouldn't die for my beliefs. That's stupid. Just say you agree with them, and then run off and continue believing whatever you want to believe.

Well, actually, I might die for some ideals - but not for religious or lack there of. I think that's a stupid thing to waste your life on.

EDIT: Actually, that Columbine story was made up by the girl's parents to get a book deal. The other girls who were under the table with her have always maintained that exchange never happened. And they would know, wouldn't they?

Answer 9

I've been asked this and challenged by this a thousand times. I'm a christian and well if someone came onto the subway with a gun and said all christians raise your hands. I would raise my hand. Knowing that i'll die is okay because i'm just like paul in the new testament. though i die i live and if i live i live for Christ and Christ alone. plus i wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Jesus.

Answer 10

These questions are getting tiresome, little Christian.

The god of atheists won't send anyone to hell for preserving their lives. A friend of mine-- an atheist-- marched in Selma with Martin Luthur King during the Civil Rights movement. When the police were standing there with their billy clubs and King had everyone kneel to pray, he knelt right down, too... as he helped the Christian black woman next to him whose arms had been broken by the white Christian police the day before.

When asked about it later he said, "I didn't want my white head to be sticking up like a target!" He was there to support them and their rights. He wasn't there to make a statement about atheism.

Being an atheist leaves you free to do what is right.

Answer 11

As a Christian, I have been taught both to resist evil and to love my enemies.
If I professed my belief in God the gunman might shoot me, thereby committing an evil and later being put to death for murder.
If I denied my belief in God, the gunman might not shoot me and could possibly later be converted to also believe in God, thereby saving his soul.

Therefore, the greater good would be better served if I resisted evil by not allowing it to happen and loving my enemy by permitting him future choices unblemished by a murderous act.

Besides, God would know my heart regardless of words forced from my mouth at gunpoint.