I realize that anyone can be friends, but according to the scriptures(if you choose to believe) two people can not fellowship together unless they believe the same thing. How is that even possible? I have friends and we don't always agree on the same topics yet we remain friends.
2007-12-02 08:44:12 · 36 answers · asked by phree 5 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Some of my best friends are fundamentalist Christians and atheists. (I am somewhere in the middle).
It's true that people generally want to be with others who believe as they do, to discuss things, reinforce one another, validate one another's beliefs, etc. But to my way of thinking, you don't LEARN anything that way.
The greatest discussions I have is with someone who disagrees with me, who sees things completely differently, but we can still discuss these things calmly and rationally and we find things we -do- agree on. If a Christian and an atheist both believe something, it's probably a good thing to believe!
Personally, I like to think my beliefs are eclectic. They are not dictated by the doctrine of some church I happened to be born into. I don't believe something 'because I'm an XYZ and this is what XYZs believe'. I believe it because I read or heard it somewhere and it sounded reasonable to me. By talking to people in a wide variety of traditions, I pick up ideas that I would never have heard otherwise. So it's important to me to be friends and to have discussions with people who don't believe as I do.
2007-12-02 08:53:58 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Well I have a few Christian friends (various denominations) and a couple of Muslim friends, some atheist friends and some who are agnostic like me. I think it's just because where I live and the university I go to seems to have a lot of people who think along the same lines as me, because when I was at school lots more of my friends were Christian than are now. Sometimes you disagree over these things but if you are all open-minded and willing to "agree to disagree" there is no reason belief should change friendship. BUT there are some people I have met I know I could not be friends with because their beliefs offend me and they are pushy with them.
2007-12-02 08:53:11 · answer #2 · answered by munchkin 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Of course it is. I have some atheist friends whom I love dearly.
NOWHERE in The Bible does it say that two people cannot fellowship if they do not believe the same things.
2007-12-02 08:49:59 · answer #3 · answered by batgirl2good 7 · 4⤊ 0⤋
Where does it say in the Bible that people have to believe the same thing in order to be friends?
It is possible for a Christian to have friends who are atheists. I have a friend who's an atheist, and I'm a devout Catholic.
..
2007-12-02 08:50:39 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
I'm Christian, but not a "fundie". I have several friends who are atheists. And I get along with pertty much everyone. About the only people I can't stand are the 'tards who automatically think I s*ck or think less of me once they discover I'm Christian.
Those people, as you may or may not know, I give their just due periodically on R & S.
2007-12-02 08:56:58 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Jesus also said "hate the sin, not the sinner" and that the first most important commandment is "love the lord thy god" and the second is " love they neighbour", so even if you believe atheism to be a sin, you shouldn't hate the atheist, you should love them as your neighbour. I think that's a fairly fundamental tenet of christianity and it would worry me that you think otherwise. Did you never sing that hymn as a kid "when I needed a neighbour were you there were you there....and the creed and the colour and the name won't matter I 'll be there."
2007-12-02 08:54:30 · answer #6 · answered by Alex 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
i don't know. i am Wiccan, and I work in a place where they KNOW i am Wiccan, and theya re always trying to " change" me and they found out it does not work, and they stopped. Now they treat me like I have the plague. Anyway, I know that some christians look down on others and they get along, but to answer your question, i don't think so, because one witll always try to proseletyze the other and they will not get along.
2007-12-02 08:52:41 · answer #7 · answered by Dragonflygirl 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
My best friend and her husband are Christians, I'm an Atheist. Her eight-year-old son came home from church one day and said, "I hate people who don't believe in God. I hate people who don't love Christ." My friend sat him down and explained to him that one of her very best friends doesn't believe in God and that it isn't going to affect her friendship. She told him belief or lack thereof, doesn't change who the person is.
Now, like most, she's not a very good Christian... what with getting pregnant unwed at 18 and all...
2007-12-02 08:52:04 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 1⤋
My best friend is a fundamentalist Christian, and we get along just fine, because we respect each others' beliefs. So I'd say it's completely possible. And I have other friends who are Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, pretty much every faith you could name. All it takes is some mutual respect and tolerance.
2007-12-02 08:52:01 · answer #9 · answered by JavaGirl ~AM~ 4 · 3⤊ 0⤋
I'm an atheist and my two best girl friends are a christian and a wiccan. We've been friends for twenty years. Of course it's possible.
2007-12-02 08:48:07 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 5⤊ 0⤋