Do Christians like atheists?

Originally posted by WarminIndy
Why was the Christian drinking?

Where to draw the line..? Two beers..?

Hey c'mon that doesn't define a Christian and we're all of us works in progress.. on the path of progress towards perfection.

Originally posted by NewAgeMan

Originally posted by WarminIndy
Why was the Christian drinking?

Where to draw the line..? Two beers..?

Hey c'mon that doesn't define a Christian and we're all of us works in progress.. on the path of progress towards perfection.

There is a difference in drinking wine or beer and drinking to get drunk and want to fight. That is what I am trying to point out, the fact the Christian drank enough to make him feel like he should hit someone because he was disagreed with. He could call himself whatever he wanted at that moment, but he was not a true Christian.

Proverbs 20:1 1 Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.

Isaiah 5:11, 22 11 - Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them! 22 - Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink:

So the guy drank enough to inflame him, or drank enough to make him feel angry enough to hit someone. If you can't handle drinking and it leads you to violence, then you probably should not do it. That is the point, if he knows alcohol will make him act out like this, knowing he should abstain and did it anyway, then he is not a true Christian.

Some people can drink more and not get drunk, but some people drink a little and are smashing drunk.

Leviticus 10:9 9 Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations:

The true Christian believes that WE are the temple, WE are the tabernacle. So drink it if you think you can, but if you can be led into violence, then you are not a true Christian.

reply to post by WarminIndy


You can not be filled with spirits and the Holy Spirit at the same time.

reply to post by WarminIndy

I gotcha, and that makes sense, to a degree, although works, whether good or bad isn't what it's all about, only the love of God, which the drunk so-called Christian obviously didn't possess.

Do I HAVE to quit smoking though..

Originally posted by TheGreatDivider
reply to post by WarminIndy

 

You can not be filled with spirits and the Holy Spirit at the same time.

Yes, I was trying to remember where that was at.

Originally posted by NewAgeMan
reply to post by WarminIndy

 

I gotcha, and that makes sense, to a degree, although works, whether good or bad isn't what it's all about, only the love of God, which the drunk so-called Christian obviously didn't possess.

Do I HAVE to quit smoking though..

Works really are a hard thing to understand. Some works are in a grey area and how good works can you do to make it right? All it takes is one bad work to destroy yourself or another person.

Say you were invited to your grandma's 90th birthday party and were honoring her, and got buzzed. Well, you might only be buzzed a little in your eyes and hey, it was a great work you did coming to honor her and enjoy time with your family. But when you left for home and smashed into another car, killing a family. What good did the good work do you or them?

Good works are not enough. And one bad work is enough to hurt others.The OP was hurt because of a bad work by someone claiming to be Christian.

Originally posted by NewAgeMan
reply to post by WarminIndy

 

Do I HAVE to quit smoking though..

Does it harm you? Does it harm others around you? That's your call. I don't tell people what they have to do or not do, but I will tell them there are consequences.

Originally posted by gentledissident
I’ve been harassed a bit for being and atheist. The weirdest time was when I was shoved thorough a porch railing by a member of a Christian fraternity whom I was chatting and drinking with. The last straw was when I stood up for women’s rights. He came toward me while I was on the railing which was on ground. The other frat members came up beside him. I thought they were coming to take him away. They came to tell me to leave and not come back.

How do you Christians feel about atheists? I ask about Christians, as they are easily the majority. How do the rest of you believers feel about atheists?

I have no problem with Atheists, they are people like everyone else. I don't like their beliefs, but there is a lot more to people than what they believe. I have no problem with them.

Originally posted by gentledissident
I’ve been harassed a bit for being and atheist. The weirdest time was when I was shoved thorough a porch railing by a member of a Christian fraternity whom I was chatting and drinking with. The last straw was when I stood up for women’s rights. He came toward me while I was on the railing which was on ground. The other frat members came up beside him. I thought they were coming to take him away. They came to tell me to leave and not come back.

How do you Christians feel about atheists? I ask about Christians, as they are easily the majority. How do the rest of you believers feel about atheists?

edit on 20-8-2012 by gentledissident because: (no reason given)

Is it possible to call someone Christian if they do not act Christlike? People are all human. We can also call someone an African American, but does this imply anything more than their origin? It shouldn't imply anything other than the fact that their lineage is from Africa and they were born in America.

With Christian, the title DOES imply more than simply what they believe. It also implies Character. The most you can say is that they did not act Christ-like. NOTHING MORE. Speak to character only, otherwise, you are implying your own prejudice against another group.

Example: Here is your words with black and white thrown in. Do you see how your words seem somewhat prejudice against Christians when they are used in another context. You might say, "I would never say that!" Well, maybe not concerning white and African American, but you did say it about Christians and Atheists. There's no difference.

Here is how your own words sound about two other groups of humans.

"I’ve been harassed a bit for being white. The weirdest time was when I was shoved thorough a porch railing by a member of a black fraternity whom I was chatting and drinking with. The last straw was when I stood up for women’s rights. He came toward me while I was on the railing which was on ground. The other frat members came up beside him. I thought they were coming to take him away. They came to tell me to leave and not come back.

How do you Blacks feel about whites? I ask about Blacks, as they are easily the majority. How do the rest of you blacks feel about whites?"

Of course, this is not what you said, but it IS what you said about Christians. Prejudice is calling someone by a name and then stereotyping across the spectrum.

Originally posted by EnochWasRight

Originally posted by gentledissident
I’ve been harassed a bit for being and atheist. The weirdest time was when I was shoved thorough a porch railing by a member of a Christian fraternity whom I was chatting and drinking with. The last straw was when I stood up for women’s rights. He came toward me while I was on the railing which was on ground. The other frat members came up beside him. I thought they were coming to take him away. They came to tell me to leave and not come back.

How do you Christians feel about atheists? I ask about Christians, as they are easily the majority. How do the rest of you believers feel about atheists?

edit on 20-8-2012 by gentledissident because: (no reason given)

Is it possible to call someone Christian if they do not act Christlike? People are all human. We can also call someone an African American, but does this imply anything more than their origin? It shouldn't imply anything other than the fact that their lineage is from Africa and they were born in America.

With Christian, the title DOES imply more than simply what they believe. It also implies Character. The most you can say is that they did not act Christ-like. NOTHING MORE. Speak to character only, otherwise, you are implying your own prejudice against another group.

Example: Here is your words with black and white thrown in. Do you see how your words seem somewhat prejudice against Christians when they are used in another context. You might say, "I would never say that!" Well, maybe not concerning white and African American, but you did say it about Christians and Atheists. There's no difference.

Here is how your own words sound about two other groups of humans.

"I’ve been harassed a bit for being white. The weirdest time was when I was shoved thorough a porch railing by a member of a black fraternity whom I was chatting and drinking with. The last straw was when I stood up for women’s rights. He came toward me while I was on the railing which was on ground. The other frat members came up beside him. I thought they were coming to take him away. They came to tell me to leave and not come back.

How do you Blacks feel about whites? I ask about Blacks, as they are easily the majority. How do the rest of you blacks feel about whites?"

Of course, this is not what you said, but it IS what you said about Christians. Prejudice is calling someone by a name and then stereotyping across the spectrum.

Exactly, it implies character.

reply to post by gentledissident


The best answer that a Christian can give to, "Do we like Athiests," is no. We love Atheists. We love them as if they were our own brothers or sisters. We hate the sin, but love the sinner. We are all sinners. The guy you were dealing with is not being Christ-like, but this simply speaks to the fact that we are all sinners. A Christian is no better or worse when it comes to sin, but how we see our own sin is what is important. Nothing about sin changes unless we can see what it does to others. Loving others is the point.

EnochWasRight, I was inquiring about the mindset of an organization that one chooses to join. This organization has rules written, spoken, and implied. Blacks don't chose to be black, and I don't think they get a rule book either.

Originally posted by EnochWasRight Loving others is the point.

We can agree on that

Originally posted by gentledissident
EnochWasRight, I was inquiring about the mindset of an organization that one chooses to join. This organization has rules written, spoken, and implied. Blacks don't chose to be black, and I don't think they get a rule book either.

Originally posted by EnochWasRight Loving others is the point.

We can agree on that

edit on 20-8-2012 by gentledissident because: formatting

Very true. That mindset is always one of love unless the Christian in question is not being Christian. Being Christian implies what the name stands for, or the name is taken in vain. If an Atheist claimed the title Atheist and then went to your church and played organ, prayed and raised his hands in adoration to God, would you be here asking how other Atheists felt about Christians based on this one person? No. You would be saying, "Wow, he doesn't act like an Atheist." Instead, your pretext is that all Christians are like the one that mistreated you (and drinking with you) and that they are actually hypocrites. I am merely pointing it out. Did the drinking have anything to do with the mood? Just saying.

Yes. We can agree that love is the point. Sometimes love requires honesty and constructive criticism. We are all humans. The pretext in the thread implies otherwise.

Originally posted by EnochWasRight
Sometimes love requires honesty and constructive criticism. We are all humans. The pretext in the thread implies otherwise.

I am in no way implying that all Christians behave like that. I know they don't. That was the most extreme example I could remember. I am just wondering if the ones that seem to like me really don't. There's no need to read more into what is written.

Originally posted by Sinny
aha no not really!

Catholics have more tolerance for us! lol

I got collard by a bible bashing, rapture believing, gospel Christian a week n half ago, she told me I was doomed and there was no saving me

eww, Catholics!

Seriously though...
There seem to be a lot of people who are quite happy to be incredibly rude and spout unjustified opinions etc. online... but I'd like to think that the reality is a bit different.

I've been a Christian for about 25 years now (I'm 31), and have made many friends throughout that time, the vast majority of whom have NOT been Christians.

Now, I'd like to think that I put my money where my mouth is as a Christian - my friends all know what I believe, they know where I stand, and from time to time we'll talk about those things... but at the end of the day, if I go ahead and alienate those people by shoving my beliefs down their throat, or being rude to them, or even just callously telling them that they're going to hell...

well, then I'm going to have to give an explanation to God Himself as to why those people were actually turned AWAY by my life and ministry.

Ultimately I view this issue in this way:

There are people out there in this world who will never pick up and read a Bible. With that in mind, I might be the only representation of Jesus Christ that they ever see... so it's vitally important that I'm capable of being friendly, loving, honest, kind, caring, and so on... but above all, to be able to do so in a genuine way.

Hopefully that all makes some kind of sense.

I am a Christian that is not "religious" and I try to treat others the way I'd like to be treated and I don't care who or what they are,including atheist.I do not believe that converting really works,so I am not of that mind.If someone is attracted to how I live my life and decides to change their minds or they have a spontaneous awakening and I played a small part in it,then fine.I just believe in being the best person you can be and when you falter,make a prompt and sincere amends and move on.It's not for me to judge someones spiritual path or their experience.Where has it ever gotten anyone?

reply to post by Awen24


"Eww Catholics"?!?

Meaning behind that?

I'd love to see you say that to my family.

Originally posted by gentledissident

Originally posted by DISRAELI
reply to post by gentledissident

 

I've been an atheist.
I still remember how it felt, and why I felt that way, so no, I don't feel any hostility towards people who are still atheists.

If you don't mind me asking, why had you not accepted the god concept as literal?

I suppose much the same reasons as you would offer yourself.
Having no direct experience of God, I thought it was up to the theists to prove their point.
Also I was a teenager, and just beginning to think things through for myself.
I did a thread about the whole experience;
How an atheist became a Christian

reply to post by gentledissident


You can tell the type of a tree by its fruit. That's a quote of something Jesus said.

The actions of these people proves that they weren't Christians.

Originally posted by Sinny
aha no not really!

Catholics have more tolerance for us! lol

I got collard by a bible bashing, rapture believing, gospel Christian a week n half ago, she told me I was doomed and there was no saving me

That's not true. EVERYONE can be saved (except for those who have been saved, have a deep spiritual experience and have tasted forgiveness, then despite that, they then turn irreconcilably away).

The thing about God is that He forgives and forgives, even when we constantly keep stuffing things up.

Forgiveness is one of the attributes of God.