A good atheist/christian conversation

Below, is a conversation that took place between and an atheist on Facebook and me. I changed his name to Jay so my christian friends don't try to track him down. :-) 


I think it is important to point out, that although neither one of us changed our position, we had a good conversation without slinging insults and without getting personal. This is the goal of my blogging. To show more examples of how atheists and christians can completely disagree on a topic and still be civil to each other. He is still an atheist (he even has the atheist logo tattooed over his heart) and I am still a christian, but we get along. 


The conversation was based on my last blog about "Is God really a jealous God?" This was Jay's comment:




Jay: if that was the case. that he is a jealous God, which he is, and your explanation makes some sense. Then why is the "devil" so well behaved? Isn't jealousy one of the seven deadly sins? let me explain my point further. Why is the devil a perfect gentleman, never talking back, never explaining why he does something, never complaining. But one time... he challenges god (bets him). But thats it. for a guy that constantly gets the short end of the stick. He never tries to explain his side of the story, or complains, etc. like the christian God does. Not even close! If you ask me God is an awfully whiny, jealous, unfair, hypocritical, narcissist and most definitely needs to learn some gentleman's manners from satan. 


for those of you besides Victor reading this.. I'm not a satan worshipper. just playing the devils advocate. 
^_^ Pun intended. Nor do I hate your God.... wait. yes I do. I hate the idea of "that" God.




Me: Everyone reading this: Jay totally worships satan, don't let him fool you. He even has a goat head mask. Ive seen it.




Me: but to answer your question, Jay most of what you said about the devil comes from "man," not what the Bible says. The Bible is very vague about Satan. other than he tried to overthrow God, which is quite a big deal, but doesn't necessarily live up to the hype of his evil that "men" have attributed him to.




Jay: good point but why wouldn't god give him a fair trial? why not let him says his peace while he blames everything on him? and are some of Gods traits the same as he tells you not to have, or becareful of?




Me: We don't know what happened exactly, when satan was expelled from heaven. The Bible doesn't say. And I don't try to put myself on the same plane of thinking as God. I don't have a true concept of infinity like He does. Without a true understanding of infinity, it is difficult to make sense of the "here and now" when the "here and now" is all we know.




Jay: hmmm yes but then why the human traits if hes an all knowing God and why the pathetic jealousy and narcissism. I know your answer to this is what you just said. but it doesn't satisfy my reasoning. :)




Me: well I didn't write it to satisfy your reasoning. I wrote it because I was asked a question. Besides when have you ever known me to try and convert you or get you to see things my religous way. I am just trying to get christians and atheists to quit fighting, and focus on real problems that they can actually solve if they worked together. 

I think whether you agree with my reasoning or not, you can still find it valid and appreciate where I am coming from, in a subjective manner.



Jay: yup i can.



Me: and see? That is how a christian and an atheist can agree to disagree and coexist. Now we can stop talking about religion and focus on how we are going to get our country back from greedy politicians 
and bankers.

Now, I know some people will say "that's great, I wish their could be more talks like that too. But the christians are too intent to try to tell everyone how to live their lives."

That statement is completely false. I don't know any christians who try to tell people how to live. I hear about a couple of churches that try to, but I don't listen to them, just like atheists don't listen to them. Some will say that politicians are always making laws with religious content and I want you to know, I will vote against them every time I see them on the ballot. Those aren't christians trying to tell you what to do, they are politicians trying to tell you what to do. And ALL politicians try to tell us how we should live our lives. They are doing what they do because they are politicians trying to appeal to certain special interest groups, not because they are christians. And don't even try to play the "well they do these things in the name of God" card, or I will pull out how many white supremacist groups do what they do in the name "preserving the true American way." You don't want me comparing you to nazi skinheads do you? They claim to be true American Patriots. You really think it's fair to "generalize" a group, based on what a small percentage of them do? Whether they have power or not, they don't get to speak for the entire group. And like I said, instead of arguing with me, why not join me in taking them down? Work with christians like me who don't want religion in politics. We are both fighting the same things but from different angles. 

How powerful of a message would it be, if atheists and christians worked together on eliminating the same things they despised about "religion?" It can be done my friends. Indeed, it can.

Why is God a "Jealous" God? Does He really need US to stroke His ego??

I just read a blog where the author is describing how arrogant God is because he is a jealous God. I notice that one issue that agnostics and atheists have in regards to christianity is perspective. They tend to look at christianity through poop colored glasses so most of what they see comes out as negative or bad. I will write a blog myself, about God's "jealousy." Maybe because I am married, and have been for over 18 years, I have a different perspective about God's jealousy.

In the blog, the author asks, "does the creator of the universe really need gnats to stroke His ego?" I don't think God's jealousy is about stroking His ego. Let me explain. I love my wife deeply. I have wonderful relationship with her and after 18 years, I don't just "love" my wife, I "enjoy" her. I truly enjoy sharing time and space with her. But I don't want to share that with anybody. I do not want another man in her life, that I have to compete with.

The Bible is filled with stories of God's people leaving His guidance to follow other "god's" and false idols. And it always gets them into trouble. When I read the Bible describe God's "jealousy" I can totally relate. God doesn't want us to love money, material things, or anything else that would cause us to put Him as second. Just like I wouldn't want another man pleasing my wife, or trying to put me in second place.

My wife and I own a gym together, so obviously I have to work with very attractive women. My wife always says "Go train her, and help her be successful but remember, you come home with me." And then she gives me her "naughty" little smile that she knows I love. That's my wires way of saying "do what you have to do, but don't go too far." That is what God is saying when he describes being "jealous." He is saying "Go ahead and go to work, make lots of money, even have nice things, but don't make any of those things more important than me."

Anyway, that's my take on the blog and my answer to my atheist friends about why I think God is a jealous God, and why I am ok with it. I'm, kind of the same way. :-)
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Dear Atheist friends...

This letter was intended for my atheist friends who are very loud and outspoken. It is directed to the one's who have accused me of child abuse for teaching my children "the golden rule" and other Biblical principles. It is directed to my atheist friends who have told me that christians are evil and should be carved out of society, the way you would cut out cancer from the body (true story). If you are not that type of atheist, then this may not be for you. However, you may still find something useful in my writings.

Dear Atheist friends,

As a Christian I have joined your clubs, engaged in forums discussions, and facebook debates.  I have encountered atheists from both sides of the spectrum. Some are very polite and well mannered and some are vile hate spewing instigators. (by the way, the Christians have the same spectrum.)

As I see atheists attack Christianity and “expose” the evils of Christianity, I wonder what the motivation is. If the motivation is to “expose” Christians to the “horrors” of the Bible and God, do you think we haven’t  read the Bible already? We have read of the wars, we have read of the concepts of slavery and lack of women’s rights. Of course we have. And we have reconciled those 2000 to 4000 year old ideas, very much in the same way you have reconciled the horrors of slavery and a lack of women’s rights that occurred in this very country within the last 100 years. So, I am sorry but we are not going to freak out about  ideas from 2000 to 4000 years ago, anymore than you will freak out from the same acts in this country less than 100 years ago.

But getting to the point of this letter. What is the mission of the outspoken atheist? Is it to prove a sense of “I am RIGHT because I am an atheist and you are WRONG because you are a Christian?” If that is the case, who cares? And besides, you are always calling Christians, the “know it all’s” aren’t you?

Is your intention to hopefully get people to “wake up” and realize that Christianity is a farce? If so, I think your efforts could be better served doing something productive. At least until science proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that God couldn’t possibly exist.

Do you think you are making the world a better place to be? Let’s examine that. By being outspoken, atheists have made strides in removing religion from the public. I agree with that. But I don’t see how you are contributing to that effort by spewing hate. All you are doing is making the Christian take a defensive posture and dig their heels into the ground, that much more.

In my time as a member of the Central Oregon Atheists Club I have learned some amazing things about my faith. The first thing I learned is that my religious beliefs are my business. Not yours. So, for you to “speak out” against my religion is like me speaking out about my religion and trying to force it on you. If I don’t try to force my Christianity on you, I don’t think you should bash it. If you wanted to be productive in your atheism, why not try to encourage a Christian to truly follow the teachings of Jesus. The theme of Jesus’ teachings were to take care of the poor, love everybody, do not retaliate, etc… All good stuff, right? What if all Christians truly followed the teachings of Jesus? Would that be such a bad thing? Would you still despise Christianity as much? Do you despise Jesus, Christianity, or “Christians?” Most of my atheist friends that are outspoken do not have a problem with Christianity as much as they do with what people do with Christianity. Nowhere in the Bible are we instructed to force our teachings in schools, in the courts, or in the government. It’s not what Jesus did, either. In fact Jesus clearly told us that we are to keep religion separate from politics when He instructed us to “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and give to God, what is God’s” I for one, do not want to see my religious beliefs represented by my current government. My government is greedy, exploits the poor and middle class, looks for every excuse to go to war, and the list goes on. My current government does NOTHING the way Jesus taught us and I don’t want his message to be confused or mistaken with what my government is doing. I don’t want “In God we trust” on our money. I don’t want prayer in schools, and I don’t want to see the 10 commandments posted in the court houses. All those things imply that my government believes in the teachings of Jesus, but they sure as heck don’t practice them.

Your brother in life,

Victor

Why atheists just havent convinced me

Obviously, I hang out with atheists. I talk to them on facebook, I talk to them at my gym, and I talk to them when we are at atheist meetings. A common question that has come up often is "Victor, you seem to be intelligent and rational minded so how can you possibly believe in a God?" I have been asked the question enough, that I have decided to write a blog about my spiritual journey so I don't have to keep telling the story.

I don't know exactly when my conversion officially began. By all means, I have no business being a christian. My parents never took me to church. The only time I remember going to a church when I was in my parents home was if somebody was getting married. My mom and step dad weren't even married in a church. I do remember a time when I was in 2nd or 3rd grade that my aunt was taking me to church. I had a little Bible but I never read it. I made sure to bring it because if you did, you got a candy bar. At some point in my youth, someone gave me some Bible story books. I remember being fascinated by the stories and I read them over and over again. I remember being sad when I read the story of Jesus and saw the picture in the book, with Him being on the cross. I really enjoyed those stories but I had no idea they were contained in that little book I brought to church that got me candy every Sunday. Like I said, I never opened my Bible. My aunt taking me to church didn't last long because we moved but I think I went for about a year.

I didn't have any experience with church again until my senior year of high school. I had a girlfriend whose family was very into going to church. I went to church with her, but it was like going to the dentist. I wanted nothing to do with church or anything religious. I only did it to make her parents happy. When she got her license she wanted to start going to the early service and her parents were glad that she was taking the initiative to go to church on her own. They did not know that I had convinced my girlfriend to skip church so we could go have sex. And thankfully, they didn't ever ask the Pastor if he actually saw us in church.

And those 2 paragraphs describe the extent of church and religion, as far as I can remember, in my childhood. I did not grow up in a home where church, God, or the Bible, was forced down my throat. I was truly allowed to make my own decisions when it came to religion.

When my wife and I got married, we were both 18 years old. Religion was not important to either of us and we didn't go to church. We didn't have an interest in Church, God, or religion. My wife had grown up in a very religious family. But she grew up in the hypocritical, judgemental, double standard, religion that most atheists (and christians for that matter) despise. She had a couple of family members who were pastors and she had been told some of them stole from their churches. She witnessed double standards where her family would tell their church to "NOT" do something like watch TV, but then would have a TV in their home for the sports and other shows they enjoyed. So needless to say, my wife and I are were on the same page with religion. We just didn't need it.

That all changed when our first son was born. I was in the Marines and was on deployment. We were on a ship, patrolling the Philippines and did not have phone contact. When my son was born, my wife was not able to tell me that he was born completely blind. He had been born with no optic nerves. They did an MRI to make sure and there were no optic nerves. Nothing was attaching my sons eyes to his brain. My wife didn't know what to do. She was 19 years old, we were new on the base, so she didn't have many friends, and I was on a ship, somewhere in the middle of the South China Sea. For some reason, Jenise found herself in a small baptist church. Nobody invited her. Nobody suggested it, and she hadn't even been able to talk to me about it. But she went in and talked to the pastor. He asked her if they could put my son at the front of the church during service. They prayed for my son and the entire church layed their hands on my son and asked Jesus to have mercy on my son and restore his vision. He was about 3 months old at the time. When my son was 6 months old, he gained vision in his left eye. Our Doctor said he couldn't give us a medical justification for it. He said it was like a person being born without an arm, and then one day, and arm just decided to grow. After everyone left, the Doctor told my wife he was a chrsitian and although science didn't offer a reason for my sons sight, he knew my son was given his vision by God. I can't explain why God chose to give my son sight. 

Fast forward about 8 years to the year 2001. We casually went to church and never even considered getting "involved" with church. We wouldn't volunteer, but we would occasionally drop a ten or twenty bill in the plate, once in awhile. I was out of the Marines and quickly climbing the corporate ladder. I was working 7 days a week and even had a personal record of working 87 days in a row without a day off. I was a "company man." To make a long story short, my wife left me. She took our kids and went to California to stay with family. While she was gone, I didn't know what to do. I couldn't work, I couldn't eat. In fact, in 3 days, I only ate 2 bites of cocoa puffs cereal and 4 cheetos. (I was obviously not into health at that time) On the third day of no food, I felt an urge to read the Bible. I had never really read it so I had no idea where to look for advice or guidance. I opened the Bible and it was at the book of Ephesians. For the details on what happened when I opened that chapter, read my article on My Personal Testimony. I felt like God was reaching out to me. Some of my atheist friends have asked me, "Why don't you follow Thor or Zeus, then?" The answer is because I never felt a "calling" from them. All the times I felt God "calling" on me, I responded, and it was real to me. Some atheists get annoyed when I say things like "I felt or it seemed right" because they aren't scientific and you can't "prove" them or reproduce them in a lab. I get that, but then again, that's why I describe my faith in God as "personal." I really enjoyed Rob Bell's description of what a person may experience with God in regards to "feelings" and "hunches."

These are just two examples of things in my life that brought me to God. I have about 20 or more "coincidences" where the solution to the problem always seemed to lead to God. I wasn't forced into my belief, I didn't get it from the Bible. In fact, I was going to church for several years before even reading the Bible. My spiritual journey was very personal for me. It didn't include family, church, or the Bible. And that is why I can understand people who don't believe in God. They didn't have "my" experiences. They didn't see the things I saw, they didn't see the things I heard and felt, but mostly, they didn't see the changes in "ME" that occurred as I became more involved in God. I was not a good person before God was in my life. A common atheist argument is that they can do good without God. I always say "Good for you. I couldn't" If it wasn't for my faith in God, I would not be married today. It wasn't until I surrendered my ego and my pride that God began to change my heart and make me into the man that my wife needed. It wasn't easy and it didn't happen over night. But it was real for me.

I do not intend of this blog to convince any atheists that God is real. I know this blog won't do that and some of you will even be rolling your eyes and laughing at me as you read this. The purpose of this blog was just to give some insights on why I believe the way I do. As I stated earlier, I can completely understand why an atheist doesn't believe in God. You can look at the evidence for God and completely dismiss it, if there is no personal experience to go along with it. I think that is why I can relate to atheists and engage with them so well. I don't have a problem with their lack of belief. Especially, with the history that christianity has. But that is between them and God. I will never try to "force" my beliefs on an atheist because that didn't happen to me. I will never try to make them feel "small" because that never happened to me. I was allowed to come to my own conclusions and I will always give atheists that same respect. If they have questions I will do my best to answer them, but if the questions are too technical I might refer them to someone more knowledgeable than me. I am not a Bible scholar. I am just a man who had his life changed, and has a story to tell about it.

Taking a break

I am taking a break from blogging for about 2 weeks. My wife and I are making some important decisions for our family and I need to be focused for awhile and not distracted. I will be back in about 2 weeks and I really appreciate all the feedback everyone has given me.

How atheists made me a better christian

Jumping into the Lions den- and loving it

After getting more and more involved with the atheist community, I come bearing some interesting facts that I feel merit some attention. For starters, their meetings are not as dull and boring as I assumed. Before I attended a meeting, I couldn’t figure out what a bunch of people who don’t believe in something could possibly talk about. I envisioned the meetings a little like this.

Atheist 1: Hey man, you still don’t believe in God?

Atheist 2: Nope.

Atheist 1: Cool. Me neither.

Atheist 2: Cool.

END OF MEETING!!!!

I mean what else could you possibly talk about in regards to “not believing in something?” I actually found the meetings to be very satisfying and very thought provoking. I also want to point out that there were no black robes with goat masks, no pentagrams, and although there was a big fire pit, I don’t recall seeing a single virgin sacrifice. When they realized I was a christian, they were fine with it. I did get a couple “eye rolls” and I did get a “oh boy, here we go….” but nobody tried to feed me to the lions so I can’t complain.

I didn’t get involved in the early discussions because I was new, I just didn’t know anybody yet. There were two conversations I overheard where an atheist was describing an encounter with a christian and how he made the christian look stupid by pointing out that a person can’t be logical or intelligent and have any belief in christianity. Inside my head, I rolled my eyes and thought “oh boy, here we go.”

Slowly, a couple of people came over to talk to me so I would feel a little more comfortable and join the group discussions. Eventually, it came out that I was a christian. I wasn’t trying to hide it, I just didn’t feel the need to jump out and say “Hey everyone, I am a christian.” Besides, to say that I felt like a Reggae band in a Klu Klux Klan rally was an understatement.

What I learned about Atheists

Something fascinating that I am learning about Atheists as I type this article is that if I type the word atheist without a capital “A” there is no problem. However, if I try to type the word christian without a capital “C” then I get the red squiggly line, indicating I have misspelled the word. If I change the “c” to a capital “C” then it goes away. Interesting. Anyway, by the end of the evening, I made about 5 really good friends that I fully intend to re-visit and have further discussions with. I learned that some of my misconceptions of atheists were not as accurate as I thought. For instance, most atheists are not hate spewing, venomous, christian haters that want to destroy our way of life. For the most part, they just want to be left alone. They feel a lot of pressure with public displays of christianity and when government puts up christian monuments or makes laws with a christian theme. Although we haven’t had many new laws with a Christian theme, I can understand why they don’t want the 10 Commandments on govt buildings, or prayer in schools, or “In God we trust” on our currency. I will address my feelings on this in a later section called “What I learned about my faith.” For the most part, the atheists in my new atheist group were very level headed, good people, who I had much more in common with, than I would have ever guessed. There were not any of the vile, hateful types that I used to stereotype all atheists as being. In fact, as I associate more and more with atheists, in person and online is that most of the atheists are just like me. Other than the obvious, of course. What I found was that the vile and mean atheists really make up a very small percentage of the whole group. Unfortunately, they are the loud ones. We have all heard about the “silent majority” and the hateful atheists are definitely the “loud minority.”

What I learned about christians

Hanging around Atheists has really given me a new perspective on the whole christian movement. I always looked at christians, myself included, as the good guys, no matter what. It has only been until recently that I have been able to see us in a different light and I owe it to the time I have spent with atheists. Let me explain my point. I have an uncle. Let’s say his name is Uncle Joe. Now, my Uncle Joe is kind of different. He tends to tick a lot of people off and he really doesn’t have too many friends because of this. Since he is family, myself, and the rest of our family is able to overlook some of Uncle Joe’s less than attractive qualities. Because he is family, we are able to tolerate him a little better. People on the outside of the family, however, cannot usually stand to be with him for more than about 5 minutes. This is what I noticed with some christians. I wasn’t able to see how obnoxious and annoying they were because they were like my family. I was willing to overlook certain qualities because they were on my side. It wasn’t until I started looking at christians from the view point of the atheist that I was able to say “Wow, we really piss people off. And I see why.”

Another thing I realized about christians is that we have the same 10% that the atheists do. A very small percentage of christians are very intense, hate spewing, judgmental, opinionated, and critical of people who are not like them. I can see why atheists get so annoyed with us. We have a “belief” system, yet within that belief system exists over 50 different doctrines and dogmas. All 50 different doctrines believe that “they” are the right ones and everyone else is wrong. In fact, some of those 50 doctrines are so intense in their beliefs that they believe all the other 49 doctrines are wrong and will go to hell for it. There is quite a bit of discrepancy considering we are supposed to be a united front with a consistent message. I for one do not have a problem with all the different doctrines since for the most part, we agree on the major issues of the Bible, but I can definitely see how an atheist can take issue with it.

The final thing I have noticed about christians is that the majority of Christians do not act out their faith. Remember when I said earlier that there was not too much difference between me and the atheists? Did anyone notice anything wrong with that? A christian’s life should be more than church, work, and football. We are called to be “holy.” The word “holy” means to be set apart. It doesn’t mean “better than” or “higher than” or “favored.” It just means we should be set apart. Our greatest teacher was Jesus, and His life was about serving. EVERY DAY. Not just on Sunday’s by dropping a “ten” in the plate as it passes by. If Atheists saw Christians never “saying” anything about how people should live, but only saw Christians serving the poor, participating in community every week, taking care of widows and orphans, and being a pillar for people in society, they wouldn’t be so angry. I know this, because I have asked them. Don’t get me wrong, the Church has done amazingly wonderful things for communities and people all over the world. Unfortunately though, just like we have that 10% of loud and opinionated Christians, we also only have about 10% that actually serve like we are supposed to.

Associating with atheists has allowed me to see what we need to do in the Church to engage with society more and be a quality example to the world. It has also strengthened my faith and convicted me to analyze my own life and seek improvement. I have found myself holding back because I feel like I am “doing enough.” I have found that I can do more and if I want to gain the ear of an atheist, they don’t care what I have to “say.” They want to see what I “do” and if it aligns with the teachings of Jesus.

What I learned about my own faith

Hanging out with atheists has done amazing things for my faith and my walk with The Lord. After listening to atheist’s voice their opinions on public displays of faith, I can see where they are coming from. A faith in God is a personal thing. We are supposed to have a personal relationship with Jesus and everybody’s faith walk is different. It is difficult for some, to “choose” to have a faith walk when they feel like they are being forced or coerced into it. A couple years ago, I was one of the Christians fighting for prayer in school, the 10 commandments in court houses, and “In God we trust” on our money. I have recently changed my attitude on those things. I have realized that my children do not need to see public displays of God in order for me to teach them. I do not need a moment of prayer in school to teach my kids to pray. What I do believe to be helpful in schools would be a moment of reflection where children are taught to engage with their previous day’s decisions and reflect on the things they did and their interactions with people. I find too many people going through life with their “heads in clouds” and not paying attention to the details around them. I believe it would be very advantageous to equip children at a young age, with the ability to “be present” in their lives. That way, Christian children could pray if they wanted, Muslim children could pray, Hindu children could meditate, and atheist children could stare off into the corners and watch for the next form of life to spontaneously combust and create itself out of swirling gasses. HA HA, sorry, I couldn’t help it. He he.

I learned that my faith is very important to me and something I love. It is not something I feel I need to “defend” or “justify” to someone else. When we treat our faith like something we have to defend, like a brick wall, that can be very dangerous. It can be dangerous because there are so many uncertainties about our faith and so many things we can’t explain or prove. (Hence the term faith) If one of the aspects of our faith (or brick wall) is called into question and we don’t have an absolute answer, we are put in an awkward situation. Instead, my faith is something I enjoy. It is something I love and therefore, I invite other people to join me. Kind of like a trampoline. A trampoline has a hundred springs and I can tell you from experience that not all of those springs have to be in good working order, in order to play. So, if one of my springs (or beliefs) comes into question, or I don’t have a clear fact, it’s ok. If you don’t want to join me, I don’t mind. I am still going to play. And I don’t defend the things I love. I am not going to take out pictures of my kids and try to “defend” or justify to you how smart and great my kids are. Rather, I am going to share them with you, and invite you join me, in enjoying them. If you don’t care about my kids, I don’t mind because they still bring me great joy and delight. I think if more Christians took this type of approach with their faith they would be able to coexist with atheists and maybe even be a positive influence on them.

Which brings me to my next realization. christians should never, in my opinion, try to “convert” an atheist. Trying to argue and debate with an atheist about who is right could possibly be the most monumental waste of time there is. It is usually a complete waste of time because neither side has enough facts to support their belief and both sides are looking for facts. Arguing with an atheist over the existence of God is like arguing about Whether or not chocolate ice cream is good. Both sides can provide evidence to their sides but at the end of the day it comes down to how you interpret the evidence. And that, is the biggest and only difference I see between an educated atheist and an educated Christian. Both sides have plenty of evidence to support their beliefs, but like science, evidence is in the eye of the interpreter. Atheists cannot deny the existence of mounds and mounds of evidence. From the archeological discoveries, to the 40,000+ historical records and documents, to the secular historical recordings, and eye witness testimony, atheists have to reconcile there is a lot of stuff to support Christianity. All they can do is, discredit the evidence or say they “it doesn’t work for them” but it does not eliminate evidence simply because you don’t believe it. The same is true for Christians when they want to debate evolution. They can disagree all they want with the evidence, but there is tons of evidence to support the claims of evolution as well. It just depends on how you interpret the evidence. Which is an amazing concept in philosophy when you think about it, but that’s another blog in itself.

I hope that this article will cause Christians to analyze themselves and reach out to the atheist community. Most Christians I know are somewhat intimidated by atheists and avoid them at all costs. It would suit our cause, and in my opinion, please our Savior to reach out to them, treat them like humans, treat them as equals, and see what amazing things can happen. I have been warned by some well meaning christians that I should be careful of the atheists because they might “influence” me and I could lose my faith. My response to that is that if a little investigation can destroy my faith, then I never had faith at all. If my faith is reduced, simply because I left the comforts of my couch and “tested” my faith, then what kind of faith is that? Is that what my God wants of me? To sit in comfort, and never test my faith? I don’t think so.