My Christian brothers and sisters. I spent about eight hours today on YouTube watching videos with subject matter pro and con the existence of God. If the Lord hadn’t reminded me of His promise of eternal life, I could have easily gone into a deep depression. There are more atheists out there than I ever could have imagined. Millions upon millions of them. I do not believe in the polls that say 82% of the people in America are true dedicated Christians. I’m sorry. Then, how many of these professed Christians are being caught up in new false theologies created by people that are no more than pop psychologists? True Christianity is slowly dying. Here’s the mentality we’re going to have to get used to fighting to uphold our faith: I posted a nice comment on a YouTube video simply stating that the greatest witness of a Christian is to make sure they practice what they preach, and God would work on the person’s heart from there. I got a reply (not even connected in thought to my post) from an atheist asking me to prove there is a God. I replied to them that if they could prove God doesn’t exist, we would have an interesting conversation indeed. They fired back a reply to me saying the burden of proof is on me to prove there is a God. Finally, I kindly wrote back to them that they also had the burden to prove their point of view. Otherwise, no ideal or theory could ever be concluded. How can you have a debate with only one viewpoint presented? It’s been a month now, and they have not yet responded. You see, some people just want to believe that God does not exist (for whatever reason), but they do not want to approach it in a logical way.
Ask any good scientist or philosopher - atheist, Christian or neutral, and they will tell you in order to create a fact from a theory, they have to play “devil’s advocate” to their own theories to test them so they can arrive at the conclusion of whether they are true or false. Some atheists just want to disbelieve in a God, but not offer any reasoning of their own. I don’t know if this is out of stupidity, laziness, or even anger. On the other hand, some Christians just want to believe in Christianity the way they want to, but not offer any reasoning of their own other than they just want to believe what they want to believe (for a variety of reasons), because of their ignorance and laziness to study the Bible.
God gave humankind their brains for a reason. Jesus taught we should love God with all our hearts, souls and mind. The word “mind” in the original Greek language actually means “deep thought”. We are to love God with our heart of emotions, the depth of our entire being, but He also wants us to deeply think about what we believe and why we believe it. We are to have a relationship with Christ to the maximum that our mental capabilities will allow.
Don’t let some atheist who is ignorant of your faith or the Bible vex your spirit of joy! And don’t let someone with their own skewed interpretation of the scriptures lead you astray from the real truth of them. Being a Christian is serious business, but set your eyes on the reward! God is constantly doing His best to communicate His will to us, but our carnal nature often does not hear His call. In these days, there is a dark movement trying to lead us down wrong paths away from God. If you can, don’t just read your Bibles. Study them. Meditate on the verses, even if it’s only for a little while a day. Don’t let the world take away your quiet time with God. The Word is your only weaponry against the forces trying to lead your heart astray. God will reward you and give you the discernment you need to test what is right and wrong if you simply ask Him.
I firmly believe that one of the reasons there are so many nonbelievers today is because professed Christians have let them down. They have not been good witnesses of their Christian faith by not living a life according to the Book they claim to live by. There have been too many radical Christians who have tried to shove their religion down others' throats. They have not shared the Gospel in love, but rather with an elitist attitude. There has been major corruption and deception in the churches forever. THIS IS NOT THE WAY CHRIST WANTED US TO SHARE HIMSELF WITH THE WORLD!
I believe we do not have much time to try to turn things around. We must tell of God’s love, as well as His justice. But we must also live in that love and holy reverence. As Christ died while we were yet sinners (unsaved), we are to love even atheists in the same way. While Jesus taught that we can judge the fruit of a person (Matthew 7:17,18), we can never assume to judge the spiritual destiny of that person. God is the only righteous judge. We are not. There is always hope some will see the truth.
However, there are some who will just want to debate with you forever, because they have the need to win the argument. If they feel like they have won by tiring you out, then their ideal that there is no God is solidified. Talk with these people until you can sense you’re going to get nowhere with them. Then politely bow out, and pray for them. Let God take it from there. Know that you did what the apostle Paul instructed, “Be at peace with everyone inasmuch as it is possible with you...”
Always love others as God has loved you.
Ask any good scientist or philosopher - atheist, Christian or neutral, and they will tell you in order to create a fact from a theory, they have to play “devil’s advocate” to their own theories to test them so they can arrive at the conclusion of whether they are true or false. Some atheists just want to disbelieve in a God, but not offer any reasoning of their own. I don’t know if this is out of stupidity, laziness, or even anger. On the other hand, some Christians just want to believe in Christianity the way they want to, but not offer any reasoning of their own other than they just want to believe what they want to believe (for a variety of reasons), because of their ignorance and laziness to study the Bible.
God gave humankind their brains for a reason. Jesus taught we should love God with all our hearts, souls and mind. The word “mind” in the original Greek language actually means “deep thought”. We are to love God with our heart of emotions, the depth of our entire being, but He also wants us to deeply think about what we believe and why we believe it. We are to have a relationship with Christ to the maximum that our mental capabilities will allow.
Don’t let some atheist who is ignorant of your faith or the Bible vex your spirit of joy! And don’t let someone with their own skewed interpretation of the scriptures lead you astray from the real truth of them. Being a Christian is serious business, but set your eyes on the reward! God is constantly doing His best to communicate His will to us, but our carnal nature often does not hear His call. In these days, there is a dark movement trying to lead us down wrong paths away from God. If you can, don’t just read your Bibles. Study them. Meditate on the verses, even if it’s only for a little while a day. Don’t let the world take away your quiet time with God. The Word is your only weaponry against the forces trying to lead your heart astray. God will reward you and give you the discernment you need to test what is right and wrong if you simply ask Him.
I firmly believe that one of the reasons there are so many nonbelievers today is because professed Christians have let them down. They have not been good witnesses of their Christian faith by not living a life according to the Book they claim to live by. There have been too many radical Christians who have tried to shove their religion down others' throats. They have not shared the Gospel in love, but rather with an elitist attitude. There has been major corruption and deception in the churches forever. THIS IS NOT THE WAY CHRIST WANTED US TO SHARE HIMSELF WITH THE WORLD!
I believe we do not have much time to try to turn things around. We must tell of God’s love, as well as His justice. But we must also live in that love and holy reverence. As Christ died while we were yet sinners (unsaved), we are to love even atheists in the same way. While Jesus taught that we can judge the fruit of a person (Matthew 7:17,18), we can never assume to judge the spiritual destiny of that person. God is the only righteous judge. We are not. There is always hope some will see the truth.
However, there are some who will just want to debate with you forever, because they have the need to win the argument. If they feel like they have won by tiring you out, then their ideal that there is no God is solidified. Talk with these people until you can sense you’re going to get nowhere with them. Then politely bow out, and pray for them. Let God take it from there. Know that you did what the apostle Paul instructed, “Be at peace with everyone inasmuch as it is possible with you...”
Always love others as God has loved you.
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