Conversation with An Atheist

[Stumpmaster]

@Mancunian -

Hey… just a mention, may be or not of your interest to consider…

I have a daughter that was born profoundly deaf, (3rd child) and of course teaching regular daily things was challenging, which paled in comparison of trying to teach her about God / Jesus. Fortunately she learned to read very young and the hundreds of trips to the library and thought I would go broke buying her Toys Books that she constantly wanted more and more.

Point…trying to teach her About God/ Jesus was a fail. She could not relate. Huff at the attempts. Said it was like trying to make her hear, and made no sense.

We were in a resale shop one day. She had a stack of books picked out. I glanced through the books, checking for appropriate material… and to my surprise saw a book, called:
A Case for Christ.
She read it, and for her it made a turning point impact. It didn’t turn her into some kind of mini-prophet or such, but did something to her turn about her consideration / perspective.

Don’t know if you have heard of it… really could be easily read in a few hours, inexpensive.

Just sharing.

Glory to God,
Taken

 

[Taken]

View attachment 90328

Wasn’t aware of the movie. Thanks.

 

[Lizbeth]

Yes I think that existence implies that there must have been a creative force behind it, but I wouldn't necessarily assert that whatever it was still exists.... Maybe it does IDK.

I'm of the opinion that if the creative force/God specifically wanted a relationship with mankind it would have created the conditions for mankind to appear millions of years sooner than it did.
I'll never understand why that a God who loves a species that is created in it's own image would go through all of the rigmarole of evolution?

We know that evolution by natural selection is the accepted scientific theory of our existence..
Even if you don't agree personally, there are plenty of Christians worldwide that do, and I don't know how they square that circle.

We are fearfully and wonderfully made........perhaps it took that long to make us into HIS image. Old saying, that Rome wasn't built in a day....much less the whole universe and human persons made in the image of an unfathomable God, I would think.

Anyhow the natural man can't perceive the things of God.........nobody receives Christ (His Spirit) through the natural mind. It is a matter of your heart/spirit, not your fleshly brain. I suspect you are probably getting in your own way (and God's) by trying to come at this too hard with the intellect. Need to quiet your busy mind and let it be at rest to receive. You can even ask the Lord to help you with that.

It is either believe in your HEART and receive Him or don't believe.........choose ye this day who you will serve. Don't think too hard Ask and you will be answered; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened unto you. I love this passage:

Act 17:24-28

God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;

Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;

And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;

That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might FEEL after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:

For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.

Hope that helps.

 

[Jericho]

Can I prove God exists? No. Can I give plausible reasons to believe that God exists? Yes. The problem is, no amount of reasons or evidence will ever suffice. Ultimately, it's a matter of the heart. People who believe in God do so because their hearts are receptive to God. It all comes down to faith because neither of us can "prove" God exists or that He doesn't exist. Even the atheist has faith in something.

I will, however, offer Pascal's Wager: If God is not real, then nothing is lost by believing. If God is real, then everything is lost by not believing. It's infinite reward vs infinite loss. Who then has more to lose? To quote another saying: “If Christianity is true, nothing else matters; if Christianity is false, nothing matters.”

The Christian faith has been described as a room with an elephant in it...with the lights turned off. People venture in and grope in the dark for what they have been told is an elephant. One person grabs hold of the trunk of the elephant and says to everyone hey, an elephant is long and feels like a big hose.

There's truth in that. We all have our theological and eschatological differences. Though, as Christians, we all agree on the fundamentals, or at least we should. The problem is, the Bible does not tell us everything. It gives us some revelation but not the whole revelation. We are left to fill in the gaps as best we can. As Paul said, "We see through a glass darkly." The problem is, we often come to erroneous conclusions and beliefs based on what we don't know. That has led to endless conflicts and disagreements. If everyone knew the absolute truth about everything, the world would be a very different place.