Comments on: 20 Things That Christians Do in Church That Annoy Me

By: Amberlin

Amberlin — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 02:10:57 +0000

Hello,
I hope that you have not decided against Jesus’s message/love/sacrifice becuase of Christians. There are a lot of things about church that I dont like – some are all about numbers, some are cold/dead…but any group of people is going to have its downfalls(no matter how wonderful the reason they gather). Jesus is the hope of the imperfect, so the imperfect go to church to meet others who love Him and try to love Him better. Thanks for reading my post.
Love,
Amberlin

By: Richard Wade

Richard Wade — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 05:35:06 +0000

Hi marisa,
Yes, people occasionally stumble across this old post. It’s a good one. Thank you for your positive input here, and for your positive efforts in your work. Please drop in any time at the more current posts.
–Richard Wade, one of the friendly atheists.

By: marisa

marisa — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 02:11:21 +0000

don’t know if you’re still keeping up with this blog… just a random passerby linked to this entry while researching litugical dance (blame the tags)…
wanted to say thanks for voicing this. i’m a worship leader and a youth leader and this stuff annoys the crap out of me too. hope you know some of us are doing our best to change it.

By: Madge

Madge — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 13:30:49 +0000

I am Christian but do not go to church. I read the Bible and teach my children of the Bible. I pray when I’m looking for a job and pray for the unsaved daily. I pray for guidence and help within my life. This doesn’t make me some type of nut that believes in fairy tales. This makes me the type of person that when I see the sun rise and the sun set and the beauty of life, it makes me realize that all of this didn’t just happen by some chance. It makes me realize that there is a higher power, a higher being, a God that created us and wanted us to know how much we are loved.

By: Richard Wade

Richard Wade — Sun, 31 May 2009 04:39:30 +0000

Hi Casey,
First of all, thank you for asking these simple, sincere questions. Too often, people come here to tell atheists about themselves, rather than honestly wanting to learn about us. I appreciate your openness.

Atheism is nothing more than the lack of belief in a god or gods. It isn’t really something that someone “practices” in the way that someone can practice Christianity or practice meditation. Most atheists simply lack the belief; they say “I have no belief in a god or gods.” Very, very few atheists go further to assertively express an active belief that there are no gods. That belief would require just as much evidence as a statement about gods existing, and evidence is the key to understanding atheists.

Many people are skeptical people, meaning they need tangible, visible evidence before they can believe extraordinary claims. They are not refusing to believe, they just need something solid to convince them. Atheists are people like that who so far have not seen any convincing evidence for a god or gods.

When an atheist says that she or he does not believe in a god or gods, s/he is usually referring to whatever god or gods that someone else is referring to. So the gods they say they do not believe in are the concepts that god believers around them are talking about. Those concepts do not have to actually exist for someone to say that they do not think they do exist.

Let’s assume that you do not believe in fairies. If a believer in fairies asks you if you believe in fairies, you might politely reply that you have never seen any evidence for fairies, so you do not believe in them. Your lack of belief in fairies does not first require fairies to exist for you to be skeptical about them. You are simply skeptical because you need convincing evidence to accept such a claim. Whether or not fairies do exist is not really the point. The lack of evidence is why you lack the belief in them.

So an atheist would not believe “that there is a god but he just doesn’t exist,” as you put it, because that would be a contradiction in terms. In that kind of sentence, “is” and “exist” mean the same thing. It can’t be and not be at the same time. Most atheists simply have no belief in any gods, just as you probably do not have any belief in fairies, and probably for the same reason, a lack of convincing evidence.

Again Casey, thank you for your earnest and straight forward curiosity.

By: Mriana

Mriana — Sat, 30 May 2009 19:08:04 +0000

Does Apollo exist? Do you believe in Apollo? Or do you see him as fiction?

By: Casey

Casey — Fri, 29 May 2009 14:46:57 +0000

Heres what I don’t really understand. And this is just an honest question, no hidden motives or anything like that.. If you say that you practice atheism, isn’t that saying that there’s a God to deny? Or saying that there is a God but he just doesn’t exist? I guess I’m just trying to understand atheism..?

By: Steve Cornell

Steve Cornell — Wed, 27 May 2009 13:40:34 +0000

“I hope there is no God” An honest atheist strikes the right chord.

See:

http://thinkpoint.wordpress.com/2008/12/03/i-hope-there-is-no-god-thomas-nagel/

By: ursulamajor

ursulamajor — Wed, 27 May 2009 11:50:00 +0000

After you read:
Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America’s Leading Atheists
by Dan Barker
or

Why I Became an Atheist: A Former Preacher Rejects Christianity
by John W. Loftus

k, Sandra?

And bone up on some evolution too. Just a chapter or two from a decent high school bio text would help you understand the “…if we evolved from apes, then why…?” concept you so woefully aren’t understanding. (I read your comments on another thread about evolution.)

By: Sandra

Sandra — Wed, 27 May 2009 07:47:47 +0000

I think you all should read “Tortured for Christ” written by Richard Wurmbrand, founder of The Voice of the Martyrs. He was once an atheist.