Why I Really Don't Believe

bible, sin, atheism, atheist, religion, jesus, god, freedom, christian, christianity, logic
First of all, Christian Anti-Defamation Council is the funniest concept evah! Hey, jackasses, you are more than 75% of the population of the US. That's called a majority. You're not being persecuted, get over it.



Second of all, if you want to know why people don't believe what you do, ask people that don't believe, not other people who believe. Articles like Defending Your Faith: Why Your Friend Really Doesn't Believe make me wonder if they are aimed more at shoring up the believer's faith than converting nonbelievers. After all, you don't really need to "defend your faith" just because you know someone who doesn't believe as you do. (Even if they do offer you delicious cookies!) The basic premise seems to be that belief is like smoking: even if you don't smoke, there's still that second-hand smoke problem. I can only describe that sort of reasoning as . . . odd.



Often we assume that the reason the people we love do not believe the gospel is that they simply need more proof for the veracity of its claims. Yes, proof would be nice. Just because you believe something doesn't make it true. We often are prone to think that if the unbeliever could just hear the facts we've heard your "facts" or witness a miracle stop that. if i saw a bona fide miracle, like a guy that had been verifiably dead for days suddenly get up and walk away, I would totally believe. then certainly they would be willing to repent and believe on Christ.



Jesus knew that is not the case.

In fact, Jesus turns it completely around. He taught “If anyone wills to do His [God’s] will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority. (John 7:17)

According to Christ, your friend’s willingness to obey God precedes their ability to know the truth about Christ and what he came to reveal. So the problem with unbelief is not the intellect, rather it is a matter of the will. I can't see the truth in the bible unless I believe. Do you suppose the author of this article is completely unaware of how asinine that statement is?



"Hey, I found the secret lair of tiny pink unicorns!"

"Really, where is it?"

"I can't show you unless you already believe the unicorns exist."

[*]

Unbelievers do not believe simply because they are not willing to humble themselves and submit to God’s will. That's it. I'm just not quite humble enough. Not nearly as humble as this asshat. I think we need to revisit the definition of "humble":

adjective, -bler, -blest, verb, -bled, -bling.
–adjective
1. not proud or arrogant; modest: to be humble although successful.

2. having a feeling of insignificance, inferiority, subservience, etc.: In the presence of so many world-famous writers I felt very humble.

3. low in rank, importance, status, quality, etc.; lowly: of humble origin; a humble home.

4. courteously respectful: In my humble opinion you are wrong.

5. low in height (I'm quite humble, apparently!), level, etc.; small in size: a humble member of the galaxy.

I may or may not be humble, but the writer of this article is not.

Clever and subtle arguments may be employed by your friends, but their intellect is not the real problem. when you're describing "intellect" as a "problem", you're the problem They are smoke screens which they hide behind. no, i'm just freakin' smart. that's it. sorry, can't help it.

That does not mean that we are not to offer reasonable answers for our Christian hope. please define "reasonable" in that context. We are explicitly commanded to do so in the Bible. (2 Peter 3:16&17)

really? here's that passage:

16He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.
17Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position

that is not an explicit command to offer reasonable explanations for Christian hope. do these people think i won't look up any referenced bible verses?

But conversion is not simply agreeing with good arguments and sound reasoning, it consists of a supernatural inward change evidenced by repentance and faith in Christ. I will agree with everything before the comma. Belief cannot be turned off and on, there's no switch to flip, no magic button to press. I bet that won't stop people from acting as if it were that simple. (Ray, are you paying attention?)

Why are unbelievers unwilling? Have you stopped beating your wife yet? It's that sort of question. It assumes something unproven- that unbelievers are unwilling- and goes from there.

There are a few factors mentioned in the Bible as to why unbelievers are unwilling to believe the gospel. perhaps the bible, the holy book of christians, isn't the best authority on unbelievers and their motivations. after all, nothing in there was written by an unbeliever. This is actually an appeal to authority, if you're collecting logical fallacies.

Most people are familiar with the verse that says, “The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God." yeah, trust me, all atheists are familiar with that one. it gives christians full reign to call atheists anything they want. This famous verse comes from Psalm 14:1. But the verse does not stop there. The rest of it goes on to describe these fools who deny God. “They are corrupt, They have done abominable works, There is no one who does good.” That's right, Ghandi did nothing but "abominable works". Didn't do one good thing, ever.

Note the real problem. He is not a fool because he lacks information. The point is that even though he should know better, he is behaving like a fool. so he's not a fool, he is behaving like a fool? hey, guys, we got upgraded! The unbeliever is condemned as a fool because he is immoral. I.AM.NOT.IMMORAL.

Now your unbelieving friends are most likely not ax murderers or bank robbers, child molesters and rapists, maybe. shoplifters for sure. arsonists? possibly. but they are still guilty and condemned. I love how fair yhwh is. child molesters go to heaven, ghandi goes to hell. it's so very fair. i'm starting to think of religion as a really long experiment in Stockholm Syndrome. No man except Jesus Christ has ever perfectly fulfilled the law of God. So what is the standard that God’s law requires? stuff i can't do, apparently.

All of the commandments of God are summarized by Christ. He told us that we must love God and neighbor with all our heart, mind, soul and strength. We do that by perfectly obeying the Ten Commandments. funny, i'm pretty sure that's not what he said.

Matthew 22:34-40

34Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question:
36"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" 37Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' 40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

nothing at all about the ten commandments. how odd.

But, all have broken God’s law, therefore we all are under its penalty of death.

By virtue of our fallen nature, all people want to be “free” to do their own thing as if God does not exist and did not create them. not my motivation, and no, i don't believe god created me. Man wants to be “as gods” (Gen 3:4), pretending to know good and evil apart from what God has revealed. i do not want to be a god. it sounds obnoxiously time consuming, for one thing. The fool wants to set his own rules and act as if there will be no judgment of his life by a Holy God when he dies. there won't be. relax.

Miracles?

Sometimes we believe that if God would just dramatically intervene or answer some unbeliever’s prayer that the person will then throw up their hands in surrender to God. This too is simply not the case. yeah, actually it is. if i prayed for a ham sandwich, and a ham sandwich suddenly appeared before me, you'd better believe I'd believe.

Jesus had to rebuke the Jews of his day because they should have believed on him, but did not. that says something a little different to me than it does to the writer of the article. you'll see why in a minute. Imagine the incredible things they saw happening in Christ’s ministry. The sick were healed, demons were cast out and the dead were raised. A few of the Jews did believe, but most did not. Even though they ought to have believed, no amount of miracles could overcome their willful, unbelieving hearts. this says to me that there were no miracles, or simply the rumors of miracles was not enough to sway everyone. think about it. someone comes up to you and says, "This Jesus guy totally healed a leper. No more leprosy, just like that!" (snaps finger). I bet you'd want some proof, wouldn't you? I would.

In fact, Jesus taught, “If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead." (Luke 16:31) People do not need a miracle to convince them, even one as dramatic as Christ’s resurrection. If they are hard hearted and unwilling to submit to God they will just ignore or rationalize a miracle. Did I see the resurrection? Is there historical proof, other than the bible, of the resurrection? no.

So we can see one major reason why people are unwilling to believe is because they love their sin and “freedom” more than they love God. no, i don't believe in god. therefore, my love of god doesn't freakin' exist. and i don't love sin. jesus does not make you better than me. This is precisely what Jesus was getting at when he explained why the world rejected him. uh huh. so if i say that rejecting me as god makes you sinful and evil, does it? what if i get other people to write a really long book about it?

“And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” John 3:19 blahblahblah bible quote.