Google Groups: 'Tips on doing battle w/ EVIL atheists'

[VietnamVet-BRIGHT]

What do you make of this?  A Christian offers tips to fellow Christians on how to battle "EVIL" atheists ...

http://groups.google.com/group/Atheism- ... ists?pli=1

Christians Tips To Doing Battle With Evil Atheists  

Some things to keep in mind:

1.  Remember that they are people, just like you are.  Contrary to what you may have been led to believe, they are not some lower life form we share this planet with.

2.  More than likely, they are smarter than you are.  This can be difficult to come to grips with, but it does appear to be true and is a claim that is actually supported by the Bible (1 Corinthians 1:18-31)

3.  Statistically, they are also as moral, if not more so than you are.  While it is a good thing that they generally are highly moral,  it is a shame that we, who often times claim the moral high ground,  seem unable, or unwilling, to match our words with our lives.

4.  They will probably thump you in debate.  They are much more likely to have carefully thought through their position and understand why they believe what they do.  We are more likely simply to present some argument that the person we heard it from guaranteed would destroy the enemy.  The problem with that is that many of them have heard the same arguments many times and are easily able to counter them.

5.  Don't under-estimate their knowledge of the Bible.  Many of them are more familiar with the Bible than the average Christian is.  And they know all of the passages that will cause you a problem, and will not hesitate to challenge you with them.

So, as a Christian, what chance do we have when doing battle with the godless empire?  Here are some suggestions that may make your stay here more rewarding.

1.  Don't feel like you have to win all of the battles.  You are not going to.  In fact, you may not win any of them.  Be satisfied with being able to clearly and logically express what you believe and why.   While you may never convince another person on this group, you will have helped yourself by taking the time to understand what you believe and why, and to verbally present it.  1 Peter 3:15 says in part "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have."  We are challenged to give an answer, not to win a fight.

2.  Be respectful, open and truthful. The remainder of 1 Peter 3:15 tells us to make our defense "with gentleness and respect".  Realize that the people you are debating with really do have a lot to offer. Don't throw away the opportunity to learn from them because they do not believe in the God we hold dear.  Don't make the mistake of believing that everything an atheist says is suspect.

3.  Treat them the way you would like to be treated yourself. Remember what Jesus says in Matthew 7:12: "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets."  Jesus tells us to initiate the desired treatment, not just respond to others in the way we are treated.  Most atheists here will treat you with at least the same amount of respect that you show to them.

4.  Be willing to admit that there are things you don't know.  Believe it or not, it will not hurt your position.

5.  Remember that our walk is by faith and that we cannot prove that God exists or that the Bible is true.  We might be able to make an argument to support those beliefs, but do not mistake that for proof.

6.  Remember that while the Bible may be authoritative to you, like it is to me, to an atheist it is just an old book and has no more authority than the Iliad.

7.  Enjoy your stay with us, learn and share, and don't get too worked up about anything.

8.  Don't feed the trolls.

Some of the responses on the thread are pretty good too.

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[Will]

...More than likely, they are smarter than you are....
...Statistically, they are also as moral, if not more so than you are....
...They will probably thump you in debate....

Someone should be spreading these good words.

[McQ]

It sounds strange, but I like that. It's a smart play on their part. Thanks for posting it.

[Whitney]

One of the guys on Twitter told me that this list was obviously a joke...do they have it posted under the groups rules?

[VietnamVet-BRIGHT]

I love some of the responses on that site ... in the below quote, 'Nick,' per his own words, "a highly intelligent Christian,"  asserts that atheists really don't know what being Christian really means, explaining: "People will corrupt anything, that is the foundation of being a real Christian."

Feb 22 2008 by Nick  
 
Sorry, you are mistaken.Al ot of atheists are ignorant and dont even
know what being a Christian truly means.As being a highly intelligent
Christian your post is insulting,You are kidding, right?People will
corrupt anything, that is the foundation of being a real Christian.And
atheist liberals are some of the most corrupted and lying people there

http://groups.google.com/group/Atheism- ... ists?pli=1

Precious, just precious!

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[karadan]

Again, i see a christian using the words atheist and liberal in the same sentence as if they are swear words.

I find that rather weird.

[templeboy]

This must have been written by an atheist...if it was written by a christian, well, it is a Christian of very little faith

[Will]

This must have been written by an atheist...if it was written by a christian, well, it is a Christian of very little faith

Or maybe it was one of those religious moderates with some objectivity. There is verifiable evidence to support the assertions that on average atheists are as smart as if not smarter, just as if not more moral, are more prepared at least for debates about religion because we have more experience, and generally have a broader knowledge of religious texts.

But yeah, it was probably written by an atheist.

[Enoch Root]

This is not very different than what I would have said a few years ago when I was a Christian.  I probably wouldn't have included the "smarter" comment, because I don't even believe it now let alone then, but everything else would have been perfectly acceptable to me.  And I think both sides would benefit from adopting a mindset like this, particularly points 4 and 5.

Many Christians are fully aware that the "gospel message" doesn't make sense to "human logic"--of course they explain that by saying we are flawed creatures and God's ways are higher than our ways, but nevertheless they realize they're fighting an uphill battle when it comes to debating with atheists.  They pray for the Holy Spirit to open the heart of the atheist, which is basically praying for him to surrender.  And it happens sometimes; logical, thoughtful people convert to Christianity on a regular basis despite all the logical arguments and evidence against doing so.  The gospel message appeals to people who are hurting, or feel inadequate, or anxious about the unknown (death).

Ironically, it was this sort of thinking that drove me away from Christianity.  I can accept the idea that humans are finite, flawed creatures, and that if a God existed he would be wiser than us and able to see the Big Picture.  I can accept that there may be things that don't make sense to humans but would be perfectly logical to an omniscient God.  But I could not and can not accept that people would be condemned to an eternity in hell for failing to believe in something that they cannot prove or understand.  That's where it fell apart for me, and the house of cards came down shortly after.

[MikeyV]

This is from the author, OldMan in the discussion:

I am the author and can assure you that I am very much a Christian.
The article was written after a couple of years on this group and was
intended to help other Christians to more effectively communicate with
atheists, something that we generally do not seem to be very good at.

[Nulono]

I read the verse cited.

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?se ... ns+1:18-31

So God made the Bible ridiculously fucktarded on purpose?

[Jolly Sapper]

I read the verse cited.

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?se ... ns+1:18-31

So God made the Bible ridiculously fucktarded on purpose?

 

[Enoch Root]

I read the verse cited.

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?se ... ns+1:18-31

So God made the Bible ridiculously fucktarded on purpose?

That passage was written to counter the immediate and obvious objection that God punishing his son for things that we did to violate the law that he gave when he knew full well we couldn't keep it is a really messed up message.  And by messed up we mean "God's ways are not our ways".