Is there such a thing as an atheist?

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Elin said:
Yep, because you just described what the root is like.
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It begins with the publican on the steps who wouldn't lift his eyes, beings with "blessed are they that mourn," the conviction of the Holy Spirit of sin and the need for salvation, not touching one's TV set for Billy Graham and going about business as usual, one could say. It's the broken soul that meets the cross.
 
JesusIsAll said:
It begins with the publican on the steps who wouldn't lift his eyes, beings with "blessed are they that mourn," the conviction of the Holy Spirit of sin and the need for salvation, not touching one's TV set for Billy Graham and going about business as usual, one could say. It's the broken soul that meets the cross.
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"At the cross, at the cross where I first saw the light
And the burden of my heart rolled away.
It was there by faith that I receive my sight. . ."
 
Elin said:
No one is born into saving faith.

It comes only in the rebirth of our spirit into eternal life (Jn 3:5).

The root is the rebirth.

The only cause of not perservering is "no root" of rebirth.
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Your quote from John does not relate at all to the passage from Luke. They are discussing different matters.
 
ELECT said:
An atheist is a fool according to the bible
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Fools say in their hearts, "There is no God."
They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds;
there is no one who does good.

The Lord looks down from heaven on humankind
to see if there are any who are wise,
who seek after God.

They have all gone astray, they are all
alike perverse;
there is no one who does good,
no, not one. (Psalm 14:1-3)

What? What gives here? There is no one good in the world? I thought the author of this passage was talking about atheists, but I guess not!

God is with the company of the righteous.
You would confound the plans of the poor,
but the Lord is their refuge.

O that deliverance for Israel would come
from Zion!
When the Lord restores the fortunes of
his people,
Jacob will rejoice, Israel will be glad.

Oh, I get it. There is a select group that is good. They are the poor, the righteous, and God is with them. The author is one of them, and the Lord will restore their fortunes. He will restore Israel. Sorry, but this doesn’t include Christians. You are not the righteous Jews.

Many scholars believe this passage was written after the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC and it is a promise that God will make things right. The author of Psalm believes this disaster was brought on by those Jewish evil doers who strayed from righteousness. It is not a comment on atheism. Sorry, but there just weren’t any atheists back then.

A note: The Dead Sea Scroll community of Qumran called itself the Poor. It was nomenclature they used throughout their writings. The word for poor in their language was very close to our English translation of another word which is how we get the term Ebionite. Note, a number of early church fathers identified the Ebionites with the early Jewish Christians. Also, the Sermon on the Mount is found in the Dead Sea Scrolls; and note the language – blessed are the poor, blessed are the meek, and so on. These are all terms the Qumran community called itself. Interesting, eh?
 
Cycel said:
"The seed sown on rock stands for those who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but have no root; they are believers for a while, but in the time of testing they desert." (Luke 8:13)
Luke is not talking about those born into Christianity, he is referencing those individuals who came to the faith from paganism. They don't have deep roots in the belief. In times of persecution they fall away.

I had roots (though not as deep as some). Everyone I knew was a Christian. That doesn't mean I couldn't become an atheist. I would point you to two individuals with very deep roots in Christian belief: Dan Barker and Jerry DeWitt. Both are former Christian preachers. Both are now atheists. They both have books and both can be found on YouTube.
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This would be incorrect, the word" they" does not refer to paganism. Jesus explains the parable of the soil, He does not use any metaphors or hidden meanings, He explains the parable, clear and simple for the disciples to understand.
 
Cycel said:
Fools say in their hearts, "There is no God."
They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds;
there is no one who does good.

The Lord looks down from heaven on humankind
to see if there are any who are wise,
who seek after God.

They have all gone astray, they are all
alike perverse;
there is no one who does good,
no, not one. (Psalm 14:1-3)

What? What gives here? There is no one good in the world? I thought the author of this passage was talking about atheists, but I guess not!
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The verse does literally say that about atheism, but you are quite right, that no man seeks God. God has to draw all by His Spirit. We are all too stupid, selfish and blind, to seek Him. Sinful man of any stripe, including believers who have the same knowledge of God existing as demons do, some intellectual concept, but no living faith: we are all, as such, fools, rejection and rebellion an equal opportunity folly, to fall in the hands of God for the judgment of His wrath, against the unrepentant sinner, ultimate folly. And I suppose you could say we're all born equally stupid, but for what God gives the believer, none of us anything to crow about. When it comes to unrepentant sin, no sense just picking on the atheist, bottom line.
 
Yes there is such a thing as an atheist 95% of Israel are atheist so can we move on. Hope you are well Cycel. You cannot convince them they are what they are. Only the Holy Spirit can break the fallow ground of their heart.
 
phil112 said:
I am not bitter, but otherwise I commiserate with your dad. Those people disgust me because they are where they are willingly.
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*Maybe there are*atheists*but not for long, what if something happens, the first thing people do is pray, unless they hate their family members, IDK, I hope not. What do they do when they can't do anything. That is a terrible place to be.56179-cat-on-keyboard-typing-gif-hI43.gif
 
jkalyna said:
*Maybe there are*atheists*but not for long, what if something happens, the first thing people do is pray, unless they hate their family members, IDK, I hope not. What do they do when they can't do anything. That is a terrible place to be.View attachment 89845
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*The bible says all creation knows, or groans, even this cat might be typing a letter to repent.thjjjjjjg.jpgthjjjjjjg.jpg
 
What if, your standing in Heaven and you look to the right and the guy you told was going to hell is standing right beside you.....AWKward....
 
Happy Thanksgiving holiday to Cycel and family and all in Canada. Thanksgiving in Canada is coming up this Monday, 13 October 2014.

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Thanks be to God.
 
It is good to remember the year and to give thanks. It is good to remember blessings. The default action is to forget unless we choose to remember.
 
Cycel said:
Nope, sorry, it's not. You are trying to make a connection where none exists.
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Hey Cycle I had a question for you, it has nothing to do with this comment, it was just the closest one for me to respond to. This is a personal question and just for my own curiosity so absolutely no hard feelings if you don't care to answer it. Do you have any children of your own? I only ask because I personally remember after seeing my first son born I could no longer deny there was a God. I'm not sure exactly why, and I didn't run right out and join a church or anything that drastic, but I could no longer tell myself God isn't real and was made up by us. To be clear I didn't find Jesus in truth until about 10 years later, I was just curious if you have seen a real live birth of your own child in person.
 
Cycel said:
I don't have a specific memory of the moment I lost belief in God and yet I am often told by believers that I chose not to believe. They don't understand that a person can simply lose belief without being aware it's happened, which is what I think happened to me. Do you have a specific memory of the moment you lost belief? Did it come upon you gradually? Did you one day simply choose not to believe in God?
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I remember a period of time (around a month) where i had serious doubts, and felt my faith dwindling. I never chose not to believe, or ever wanted not to believe. I was in denial for a while, trying just to pretend i believed in case my faith would come back. Even after I knew i didn't believe anymore i would pray just in case I got an answer, but obviously I didn't. I don't remember an exact mooment when I no longer considered myself a saved Christian, or no longer called myself christian at all. It was more like one day, I had to say out loud, "I think I don't believe in God anymore,: but I hadn't believed for quite sometime before I would admit that to myself. And for even longer before I would admit it to anyone else.
 
Kerry said:
Yes there is such a thing as an atheist 95% of Israel are atheist so can we move on. Hope you are well Cycel. You cannot convince them they are what they are. Only the Holy Spirit can break the fallow ground of their heart.
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Atheist =/= non-Christian.

Leannaix said:
I remember a period of time (around a month) where i had serious doubts, and felt my faith dwindling. I never chose not to believe, or ever wanted not to believe. I was in denial for a while, trying just to pretend i believed in case my faith would come back. Even after I knew i didn't believe anymore i would pray just in case I got an answer, but obviously I didn't. I don't remember an exact mooment when I no longer considered myself a saved Christian, or no longer called myself christian at all. It was more like one day, I had to say out loud, "I think I don't believe in God anymore,: but I hadn't believed for quite sometime before I would admit that to myself. And for even longer before I would admit it to anyone else.
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When you first admitted to yourself you no longer believed in God, did you start panicking at all about how the Earth isn't being held in place by God, but "falling" around the sun? Julia Sweeney talked about her experience and the hilarious part is that the moment she admitted she no longer believed was quite similar to my own experience!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTvx_QA6gIc
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I'm too lazy to figure out which part of the video describes that particular experience, but I think you'll enjoy the entire thing. Give it a listen!
 
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