An Atheist Explains Christianity

[MarcusOfLycia]

I thought this was pretty cool. Makes some really good points and seems very reasonable.

[Ivellious]

Very interesting video and I can't really disagree with him. I guess my only point to add to his stuff would be that there is a certain time where you need to back off the "Bible-thumping." Like he said, if you choose to try to save others, great. But you can't force it on them. You give them a chance to hear you out, and then you move on. Don't chase them or insult them personally or go after them once they've chosen to not listen to you. Same with how you go about it; there are limitations. I don't think it's very Christian to walk around with "God hates the [homosexuals]" signs or "We hate gay soldiers." First of all, I daresay Jesus would be appalled to see anything preaching hate or damnation. Second, those aren't very effective ways of getting your message across....in fact, you're probably just hurting your cause by overtly offending your target audience.

[neo-x]

Same with how you go about it; there are limitations. I don't think it's very Christian to walk around with "God hates the [homosexuals]" signs or "We hate gay soldiers." First of all, I daresay Jesus would be appalled to see anything preaching hate or damnation. Second, those aren't very effective ways of getting your message across....in fact, you're probably just hurting your cause by overtly offending your target audience.

Ivel, people who are christians and say God hates other people are like what Jesus said here,

"“Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.

“The servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.

“But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.

“His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’

“But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened.

“Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.

“This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.” (Matt. 18:21-35)"

So may be its time to look at Christianity at heart, not through what people do.

[Ivellious]

Well I think that was my point...That some people think they are being Christians when they do things like I described, but obviously they are not doing themselves or their faith as a whole any favors. I judge people by who they are and what they do, not by their religion, so when I say "the Christians that do those things", I'm not blanketing all Christians, just the ones who go about serving their faith improperly.

[Canuckster1127]

Very interesting video and I can't really disagree with him. I guess my only point to add to his stuff would be that there is a certain time where you need to back off the "Bible-thumping." Like he said, if you choose to try to save others, great. But you can't force it on them. You give them a chance to hear you out, and then you move on. Don't chase them or insult them personally or go after them once they've chosen to not listen to you. Same with how you go about it; there are limitations. I don't think it's very Christian to walk around with "God hates the [homosexuals]" signs or "We hate gay soldiers." First of all, I daresay Jesus would be appalled to see anything preaching hate or damnation. Second, those aren't very effective ways of getting your message across....in fact, you're probably just hurting your cause by overtly offending your target audience.

The tactics you're referring to are those of Fred Phelps and Westboro Baptist Church. They are an independent Baptist church in Kansas of about 40 people (mostly all related as family) and they hold to an extreme form of what is known as hyper-calvinism. They are not representative of all Christians and in fact most Christians find their message, their attitudes and their beliefs in terms of how they act them out as repulsive.