Subject: I jhave to tell you this
I am trying to come up withsomething to say at church for back to school and came upon your site all i can say is i hope jesus will do something in your life.
I'm rather curious as to what Eric was searching for and where that he was led to this site - and what, specifically, he stumbled across here. I write on a variety of issues so people can end up here for quite a number of reasons. I hope that, unlike Eric, they manage to find things that they find thought-provoking and interesting.
At any rate, it would be interesting to know why Eric thinks that Jesus hasn't already done something in my life. I mean, presumably he hasn't - if he did, I'm sure that I would notice and so far I haven't actually noticed anything special. There is certainly no way that I could prevent Jesus from doing something in my life. So I can only conclude that either Jesus doesn't want to do anything in my life at this time or Jesus is simply uninterested in doing anything in my life at this time.
The question is, though, why... and how does this fit in with the evangelical theology which stipulates that a person must commit themselves to Jesus in order to be saved and go to heaven? This is especially important when we consider the fact that many evangelicals believe that the only way a person can really become committed to Jesus is through the work of the Holy Spirit - thus, there is nothing that a person can really do on their own. How, then, can a person be held responsible for the absence of belief in gods or commitment to Jesus if the Holy Spirit hasn't gotten around to working on them yet? What if something happens to you before they get to your name on the list?
More selections from the Agnosticism / Atheism Mailbag...
eric, jesus is dead, he can’t do anything for any of us.
Jesus lives. He changes lives. Ask a recovered alcoholic. The Holy Spirit wrestles with us always. We either surrender to the truth, or cling to what is false. The Atheist cligs to lies.
I’m a recovered alcoholic. I went into treatment in January of 1988 and haven’t had a drink since. The treatment center was 12-step based, had all the mumbo-jumbo that AA claims isn’t religious and spiritual. Although I no longer feel the need or desire to drink, Jesus had nothing to do with it. I went into the recovery experience as a nominal catholic and I’ve come out of it a firm atheist. It would appear that if your Jesus or holy spirit (!) exist, they missed the mark with me.
By the way, AA can be as much of an addiction as alcohol. Some of the people involved in it were very nice and helpful, but in the end I came to understand that I didn’t need all these silly steps and prayers. Atheists or agnostics who are struggling with addiction might want to Google “Rational Recovery” (rational.org) for an alternative to AA. Be well.
Prove it.
Matt,
I asked a recovered alcoholic. He said there never was a real Jesus. Jesus was just a character invented by Paul to create a Jewish version of Mithra. He said that was the gospel truth.
I’d say Jesus has indirectly done quite a lot in your life. Via his followers he has done so much that you ended up writing here
Why not ask a recovered alcoholic?
Assuming they all believe in Jesus.
Ernie,
Why not? Maybe because asking someone who trades one addiction for another might not be all that credible.
The Atheist cling to lies? The believers cling to delusions.
Let’s get something straight right now: Atheists “cling” to nothing. Got it? We don’t need anything to “cling” to. There’s nothing there to “cling” to even if we wanted to. Understand?
It’s you believers that feel the need to “cling” to something.
After all the years spent in the “Holy Land” by huge universities trying to “prove” the bible right by finding historical “proof” of Jesus, the current convention is that this Jesus person never existed.
The Romans wrote down absolutely EVERYTHING. They were the best at recording their history. We still have their writings today. Now, in a society that recorded absolutely everything, you would think this Jesus character would pop up somewhere in Roman history, but he doesn’t. The Romans didn’t practice slanting thier writings or prejudice in their writings, so Jesus would have shown up if he had existed. “Jesus” wasn’t even a real name used at that time in Judea. This is why the scholars who have studied these things for a lifetime have concluded that Jesus is a myth. Of course, we atheists knew that already.
Certainly anyone who has studied ancient literature at university (as I have) will learn that Christianity is made up of “borrowed” ideas from other religions anyway. When you learn just what the bible is and how it was assembled, you will see that it’s all nonsense.
You Christians don’t believe in any other gods or religions, and think that is normal. Atheists are just like you in that sense, only we just go one god further.
My suggestion is that we all try to get along as the Earth is our only home and we are all in this together. The current trend in the USA started by Bush is a very destructive thing. I’m talking about equating Christianity with patriotism, etc. This is so wrong that it would take too long to go into it here. This is a really evil thing called “social engineering”. Research that term and learn about it, instead of being a victim of it.
What is “to clig” anyway? Oh, there’s a ‘n’ missing. Eric, has your jesus ever spoken to you or have you only ‘communicated’ with the deity through your “religious leader’? You see, hearing voices is a symptom of a mental disorder and should be investigated. Science has identified a physical reason for the feelings some people get when (supposedly) communicate with their deity, it’s all delusion. You have been completely conned by the evil jesus fraud. Please, if jesus is talking to you, see a doctor, quickly, before it’s too late.