|
|
Post by bloodbought1953 on Aug 25, 2022 9:50:51 GMT -8
Did somebody say “ agnostic?” .......I used to be one....
|
|
|
|
Post by Obadiah on Aug 25, 2022 10:08:50 GMT -8
Did somebody say “ agnostic?” .......I used to be one.... I'm not a big expert on agnostics but I heard that a blood transfusion from Jesus clears that right up. But seriously folks, agnosticism in religion is pointless because religion, like love, cannot be other than a matter of faith, anyhow. Here some sort of commitment has to be made, and without proof, even though it is best aided by the intelligence. Love that waits for proof is unlove, and the rejection of all creeds is a creed-of-rejection. Makes me think of Romans 6:2 May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? |
|
|
|
Post by bloodbought1953 on Aug 25, 2022 19:34:26 GMT -8
Did somebody say “ agnostic?” .......I used to be one.... “ The FOOL has said, ‘ there is no God.” That was me. What a Merciful God we have.... btw....I never went looking for God.....For some Reason , He just gave me “ ears to hear”.....The rest, as they say, is “History”... |
|
|
|
Post by Aussie Pete on Aug 26, 2022 6:13:52 GMT -8
If we were to assume that our own intellect and conscience were sufficient to give us faith and belief in a Creator—and it were not, in fact, a supernatural gift of grace that we did not deserve or earn—we might assume that everyone should realize that God exists, and attribute to them a deliberate stubbornness and determined motivation to blind their eyes to the truth.
This kind of evil judgment of another's abilities and motivations, is claiming a knowledge of the heart only God can have. We might say we have justification in Scripture to assume this, but every time I hear a believer condemn an atheist, I fear there is a great danger of being self-righteous and judgmental, a severe lack of compassion and brokenness about the state of the lost.
It may seem like trying to save a wild animal, where they bite the hand that feeds them—and indeed, we can often experience that same sentiment in trying to help fellow Christians with their doctrine when they seem to refuse our input and mistreat us in the process—but we should be prepared and expect such mistreatment, without letting our resentment cloud our humble realization that lost people are in deep need, and we are not morally superior people.
This knowledge has helped me to deal with those in spiritual need without assuming the worst about them, and allowing my compassion to dry up towards them because I think they are just getting what they deserve.
All thoughts are welcome.
My response is found in the first chapter of Romans.
|
|
|
|
Post by civic on Aug 26, 2022 6:22:54 GMT -8
If we were to assume that our own intellect and conscience were sufficient to give us faith and belief in a Creator—and it were not, in fact, a supernatural gift of grace that we did not deserve or earn—we might assume that everyone should realize that God exists, and attribute to them a deliberate stubbornness and determined motivation to blind their eyes to the truth.
This kind of evil judgment of another's abilities and motivations, is claiming a knowledge of the heart only God can have. We might say we have justification in Scripture to assume this, but every time I hear a believer condemn an atheist, I fear there is a great danger of being self-righteous and judgmental, a severe lack of compassion and brokenness about the state of the lost.
It may seem like trying to save a wild animal, where they bite the hand that feeds them—and indeed, we can often experience that same sentiment in trying to help fellow Christians with their doctrine when they seem to refuse our input and mistreat us in the process—but we should be prepared and expect such mistreatment, without letting our resentment cloud our humble realization that lost people are in deep need, and we are not morally superior people.
This knowledge has helped me to deal with those in spiritual need without assuming the worst about them, and allowing my compassion to dry up towards them because I think they are just getting what they deserve.
All thoughts are welcome.
My response is found in the first chapter of Romans.
Yes that is a great chapter on the topic. Personally I believe the agnostic/atheist are self deceived and by loving their own sin/self they deny their is a God they must be accountable to in the life to come. I don't believe anyone is born an atheist.agnostic they are taught to be one. A child has a natural tendency to ask questions about the creation with the why and the hows. There is a natural God given vacuum we all have from birth with the natural ability to see God through His creation which is affirmed in Romans 1. |
|
|
|
Post by bloodbought1953 on Aug 27, 2022 0:30:42 GMT -8
Yes that is a great chapter on the topic. Personally I believe the agnostic/atheist are self deceived and by loving their own sin/self they deny their is a God they must be accountable to in the life to come. I don't believe anyone is born an atheist.agnostic they are taught to be one. A child has a natural tendency to ask questions about the creation with the why and the hows. There is a natural God given vacuum we all have from birth with the natural ability to see God through His creation which is affirmed in Romans 1. My own personal experience went like this——as a child, I was unquestioning Believer, But I lost my Faith in College and I was a full- blown Atheist.... I was Sure that God did not exist......as time went by, my view softened a bit......Instead Of Believing there was no God, I took the position that there “ may” be a God , but who was “ I” to say for sure...... After college, I started working at a place where , in the break room, there was a radio and everyday it was tuned to J.Vernon McGee and I loved listening to him, and that was the beginnings of me being brought back to Faith.... |
|
|
|
Agnostics
Aug 27, 2022 2:58:32 GMT -8
via mobile
Post by michaiah on Aug 27, 2022 2:58:32 GMT -8
bloodbought1953 said: The incorruptible seed of the Holy Bible is what brought me to the faith in Christ. “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.” (1 Peter 1:23) Radio & Television preachers are and were of no profit to me.
|
|
|
|
Post by civic on Aug 27, 2022 4:16:26 GMT -8
Yes that is a great chapter on the topic. Personally I believe the agnostic/atheist are self deceived and by loving their own sin/self they deny their is a God they must be accountable to in the life to come. I don't believe anyone is born an atheist.agnostic they are taught to be one. A child has a natural tendency to ask questions about the creation with the why and the hows. There is a natural God given vacuum we all have from birth with the natural ability to see God through His creation which is affirmed in Romans 1. My own personal experience went like this——as a child, I was unquestioning Believer, But I lost my Faith in College and I was a full- blown Atheist.... I was Sure that God did not exist......as time went by, my view softened a bit......Instead Of Believing there was no God, I took the position that there “ may” be a God , but who was “ I” to say for sure...... After college, I started working at a place where , in the break room, there was a radio and everyday it was tuned to J.Vernon McGee and I loved listening to him, and that was the beginnings of me being brought back to Faith.... I use to listen to him all of the time too. |
|
|
|
Post by civic on Aug 27, 2022 5:22:40 GMT -8
NT
|
|
|
|
Post by bloodbought1953 on Aug 27, 2022 20:25:17 GMT -8
Radio & Television preachers are and were of no profit to me.
It shows.
|
|
|
|
Post by civic on Aug 29, 2022 5:22:43 GMT -8
Radio & Television preachers are and were of no profit to me. It shows. there are some good ones but there are more bad ones out there. |
|
|
|
Post by makesends on Sept 3, 2022 6:07:11 GMT -8
bloodbought1953 said: The incorruptible seed of the Holy Bible is what brought me to the faith in Christ. “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.” (1 Peter 1:23) Radio & Television preachers are and were of no profit to me. McGee was not primarily a Radio/TV preacher. He was a pastor of a Church in Los Angeles. But I tend to agree with you. |
|
|
|
Post by makesends on Sept 3, 2022 6:16:51 GMT -8
Part of the meaning of 'grace' is not just in what God has forgiven on our account, but on what he daily continues to forgive. I want to remind us of the 'old man' in all of us, that tends away from God, and back into self-satisfaction and self-determination. It is easy to point at the atheist and the agnostic, but who of us can say by the evidence of our works that indeed we are not atheistic or agnostic?
One of the teachings of the Gospels is that we are going to be measured by our own standards. Nobody else will be measured by my standards, but me. When I was growing up as a missionary kid, in a fundamentalist surrounding among other missionaries, the extreme difference between the saved and unsaved was emphasized to every bit of that extreme and more, to a kid who took things a bit too literally. I thought Christians were BETTER THAN the unbelievers, as a clannish group, almost as though we were genetically superior. One incident I don't care to repeat here woke me up to the pain of that view, to where I find it necessary to point this sort of thing out where I see it.
I identify as Reformed, but when I see my reformed brothers and sisters looking down their nose at those of a differing worldview, simply because the others have a 'perverted gospel', I feel pain. While I too have that tendency, I remind them that those who oppose them, often, maybe even usually, have a better 'attendance record' to the things of Christ. After all, we Reformed teach that it is not the group of tenets that we believe that saves us, but God himself.
|
|
|
|
Post by civic on Sept 17, 2022 6:00:46 GMT -8
Part of the meaning of 'grace' is not just in what God has forgiven on our account, but on what he daily continues to forgive. I want to remind us of the 'old man' in all of us, that tends away from God, and back into self-satisfaction and self-determination. It is easy to point at the atheist and the agnostic, but who of us can say by the evidence of our works that indeed we are not atheistic or agnostic?
One of the teachings of the Gospels is that we are going to be measured by our own standards. Nobody else will be measured by my standards, but me. When I was growing up as a missionary kid, in a fundamentalist surrounding among other missionaries, the extreme difference between the saved and unsaved was emphasized to every bit of that extreme and more, to a kid who took things a bit too literally. I thought Christians were BETTER THAN the unbelievers, as a clannish group, almost as though we were genetically superior. One incident I don't care to repeat here woke me up to the pain of that view, to where I find it necessary to point this sort of thing out where I see it.
I identify as Reformed, but when I see my reformed brothers and sisters looking down their nose at those of a differing worldview, simply because the others have a 'perverted gospel', I feel pain. While I too have that tendency, I remind them that those who oppose them, often, maybe even usually, have a better 'attendance record' to the things of Christ. After all, we Reformed teach that it is not the group of tenets that we believe that saves us, but God himself. Well said brother |
|
SteveB
New Member
Learning to follow Jesus
Posts: 36
|
Post by SteveB on Sept 26, 2022 11:30:29 GMT -8
Did somebody say “ agnostic?” .......I used to be one.... Here's one to answer agnostics with... Jeremiah 24:7 YHVH says that he will give us a heart to know him. While Huxley's theory was that God "likely cannot be known", he's working from the human perspective. And apart from God's making himself known to us, (which is why Jesus), Huxley is right. The curious thing is that YHVH actually say he wants to show himself strong on our behalf. 2 chronicles 16:9 He searches throughout the world looking for someone to whom he may show himself strong, those whose hearts are complete towards Him. We further read in Hebrews 7:25 that God saves to the uttermost ALL who come to him through Jesus Christ. So based on those, and what Jesus said, I will not turn away anyone who comes to me, I'd say that it's a shoe-in to everyone who comes to Jesus. |
|
