Discussion with Atheist
April 30th, 2010 | Comments Off
I was overwhelmed by the number of people texting, emailing, calling, tweeting that they were praying for me during the meeting with atheists last night. Thank so very much. I was able to share the gospel throughout the conversation. Below are some bullet point recaps of the night. I am working on another date to meet with them. At that meeting, they will include more of their members as I bring a few fellow believers with me. Keep praying that God will break through the darkness and they will confess that they have broken Gods law, repent, and trust Christ alone for salvation.
-Meeting began at 6 and ended at 815
-Discussions included: Moral Law, Creationism vs. Evolution, Infinite Regress, Intelligent Design, Scientific theory and Christianity, and Core Problems throughout all cultures.
-I shared how atheism began with Descarte cracking open the door for people to accept that God is not necessary and that religion is without reason. Darwin opened the door a little more providing deniers with justification to not even include God in the discussion of life. Nietzsche kicked the door off its hinges by making God irrelevant to society’s success. Of course, the “evolution” of atheism was not well received.
-They noted recent and historical acts on the part of Christians that they perceived as hateful and destructive to civic order. I agreed, in part, pointing out that in every area of society there a people that do not represent their cause accurately. I told them that there are Christians that sometimes do not represent Christ well in their pursuit of Christianity and Christian values. I gave the example of someone tearing down one of their billboards. Don’t know if a Christian did that or not, but if so, such an act did not represent Christ well even if done for “the cause of Christ.”
-They refer to themselves as “non-religious” people but are not offended by me referring to them as atheist.
-Their stated goal is to “get religious and non-religious people to work together for a better society.”
-They are highly civic minded, but also assert that religion is the cause of the world’s problems and lack of civic peace.
-We talked at length about the core reason for the absence of peace. I asked them if they just wanted to modify the behavior of society so everyone would get along, pointing out that such a modification would result in billions of people conforming to a behavior but really not meaning it in their hearts. From there we discussed the need to address the root cause of the absence of peace which I presented as man’s sin problem, namely that man has broken God’s law and is therefore not at peace with God, self or man.
-They are pursuing a campaign called “Building Bridges” that seeks to unite religious and non-religious people in civic activity. I shared that my goal of walking across such a bridge would be that they and all people confess they have broken God’s law, repent and trust Christ alone for salvation. Since they are a “free thinking society” it was difficult for them to reject my thoughts outright, but they continued to express that “proselytizing” would not bring peace between religious and non-religious people. I returned to the emphasis that the core of division is not behavior but rather sin in man’s heart.
-I received an email this morning that they desire to meet again and continue the discussion. The gospel and Christianity are reasonable, but only God can change the heart of man.
-Keep praying that the glorious light of Christ will break through the darkness of their sin.
