Reason 13 - Freethinking Ideals
“Atheists often value intellectual freedom and critical thinking above adherence to dogma. They see freethinking as the ability to question, challenge, and evaluate ideas without fear of divine retribution or societal condemnation. For many, religion imposes limitations on inquiry, particularly when it demands blind faith or unquestioning obedience to authority.”
It seems pretty apparent that those who choose Atheism simply want to live their own life without ANY interference from an unwanted source. As far as “fear of divine retribution” goes, I suppose it would depend on what you had in mind regarding “questions, challenges and ideas.” I feel a little bad about all this because it seems like maybe the writer may have had some pretty bad experiences with Christians. Not all Christians are heaping condemnation on non-believers, but some do, without question. Shame on them. That is NOT what loving and serving God is about. Scripture is crystal clear, WE ARE NOT THE JUDGE, therefore we are not called to judge others. The Gospel of Matthew tells us rather firmly, “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” (Matthew 7:1-2) Only God can judge, “James 4:12 addresses God being the one true judge saying, ‘There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?’”
We are called by God to love others, regardless of their back story, their appearance or their current beliefs. Yes, we do believe that those who reject Christ will indeed go to hell. That doesn’t please ANY of us, especially Almighty God. 2 Peter 3:9 states, "The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance."
Christians believe that a man can either be born once and die twice or be born twice and only die once. What do we mean by that? We are all born once physically, but do not become born spiritually until we receive Christ into our heart and lives. Once that happens we are born a second time. Because we are born that second time, we will only die once, physically. In John 3:3, 5 Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.” ... “I assure you; no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit.” So what is the second death? “The second death is mentioned on multiple occasions in the book of Revelation and is synonymous with the lake of fire. It is a ‘death’ in that it is a separation from God, the Giver of life. It is called the ‘second’ one because it follows physical death.” [1]
The whole idea of “blind faith” isn’t quite what it sounds like. “A dictionary definition of blind faith is ‘belief without true understanding, perception, or discrimination.’ But is this the kind of faith God desires us to have? More to the point, is the kind of faith God gives us a blind faith? Is our faith really to be blind, without true understanding?” [2] We believe by faith, but it isn’t blind. As we read the scriptures we gain spiritual understanding as to who God is, and who we are with regards to Him. How is that blind?
The whole concept of “unquestioning obedience” isn’t quite right either. God knows us in our entirety. He knows our heart and knows how we feel about things. We CAN question God, but our questioning Him is not in a rebellious way, but rather in an inquisitive way. We learn by asking questions which leads to understanding. If we don’t feel like obeying we can go to God and share our feelings. He won’t strike us dead for disagreeing with His word. While we believe in the perfect, infallible Word of God, it is our responsibility to rightly divide it. We use trusted resources to gain knowledge and understanding so we can follow the Lord willingly and not contentiously. We are human, we have opinions, we have feelings, and while we believe God knows what is best for us, we can question Him until we feel comfortable with what we are questioning. And if we still have questions, then maybe it’s not God speaking to us after all.
Christianity is presented by some as this rigid, restrictive “religion” that strips away any autonomy we may have, but it really isn’t. Now if you simply don’t want to have to answer to ANYONE, especially someone you cannot see, then I have no answer for you. You have to WANT to know and if you just don’t than all the best and I hope everything works out for you. Until next time, walk with the King and be a blessing.
In His Name & for His Glory,
RL Keller
Bread of Life Ministries
Resource: An article titled 30 Reasons People Choose Atheism on a blog called Housley - written by Lisa O.; www.gotquestions.org.
[1] https://www.gotquestions.org/second-death.html
[2] https://www.gotquestions.org/blind-faith.html
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