From mine, they decided that god wasn’t relevant to their lives.

Eric, are you an atheist?

If not, why would you think that your perspective on the issue would be more valid than the perspective of people who’ve actually “been there, done that”?

I try hard not to impose my perspective on what motivates Christians to make the decisions they do – even though I was a Christian for 30 years. I think it’s more respectful to take people at their word, and ask what their motivation is, rather than second-guess them.

From mine, they decided that god wasn’t relevant to their lives. That may or may not be accompanied with an attitude towards a church or organized religion in general.

Atheism being – at least until recently – a non-evangelical belief system, it’s hard to know who are the atheists, especially since athiests don’t have lives that revolve around their lack of belief the way christians have lives that revolve around their beliefs.

Or, to put it another way, you can often find out easily that somebody is a christian, because they tell you.

The wager is, to my mind, more than a bit satirical. First of all, Pascal’s wager carries little weight, and second, in most christian religions it is faith, not acts, that get you into heaven.

God Bless,

Justin

In the last few months, I’ve grown closer to God without going to church.In fact, in direct proportion to my un-involvement in church, I can feel my faith regenerating. My prayer life has returned and my mind is clearer. Perhaps there is room for me someday “at the table” even though I believe in women’s rights in church, am inclusive not exclusive when it comes to piety, and do not believe in theocracies.

You are correct that theist and atheist/agnostic alike come to the same questions of justice, love, and mercy from different source viewpoints. Theists claim they “practice” these for God or eternal reward. Atheists/agnostics for humanity and the satisfaction of taking care of fellow human beings. Regardless of where we get our motivation, we are working for the same ends, I’d like to think. Where it gets scary is when people assume we must all think alike to get anything done, especially where the bible is concerned. No one seems to be able to believe that I read the bible for inspiration but don’t consult it for the weather, for a history or geography lesson, or before I conduct a science experiment. It can be inspiring without even being “true” in the factual sense. There is spiritual truth and there is factual truth. One need not exclude the other for dialog to take place.

Well, anyway…. thanks for the post Justin and the forum to discuss aA. It serves a good purpose.

Honestly, you illustrated my point perfectly. I was not asking or challenging any of the questions found on the website you sourced from. When I stress the importance of tone, context, etc. I do so because I WANT you to be more effective in your evangelism, truth proclamation, etc. Truly.