The Bible teaches that Christians are to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every human being. Christians believe that every human being is a sinner in need of salvation and deliverance. Through the merit and work of Jesus Christ every sinner can have the forgiveness of sins. Not only can every sinner have the forgiveness of sins, they can also have purpose, direction, meaning, and peace. Greater still, every sinner who puts their faith in Jesus Christ will have a home in heaven with God for all eternity. (strictly speaking, their home for all eternity will be the kingdom of God, a new Heaven and a new Earth)
Is it any wonder that the Christian gospel is called the Good News? To those who put their faith in Jesus Christ, forgiveness of sins, purpose, direction, meaning and peace in this life, and a future home in heaven, is indeed good news. However, for those who reject the Christian good news, a life of meaninglessness awaits.(purpose, meaning, and direction begins with the Christian God) Under the wrath and judgment of a thrice Holy God, the non-Christian will be tortured forever in the Lake of Fire because of their refusal to put their faith in Jesus Christ.
From its first days as a new religion, Christianity has made evangelizing non-Christians a priority. Jesus implored his followers to take the gospel message to the ends of the earth. Every person in every country deserves to hear the good news. Why should anyone hear the gospel twice before everyone has heard it once, says a sign in a Baptist church. Another sign over the exit says, You are now entering the mission field.
Granted, many Christians do not evangelize non-Christians. They consider their faith to be a private matter. They want to be well-liked and accepted by others, so they don’t share their religious beliefs with others. They rightly understand that religion and politics often bring contentions and they, as much as lies within them, desire to be at peace with everyone.
While this approach is to be commended, it is an approach that ignores the teachings of the Christian Bible and the example of the early church. Any cursory reading of the Bible shows that Christians were expected to be counter-cultural. They were expected to live publicly as followers of Jesus Christ. There was no such thing as a secret Christian. Early Christians would likely find our modern polite, cultural Christianity an affront to Jesus.
Regardless of the large percentage of Christians who are passive in their faith, millions of Christians take seriously their obligation to share the gospel with everyone they meet. Evangelicals, in particular, believe they have a solemn obligation to preach the gospel to everyone, even those who do not want to hear it. Often, armed with the belief that America is an exceptional nation specially chosen by God to advance his kingdom, Evangelicals use any means possible to make the gospel known to the ends of the earth.
Who are the Christians that tend to irritate, annoy, and anger atheists, agnostics, and humanists? The evangelizing Evangelical type. While atheists often have a problem with ALL religions, their scorn and derision is usually focused on religions that proselytize.
If Christians kept their faith to themselves, if they made no attempt to turn the United States into a theocracy, I suspect that atheists would have little to be upset about. However, since evangelizing is part of the Christian DNA (or should be), atheists and non-Christians alike, are forced to encounter Christianity everywhere they turn.
While the U.S. Constitution clearly establishes that the United States is a secular state, everything in our culture suggests that we are a Christian nation. (and that is why I say, we are NOT a Christian nation but we ARE a Christian nation) The majority of Americans claim they are a Christian, though most of them are illiterate about what the Bible teaches. (This is, at best, cultural Christianity)
Christian churches populate numerous street corners in every town in America. (I don’t know of any community in the area that I live in that does not have at least one Christian church) Local, State, and Federal governments are overwhelmingly governed by politicians who profess faith in Jesus Christ.
There are Christian radio stations, TV channels, bookstores, and countless businesses advertise that they are a Christian business. Everywhere you look you see Christianity. This is why Christian claims of marginalization and persecution are laughable and not supported by the facts.
We are constitutionally NOT a Christian nation but, in every other meaningful way, we are a Christian nation. While atheists, agnostics, and humanists love to quote the 16% NONE statistic, I hope this does not lull us into thinking that we are winning the battle for the hearts and minds of the American people.
All this statistic tells us is that Americans are becoming increasingly indifferent to matters of religion. While this is certainly a good thing, many of the 16% are passive about matters of religion and are not likely to engage others in meaningful dialog about religion, Christianity, and its intersection with American politics. They simply don’t care.
If you are reading this I suspect you are not a passive atheist. I suspect the separation of church and state matters to you. I suspect you want to stop the Religious Right’s attempt to turn America into a theocratic state. I imagine you have a problem with attempts to teach creationism as science. I have no doubt you have few good things to say about Ken Ham, Answers in Genesis, James Dobson, Focus on the Family, American Family Association, or One Million Moms.
Maybe you are an angry atheist. You are tired of being evangelized, preached at, and judged by Evangelical zealots. If you are like me, you may have spent years in the Christian church and you now see how harmful Christianity, especially Evangelical Christianity, is. You read the Facebook, Twitter, and blog attacks by self-righteous, Holy Spirit filled, preachers of the Christian gospel, and it irritates the heaven out of you.
To people like you and me, these things matter. We not only want to se people who have been hurt by Christianity find help, we also want to push back any and all attempts to turn the United States into a theocratic state governed by the Bible.
If these things matter, then how should we best engage the overwhelmingly Christians culture we live in? This is the question I hope to answer in future posts.
This ought to be interesting. Speak on, brother!
Okay, I’ll try to make sense here.
When I was a Christian, someone who told me he was an atheist would be dismissed from my universe. Whatever they had to say sounded like ‘wah wah wah’ in a Charlie Brown special, and I KNEW that the person was evil, sick, demented, crazy, deluded and destined for Hell.
Now that I’m an atheist, I feel the exact same way only in the opposite direction. Except of course the part about Hell.
So I am not sure that talking and talking and talking will change anyone’s mind.
It doesn’t work for politics, religion or any number of lesser issues… parenting, marriage advice…
So I guess the point is, why bother to try and convince them?
I don’t see us heading toward a theocracy, too many people are corrupt piece of shit politicians who vote to win, not to score for God, and our country has drifted far away from the Christian Craziness. Do we still have a ton of crazies? Sure. But I don’t believe they’re even close to being a majority.
I had the same experience. I could hear the atheist’s words, but somehow they never made sense to me. I had walled off that part of my brain, and I have no clue how I managed the cognitive dissonance. I know it was extremely painful to think about it, and a lot of work to keep it all walled off.
It’s funny that a pastor started me on the road to sanity by teaching church history.
I hope to address in upcoming posts some of the issues you raise.
Bruce
Good point. When I was a Christian, I looked at an atheist as a very ‘sad sad person” as if they were missing out on something. I also viewed them as crazy devil worshipers and EVIL and I also considered them a FOOL (since I believe the bible that if you deny god, you are a fool). Now as an atheist, I look at Christians as the exact same way. I don’t look at all of them as “evil” but I do look at them as if they are in a very “sad sad place” and they just don’t realize that their religion is based on blind faith – and they claim they “know” all of this stuff. This religion is very non-humble with all of the “I know for sure since the Bible says so”. It is very sad.
One of the reasons I began doubting the christian faith as it is, IS because of politics. I have asked where in the Bible it states that Jesus was a republican. I have asked why those of us who are in the world but not of the world are trying to turn our country into a christian dictatorship. I have asked, why am i supposed to be against abortion but support the death penalty? And on the other hand, I do get irritated when the ‘angry atheists’ get offended if they are somewhere and just happen to hear god’s name mentioned (I got yelled at by an atheist for saying ‘bless you’ after they sneezed. It is more of a reflex than a religious statement…). The extremes on both ends do aggravate me. This political season, I was completely disgusted when NC wanted to mandate that anyone running on a GOP ticket signed a christianity pledge. Where the heck is that in our constitution? major eyeroll
The Christian is as compelled to tell what they know as is the “atheist” with their doctrine of evolution. I won’t debate the issue, evolutionary science clearly satisfies all of the requirements necessary in a belief system.
The media and institutions of learning are dominated by evolutionary faith. I usually refer to evolutionary theory and Darwinism as modern-day paganism, the worship of the created over it’s Creator. In this religion, it is the work of the Creator that receives homage… as with the term “Mother Nature” and all of ‘her’ processes that receive our respect and allegiance in the assumption that these, either consciously or unconsciously, are directly responsible for our existence and continuance. The natural processes set in motion by God have now supplanted His right to our homage and respect.
I’m in agreement with this post that the US and most other developed countries are anything but Christian, constitutionally, even culturally. If the law of God were truly adhered to, it would be a vastly different society from what it is. Materialism is rampant and the dominant aspect of western society, idolized and coveted by other less-developed nations. Where is the filial love and respect for one’s peers and elders? Why the preoccupation with occupying foreign sovereign nations, pushing our ‘democracy’ and way of life upon them?
Anyway, if Christians are to be what they claim they are, then they must teach what is expedient for a lost world to know or be party to it’s demise. What atheist would withhold important intelligence from those they love if it were to result in harm to them… even if the news wasn’t apt to be received graciously? That’s what believers do… in whatever faith they happen to find themselves in.
Having a past as a young-earth creationist for 30+ years, I’m not in agreement with your statement that there is such a thing as ‘evolutionary faith’, although I thought so when I was a Creationist. I’ve been on both sides of that particular belief. One side has science (which still has some gaps in a full understanding of evolution), one side has faith (which is chock-full of gaps in understanding). I won’t debate the issue either (HA!), but this is a case where the English language is being abused and I am compelled to step in. ‘Faith’ and ‘science’ are not interchangeable terms. You are not allowed to claim science is equivalent to faith unless you plan to back that up with some pretty solid epistemological evidence. However, in practical terms, these words are very far apart. One requires observation, one requires belief in something that cannot be observed.
http://brucegerencser.net/2012/03/06/how-many-times-do-i-have-to-say-atheism-is-not-a-religion/
Loved it. I can see that my issues with Christianity were all listed in your post above. I also wrote my own post on my own blog and I also quoted you in my blog and I added a link up to your post. Here is a link to my latest blog post. . .http://sandragreg.wordpress.com/2013/05/03/if-theyd-just-stop-sharing-their-faith/