I mentioned in one of my first posts that I met a man named Steven. He was raised in a Catholic family, but after personal consideration, is now a convicted Atheist.
(All opinions unless otherwise stated are that of Steven, not necessarily that of my own)
From what I gathered through my conversation with him, he did not deny the existence of God or a god. His was more deterred from Christianity and Catholicism as religions. He no longer associated himself with Catholicism because of message that it spread. He had seen his family so in fear of dying because they could not know for certain if they were going to Heaven or not. After personal exploring in the Bible, he discovered that Catholicism was not what Jesus had meant for his disciples to experience at all. Over time, it had made the same mistakes that Judaism had, making religion more of a program than a relationship with the Creator of the universe.
Steven was quite curious about my personal beliefs as a Christian, especially considering the upcoming Presidential election. He was quite obviously liberal, and I am usually more conservative. He is what he would consider a progressive. One of the biggest problems he has with Christianity is how wrapped in hypocrisy it is. He looks to to the media, where "Christians" like Donald Trump preach war not love. Stephen noted that in his exploration of the gospel, he saw that Jesus preached peace. He did not come to undermine the Roman government or make war with the enemies of Judah, rather he came to love and serve. He said that Trump's plan to deport all the illegal immigrants is not Christian-like, and not something Jesus would do in that position.
On a more personal level, Steven questioned how a Christian could even own a weapon, claiming that Jesus had no need for a weapon. He doesn't understand why a Christian would need to own a gun because would they really shoot a criminal anyway? He asked me if someone broke into my home to hurt my family or steal my stuff would I feel like it was my right to shoot the intruder in defense even if it meant that that person might go to hell. There is a chance that you could end someone's life before they have a chance to repent of their sin.
Later in our conversation, he claims that he sees love being spread by Atheists much more often than Christians. Gun control was one of his example. However, he also speaks from personal experience. When I had met him he was on his way to Guam to meet up with some kids that he had been visiting several times a year for the last decade. In his initial trip to Guam many years back, he had befriended them, and decided to make a personal impact in their lives. He know checks on them and their families every once in a while. He thought that he was doing good by making a difference in people's lives on a personal level, but when his Catholic relatives heard about it, they just asked him why he was wasting his time. His family thought that such a small effort was not even worth the time.
Steven said that he knows many atheists like himself to do good things to help people even when they do not have an eternal reward to look forward to for their works. He said that in his ideal world, all the Christians would be selflessly giving of themselves, their time, their resources in order to spread love and the gospel, and all the atheists would be uncaring about the condition of other people. However, from what he has observed, there are many average atheists who do what he does, making personal impacts in the lives of those in a poorer condition, and many richer atheists who donate to large charities to make an impact globally. Also, from his observation of the church, there are so many Christians that are unwilling to lift a hand to help someone or live a lifestyle that he believes is contrary to what Jesus teaches, and he does not want to associate with that.
Now Steve looks at the world through a much different lens than I do, and because of my circle of friends, I do see Christians doing good things on both a personal and global scale. But it is kind of a scary thought to realize that there are atheists of there who see Christianity as a joke. Despite what we think about ourselves and the impact we are making, there are people out there who cannot tell. It is definitely hard to think that by changing your lifestyle, you could change how people view a religion, but imagine in all Christians decided to make a change. What if all Christians made real persona approaches in peoples' lives? Helping that little kid get his kite out of tree, paying for the person behind you in line, genuinely asking after the well-being of another person, even treating the gospel like a treatment to a serious illness that must be shared with the world.
If you had the cure for cancer, would you keep it to yourself, or would you tell someone?
Just some thoughts....
Luke
No comments:
Post a Comment