“I am the Lord your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery. You must not have any other god, but Me.” (Deuteronomy 5:6-7 NLT)
Atheism is essentially denying the existence of God or any god, yet there are many professing believers in Jesus who for all intent and purpose are practical atheists. What does that mean? It means belief isn’t what’s between your ears, it’s what’s lived out in your life day after day. If you profess to love your spouse, but you never think of them, spend any time with them, or have conversations with them, of what value is your marriage?
Similarly, to profess a relationship with Jesus but never pray (converse with Him), read His Word (the Bible), attend church to spend time with other believers, spend time in His service or in developing patterns of behavior that reflect His life being lived out through you, you’re likely living a lie.
Meaningful, lasting relationships demand time, energy, commitment, and devotion. As I mentioned in a recent post, “We worship what we love,” so, if we love Jesus, we’re going to treat our relationship with Him as primary, first, most vital. It’s taken me a long time, but the Lord is nearly constantly on my mind, and most certainly, in my heart and life, but that’s clearly not the norm for mankind.
John Stonestreet wrote in a BreakPoint article: (“Signals of Transcendence” in a World of Practical Atheism // Judge Deems Human Embryos “Chattel” – 03-29-23) “…we live in a world where the assumptions that govern how we think and what we do are almost always secular ones. For many in the modern West, life proceeds without even considering God. Good things come from our hard work and planning, not from the gracious hands of our loving Father.
Practical atheists are, in this way, at constant risk of idolatry. As John Calvin said, humans are incurably religious creatures, and a secular age offers all kinds of God-replacements: sex, self, stuff, state, and science. A secular age is, ironically, filled with faith … just in all the wrong gods.”
The irony in atheism is that EVERY person is faith driven. How so? We eat food we have faith will nourish us; take medicine we have faith will cure us; sit on chairs we have faith will hold us up; plan golf days on which the forecast says it won’t rain; and on and on we exercise faith, but as Stonestreet wrote: “just all in the wrong gods.”
My heart is for everyone to know Jesus, but my concern today is to help those of us who profess faith in Christ yet aren’t exhibiting any evidence of that faith in the way we live. Walking with Jesus is the love, desire, and delight of my life. When I began my journey more than 60 years ago, I didn’t have the capacity to understand how close, rich, and satisfying my life with Him could become, but now there’s rarely a second that passes that I’m not keenly aware of His presence.
Loving Jesus, on many levels, is like loving anyone else – He’s a Person who happens to be invisible, yet the closer we get to Him the more “visible” He becomes. He smiles, laughs, speaks, comforts, listens, embraces, sings, leads, informs, encourages, teaches, helps, forgives – the list is virtually endless of the ways He’s willing to make Himself known to us if we’re willing to let Him.
Here’s my word from the Lord for you today. If you’re tip toeing around making a full commitment to Jesus, in the words of a famous redneck – “Git ur done!” Nuff said!
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 
Curious how Christians are always attacking each other, each claiming how they are the only TrueChristians(tm) and no one else is. Unsurprisingly, not one of these Christians can do what their Jesus promises, nor can they show their god exists. They are all evidently frauds. No one needs this cult.
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It’s unfortunate that in too many instances you are exactly right about the divisiveness among professing believers, but you do yourself a disservice by discounting the truth of who Jesus is and what He did based on the behavior of a relatively few. Actually that’s the miracle of faith in Christ Jesus, He accepts anyone who opens their heart to Him. But having a relationship with Him doesn’t immediately make us perfect or sin free, it sets us on a lifelong journey that has ups and downs. I’m far from perfect and I’ve hurt a lot of people over the years, but the closer I get to Jesus the more tolerant I am with those who disagree with me, largely because it becomes more clear to me that the only perfect person who ever lived loved me (and you) enough to die for us. Please don’t discount the possibility of faith because of the behavior of imperfect people. Do your own research and draw your own conclusions based on the facts. Truth is verifiable, but not always easy to see, especially when it’s so clouded by emotion and rhetoric. You are loved and can experience a sense of belonging and peace unattainable by human effort. Food for thought. Thank you for your response. I appreciate you taking the time to reach out to me. Blessings, Ed 😃
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You are part of that divisiveness, Ed. I do no disservice to myself in not believing in the nonsense that all of you TrueChristians™ claim that has no evidence at all.
It’s notable that not one of you has any relationship with your imaginary friend. And you can’t even agree on what behavior this character wants. As for tolerance and Christians, I just have to laugh since your entire religion is based around hoping that those who dare disagree with you are eternally tortured. That isn’t tolerance.
I was a Christian, did my research and found that Christianity, and all of its many many versions is no more true than any other set of myths. Truth is indeed verifiable. Not one theist has it.
And Ed, your nonsene of “You are loved and can experience a sense of belonging and peace unattainable by human effort.” Is what all cults claim. And it’s just as creepy coming from you.
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I’m curious how long you walked with the Lord? It’s literally incompressible to me how someone can truly know the Lord and walk away from Him. Were you hurt by another believer? Were you disappointed in some way? There is nothing or no one more real and alive in my life than Jesus. He’s far from imaginary and His life and death are historically verifiable. Have you read C.S.Lewis, Josh McDowell, Lee Strobel, Allan Sandage, Andrew Klavan, or any of the others who were atheists who wrote compelling arguments, not only for the existence of God, but for belief in and commitment to Jesus, not only as an historical person, but as Lord of creation. Christianity is far from being a cult and has done far more for good in this world than anyone can discount. Hospitals, Universities, and humanitarian efforts are just a few of the ways Christians have made life on planet earth better for everyone, not just for other believers. Thanks again for reaching out. I’m sorry for whatever happened in your life that has so seriously soured you to Christ and His Church. Ed
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I was a Christian for nearly 30 years. So, your incomprehension is just your argument from personal ignorance. The usual claim of a Christian is that somehow I was “hurt”. That’s made to convince yourself that I had only emotional reasons to leave the cult. Sorry, wasn’t hurt at all and wasn’t disappointed. I just realized that this cult is no different from any other, with the same false claims, baseless nonsense and hate of anyone who wasn’t in the cult. The bible is no different from any other set of myths. I am very familiar with other religions, including the ancient ones.
it’s typical that a cultist has to claim I wasn’t a TrueChristian™, since you have to pretend no one can leave the cult.
Unsurprisngly, you have no evidence for your imaginary Jesus or god, and no, dear, they aren’t historically verifiable. At best, a Christian might claim a delusional jewish man who thought he was the messiah as the core of the myth. No evidence for that man, and since Christians don’t worship delusional jews, it doesn’t help your nonsense at all.
C.S. Lewis is a great Christian. He makes baseless claims and tells chritians to not mention the splintering and contradictions in chritianity to potential converts. That’s called lying by omission, intentionally keeping information from someone so they can’t make an informed decision.
McDowell and Strobel both use the same failed claims. Both try the nonsense that since Christians are mentioned by ancient historians, that means their god exists. By that argument, this would mean all gods with worshippers exist. I’m quite sure you would claim that is wrong. Any argument they use fails, but if you wish to offer what you think is the best, I’ll show you it doesn’t work.
Sandage was an old man who wanted his foot in the pearly gates and has no evidence his imaginary friend exists at all. It’s rather sad that an astronomer decided to believe in the lies of the bible, where it claims that stars are little lights on a solid dome that can be knocked off. I’m sure he told himself that those parts that are ignorant were just “metaphor”, like all other cultists, when they find something they don’t like. This article is great since it shows just how Christians can’t agree on what nonsense they make up: https://reasons.org/explore/blogs/todays-new-reason-to-believe/personal-observations-on-allan-sandages-spiritual-journey
These are his quotes, and they all fail miserably:
“Those who deny God at the outset by some form of circular reasoning will never find God.”
Aka if you don’t accept the lies of the cult first, you’ll not believe in the lies of the cult.
“There need be no conflict between science and religion if each appreciates its own boundaries and takes seriously the claims of the other. The proven success of science simply cannot be ignored by the church. But neither can the church’s claim to explain the world at the very deepest level be dismissed. If God did not exist, science would have to (and indeed has) invent the concept to explain what it is discovering at its core.”
Aka I’ll make up what I want as literal, metaphor, etc to invent a Christianity I like. Curious how science never needs your imaginary friend.
“If there is no God, nothing makes sense.”
All cults claim the same for their imaginary friends. Unsurprisngly, things to make sense without these gods.
““If there is a God, he must be true both to science and religion. If it seems not so, then one’s hermeneutics (either the pastor’s or the scientist’s) must [be] wrong”
Aka, if you don’t agree with me, you are wrong. Surprise how these cultists can’t agree who is right and cannot show that they are.
““Romans 1:19–21 seems profound. And the deeper any scientist pushes his work, the more profound it does indeed become.””
Most if not all cults make the same claims in Romans. Not one can show their god exists or is the “creator”.
““If you believe anything of the hard science of cosmology, there was an event that happened that can be age dated back in the past. . . . Now that’s an act of creation. Within the realm of science one cannot say any more detail about that creation than the First Book of Genesis.””
Funny how we know far far more about the big bang than the ignorant nonsense in genesis.
As for Klavan, just one more ignorant conservative Christian, nothing more. It’s great to see how they lie. It’s great when chritsians support an orange rapist, adulterer, liar, cheat, and a coward who attacks US troops. It’s great when I see christains claim Klavan is a heretic since he says that Ben Shapiro doesn’t have to become a Christian to get to heaven, since it would “cost” him.
Atheists can be stupid and join cults, that never shows that the cult’s lies are true. And yes, Christianity, and each of its many versions, are cults, since they depend one gives up all for the cult, tht one abandons one family for the cult and one mutilates one’s body for the cult. If I said that about any other religion, you’d agree with me that this is a cult.
Christians have murdered people who countered their claims with reality. They claim that this god will heal people and surprise, it doesn’t. Hospitals were started by Christians for the dying so they could convert them. Hospitals existed in other cultures long before ignorant christanity too. Same with universities, public learning, and humanitarian efforts. It’s always rather pathetic when christains think that on one but them do these things.
Christians have murdered thousands, if not millions, of people for not agreeing with their lies, including each other. They have restricted advancement of the sciences in order to try to cling to their imaginary friend.
And which version of all of this nonsense is the right one, Ed? Who are the TrueChristians™, since not a single one of you can do what jesus promises per your bible?
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I guess we’ll know for sure who’s right when we close our eyes in death. If I’m wrong I’ve lost nothing, but if you’re wrong you will have lost everything. I sincerely appreciate you sharing your thoughts with me. Thank you. Ed
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Ah, nothing like impotent threats and pascal’s wager from a christian. Unsurprisingly, Pascal’s wager fails miserably. You have no idea if you have the right god, that you aren’t angering some other god and you waste time and resources.
I lose nothing by not worshipping a god that commits and commands genocide, that kills people, including kids for things they didn’t do, and that supports slavery. Even if your god did exist, I most certainly wouldn’t worship it.
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