Of Christians And Atheists: What I have Learned To Date

I love your thought process. I've seen people making the whole debate as religion vs atheism while in actuality, every individual is entitled to their belief or disbelief. Atheism is not a bad thing. In fact you need to be rational to adopt it. You're right when you say that charity is important. I've always felt, 'being human' is what should be the goal :-)

Lovely post.

@Guin

"So how do you get that I am AntiChrist when I said that I believe and go by Jesus Christ's words."

Did you forget you claimed Jehovah God's resurrection of Christ and his ennoblement as King of his Kingdom was myth? Only an Antichrist would deny this!

Like I keep telling you, if you don't want to be known as an Antichrist stop defaming God and his Son.

That is it. I will no longer communicate with you because you are the rudest person that I have met on here...and I have been here for 6 years. So how do you get that I am AntiChrist when I said that I believe and go by Jesus Christ's words. You make no sense and you only want to fight. Fight with someone else. I am done. You have given this hub all thesigns of what they is talking about. You have proved her point over and over and over again.... You are sick and you need some mental help or a CULT deprogrammer.

@Guin

If you don't want to be known as an Antichrist then don't comport yourself like one for only an Antichrist would heap obloquy upon the glorious King of God's Kingdom: Who Or What Is The Antichrist? http://bit.ly/1uUUgmT

Brother Joseph

I want you to write a hub of what an AntiCrhist is verses the alternative or opposite. If you do not do this I will report you for trolling and not writing a hub on your account for over 13 months.

Also put in that hub how a "Holier Than Thou" can fall by their own words. You may also want to include, by your standards, why it is right to call people names if they do not agree with you.

@Guin

If you're not an Antichrist why do you behave like one?

You are hard of reading.....Perhaps you should get a good idea about other religious belifs and structures here. I am not an AntiChrist either.

http://www.religioustolerance.org/

@Guin

Are you hard of reading? When did I ever say you were?

I am not a Catholic. There is the pattern already started ....name calling!

@Guin

Yet Catholics, and those like you, are not Christians. You're all Antichrists.

Joseph, you are exasperating and I will not answer to your sillyinees anymore. Please do not take this as a runnign away tactic, because i is not. I have just had enough of you.

Hitler was a Catholic. You are being really silly now. Have anice one!

@Guin

"Atheists do not do that. They truly do love others as themselves and the also stick to the do unto others as they what others to do to them. I have never known, and I do know many atheists here and in life, to segregate others by their looks, sexual orientation or beliefes of any kind."

Correct me if I'm wrong but weren't Danton, Lenin, Sanger, Than Shwe, Stalin, Mengele, Mao, Kim Il Sung, Ceausescu, Honecker, Castro, Pol Pot, Broz Tito and Milosevic oppressive, sadistic, democidal atheists who, collectively, murdered ***hundreds of millions*** of helpless men, women and little children?

@Guin

So you believe Jesus lied when he claimed to be the Son of God or when he explained that he existed in heaven before he was born as a man? (Matthew 16:16; John 1:14; Luke 1:35; Matthew 3:16, 17)

"you can believe in that myth if you want"

Argumentum assertio. “That which can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.” Prove your claim. Prove it's a myth.

Joseph you can believe in that myth if you want but that does not mean that you can push it on everyone else. Jesus never once said to do that.

I follow the words that Jesus said in the NT and other books that were banned from that book. I do not love a book. I love what the mystic Jesus said and how he told us to treat others. I do not and will not like anything that a deceiver would say after killing mass numbers of people who did follow Jesus before he infiltrated those who followed Jesus for the sake of an all powerful dictator. Paul is the worst of the worst. You donot have to believe history or that accounts of other people beside what is now called the Church, but that is your choice. Like I said I am a "Christian" that is supposed to follow Jesus, not a "paulean" or a "Churchian, who follows Paul and not Jesus.

Church does not follow tht Love They Neighbor and they do not bleive the affects after they do those horrible things to other and then cannot understand why they are hated right back.

Atheists do not do that. They truly do love others as themselves and the also stick to the do unto others as they what others to do to them. I have never known, and I do know many atheists here and in life, to segregate others by their looks, sexual orientation or beliefes of any kind.

What I have seen and expereinced is the divisiveness of Christians against other Christians, and Christians against Atheists.

@Guin

But Jesus lives! Jehovah God resurrected him as a glorious immortal spirit creature!

"When he came as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, yes, death on a torture stake. For this very reason, God exalted him to a superior position and kindly gave him the name that is above every other name, so that in the name of Jesus every knee should bend—of those in heaven and those on earth and those under the ground— and every tongue should openly acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father." - Philippians 2: 8-11

Joseph and what happens if they do not have a sword....like Jesus...but he still got killed and it wasn't for what religion teaches that it was. He was alo not the prince of peace either and he even said that.

@Say

Wait until they start nuking one another ...

J.O.P. - plenty of people die by the sword because they didn't defend themselves with the sword.

@Say

'Live by the sword, die by the sword.' -Matthew 26:52

I agree SYTL

LG - I read the article. I honestly don't see what the problem is with Buddhists defending themselves, even being proactive by striking first. The Buddhist countries of China and Japan are world-famous for martial arts. Pacifism is often taken for being wimpy, and is used as an excuse for not defending your community and even suppressing people's right to defend themselves (you yourself have been a victim of this mentality, as I have). True pacifism uses violence only as a last resort, which is definitely the case here.

Christianity has used bullying tactics to overrun the Americas. It has not been so successful in the Hindu-based religious countries of India, China, and Japan. Apparently they're doing something right - especially since they don't have the rates of violent crime that the Americas and the Middle East do. So rather than criticize, let's learn from them!

I found this article about the violence and Buddhism that you might like to read. I did not read the full article though. so just saying...

http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/22/world/asia/buddhism-...

@Say

Attacking ... in self-defense, lol :)

@J.O.P. ~

I have heard of them. The Buddhists there are attacking the Muslims mainly in self-defense. True, some of those attacks are unprovoked, but overall, that does not constitute a holy war. Buddhists believe in non-violence, but they also believe they have the right to defend themselves, including the use of violence. That's practical.

Burma does not have a government religion, but most people there are Buddhists, which makes Muslims a minority. Thanks to their religion's current reputation for violent cults, Muslim communities are suspected wherever they are a minority. Since some Muslims have attacked the Buddhist residents there, it only makes sense for them to be viewed with suspicion.

Even if it were a holy war, it still took 2500 years for one to start. I say that's a pretty good record.

@Say

I take it you've never heard of the violent riots started by Buddhists last year in Burma and other cities ...

Great, J.O.P. Members of other religions do the same thing. Incidentally, Buddhism is the only major world religion with virtually no history of holy wars. That's the WHOLE religion, not just one sector of it.

@Say

"religions are shaped by its followers' environments."

Only tangentially. At it's core, though, all sedulous Christians believe the exact same thing and treat each other as members of the very same loving family: http://bit.ly/pwUMD4 http://bit.ly/14S7GGK

Lady Guinevere - I too am sorry about what happened to you. I had a similar experience in the cult - I told about it in the hub, "My Experience in a Cult". I wasn't raped, but I was physically attacked by my landlord who turned out to be a professional criminal. The reason I changed his name, and the location of where I was living at the time, is because I don't want him to recognize me and know where I am today.

The minister (cult leader) and the spiritual advisor he appointed me accused me of provoking the attack! The spiritual advisor said I must have said something to make him mad. As if that would justify it!

It is extremely important to surround yourself with positive people. I believe one of the reasons he attacked me is because he knew who I was associating with, and that they would do nothing to help me.

Keisha - religions are shaped by its followers' environments. That's why there's more than one way to think; it doesn't make sense that you have the same lifestyles in the desert as you would in the jungle.

That's one of the 2 lessons I learned from being in the cult - there's more than one way to think. The other lesson is that there is no cosmic Santa Claus. If any Hollywood celebrity's name were defamed this way, there would be lawsuits all over the place. It seems like the Creator of the Universe would at least show equal interest in His reputation.

Joseph I never said that it was only about JW.

Oh I undertand.

@Guin

Apologies. I did not realize that particular Hub was specifically about Jehovah's Witnesses and their beneficent preaching work. Let me take a closer look and get back to you.

Joseph you commented on it many times already. The one about how church brings andholds their flock.

@Guin

Happily! Can you supply a link?

Sure there is Joseph and my hub points that it is not the exception at all. They are trained to convert and bring in money and followers. Go read the hub...actually read it.

@Keisha

My point is that they are the extremely rare exception, not the rule.

Joseph that happened way back in the late 1980s. I will never give names out like that. I do NOT want that opened back up in any shapr or form.

Like Keisha said, they do exist still.

@Lady

I'm so very sorry for what you went through, truly I am.

If you give me that person's name and the congregation he's from I'll make sure our Branch Office looks into the matter and take whatever disciplinary measures are warranted.

I did enlighten. I told him my experience with the JW and he did not understand it. My ex-husband and I worked for a JW preacher. I got raped and went to him for guidance and was told that because I worked outside of the home that I somehow deserved to be raped. He also mentioned that it ws the way that I dressed. I never dressed other than modest and the day that I was raped I was in a heavy sweater and long pants. Nothing sexist about that. He was not the only preacher that told me that I "asked" for it because of my dress. All my dresses were just above the knee and if that is asking for it there is something wrong with men...and there is something wrong with me. So there you have it, enlightend and all.

@Keisha

I'm more partial to the definition of Christian found at 1 Peter 2:21, "In fact, to this course you were called, because even Christ suffered for you, leaving a model for you to follow his steps closely." This is very similar to what Christ himself set forth at John 13:15, "For I set the pattern for you, that just as I did to you, you should also do." That is the definition of a Christian :)

This necessarily means that all who do not fit this definition but claim to be Christian are actually Antichrist in both God's and Christ's eyes.

@Lady

You told me before? My apologies but I do not recall such a conversation. Feel free, though, to refresh my memory :)

Joseph O Polanco Who are you? You do not have a bio or anything and you have been here for 13 months. I told you befoe how I was mistreated. I am sorry that you cannot or will not understand.

@Lady

And they mistreated you, how exactly ?

Joseph O Polanco I worked for them. Enough said.

@Lady

I wish it was. You, apparently, claim that you've never been a JW but that you've been mistreated by them. That doesn't make sense. Can you elaborate?

I thought my explanation was pretty straight forward. What are you having troble with in what I said?

@Lady

I'm not sure what you're trying to say. Can you please elaborate?

Interesting hub, Keisha. I'd like to add some religions are atheist; Confucianism is one example. Also Jainism, which is based on Hinduism, is practiced as atheistic, even though it is polytheist. Buddhism, which is also based on Hinduism, is non-theistic, which means it doesn't matter whether one believes in a deity or not. In the Western World, atheism is controversial, a conclusion angry former Christians reach when their faith no longer makes sense. In the Eastern World, atheism is merely an opinion.

Oh I can attest to that one Joseph O Poanco! For one women are open to any sexual misconduct if she works outside the home. Then she is blamed further and is further put into submission if she speaks out. I am NOT a JW, but this is the kind of treatment that I got after such an occurrence.

@Keisha

I don't quite follow. Are you suggesting that, based on your personal dealings with Jehovah's Witnesses, they're not a loving, peaceful, joyful, altruistic and honest people?

LOL, yes I wrote a hub about how the church gets their minds and keeps them. That was very eye-opening and you know what...none of them read it. Some of us just woke up from all that and stopped eating from their spoons the tried to feed us. More of those kind needs to read it and really understand when I am coming from before they spout off scripture and call others bad names and then tell others that they do not do that. Some just need to look in the mirror on this.

OMG! Now you have someone telling you what your feelings and experiences lacked. That be the total opposite of what you were saying here.

Start a revoloution on HP! They need to be shaken into some humanity too.

@Keisha

Your quarrel, it seems, is with Antichristendom, not Christianity-

“During the genocide of Tutsi and Hutu living in Rwanda, there were Hutu who risked their lives to protect Tutsi and Tutsi who protected Hutu. Some were killed by extremists for protecting their fellow believers. For example, a Hutu Witness named Gahizi was killed after hiding a Tutsi sister named Chantal. Chantal’s Tutsi husband, Jean, was hidden in another location by a Hutu sister named Charlotte. For 40 days Jean and another Tutsi brother remained hidden in a large chimney, only coming out for brief periods during the night. All this time, Charlotte provided them with food and protection, although living close to a Hutu army camp. On this page, you can see a picture of a reunited Jean and Chantal, who are thankful that their Hutu fellow worshipers ‘risked their necks’ for them, just as Prisca and Aquila did for the apostle Paul.—Romans 16:3, 4.

Another Hutu Witness, Rwakabubu, was praised by the newspaper Intaremara for protecting Tutsi fellow believers. It stated: “There is also Rwakabubu, one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, who continued to hide people here and there among his brothers (that’s how fellow believers call one another). He used to spend the whole day long carrying food and drinking water for them though he is an asthmatic. But God made him extraordinarily strong.”

Consider, too, an interested Hutu couple named Nicodeme and Athanasie. Before the outbreak of genocide, this married couple had been studying the Bible with a Tutsi Witness named Alphonse. At the risk of their lives, they hid Alphonse in their home. Later they realized that the house was not a safe place because their Hutu neighbors knew about their Tutsi friend. Therefore, Nicodeme and Athanasie hid Alphonse in a hole in their yard. This was a good move because the neighbors began to come searching for Alphonse almost every day. While lying in this hole for 28 days, Alphonse meditated on Bible accounts such as the one about Rahab, who hid two Israelites on the roof of her house in Jericho. (Joshua 6:17) Today Alphonse continues his service in Rwanda as a preacher of the good news, thankful that his Hutu Bible students risked their lives for him. And what about Nicodeme and Athanasie? They are now baptized Witnesses of Jehovah and conduct over 20 Bible studies with interested persons. - “Sharing the Comfort That Jehovah Provides”

“They refuse any form of violence and without rebelling put up with the many trials inflicted on them because of their beliefs . . . How different the world would be if we all woke up one morning firmly decided not to take up arms again, whatever the cost or the reason, just like Jehovah’s Witnesses!” - “Andare Alle Genti”

“I have come to the conclusion that if Jehovah’s Witnesses were the only ones living on the earth, wars would cease to exist, and the only duties of the policemen would be to control traffic and to issue passports.” - “Gyűrű”

“Suffice it to say that if all the world lived by the creed of the Jehovah Witnesses there would be an end of bloodshed and hatred, and love would reign as king!”- “The Sacramento Union”

“The work of Jehovah’s Witnesses is the revival and re-establishment of the primitive Christianity practised by Jesus and his disciples . . . All are brothers.” - “The Encyclopedia Canadiana”

You have some interesting viewpoints here, and I appreciate your balanced approach.

" Atheism is not synonymous with being mean, angry or bitter..." If all other theists understood that line.....

Love this hub . . . I am a theist . . . I believe there can be many realities on many levels. My son is an atheist and believes quite the opposite. He ponders end of earth probabilities while I ponder future earth potentials.