Atheist Christians

[andrew1707]

A comment I read in a question from yesterday got me thinking. So, ABers, what are your thoughts on Atheist Christians.

Is it possible to believe in Christ the man and his teachings but not believe in the existence of a god.

A

[naomi24]

Oh my.... the wooden spoon's still in action then, sandyRoe. ;o)

[idiosyncrasy]

If you call yourself a Christian, you are in effect saying that you follow Jesus Christ. The Apostle Peter said at 1 Peter 2 v 21 "For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps:"

It would be inconceivable for an atheist to be a Christian. Jesus being the Son of God he would be representing God and his actions would therefore be governed by God. As atheists don't believe in God, then they would not be Christian.

But that does not mean they could not have the attributes of God, eg love, power, wisdom and justice because God endowed all of humankind with these qualities.

[naomi24]

God wasn't loving and he wasn't just. I wouldn't want his dubious 'attributes'.

[wildwood]

/the attributes of God, eg love, power, wisdom and justice/

Not a lot of that in Genesis 22 when he bullied Abraham to barbecue his son to prove his loyalty. A very sick mind, if you ask me.

[idiosyncrasy]

wildwood@
Obviously you haven't understood about Abraham and Isaac.

[naomi24]

idiosyncrasy, //wildwood@ Obviously you haven't understood about Abraham and Isaac.//

Perhaps you will explain why you think he’s mistaken.

[idiosyncrasy]

Naomi@
Yes I could give you an explanation but would you be "open minded" enough to accept it? I doubt it, from reading previous threads about similar events prove that you won't.

[naomi24]

idiosyncrasy, If by ‘open minded’ you mean you want me to accept your explanation without rational examination, I don’t consider that to be open minded. Quite the reverse.

You said in your post to wildwood //Obviously you haven't understood about Abraham and Isaac.// His misunderstanding isn’t obvious to me so your thoughts would be appreciated.

[idiosyncrasy]

Naomi@
When God requested Abraham to take his son to the mountains and offer him as a sacrifice, this was not a murder to be committed. It was in fact, a test of loyalty and obedience. Abraham knew that God would not let his son die, or if he did, that he would be resurrected. Why?

Consider a promise given by God to Abraham. Known as the Abrahamic covenant, God told Abraham that by means of his seed all the families of the earth would be blessed because of him. Isaac was his legal son and heir. Therefore if Isaac died (by the way, Isaac was not a young child but a young man, so he was obviously strong enough to overcome his father Abraham - but the account shows that he submitted to his father thereby showing he was in agreement with what was likely to happen) there would be no offspring of Abraham. read Hebrews 11 v 8 - 14.

As you read the Bible account you can see similarility in Abraham and Isaac to Almighty God and Jesus Christ.

So far from being a blood thirsty bully, God was giving a preview of his promise given in Genesis 3 v 15 about the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. That the serpent (Satan) would put Jesus out of action temporarily by means of his death, but that eventually Jesus would put Satan out of action permanently. You can cross reference this with Revelation 12 v 9.

[Hypognosis]

@naomi24

"a bit racist and unkind to his mum"

News to me, on both counts. Hitherto, I thought Mary all but disappears from the narrative until the apprentice-age Jesus goes missing.

For now, I just want to query the "racist" part. Any quotable verses?

[Hypognosis]

@andrew1707

I think it is a contradiction in terms because "atheist" has a very specific meaning and so does "Christian" (as mentioned in previous replies). If they had a name more directly indicitave of their belief - "Jesusians" for instance - it would help us understand how they are different from conventional Christians.

[naomi24]

idiosyncrasy, //It was in fact, a test of loyalty and obedience.//

Why would an omniscient god need to test someone’s loyalty and obedience when he would already have known the outcome? However you choose to interpret it, this story is the product of a very sick mind.

[naomi24]

Hypognosis, Joseph disappears from the narrative, but Mary is there until the end.

//And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us. But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs. And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table. Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour. Matt: 22-28//

[-Talbot-]

Well I was really prepared to be enlightened, I read through the post @
13:05 Wed 04th Mar 2015

But I'm afraid all it did was make me 'face-Palm'