Atheists not understanding Christianity

  • Thread starter Thread starter rose.gold
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
R

rose.gold

Guest
This might be a bit of a rant. I’m sorry if it gets confusing. It also might end up being exactly like my last post but I just feel the need to talk about it more.

Humans seek truth. It’s just what we do. And of course, God is truth. But while some atheists simply deny God’s existence out of stubbornness or selfishness, others just don’t see Catholicism as the truth because it doesn’t make sense to them.
For example, my boyfriend is an atheist and he sees too many inconsistencies in Christianity for it to be the truth. And honestly, I don’t blame him. If there were just one or two things he disagreed with, I wouldn’t be so understanding. But there are so many things that don’t make sense to him. For example, the problem of evil, how we can have free will while God is also interfering in our lives, how in the Bible God commands the killing of innocent people, how there have been so many sex scandals in the Church, how the Pope can be infallible, how the Church condemns gay marriage, why God sometimes doesn’t answer prayers of those who are suffering. Just to name a few.
It’s frustrating being unable to argue with him on these things. I know God is real. I have my doubts at times like everyone, but the feeling I have that Catholicism is the truth is too strong for me to deny. I guess I just feel bad being unable to prove Christianity from a logical standpoint. I know I should be able to defend my beliefs logically but sometimes I just don’t know what to say. It’s frustrating. I’m not very smart and I’m sure I just need to educate myself more on these theological issues.
Anyway, if an atheist is truly seeking the truth, but can’t make sense of Christianity, why is it their fault for not believing in God? Why do they deserve to be punished for trying to understand, but being unable to? If an atheist feels he has all this evidence proving the God of the Bible to be evil or inconsistent, or the opposite of what Christians claim that He is, why should they worship him? It doesn’t make much sense to me :confused:

Thanks for reading my rant. Responses are much appreciated 🙂 God bless.
 
rose.gold said:
while some atheists simply deny God’s existence out of stubbornness or selfishness,
Click to expand...
In order for there to be productive conversations, it’s important to start from a position of good will. Assuming that most atheists are so because they just want to be stubborn/ selfish does them a disservice.

As an agnostic atheist myself, I was raised in a very fervent Christian denomination and compelled to go to church regularly from infancy until adulthood. I tried to convince myself that I believed but always felt like an imposter, a pretender, even as a child. I had many reasons to want to believe, not the least was wanting to fit in.

Most atheists I know describe very similar experiences and skepticism. Some theists seem to think many atheists don’t want to believe, but I’ve heard and read many atheists say they actually do wish there was an afterlife because of that stark reality that death is final.

Your boyfriend sounds perfectly normal as an atheist. His concerns about many teachings of Christianity are typical. The prospect of divine punishment for his disbelief is likely only one more reason why he would reject the whole thing as specious. The threat of “believe or else” will never convince him.

I don’t think it’s productive to blame yourself either for not being able to convince him. Either he will come to be convinced of the veracity of Christianity or he won’t, but debating someone into the kingdom of God doesn’t seem to be a good way for them to internalize belief anyway. So don’t put that on yourself. If I may make a suggestion, you living your faith credibly and sincerely is likely the best argument.
 
QContinuum said:
40.png
rose.gold:
while some atheists simply deny God’s existence out of stubbornness or selfishness,
Click to expand...
In order for there to be productive conversations, it’s important to start from a position of good will. Assuming that most atheists are so because they just want to be stubborn/ selfish does them a disservice.
Click to expand...
How did you get from “some” to “most”? Responding to what people actually post is also important for productive conversations.
 
What I would suggest is that you go to the Catholic Answers website (Catholic.com). Type in on the search bar what ever you want to look for ( for example , papal infallibility). They should have articles that will cover all of your boyfriend’s concerns. These might not persuade him but the information will be there.

I wish you every blessing.

Pax
 
You are correct and I simply misread it. Please accept my apologies.
 
You don’t really owe me one, but I accept it anyway in the spirit of reconciliation.
 
It’s a less dramatic version of those who saw/believed in the miracles of Christ but refused to believe in His Divinity. The grace is offered and refused.

That might be an unsatisfying answer but there it is.
 
Your boyfriend and you are living in a time when “anything goes” and people are questioning even the basics of Is Anything Real? Is Anything Fact?

Of course you don’t want to be made a fool of, to be bamboozled, to miss all the fun you could be having.

It’s really frustrating to be in the middle of all these conflicting voices, and atheist arguments often seem to explain it all on the surface. But theee are other explanations.

You may want to go “back to basics”.
Two book I recommend are Mere Christianity by CS Lewis, and *Handbook of Christian Apologetics * by Peter Kreeft.
 
rose.gold said:
Humans seek truth. It’s just what we do. And of course, God is truth. But while some atheists simply deny God’s existence out of stubbornness or selfishness, others just don’t see Catholicism as the truth because it doesn’t make sense to them.
Click to expand...
Well, since humans naturally seek truth, and reason reaches the truth (at least a partial truth) unless something goes wrong, we can conclude that in case of each atheist something went wrong.

Now, there are many things that might have gone wrong. One can fail to find the truth because of laziness (thinking and related things take a lot of effort). One can fail to find the truth because of ignorance of something. One can fail to find the truth because of incompetence (being bad at, for example, reading attentively). One can fail to find the truth because one does not want to find it. Or, perhaps, one has not found the truth, because one is in the process of finding it.

Of course, various combinations are possible.

So, I’d say you should try to find out what went wrong. That might be still more important, if he is your boyfriend, potentially a future husband.

Now, of course, you have to investigate on your own, not just ask him. For consider an example of what can go wrong:
QContinuum said:
Most atheists I know describe very similar experiences and skepticism. Some theists seem to think many atheists don’t want to believe, but I’ve heard and read many atheists say they actually do wish there was an afterlife because of that stark reality that death is final.
Click to expand...
And atheists who are atheists because they do not want to find the truth would just say so instead? 🙂

No, people who are in denial about something are not going to just say that they are in denial.
 
MPat said:
And atheists who are atheists because they do not want to find the truth would just say so instead?
Click to expand...
I don’t accept your opinion on others’ inner motives as factual. I especially do not accept your judgement of my interior thoughts and feelings, as I am atheist. Your conclusions are interesting but appear to be less the result of understanding atheist thought and more the ad hoc rationale to confirm your own belief.
 
I wouldn’t say they don’t understand. I would say that maybe they’ve never encountered Christianity as it truly is, but only what they think it is or have been taught to think it is. In other words, they don’t know what they don’t know. Also, some people are just not currently open to learning new things.

For example, what I term ‘Sola Scriptura atheists’ are a dime a dozen on the Internet. They’re like talking to Protestants with the added caveat that they don’t believe in God on top of it, because Protestantism or Evangelicalism is all with which they are familiar. Usually their arguments are going to be from that perspective.
 
I’d second the recommendations others have offered you regarding apologetics resources (if your boyfriend is interested enough to read them):
  1. CS Lewis (‘The Problem of Pain’; ‘Mere Christianity’) for a very baseline introduction to Christian premises, intended for atheists;
  2. Catholic.com for specific answers to Catholic-specific questions.
If your boyfriend would be open to sincerely praying that if God exists, God would please reveal Himself to him, I personally suspect that’d be huge. Without setting a false expectation that prayers get answered mechanically or in ways we necessarily expect. But if your boyfriend is willing to honestly make that conditional prayer, and be open to God if He exists, and to honestly seek to know about Him… I think on top of the rest, that might be important and helpful.
 
Last edited:
Faith is a gift. Trying to ‘convince’ your boyfriend has only taken you so far. If I were you, I would turn the tables on him so HE has to defend his position. Who says that atheism doesn’t have holes? how do you explain that the universe doesn’t follow the laws of physics? how do you go from nolife to life? how about morality, why do anything moral when death is the end of everything? just get informed and start pointing out the holes… there are many
 
God exists. I mean, this is not something people should doubt. If there’s no God, why is there a you? I think, at least for some atheists (by no means all), they don’t want God to exist. I think atheism in that case is just wishful thinking (again, this is by no means all atheists)
 
You can’t argue someone into Heaven. Christianity is not a matter of being more intelligent than non-christians. Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, as it says in Proverbs. You don’t become a christian because you are smart-- you become one because the Holy Spirit has moved you to believe that you need a savior. The Holy Spirit gives you a new heart. A person with a transformed heart will search for answers to questions that they used to have and they will find answers. I used to believe that christians hate arabs, but since I became a christian, I see that they don’t.

Remember when Jesus said that you don’t put a lamp under a bed? you put it in on a table so that the light will permeate the whole house. Do likewise. Let your righteousness shine like a lamp. Live the christian life and show your boyfriend what being Christ-like is all about. Hopefully he will see your joy and contentment and will become a christian.

Your boyfriend may be an atheist, but God has shown him that this world could not have formed by chance. Your boyfriend is without excuse, as Romans 1 says.
 
Last edited:
QContinuum said:
I don’t accept your opinion on others’ inner motives as factual. I especially do not accept your judgement of my interior thoughts and feelings, as I am atheist. Your conclusions are interesting but appear to be less the result of understanding atheist thought and more the ad hoc rationale to confirm your own belief.
Click to expand...
So, you don’t accept my beliefs about your motives, but you do accept your beliefs about my motives.

Not exactly surprising. 🙂

But not very reasonable, for at least two reasons.

First, you gave no reasons to support such a preference. That leaves the implicit reason of just you being more trustworthy in general, which, um, hasn’t been demonstrated yet. 🙂

Second, it looks like you did not even understand what I was saying explicitly, thus it looks a bit unlikely that you will be able to find out things that are a bit more hidden.

For in the part you have cited I have said nothing at all about “others’ inner motives” as such.

I was saying that one should not rashly trust what people say about their “inner motives”.

Such claims are obviously evidence, but not necessarily evidence supporting the claims themselves. 🙂
 
Sorry I didn’t mean to make it sound like that. He’s definitely an atheist lol.
 
Well my goal is both of course. But he’s a very strong atheist. It seems a bit impossible sometimes I must admit. But that’s life I guessss
 
rose.gold said:
there are so many things that don’t make sense to him. For example, the problem of evil, how we can have free will while God is also interfering in our lives, how in the Bible God commands the killing of innocent people, how there have been so many sex scandals in the Church, how the Pope can be infallible, how the Church condemns gay marriage, why God sometimes doesn’t answer prayers of those who are suffering. Just to name a few.
Click to expand...
These are all issues for people considering becoming, or who are, Catholic. But they should not lead anyone to atheism. I say this as an atheist.

These are arguments against specifically Catholic or wider Christian belief. Catholic and other Christians of course have countervailing arguments. But even if you reject these none of these issues argues against the existence of god(s). For example a god(s) unable to intervene as s/he or they would wish provides a resolution of the issue of how you can believe in god(s) in the face of such things.

I do not exclude the possibility of the existence of god(s) but simply say I have seen nothing that requires god(s) as an explanation.

My suggestion, as in all relationship matters, is that you (OP) and your friend actively seek out common ground. For example you may both agree that malicious gossip is bad. Catholic teaching on what they call ‘detraction’ and ‘calumny’ seems to me to prescribe very goos rules for everyone from me to journalists to the POTUS.

Just because there is not (in my view) a god(s) doesn’t mean that the Church or other religious organisations does no good. Another example: Catholics seem to be particularly good in seeing value in enhancing the lives of people born with physical and mental problems. The Salvation Army is significantly better than most atheists I know in doing useful things for people released from prison. And more than one religious organisation is great at distributing food when people face disasters etc.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top