the protestant rebels said that we don’t really have to do anything, or that the works we do are unimportant, just believe in Jesus and be set. Faith alone as they called it.
believing in Jesus and leaving it at that… It’s like flipping a light switch rather than undoing years worth of works in charity, volunteering, etc.
God doesn’t really change your being, just imputes righteousness to you but still knows in the back of His mind that you’re nothing but a filthy sinner
Discuss.
Where to start, where to start. First, referring to the Reformers as “protestant rebels” is not a generally accepted way of talking about historical figures, at least not within actual academia. For you to do it here is either ignorant or rude. If it is ignorance, let us hope it is not invincible ignorance.
Second, you are conflating some very different things. It can be said (and has been said by prominent scholars and without any pushback from other scholars) that the 19th and 20th-century not-mainline Protestant descendants of Anglicanism, Lutheranism, et al have changed much more relative to them doctrinally than the Reformers ever did relative to Catholicism. What you are conflating is the actual, clear, consistent, well-defined, historical teaching of (for example) the Lutherans, with whatever misguided off-the-cuff claims you’ve heard from a semi-informed layperson who belongs to some denomination that has practically nothing to do with Reformed theology and, apart from a basic affirmation of the five Solas, has virtually nothing else in common with the particulars of doctrine.
You should not conflate these two things, and you should not assume that you are giving an accurate representation of what it is that people like Lutherans and Anglicans believe. You’re not even close. They are telling you this, and you should listen to them. Even blueeyedlady, an atheist, is informing you that you don’t seem to have much of an understanding of mainline Protestant theology. Whatever problem you have, it is with some of the Baptists, independents, and non-denominationals, people who did not break directly from Rome and who might consider it very optional to even call themselves Protestants.
And you shouldn’t refer to these people as rebels, either, even though they have far less in common with you than Protestants of the Reformation era did.
To answer your question, no, sola fide does not lead to atheism. Rejection of Christian teaching can and does lead to atheism, but it doesn’t really matter if the Christian teaching consists of Orthodoxy, Catholicism, Lutheranism, or some other sola-fide-related group of beliefs that actually does relate to the descriptions you’ve given, which so far do not remotely correspond to any of the denominational groupings or families that you’ve called into question.
Now, I do believe there are two basic things that any Christian can do that will cause people to leave Christianity and perhaps become atheists. First and foremost, hypocrisy- when Christians praise Jesus with their lips and proclaim His power and presence in their lives, then go out the door and get on by their lifestyles. Essentially, when people state that God is/will/should be doing thus and such within their lives and then they act exactly like it’s not really happening. Probably because it’s really not happening, but I can’t know that and it’s not for me to judge.
And second, when Christians disagree with each other in a certain type of way. Namely, when different types of Christians technically (officially) acknowledge that they proclaim a common gospel, worship the same God, and basically have the same message about how to know Him and be a part of His family. But then along with that, they criticize each others’ differences to the point where another form of Christianity, technically regarded as legitimate, is presented as something that’s worthless and laughable, as if these other Christians are defective, and most especially as if there is no possible value in being affiliated with this, that, the other, and also this here branch of Christianity. They have something wrong with them, how could they even believe something like that? Don’t these rebels know that This type of Christianity basically leads to atheism? And don’t Those rebels also know that That type of Christianity is just so wrong in other ways?
Of course, I’m not suggesting that we should join hands, sing kum-bay-ya and completely ignore important differences. We just need to be more focused, and less broadly condemning of a whole group of Christians and their various doctrines In Their Entirety, because this is the type of careless criticism that serves to tear down Christianity as a whole. If all Christians consistently portray most other forms of Christianity as something not worth being a part of, and those other Christians basically do the same- at some point, you’re going to find that a sane person will start listening to all the Christians and determine that, for various different reasons, no branches of Christianity are worth being a part of. Just listen to the Christians. Which leads me to a very specific question just for you, Estevao- is Protestantism worth being a part of? The various branches of Protestantism, from the Mainline denominations whose specific teachings you don’t know very well, on to the Baptists and the non-denoms and the broader Evangelical movement- is it worth something? Is it worth being a part of? Or is it a collection of worthless rebels, making up branches of Christianity that should just die and be cut off? Remember, at least one atheist is already following your thread and will see how you respond.
