Have Any Of you Ever Personally Known An Atheist?

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I live with an atheist and work with many. Over 50% of my students are atheist and over 90% of my colleagues are. Before you ask, we do discuss it - that’s how I know!
 
Actually, my oldest sister maintained her faith until she was in a horrible marriage with an abusive husband. Rationally, she knows she should not blame God, but at that time, she wondered why God ‘allowed’ this to happen. Now, she just no longer has that blind faith.

I think there are many atheists and agnostics among us, so you probably know many more than you think. :gopray2:
 
My older son currently is a self-proclaimed atheist. My daugher declared herself as an atheist up until a couple of years ago. Both were raised Catholic through grade schools and high school.

Somehow my daughter is now convinced God exists, but she is not Catholic or even Christian. She is just a deist but barely.

My youngest is borderline Catholic, barely practicing.

My wife is borderline Christian, and I’m not real sure about that. :mad: :confused: I pray for them all the time. IF anyone has better suggestions I’m all ears.

Are there any real good books for convincing/converting atheists ???
 
wcknight said:
My older son currently is a self-proclaimed atheist. My daugher declared herself as an atheist up until a couple of years ago. Both were raised Catholic through grade schools and high school.

Somehow my daughter is now convinced God exists, but she is not Catholic or even Christian. She is just a deist but barely.

My youngest is borderline Catholic, barely practicing.

My wife is borderline Christian, and I’m not real sure about that. :mad: :confused: I pray for them all the time. IF anyone has better suggestions I’m all ears.

Are there any real good books for convincing/converting atheists ???
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I think one of the biggest hurdles is that many people today associate success with God. They pray for something and if they get it, they thank God and say their prayers were answered. If they don’t get what they want, they blame God. There isn’t really much anyone can do as one has to be open or receptive to God. I would hate to live in a world without my beliefs. My faith is a part of who I am. But that is what it is…my faith. One can’t force a feeling or belief on someone. It is either there or it isn’t.

It’s probably a bit like looking at the glass that is either half-full or half-empty. For Christians, we look at the stories of the Bible, the writings of the apostles, our apostolic succession and the churches teachings and see absolute proof. For atheists, they can look at the exact same writings and see nothing (I think this is probably how it works, anyway).

I’m sorry about your family, but you can’t change who they are or what they believe. I wish my sister had my beliefs, but she doesn’t and it’s not likely to change. I love her and accept her for who she is and she loves me and accepts me for who I am.
 
It warms the cockles of my heart to learn that I am not alone in my unbelief.

Thanks, everyone.
 
pmoo said:
I … you can’t change who they are or what they believe. I wish my sister had my beliefs, but she doesn’t and it’s not likely to change. I love her and accept her for who she is and she loves me and accepts me for who I am.
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BUT I changed and returned to the Church and so did one of my brothers. God can change people’s hearts to be more receptive or offer them chances for redemption when they are most receptive.

There are many stories of last minute converions and changes of heart.

As long as we have hope and faith in the Lord, impossible things can and do happen.

I think my daughter’s moving from being a complete atheist to at least a deist came about in part because I gave her the notion that in this vast universe, how can we be the height of creation. Surely some being far greater than us exists and put us here. It’s a small step in the right direction. I have no doubt the Lord will answer my prayers, just as he did for my brothers family (his entire family of 7 became Catholic with his return to the Church.)
 
wcknight said:
BUT I changed and returned to the Church and so did one of my brothers. God can change people’s hearts to be more receptive or offer them chances for redemption when they are most receptive.

There are many stories of last minute converions and changes of heart.

As long as we have hope and faith in the Lord, impossible things can and do happen.

I think my daughter’s moving from being a complete atheist to at least a deist came about in part because I gave her the notion that in this vast universe, how can we be the height of creation. Surely some being far greater than us exists and put us here. It’s a small step in the right direction. I have no doubt the Lord will answer my prayers, just as he did for my brothers family (his entire family of 7 became Catholic with his return to the Church.)
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Yes, but that was your desire to change or the Holy Spirit speaking to you. You, yourself, cannot cause or force another person to change his/her beliefs.
 
Yes, my old boss was an atheist. He was a really nice guy, but seemed kind of sad.
 
Starwynd said:
Have any of you ever personally known an atheist?
’
i see a lot of talking about them, and I’ve seen a lot statement of beliefs about them, but really, how can you truly know what an atheist truly is if you have never really met one? If you have never really met one then you should really try to be friends with one.
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I’ve known several atheists from college to this very day. They were/are all very polite, damaged, and often disingenuine souls. Kindness isn’t kindness when it cloaks hostility toward my faith. It’s fakery and deceit, which is finally giving way to their honest wishes to lead others away from God.

That said, atheists tend to make the best converts to faith. You know, that whole hot/cold thing.
 
MerryAtheist said:
Vicki;
Nothing personal, but I think you are mistaken. There truly are lots of atheists, of all ages, who have given the matter a lot of thought and arrived at the conclusion that belief in gods is unwarranted.
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I stand corrected.
But I’d be curious to know how anyone arrives at the belief that there’s no God. It’s hard to prove a negative. (There are no spiders in this room - one hopes.)
The universe came into existence at some point - something caused it to pop into reality. Maybe that’s just the nature of reality.
I’m not intelligent enough to go into that discussion. But I know I’ve heard God speak to me, more than once.
I will pray that the atheists on this thread get to hear that voice.
 
Viki63 said:
I stand corrected.
But I’d be curious to know how anyone arrives at the belief that there’s no God. It’s hard to prove a negative. (There are no spiders in this room - one hopes.)
The universe came into existence at some point - something caused it to pop into reality. Maybe that’s just the nature of reality.
I’m not intelligent enough to go into that discussion. But I know I’ve heard God speak to me, more than once.
I will pray that the atheists on this thread get to hear that voice.
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Viki;
I don’t wish to derail this thread, but I would like to simply point out that there is a subtle but very important difference between “having no belief in God” and “believing there is no God”. Once you understand the difference, then it is not so hard to understand why some of us adhere to the former but remain skeptical of the latter.

I too, have been warned many times of my inability to understand the universe, so don’t worry, I won’t go there.

I used to think I heard God’s voice as well, and I prayed to retain my faith, but alas, it died. I know you will not believe it, but I am much more happy and excited these days knowing as I do that the meaning of my life is completely up to me. Getting up in the morning is much easier.

That is all. Now back to the thread…
 
Starwynd said:
Have any of you ever personally known an atheist?
’
i see a lot of talking about them, and I’ve seen a lot statement of beliefs about them, but really, how can you truly know what an atheist truly is if you have never really met one? If you have never really met one then you should really try to be friends with one.
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My father is an atheist, and so are many of my friends…
 
I used to think I heard God’s voice as well, and I prayed to retain my faith, but alas, it died. I know you will not believe it, but I am much more happy and excited these days knowing as I do that the meaning of my life is completely up to me. Getting up in the morning is much easier.
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The meaning of my life is completely up to me, too. It’s called free will. Some use their free will to reject God. Others use it to follow Him (faith) and do His will.

If you’re happy and excited these days, that’s great. But there’s more to existence than getting up in the morning and feeling good. The trap of self-sufficiency is that, at the end of the day, maybe it’s just you.
 
LutheranDK said:
How on Earth can you joke about damnation? 😦
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No, it is certainly no laughing matter, but rather than approach folks with a stern and sour face, maybe they may see a bit of truth and warning in my little poke. Besides it was in jest that the original post was welcoming others to their disbelief.

I pray that no one ends up in eternal damnation, and I certainly would not laugh at anyone who did.
 
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