Why should any Atheist consider becoming a Christian?

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You’re a science fiction fan, huh?
Don’t forget Ockham’s Razor.
There must be some reason umpty billion people believe in one God. Perhaps they know something you don’t, yet?
 
Viki63 said:
There must be some reason umpty billion people believe in one God. Perhaps they know something you don’t, yet?
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Just a gentle reminder that before Christianity spread the Jewish monotheistic God across most of the western world, the vast majority believed in many gods. And in India and elsewhere, there are still millions that do.
 
Every atheist has sinned before, so they deserve God’s wrath. Sin is an ugly thing, so God, who is perfectly just, must necessarily punish sin. Jesus took it upon Himself to suffer God’s wrath in our place. By faith in Christ, we can receive His perfect life and payment on the cross. Your sin is imputed to Christ and His atonement is imputed to you.

That’s the Gospel in a nutshell. It’s either Christ’s way or there’s no way.
 
Ugh. Not me. But I have such a hermit side that would get in the way. Could I be a goddess of hermits? So long as no one is allowed to contact me for intervention? 🤫
englands123 said:
It’s not always easy to explain …
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There’s such a gap to bridge between openness to the sacred vs. the post-positivist I’ll-believe-it-when-I-see-it mentality. I don’t have any direct answer for you, but simply telling someone on the other side of the bridge that they should cross it doesn’t seem to have any effect.

I agree with previous posters that motivation for atheism is everything. A good many of them have been wounded by religion and, I’d argue, are right to feel bruised and upset.
0Scarlett_nidiyilii said:
Although I can’t explain it all, in my life, the more faithful I am to prayer and Bible reading, the more I’m able to peaceful, and the more generous and compassionate to others.
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A lot of them respond to me with, “But I’m basically a good person. You don’t need God or church to be moral.”

I’ve explained that my faith doesn’t necessarily make me moral, but it does make me accountable. I have my good days and my snappy-b**chy days. I’m a nice person who’s hurt people from time to time. I have good intentions but constantly fall away from them. Between homilies, Confession, and a solid faith community, I can keep myself in check.
 
Just a reminder that atheism is by no means a default position. That couldn’t be any further from the truth. Religiosity/spiritualism has been the default position for all of recorded human history. The question is now and has always been, why should any naturally religious/spiritual human ever seriously consider atheism?
 
I can totally understand say for example , why some people would have the idea of morally checking themselves ( if not broken / why fix it ) so no need to believe in a God.

Many people do find God through difficult & sad times in their own lives and that is a fact.

When a person has wealth in all directions in their own personal and family life. ( With good high moral values) Why complicate ones own life , when clearly there is no solid evidence to prove otherwise.

The Christian struggles to feed their family , when the Atheist lives in luxury for example.

It’s so very difficult to explain.

Take my Dad for example a love child from the ww2 , his mum died shortly after birth he had to live with foster parents his entire life and has never met his Dad.

At 18 he was told the truth , adopted from birth. He says to me where was God ? No God would allow a mother to die in childbirth.

He married an Irish Catholic and here I am.But he still believes in no God especially with all the suffering in this world.
 
blackforest said:
A lot of them respond to me with, “But I’m basically a good person. You don’t need God or church to be moral.”
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My job is to give the testimony.
After that, I have no control over the situation.
 
Viki63 said:
You’re a science fiction fan, huh?
Don’t forget Ockham’s Razor.
There must be some reason umpty billion people believe in one God. Perhaps they know something you don’t, yet?
Click to expand...
If all, or most, members of a species do something the simplest explanation, as the razor cuts, is that the behaviour is genetic and advantageous or accompanies another advantageous genetic trait. E.g. if you believe in god(s) you are more likely to form communities that pass on their genetic material. The less likely and more complex explanation is that people believe in god(s) because god(s) exist and somehow make humans aware of this but in a bewildering variety of forms, number and expectations of human behaviour.
 
Techno2000 said:
Suffering is price we have to pay for free will.God created man to be free,and to let nature run its course.
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So why did God create millions of non-humans who do not have free will but invariably suffer?
 
You don’t see Hindu gods making their presence known. Zeus and Hera were notably silent also.

what do you make of the miracle of Lanciano, the image of Las Lajas, the miracles at Lourdes, the tilma of Guadalupe, and assorted other apparitions and events? Are all these people deluded or hallucinating?

For me, the simplest explanation for belief is that something exists that people believe in. Many people are fools, but not all.
 
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Why should a Christian become an Atheist. Even tougher to explain.
 
I had a book that went over different arguments for God. Some I found unconvincing, but others were very good.
A) The Argument from Morality.
B) The Kalaam Cosmological Arg./Causality Argument
C) Pascal’s Wager
 
From talking to many atheists, I can give a bit of an answer.
In no particular order:
The hiddeness of God
The problem of suffering
Experiencing hypocritical behavior of believers
The geography of different faiths

There are, of course, many others and each of the above listed have nuances but most atheists claim one or more of the above problems that led to their atheism.
 
FiveLinden said:
All it would tell me is that the universe was planned by an intelligence.
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This is what is meant by God, though the great majority of believers don’t perceive it that way. The trouble through history has been that God has been pictured so often as a super-human like figure with a white beard (he also carries a very big stick so I’m told) that our default position is to create a similar image in our minds; that he also resides “somewhere up there” and could be located and seen if we were able. There is actually room within your post for a very definite belief in what we call God, even the “trillons” of them idea. Since this imaginative intelligence is supposedly infinite, then there is every aspect of every possibility within the conscious intellect, amounting to trillions of potential attitudes and viewpoints.

I may take a lot of flak for this so you better duck. 😉
 
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It’s right there in the Psalter:

“A fool says in his heart, ‘there is no God’.” Psalm 14:1

Don’t be foolish,
Deacon Christopher
 
I was listening to a radio priest the other day talking about this, and he referred generally to what is called scientism, the belief that science can explain (or refute) anything. That might be a hangup for a lot of people even Catholics who have doubts. He said the Catechism explained that God is unknowable. Well, what do you do with that?

I am assured of God by my observation of evil and good in the world. There are absolutes, and God is the main absolute – the absolute of truth.

A lot of people are interested in astronomy and the universe. Discoveries seem to be reported in the news regularly – yesterday it was the observation of a black hole tearing apart a star. I can’t get my head around an infinite universe, what the universe is expanding into. There are the astrophysicists ideas about this, but it is ultimately beyond science to explain it (and I bet they don’t like that).
 
Many atheists are quite well-read, charitable, knowledgeable about history and world religions, and earnestly are seeking the truth. For those who meet that description, the major attraction to the Catholic faith should be our claim to upholding constant truths.

Unfortunately, the perception put forth by the Church over the last several years is that truth can and will change, and when it does change, it is coincidentally aligned with desires of “progressive” Western values.

Just to name some recent and upcoming events:
  • change to the traditional words of the “Our Father” in some languages
  • drastic change of teaching on death penalty
  • the confusion that still persists whether divorced and remarried may receive communion
  • widely differing attitudes between parishes in regards to “LGBT” issues
  • a bishop in Ireland just let members of his diocese “vote” on changes including women’s ordination and relaxing of sexual morals
  • the upcoming German “binding synod” is being placed in the hands of a liberal lay group which advocates for female ordination and same-sex “marriage”
  • the recent “Abu Dhabi” statement which certainly comes across as equating all religions
  • the upcoming Amazon synod, the results of which are yet to be seen but whose “working document” errors have been covered here and elsewhere
In any case, that is a good question - why would an atheist become Catholic? By definition, atheists do not have faith. So, they must be attracted to the Church by reason. Reason should seek truth; but currently, the Church exudes the notion that she is unsure of the truths which she has upheld over the centuries, and is not confident in her teaching. So, an atheist using reason alone to investigate whether or not to become a member of the Church today would most likely not be persuaded by our claim to being the true Church.
 
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