I just came across an article entitled,
"It is our fault they don't believe." The author explains his reasoning about why Christians are responsible for atheists' disbelief. He presents this argument far better than I can, so here's what he has to say:
“If I am not doing the works (performing the deeds) of my Father, then do not believe me.” (John 10:37)
It is the job of the church to give people an encounter with God, not an argument. I don't blame atheists for not believing in God, because those of us who do believe have done a poor job of representing Jesus.
Jesus said, "Don't believe me unless I do what my Father does. But if I do it, even though you do not believe me, believe the miracles, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father."
If Jesus didn't expect people to believe without seeing a demonstration of God’s love and power, how can we expect any different today? Jesus argued with the religious types and shared the good news with the unbeliever. He was a friend of the lost and He understood it was His responsibility to get them saved by telling and SHOWING them the gospel of the Kingdom, not accusing and arguing with them.
It is time for the church to stop making excuses for a lack of power, stop blaming atheists for not believing, accept our commission to preserve and illuminate (be salt and light to) the world, and get to work.
“My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one…As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.” (John 17:15,18)
I couldn't agree more with the writer of this article. Atheists need to see a
living demonstration of what it means to be Christian. Yes, words are important -- even arguments are important -- but it's
essential for atheists to see Christ's love emanating from us. They need to know that our belief in Christ has made a visible difference in our lives. My view on this subject is further elaborated on in my first post, entitled
Don't Settle for Words When Preaching the Gospel.Do you think we as Christians hold some responsibility for atheists' disbelief? Do you think that we need to do a better job of "representing Jesus" in the world?
Comments (102)
what about people of other faiths? if someone is a muslim or hindu is it your fault?
We do need to be better representatives of Jesus. And we should be living demonstrations of God's love, which many of us fail epically at.
That is not the same thing as saying that we are responsible for someone else's disbelief, though. God does not need us--it's not as though if we fail to act, he becomes powerless. We do not save people, and we do not engender belief in people--at best we are used by God when he does those things. It is the job of God to give people an encounter with God; it is the job of the church to follow and obey. And ultimately, the decision whether to believe or not is the choice of the individual.
i'm atheist, and no, it's not because of christians. It's because I thought long and hard about it, and decided that i'm the only person in control of my life. I give all my love to the people around me, and they come first, not someone I'm not even convinced exists.
I have to admit, some christians helped me make that decision. Especially the ones who go against everything christianity stands for. Would your God want you judging people? I think that's his job, right?
I deconverted from reading the Bible (not from being around Christians)... and the nicest most loving Christian in the world couldn't convince me to go back. So give yourselves a break you have enough guilt (I think) without feeling responsible for all the non believers in the world. I mean, sure it would be nice if the judgmental types would lay off and live by loving example - just don't blame yourselves for our disbelief. I know you all feel responsible for getting as many souls saved as possible, but even the Bible says there is a time to just shake it off and move on with your life. In the end you are only responsible for yourself, not anyone else.
I'll become a christian if someone sends a "love offering" to my paypal account. :D
It is some Christians' fault we don't want to believe.
It's not fair to blame Christians for the fact that atheists don't believe in God. At times, Christians definitely don't help. I'm sure that they have been major contributors in people deciding not to believe in God, but we simply cannot put the blame on our own actions any more than we can pat ourselves on the back when people do come to faith in Christ. God is sovereign, and His truth will be proclaimed to the world. Our actions are important, no doubt, and I agree that we need to follow Christ more closely than we do. If we did so, I think Christianity would be more appealing and people would be more curious about what we have in Christ - but we can't blame ourselves for what others believe.
Remember, Jesus loved perfectly, and his enemies saw it in his life and still rejected Him and the things He taught.
I must admit Winds of Change, you always write some interesting stuff- I think I'll sub & add you now.
Honestly though, I think plenty of Atheists will disagree with him- it's all the "spiritual", touchy feely sentimentalism that stop them from believing us, not our failed attempts to appeal to Intellectualism....
I think people will believe what they want to believe, or rather, what they don't. I know at least once or twice I've heard that an atheist friend of mine was "turned off" to Christianity because of some of the more, shall we say, vocal evangelists she has encountered. However, she spent some time with her friend in InterVarsity at their summer camp, and is now leaning towards accepting Christ. So, while at times the fault may lie with Christians, sometimes the answer may lie with us as well.
@chnike112 - Muslim and Hindu are both different views of the same God... all religion has it wrong because it is all the same God there is only one God no matter what name you give God it is the same God. This is why I think the problem is not God or believing in God but Organized Religion as a whole has turned people away with their desire to control the masses.
I believe in a higher being of power "God". But I don't think any one religion has it right because God is love and tolerance. Telling people they are going to hell because of something they do, say or believe is not being tolerant. If everyone was able to live with tolerance of others we would not have any of the issues we have now.
I would say I am Agnostic... I believe in God but not church, or that any religion has it 100% right.
We certainly don't help at times, but it's largely the responsibility of Satan and the nephilim.
My favorite verse in the world: 1 John 4:12 "No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us."
I am not a preacher, but if I ever became one I am sure I would be able to preach a sermon series for months just on that verse and the surrounding passage. The closest this world will get to seeing God is through our love for one another. When we fail to love one another, we are hiding God from the world. So much theology, doctrine, discipleship, encouragement and responsibility laid onto us in passages like this.
I don't blame Christians for my non belief, I'm just a skeptic. To me the bible is ridiculous and was written by men. Why should i revolve my life around something some dudes got together and wrote 2000 years ago. Just watch Religulous, I believe as Bill Maher does.
On the one hand, I've seen this scenario play out far too often: Outspoken Christian preaches or practices doctrine X and says it's integral to Christianity. (Where Jesus didn't teach X, or even taught against it.) Atheist decides he doesn't like X, and rejects it, thus bringing himself into agreement with Jesus. However, Atheist, based on what Outspoken Christian has said, thinks that, since he's rejected X, he's rejected Christianity. (For some concrete examples, see my list of Bugaboos.) I think Christians--certain ones, anyway--deserve a good deal of culpability for this. As I've often remarked, we're overdue for a revival!
On the other hand, any atheist who took the appropriate effort could easily find examples of believers who are doing (however humbly) the things a Christian should be doing, or teachers who express actual Christian doctrines with intellectual consistency and clarity (C. S. Lewis, Philip Yancey, G. K. Chesterton, George MacDonald, Alvin Plantinga; the list goes on and on). So let's not use the bad apples as an excuse. Christianity is not about Christians, or about theistic arguments, or even about community service-- it's about Jesus.
Yes and no.
Simply, yes, it's your fault--and no, stop trying to freaking convert people. Also, stop repeating Jesus to people who don't care. What's the point?
You believe in your thing and I'll believe in mine.
To some extent, yes, I think Christians are responsible. Sometimes some Christians can be hypocrites, not following what Jesus says. So atheists think that since certain Christians don't follow their own rules, Christianity is bad all together. Whenever we hate others and lie and stuff like that, we Christians have a bad influence on everybody. I'm not saying that all Christians are like that, but some are, so what we should be doing is actually trying to live the life Jesus wants us to live.
I know lots of Christian people and they are nice people. I don't try to deconvert them to atheism and they haven't tried to get me to go to church. But I do know from what I've researched on the internet, that some christians, especially those in the southern states, are totally, screwball, nuts and deluded. But what can you expect when their pastors and priests are telling them to hate all atheists.
Geo. Bush Sr. did a number on non believers some years ago when he said they should not be considered citizens of the US because it is one nation under god. These people are too gullible to think for themselves. That's why you get such an uprising from them when a billboard is raised in their community. Let's face it, religion is taking quite a hit these days and they are worried. They can foresee less people in church and of course less money coming in. They depend on the gullible to sustain their weird belief systems.I had a talk with my dad about this the other day. Some Christians make other Christians not even want to believe. The judgmental nature of a lot of them...why would anyone want to hear a word they say? And then on top of it, they speak so "matter of factly" and refuse to accept that there are differing opinions. Throwing around bible verses to condemn one another, speaking harshly, gossiping...how is this out of love? I believe in God and Jesus, but hesitate to say I'm "christian" just because it feels like a label...the word is so loaded that I feel I have to "live up" to a standard that I feel isn't even set by God...or a standard that I am not led to follow. If I say "I'm a Christian" I almost expect some fellow believers to begin to scrutinize and judge and tell me things I "shouldn't do"...giving me a church brand of Christianity, and some non believers to turn a deaf ear or feel they can't freely express themself or befriend me. If I don't even want to call myself a "Christian" because of that...why in the world would a nonbeliever want to BE one.
One technique given to me by my dad would be to ask someone who asks if I'm a Christian is to first ask them who they think a Christian is...which is a technique I think I will adopt. Up until this time I have said that "I believe in God and Jesus and I try to pursue a personal relationnship with Him".
Not just atheists.
I think some people have been turned off by Christians, and some atheists become atheists in reaction to their perceptions of Christians. But despite how mean-spirited some Christians are, belief in the negation of God, or the rejection of theism shouldn't be based on just experiences with Christians. Paul says that God manifests himself in nature, and that no one is left without excuse. Then it's not essentially our fault.
the thing that i am going to point out here is that regardless of whether we did act more like jesus and crap they still would be like "oh, you believe gay marriage is sinful eff you" i mean that already happens and i act christ like. so what is the rational thinking behind that? i am not responsible for their disbelief, they are. god created will power and gave it to all of us, it is therefore our choice whether we choose to follow him or not, but what is not the chrisitan duty is to constantly preach to someone to try and get them to change, that is the holy spirits job. plus, if you they have ears to hear, let them hear. you can't hear things that you don't want to listen to. just my thoughts.
faith is a gift, some people haven't received it yet. the thing about gifts, though, is you have to be willing to accept them first.
People disbelieve for many varied reasons. So, no. As to the example, well we all could do better, but we often fail which is why grace is so critical.
I can't speak for other atheists/agnostics. To me, there are two reasons to not believe. First, because I don't see any evidence of a god, so I have to say, "I don't know." Second, when it comes to the actions of religious people, I see some people doing good, but I also see others doing bad things. This leads me to believe that there are both good and bad people who believe and also good and bad people who don't believe. I don't see any reason to think that being religious will necessarily make someone a good person. Some people may be motivated by religion to do good, but others are motivated to do bad things by it as well.