I'm sure many people, both theists and atheists, will find the very notion of being grateful to God for those who profess disbelief in God's existence to be odd or even outrageous.
For those of you who are of the Christian persuasion, consider the following:
Ephesians 5:19-20 "Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." (NIV)
1 Thessalonians 5:18 "Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Jesus Christ."
1 Timothy 4:4 "For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving..."
The first two verses I listed are general admonitions to early Christian communities, and are not instructions that are purely dependent on cultural customs or technology contemporary to the author, nor was the author using a metaphor, so as far as I can determine they are quite applicable to us today. The third verse I listed is, in its context, talking about the acceptance of marriage practices and the eating of certain foods. But the principle I'd like to enumerate from it is that everything that God has created is good. Everything. And we're supposed to be thankful for everything. It's an absolute, no exceptions allowed.
I don't see any particular reason to disbelieve that atheists exist (oh, the irony), so I can't help but include them in the class of all things, which means that as a Christian, I should be thankful for them as well. And I am thankful for atheists. I'm thankful for my co-workers who are atheists and do a great job of helping us reach our goals as a center. I'm thankful for my friends who happen to be atheists; their support and companionship are valuable to me. I'm thankful for atheists in general, because their challenges to our faith can keep us from stagnating and can often help us see how much more Christ-like we need to be through their observations on Christianity. I'm thankful for the atheists who pull people out of burning buildings, who are willing to fight to defend freedom, and do the science and engineering to make things better.
If you're a Christian, are you thankful for atheists? Why or why not?If you're an atheist, do think that it would be consistent with Christian belief to be thankful for atheists? How would you view Christians who were thankful for atheists?
Recommend
Comments (98)
I've never thought of it as being thankful for them. I once had a friend who was atheist. He constantly down-talked Christianity, our country, our President, etc. I couldn't handle it anymore. I tried to influence him, but it didn't work. Thankful for atheists? Maybe.... Never thought about it like that before.
I think what you might be trying to say is to be thankful we have free will and the ability to accept or reject Christ. God did create everything, and in the beginning it was good. Satan has since corrupted many things, and Proverbs even has a few lists of things God hates (yes, it's possible to be a loving God and hate anything evil or against Your nature).
Without atheists, it would be hard to evangelize people. Everyone might accept Christian doctrine too easily, if there were even any alternatives. The thing I can't be happy about is knowing the future of atheists who don't repent. To rejoice over their destiny would seem sadistic, rather than the loving position to take.
@computerguyw@xanga -
"The thing I can't be happy about is knowing
the future of atheists who don't repent. To rejoice over their destiny
would seem sadistic, rather than the loving position to take."
-Aye! I wholeheartedly agree.
Atheists have often strengthened my faith.
I don't think it's as much giving thanks for atheists as it is giving thanks for the people who choose atheism. What I mean is, I think we can recognize that people who are atheists are loved by God and created by God. But I don't think I am thankful that they are atheists. To me, I would much rather them come to a knowledge of who God is and to know the truth. The Bible says God desires everyone to know Him and so I don't think we ought to be thankful that people do not know Him or think that there is no God. However, I do think that we should recognize that there are aspects in other people that we can give thanks to God for, regardless of whether they know Him. Like you said, there are atheists who make wonderful contributions to society and who serve other people, etc. We can give thanks for that, we can give thanks for them as people, but I don't think we should be very thankful that they are in a state of denying God's existence. In the same way I think we could say the same thing about any sinner, and we are all sinners, but we shouldn't be thankful for our sins. It's like thanking God that someone is prideful, or that someone rejects truth, or that someone worships a false God, or that someone is greedy. (In my opinion atheism is a sin, whether intentional or out of ignorance, because they are rejecting Jesus Christ His Son whom He has sent). It sort of goes with the concept "love the sinner, hate the sin." I'm not saying I'm any better than an atheist as far as sin is concerned. We're all sinners. But we do not need to be thankful for our sin, we can be thankful for God's grace, His forgiveness, the fact that He created us, etc. etc. That's my view on it at least.
@Pass_the_Aura@xanga - Agreed.
I am thankful for the ones who are respectful and am not thankful for the ones like serenadante haha.
People are worth being thankful for.
@computerguyw@xanga - "The thing I can't be happy about is knowing the future of atheists who don't repent.."
But you don't know. You can only assume you know. Which is fine.
As for atheists, I guess being thankful for them shouldn't be an issue. Appreciating god and the things it created is the entire point of the bible. So yes, they should be thankful for them, and everything else.
@CoZMuN@xanga - That's a bold statement when the bible clearly states an appreciation for all of creation.
But the principle I'd like to enumerate from it is that everything that God has created is good. Everything.
Are you crazy!? Sin and evil people are not good. If it was good, then why would God judge people to hell? Was Hitler good?
@CoZMuN@xanga - Oh, she is OK. There are far more belligerent atheist lobbyists than her. Unless, you were saying that as a sarcastic shout out to her
.
Uh...
oh, irony. i wouldn't thank a god i didn't believe existed. i do apprecate differences in people, though. i like learning from them.
@computerguyw@xanga - good points
@CoZMuN@xanga - serenadante is out there way out there.......
i am thankful that creationism produced evolutionism. i am thankful that life produced death. i am thankful that theism produced atheism. its just means, we, as a united culture are becoming more and more ignorant. thank god for that. its easier to take advantage of the ignorant. hitler could. so why won't they.
I am certainly thankful for the athiests I know as people, but I'm certainly not happy about what I believe will happen to them ultimately if they stay athiests to the bitter end.
@musterion99@xanga - I am crazy. But that has nothing at all to do with the issue. :)
Yes, Hitler was a human being and was created good in the sense that I use it here. Many of his more memorable decisions resulted in grave moral ills, and I would certainly concede that those choices were not good. However, God did not create those choices, and could not be held responsible for those choices any more than we hold General Motors responsible for the choice of an individual to drive a GM vehicle while drunk.
If you'd like my opinion on why God would choose to allow people to go to Hell if they were created good, see my blog post on the subject here.
as an agnostic athiest, with a past history of being christian, I would think that an underlying belief in Christianity is a thankfullness for all life. Therefore a christian's thankfulness for athiests would be consistent with Christian belief. I would view a person that would hold such belief as a person deserving of more respect than which is self-evident. I would also believe that humanity as a whole has a thankfulness for all life. The more appropriate term in my opinion would be either respect or appreciation as opposed to thankfulness, which I presume could be synonyms for the meaning thankfulness implies to Christians.
"The first two verses I listed are general admonitions to early Christian communities, and are not instructions that are purely dependent on cultural customs or technology contemporary to the author, nor was the author using a metaphor, so as far as I can determine they are quite applicable to us today."
This seems to be the crux of your argument, and I think it's sound. It's a really important principle. It seems like we should presume the instructions of Paul as cultural or contextual unless we see that the principle was neither dependent on customs or metaphorical.
@xsimplepleasuresx@xanga - Very interesting summary.
@Nous_Apeiron@xanga -Then I think you should have explained more in your post when you said - "But the principle I'd like to enumerate from it is that everything that God has created is good. Everything."
You should have explained that we as people with freewill can choose to do evil. I'm not thankful if a little child is molested. I think you're using those verses out of context.
@scrambledmegzntoast@hardestlevel - lol, definitely not sarcastic.
@musterion99@xanga - I see no need to explain an obvious concept like free will unless someone wishes to dispute the point. In a Christian context, the way to conflate being thankful for a person with being thankful for their sin would be to assert that God creates evil choices in the same way that He creates a person. But even among the Christian sects that accept some form of predestination (not to be confused with the Calvinist doctrine of unconditional election), they overwhelmingly accept human causal responsibility for evil choices, not divine causal responsibility. Given that I was specifically discussing gratitude for that which God has created (as opposed to that which humans have caused), there would be no reason for me to think that any Christian would believe that an endorsement of being thankful for that which God has created would lead to an endorsement of being thankful for evil choices. Nor would I have any reason to think that anyone would read a rejection of free will into my post.