Not a vigilante, an activist. I'd never harm anyone of take action into my own hands - but I will argue my point and put pressure on government bodies whenever I can.
Can you see a contradiction in your statement there?
If you put pressure on governments then you
are taking things into your own hands to bring about a situation that
you desire....what exactly do you want governments to do? Make it illegal to practice a religion? The Bible actually foretells that this will happen.....so you will get your wish.....but do you know why? Do you know what this will lead to?
You're entitled to think atheism is ludicrous, that doesnt affect me. What does affect me is when religion pokes its nose into politics, education and personal life.
Religion should NEVER poke its nose into politics.....that is a good gauge to identify those who are NOT serving God at all. We Christians are supposed to be "no part of the world" which includes its politics, its goals, its lifestyles or its agenda. Jesus separated his disciples from all of that. JW's do the same.
As for education, we do not shield our children from learning about science and evolution because it is part of their school curriculum.....what we do is balance their education with both sides of that story. They soon see that science is not really truthful about what it teaches. It involves as much "belief" as religion does. It is simply a substitute for religion IMO.
Once you investigate it without the atheist lens, it is clear that they have no proof for most of what they proclaim as fact.
As for our personal life....what the Bible teaches is all about our personal life. It's about our standards of morality, justice, cleanliness, education, relationships, how we treat our fellow man, etc.....all of which are being ditched for a "do whatever you like attitude" today. Has this improved the standards of human behavior? Not that I can see. In fact it is ruining many lives as this "freedom" impinges on the freedom of others. Its not as rosy as some imagine.
Of course there's room for all of us, but lets give our kids a fair playing feild.... but then again if they aren't forced into religion then it would die out so I guess you're against that.
I don't think that is true. We come across many who were raised as atheists but who found an emptiness in their lives that only God could fill. We can deny it all we wish, but humans are wired for worship.
Religion or expressions of worship have been with the human race from its beginnings. Those expressions haven't always been an accurate form of the way God should be worshipped. That which is prescribed in the Bible would bring much relief from the troubles of today's world if everyone practiced them.
We see many substitutes for religion today.....science, sports, business success, celebrity status, various pursuits of pleasure, materialism and the lifestyle that many aspire to obtain. Whatever takes your full focus of time and attention becomes your "religion". Once you see this situation for yourself, you see that these have their temples, their scripture and their idols....that is worship.
The argument for a world without religion is made particularly well by Stephen Fry and Christopher Hitchens - a world full of atheists wouldn't be perfect (because there aee bad atheists too) but it would be better. Morality is hindered by religion, not enhanced by it. I'm not going to post the argument here as its a seperate topic, but feel free to youtube it!
Morality is supposed to be regulated by Bible principles. Did you know that sexually transmitted diseases are only possible if you break the Bible's moral code? STD's are rampant today because humans think that they can practice the morals of ally cats with no consequences.
Marriage, which was instituted by God originally, would be a blessing for all if everyone just followed the Bible's guidelines for a successful marriage. How many kids are from broken families these days? The family unit is the foundation of any society, so once you destroy it, the fabric of society unravels with it. The greatest empire in history (Rome) fell due to its own decadence and the dissolution of family life. We are seeing history repeat. We never learn the lessons from the past because we are too focused on what
we want rather than what is
beneficial for ourselves and others.
If God exists as described in the bible, then unfortunately the evidence for him being destructive and divisive and harmful is overwhelming. Modern Christianity has softened its position, but its incongruent witht their core text and the reasons I've seen for this are disingenuous.
If you are going by what Christendom has done, has taught, and continues to perpetuate, then I will have to agree with you.
But the God of the Bible is not a sentimental God. He is a God of justice and his laws are a reflection of those laws being non-negotiable. Try telling a human court that you just made a mistake when you broke their law and see where it gets you. Justice today however, depends on good lawyers, not really on the true guilt or innocence of the accused. But God is not fooled....those who break his laws by fudging ways around them or justifying their ungodly behavior, will pay.
When God is your judge and jury, no one gets away with anything. That, for Christians, means living in such a way that we become a model citizen of whatever nation we occupy....we don't break man's law because we don't want to break God's law. We would then do away with the need for police, courts, greedy lawyers and jails. So a world full of
genuine Christians (as opposed to those who just wear a label) would be a good thing. Can atheists make a claim like that?
People pay their taxes and pay their churches, who don't pay taxes on that income - and are incredibly wealthy as a result.
Some churches are incredibly wealthy and even solicit donations from the non-religious population, but do not use that money to help their charges....they are too busy helping themselves. But its not the money so much as what you do with it. Churches are supposed to support the needy among them, but mostly we see their charities are run as businesses and the poor are still disadvantaged. Any charity that has high administration fees is a business. True charities are run by volunteers. We should not get paid or become rich for doing God's work. In Bible times a minister was given board and lodging, not a wage.
The people ARE NOT the church - the church is an organisation. Thats like saying "wallmart employees pay taxes, and they ARE wallmart, so wallmart shouldn't be taxed twice".
Actually, the word translated "church" is "
ek·kle·siʹa" or more correctly, "congregation". Initially, the church was the people.
Christendom made the church into an organization of high ranking men who controlled what was taught and what was to be practiced. Unfortunately, the small "organization" of Christians in the first century, was to be corrupted in much the same way that Judaism was. Men with too much power led to corruption on a monumental scale. I do not see Christendom as promoting true Christianity, but a poor "weed-like" imitation of the original as Jesus said.
Those religious organizations who hold great wealth to aggrandize themselves, rather than to promote true Christian values and worship, IMO should pay their way. Jesus did not live in the lap of luxury but was raised in a rather poor family who placed greater emphasis on spiritual values, not material ones. It does not mean living in abject poverty, but having "enough" to live without worrying about your next meal. Jesus and the apostles taught us about self-sufficiency along with contentment. The world promotes an insatiable appetite for the next new thing....as a result, they are never content.
Bible principles protect us from so many problems.