A Simple Request
| December 21, 2006 | Posted by crandaddy under Off Topic, Religion |
After mulling over the recent blasphemy challenge brouhaha, I have a concern I’d like to express. Spiritual matters aside, I want to draw attention to the potential psychological ramifications of committing such an act as the challenge requires. As long as the person remains an atheist (or at least a non-Christian), I see no problems. However, what if he or she were to come to believe later in life that Christianity is true and that he or she had committed a sin for which no forgiveness can be attained and for which the penalty is eternity in hell?
That people’s beliefs can change as they go through life is true. That people can and have converted from atheism to Christianity is also true. And I submit that if an atheist were to come to believe that Christianity is true and that he or she had committed a necessarily damning act that this has the potential to cause traumatic psychological distress. I find it especially bad that the people who are doing this are targeting the most impressionable members of our societyâ€â€our youth.
Let me make it clear right now that I do not oppose the rights of people to express their beliefs (or lack thereof) on YouTube or anywhere else. I think that even the choice of a person to blaspheme the Holy Spirit is one that he or she should be free to make. What I do oppose is a public campaign which encourages peopleâ€â€especially young people, whose capacities to assess their worldviews and to make informed, responsible decisions based upon them are generally not on par with those of adultsâ€â€to commit an act which carries with it potentially disastrous psychological consequences. I hereby request that atheists who read this voice their displeasure that such a campaign is being conducted.
33 Responses to A Simple Request
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bdk
If I am an atheist, this means I do not believe in the existence of a Holy Spirit. Does this mean I cannot be saved? Of course not. Just these words on videos aren’t unforgivable sins.
Privately denying God is hardly the same as a public proclamation. Once you go public it becomes a matter of record. You’ve driven a stake in the gr0und, so to speak. Whether it’s an unforgiveable sin or not is beside the point. The salient point is what’s to be gained from publically denying God? There’s no upside to it. There might not be any downside to it but why risk it? It’s a stupid thing to do.
1st post. 2nd attempt. Hoping this isn’t a duplicate.
I’m a lurker who has briefly come out of the shadows to make an observation.
(I’m not much of a debater, so I’ll slink back shortly. . .)
I’m just having trouble getting my mind around what this means. It seems to me, with the release of the book _The God Who Wasn’t There_, by Richard Dawkins, as well as the debut of blasphemychallenge.com, that this could mean a paradigm shift in the “origins” debate (and obliterate the false pretense that the Darwinazis are only interested in science).
Atheism is a theological statement about God in the negative. Atheistic belief (faith) is in no way testable, reproducible, or falsifiable, and as such it is a faith system making faith claims about God, or the lack thereof.
Consider: if the atheistic Darwinists are consistent in their faith, then we should have expected this. We should have expected that they begin proselytizing, literally, preaching their faith doctrines and amassing the troops to fight back against the “heresy” of Theism. However, until now they have maintained that they have no interest in supernatural, theological, or metaphysical discussion. My point is, again, we should not be surprised by it. In fact, I propose the alternate view: we should WELCOME this development!
Think of it: if they drop the false pretense of being ONLY concerned with “objective†science, if we’ve upset them enough to the point where they feel they have no choice but to let it all hang out, to completely reveal their hand, then the world begins to see them for what they are: completely devoid of any moral compass, armed with absolutely NOTHING, because nothing is all they believe in. Randomness and purposelessness. A universe devoid of God and meaning!
In my opinion (fully recognizing better minds than mine reside here, and there are consequences I’ve not considered), if we’ve pushed them to this, then we’ve already won. In attempting to influence the impressionable past a possible psychological/spiritual point of no return, they themselves have crossed an intellectual threshold from which they cannot return. They can no longer hide behind a false mask of “reason” and “scientific inquiry”. They have shown themselves for what they truly are, and what their real intent is.
The first step to recovery is admission.
Indeed. The truth will set you free.
(Back into the shadows. . . )
Good post, sajones97.