At Arms With An Atheist
March 6, 2008
A friend of mine is an atheist. I actually have several friends that are atheist, but I do not treat them any differently than my Christian friends. Nor do I treat them differently from my agnostic, Buddhist, Muslim, and Wiccan friends. My best friends always seem to be agnostic; I do not know what attracts me to them or them to me, but we always seem to be closer than their Christian counterparts.
No, I am not a different person around my different friends, but I am more open with some over others. Yes, they happen to be my non-Christian friends 99.9% of the times, but it is not because of their religious beliefs at all. It is because of who they are. Most non-Christians are more free thinkers, independent, and care-free. I like this personality because it means I can be 100% me.
See, while I am a Christian and adhere to the teachings of the Bible as best as an imperfect human can, I do not conform to organized religion too well. I actually believe the Bible when it tells me not to judge my brother. I listen when Christ teaches me to eat with the sinners (after all, I being a sinner myself should not hold myself above them). I try to follow in His ways when he showed me how to be servants of man.
Yet I missed the part when God told me to picket my neighbor’s house for committing a sin that I do not approve of. I must have fell asleep in Sunday school when my teacher was handing out the how-to booklets on judging. I forgot to take notes when my Pastor taught us how to hide our own sins while condemning our brothers. And I know I missed the part in the Bible that tells me I need to say ten Hail Marys for every sin I committed against my body….
But I believe in God. At times I hate that I have the knowledge of who He is because it is very true that ignorance is bliss. At least being ignorant to the word, I could join the world in their stupidity. Don’t get me wrong; I can do everything I want to do now. Sure, it is not always pleasing to my Maker, and I will have to repent for my sins, but I do it. No, I do not do these things with the guarantee that my sins will be forgiven; please do not misread me there. I do them because I am an impulsive person: I act and then I think. I talk to God often and apologize, but it does not stop me from having my fun. I am like any other person: I want to have fun.
This one particular friend who sparked me to write this post tried to figure out why me of all people (I assume because I am a lesbian…perhaps my abusive childhood…the abuse of my ex…or w/e…I don’t know why I would not be one) would believe in this God that the Christian community promotes. But I tried to get her to understand that my God is not their God. Yes, He is a father figure and yes, He is a ‘he’, but only because that is what the Bible represents him to me to be. He could be asexual, but He definitely has ‘male’ in Him. Why? Because Jesus was male. And Jesus was God as the Son. The Bible says that God presented Jesus to us as His son. So while it could be that God as a female mother presented Jesus as her son to us, I believe because Jesus was God personified, God is male. Or in the very least, asexual. But I prefer to think of Him as male. Oh…and He’s not white…He’s Hispanic…lol…just kidding….I don’t picture His race…that’s just my God.
Bottom line is that I believe in the Bible. I believe what it says so therefore I believe in God. But I believe in the Bible because it makes sense. It just makes sense. I can look around and see that this earth is too ‘perfect’ not to be divinely created. To say we are all a huge coincidence is what makes no sense to me! I mean to have a Maker makes more sense than coincidence in my opinion! For every cause, there is another cause; but there has to be an ultimate uncaused. The first domino but yet more because see, in order for that domino to fall, it has to be pushed. But to restrict an infinite God to a finite reasoning? I just cannot do it. So when my friend asked me to explain God essentially, I paled in comparison to Him. I just do not have the absolute truth and knowledge that He has to be able to explain Him.
The Bible says that even those who have not heard the word or been taught know that He is. That has to stand for something. That someone in a third world country who does not even know the Bible let alone organized religion just knows that there is a Divine Creator is awesome. Comparing in previous posts, man’s nature to God’s word, I cannot help believe that the Bible was divinely inspired. I asked my friend who is a manager for a small company to think of something for me: if the owner told her to create a new set of rules for which the office has to follow (herself included) or be terminated, would she write such rules as ‘no smoke breaks’ or ‘no talking to your neighbors’? Rules that she herself could not follow? She scoffed of course not; that would go against her nature–who she is (which is what she was trying to tell me religion does in forcing us to believe in this God figure, but I was trying to tell her that point was moot with the fact that my God is not the God of organized religion). To which I said: EXACTLY! So why would man write a book that tells him he must go against his nature in order to reach eternal happiness (or heaven…but that’s a debate for another post =P)?
I had a great conversation with my friend. I loved it because there was no raised voices, no judging, no name-calling, no negative vibes at all. It was pure conversation, purely intellectual, and just plain real. I cannot stand a Christian that tries to shove Christianity down another person’s throat, and I cannot stand an atheist who thinks that just because I am talking about God and the Bible, I am trying to conform them. After all, if they can state their opinions on God and the Bible, why can’t I?
I like for my faith to be tested; it reassures me that I truly believe. And I like intellectual discussion because it does get me to think. And as we already know, I like to think.
