Jeffrey Formosa

Fine, so none of you are going to try it.

Viti

Truthfully, most of us have no desire to actively deconvert others.

Jeffrey Formosa

Why they do it to us. Wouldn't it be good to live in a world where you don't hear "you will burn in hell for killing Jesus".

Magus55

You have never read the Bible have you? Show me one verse that says you have to be sinless to get into Heaven.

Magus55

No one actually says you will burn in Hell for killing Jesus. I think you have a poor understanding of what you are actually trying to fight against.

Postcard73

I'm gonna ship this thread off to ~Elsewhere~. If it turns into a useful discussion, then the mods can ship it back...

P73- GRD Mod

Viti

People have to deconvert on their own. It would be nice to live in a world without superstition, but everyone comes to their own relaizations in their own time and their own way. What worked for you would not have worked for me.

Godless Wonder

There's at least one person I'd really like to be able to deconvert, but, I can't. People deconvert themselves. All you can do is show them where to find information, and ask them questions.

I suspect that the kind of person least likely to deconvert is the kind of person who thinks that reason is insufficient to understand the "spiritual world," and that faith is the only means by which they can understand it, at least to some degree. Once a person has really internalized that notion, then there is no argument which can change their mind, because all arguments are based in reason, which they believe is insufficient. That means the only thing that is left besides reason that might change their views about the "spiritual world" is faith, which is how they got where they are, but faith has almost no steering and no brakes, and a lot of inertia. Such people don't appear to mind it too much when their religion doesn't make sense, that's to be expected when reason is insufficient. If you could figure out a way to make faith loop back around and choke itself to death you might have something.

Here's a link, not that it's likely to help all that much:
Evangelistic Atheism: Leading Believers Astray

Bright Life

I think deep down, many christians try to convert atheists because they really do "fear for our souls." Many, I think, do it as a status type thing among their peers. Others, I find do it out of fear...they fear they are disobeying the almighty if they don't "spread the word." Probably, many do it as a combination of the three, along with other reasons.

In any case, atheists do not have most of these compulsions. The peer thing might be there, but for the most part, as atheists (who, by definition do not hold a certain set of beliefs), there's just not the same sense of urgency to deconvert anyone.

In this sense, perhaps you can see why most folks around here aren't looking for a weapon. While christians may be fighting a war against the evil one, and his followers--atheists have no such supernatural enemy. We're all just people, and for me personally, life is just to short to spend it in some spiritual battle.

I hope you are getting some comfort from this forum in your troubled time. I wish you the best.

Sincerely,

BL

Jeffrey Formosa

http://www.clarifyingchristianity.com/get_right.shtml

Who Gets To Go To Heaven?

What Most People Think
There may be as many opinions on who gets to go to heaven as there are people. Here are a few of the most popular ones:

Everyone becomes an angel and goes to heaven when they die.
Whoever obeys the Ten Commandments will go to heaven.
Whoever goes to church will go to heaven.
Whoever does more good things than bad things will go to heaven.
Whoever believes in God will go to heaven.
Whoever has not killed anyone or done anything really bad will go
to heaven.
Everyone in a Christian household will go to heaven.


These opinions may seem OK, but they are all wrong.

�If none of these are correct, who gets to go to heaven?� you may ask. The answer is simple. The people who get to go to heaven are the ones who �get right with God� by beginning a relationship with Him through His Son Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, understanding how to �get right with God� became unclear as organized religion developed over the centuries. (Removing the various �changes� added by organized religion is one of the primary reasons for the existence of this site.) Although �religious people� have been telling others how to go to heaven for a long time, what they say can be distorted by their opinions. That is why it is vital to go back to the unchanging foundation�the Bible. For example, the apostle Paul refuted the false teachings of his day and told everyone how to �get right with God� using the first century version of the Internet�a letter. This letter is recorded in the Bible as the book of Galatians, and is available for all of us to learn from today.


(Rest edited for copyright purposes -- Rob aka Mediancat)