Matthew 24:34
"Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place."

December 20, 2008

An Atheist and Christian Debate: Part 1

As promised, here is the first installment of an email discussion I had with my friend. I've organized it so that it reads from top-down. I'll continue to post each successive email in the coming days, as long as Jesus doesn't return in the meantime.

A bit of background: I forwarded a survey I'd received from Sam Harris. The survey asked for both atheist and Christian respondents, as it had to do with a scientific study on faith. My friend missed the original email, but replied a few weeks later. A few exchanges later, and we've found ourselves at this point...


Date: Thu, 24 Jul 2008 10:19:22 -0700
From: Julio
Subject: Re: Research Volunteers Needed
To: Daniel

You know what just hit me right now after reading your intro to your "Diary of an Atheist"......when we worked together you damn near smacked me one time that I told you wou were an Atheist....remember? You said "I am not an Atheist"............did we change teams?

;-)......man your a fun guy to tease with.


From: Daniel
To: Julio
Sent: Thursday, July 24, 2008 10:51:18 AM
Subject: RE: Research Volunteers Needed

I probably did, that's what clinging to Jesus will do to a person. It's scary to let go sometimes.


/


Date: Thu, 24 Jul 2008 12:34:10 -0700
From: Julio
Subject: Re: Research Volunteers Needed
To: Daniel


I hope you don't mean me, right?


/



From: Daniel
To: Julio
Sent: Thursday, July 24, 2008 1:26:21 PM
Subject: RE: Research Volunteers Needed

No not you, Christians in general. The same goes for Muslims. Neither adherent can easily let go of their faith, because the penalty is so severe. Both religions profess to be built on love, but in reality they are built on fear. That's why people cling to it. If all we cared about was loving other people, then why not be a Buddhist? They don't have to believe in God, yet still preach love for one another.

The answer, of course, is that Christianity and Islam are built on fear. You HAVE to believe in their God, otherwise you will go to hell forever. Even the most loving, caring, wonderful person on the planet will go to hell if they don't believe. Quite ironic for a religion based on love.

And of course if you have any questions, lemme know. I'll answer any and every question you could possibly have, as long as you're open to hearing the answers. Just be forewarned, my answers will be long and thorough...kinda like my sex fool!

-Dan


Date: Fri, 25 Jul 2008 16:37:36 -0700
From: Julio
Subject: Re: Research Volunteers Needed
To: Daniel

Wooow, where do I start...I am the same way I got some lengthy responses at times but just like you I need you to have an open mind as well.....I'm not claiming or saying I know everything, just like when we were Techs, there's some Techs that know little and there's Techs that know more (you) and Techs that know even more (Me)..

Before I start with my manifesto, there is always going to be believers and non-believers, I don't know why its just that way and I live with it. There is a lot of questions that even the most knowledgeable & wise pastor/priests (call 'em what you wanna call 'em) just don't have and that's were your belief/faith HAS to come in.

From what I'm reading on this email and on your website is that you talk about "religion", religion teaches you some weird things, people do weird things when all they know is religion. Religion is something that's traditional, I don't study religion, what I study and follow are "Truths". You see one of the many things religion teaches you is that its okay to have lack in your life, to be poor (the more broke you are the holier you become), to just care that you have a little peace here and a little peace their. I know grown men that don't want or have more because they feel they're going to violate some kind of principal, when in fact the word of God teaches about abundance in every aspect of our life, to have a balanced life. That's why you see superstars overdosing or committing suicide because of a void that was never filled, there whole purpose for living was for material success and once they achieve and can literally buy all they want, whats next for them? Stealing, suicide, selling drugs (just for the thrill). Money isn't everything but it definitely helps, money will only accelerate the TRUE person you are; if you have little money and your a party animal, money will accelerate that person you are, but, if you have money and you mean nothing but good then money will accelerate that goodness that you have in your heart. Money isn't the root of all evil, its the LOVE for money that's the root of all evil.

People connect love with a certain emotion but Love is a way of life and at times triggers many things and emotion is one of them. Love is a LIFESTYLE that prompts a lot of other things like obedience, faithfulness, trust, responsibility, respect, honesty, etc. Its not that people fear, because one thing love does not bring is fear, without getting into too much detail, you can't have both. You see when you mention people like Jeffrey Dahmer its hard for you or me to use him as an example because even though he proclaimed that he was a born again Christian we don't now if that was truly in his heart, say it was and more importantly let's say he also repented (because you can't accept Jesus and continue with your horrific lifestyle), then your right he is in heaven, but let's say he was just testing the system and he failed then he's burning in hell my young giraffe. Even if he is in "heaven", it says in the bible that there are positions in heaven and not everyone is in the same position, there are "great" & "greater" in heaven.
Also with works/actions comes reward, someone who "attends" church service for a combined time of "10 years" and gives their little tithes and offerings and attends "religiously" every Sunday is not going to be successful here on Earth. There are principals established here that the laborers (it doesn't just mean people who just work 9-5) they will prosper according to their works. Example: if you work a 9-5 job at 7-Eleven your going to make 9-5 7-Eleven money, but if you work X amount of hours in multi-million dollar transactions/business (real estate, stocks, developments) then financially your going to make according to your risk, this is just a principal period. So someone who faithfully tithes and doesn't miss one time is not going to become a millionaire or financially free, you need to do the activities/works that will cause that to happen.

Just to touch on the picture of the Earth 4 billion miles away, its just a different frame of mind on how you look at it. A non-believer will look at it and probably state exactly what you put on your website, someone say like me will say "that picture is amazing and knowing how big God is we are that important to Him that he uniquely created us". God isn't the size of Earth, to me God is a lot greater & bigger than that picture.

With all this in mind a lot of people are so quick to judge and say "oh look at Julio" and watch your every move under a magnifying glass and as soon as you slip, boom they come at you aggressive. I'm not claiming that I'm perfect, I am seriously, seriously far from that, there's a lot of things that I have to work on but the important thing is that everyday I know in my heart I'm fighting and striving to become better balanced. There's even some things that you can't do in front of other people, friends or even family because the maturity level and understanding is just not there and again they'll be quick to judge.

Aside from your response to my email I do have a specific question, not to get too personal but one time you told me that you were in it deep with the bible and studying at a younger age or you went to a private school (something along those line), what was the exact turning point for you and why? (Just curious)

This is interesting and good, it gets the juices flowing.........


Your Nigga,
Julio G



What will I do? How will I respond? Will I break under the weight of so many words? Will my so-called 'atheist religion' fail me? Tune in next week to find out!

3 comments:

  1. Oh..no! Christian cannot escape from great & greater position in heaven!!! Meaning everyone is not eaual? Mmmm...interesting.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The human caste system continues in heaven?
    That's a surprise.
    Give me a break

    ReplyDelete