Functional Atheism
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As we read scripture and see God’s revelation of Himself, particulary through Jesus Christ who:
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation:
When we look at the character and nature of Jesus Christ we can understand the character and Nature of God because Jesus is God manifest in human form:
3 And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
As we look at God’s nature and character we get a very clear understanding of God’s personality.
We see that whilst God loves and cares for all people, He has a “soft spot” for the vulnerable:
5 A father of the fatherless and a judge for the widows, Is God in His holy dwelling.
27 Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
This does not mean that God loves or cares for orphans and widows more than He loves and cares for anyone else - It means that He recognizes their vulnerable state and dependance on others so He makes special mention of them for OUR sakes.
Interestingly this also seems to apply to sin.
Whilst God is repulsed by all sin, He does seem to highlight some sins as worse than other sins.
NOTE: ALL sin separates humanity from God.
Yet not all sin is equal in its manifestation of evil.
Jesus Himself testifies of this:
11 Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over Me at all, if it had not been given to you from above; for this reason the one who handed Me over to you has the greater sin.”
Pilate sinned and this sin brings separation.
Judas also sinned. His sin also brings separation. However Judas sin of betrayel is worse than Pilates sin of indifference.
Of all the sins mentioned in the bible, there is one that over and over again gets singled out - and it may surprise you.
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Atheism
Lets talk about atheist: The belief that God does not exist.
One might easily believe that the sin of atheism, the denying of God’s existence, would be highlighted as an espesually sinful sin.
And don’t get me wrong: It is a sin.
Yet even atheism is not singled out and warned against nearly as much as this sin.
Lets step back:
Do you believe God exists?
Yes or No? (We’ll leave agnosticism out for now)
Now looking at those 2 possible answers we would conclude that the No answer is sinful (which it is) and that the Yes answer is the right (or righteous) answer.
But what if this is wrong?
What if answering NO, though still a sinful option, is in fact a LESS sinful option that answering YES?
How?
One of these options only makes a person guilty of the sin of unbelief. The other option can make you guilty of a far greater sin.
What is this sin that i am talking about?
lets see if you can figure it out:
4 The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him;
26 If anyone thinks himself to be religious, yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this person’s religion is worthless.
13 Then the Lord said, “Because this people approaches Me with their words And honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far away from Me, And their reverence for Me consists of the commandment of men that is taught;
Can you spot it yet?
Lets go to Jesus and get clarity:
27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.
28 So you too, outwardly appear righteous to people, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
The terrible sin, that is worse even than atheism is the sin of Hypocrisy.
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A few years ago famed psychologist Dr Jordan Peterson was asked if he believed in God and he drew quite a bit of contravercey because he was reluctant to give an answer to this simple question.
If you believe in God just say so. If you don’t believe in God just say so and even if you don’t know if there is a God, again just say so.
So we was criticized for not answering the question.
However it turns out that Dr Peterson often thinks deeper than other people do.
To us this seems like a very simple question: Do you believe God exists?
But to Dr Peterson this question is actually irrelevant and even pointless and whatever answer you give is irrelevant.
Why?
Because its actually the wrong question.
The REAL and most important question is not “Do you believe in God?” its “Do you believe that you believe in God?”
What is the difference between these 2 questions?
The first questions answer is mearly a statement.
However, the other questions answer is actually a reality.
Example:
I spent a few years studying and researching Homeotherapy.
All the evidence pointed unquestionably in one direction: Homeotherapy is pure pseudoscience and provides absoluty zero physiological impact on the humanm body.
All my studies showed this and if you had asked me: Do you believe in Homeotherapy? My answer would have been No, absolutely not.
However
I went to the chemist and bought a whole tub of homeotherapy sleeping tablets.
Now: I believed that these box of 50 tablets had zero active or inactive chemical composition to induce sleep at all.
I was basically holding nothing but a tub of 50 lactose tablets (that’s what the white stuff the pill is made from: Just milk powder).
Therefore:
I could swallow all 50 at once and experience nothing, no effect at all (except slight constipation from all the lactose).
Now:
If i believe that the pills are nothing but lactose then i can safely take all 50 at once.
BUT
What if i say i believe that it is nothing but lactose, yet i am afraid to take all 50 at once?
That shows something deep:
It shows that I may confess that i believe Homeotherapy is fake, yet my confession does not match my actions if i am to scared to take them.
The questions is not : Do i believe in homeotherapy - The proper questions is: Do I believe that I believe in homeotherapy?
2 people: I don’t believe in Homeotherapy.
But only one will take all 50 pills.
What does that tell you about the other person?
They claim to believe one thing, but their actions show otherwise.
IE: They are a hypocrite.
Back to God:
2 people: Do you believe in God?
Both say yes but only one lives each day, thinks each thought and makes each decision factoring in God’s will.
What does this tell you about the other person?
That they are a hypocrite.
This hypocsary is so incredibly dangerous that it is mentioned and warned against over and over and over.
One of my favorite verses on this is:
12 “And it will come about at that time That I will search Jerusalem with lamps, And I will punish the people Who are stagnant in spirit, Who say in their hearts, ‘The Lord will not do good nor harm!’
Notice what God is specifically looking for to punish:
Not those who dont believe and thus dont say God will not do good or evil.
He is looking for those who confess that they do believe yet this belief has zero menifestation on the way they live their life.
Here is an interesting question for you all:
Which is better:
To say that you believe in God yet behave like He DOES NOT exist?
or
To say that you dont know if you believe in God yet live does He DOES exist?
To help you answer let me remind you of the words of Jesus:
8 ‘This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far away from Me.
BOTH answers are not ideal yet the second answer is better because it aviods the sin of hypocrasy.
What about this:
To say that you BELIEVE in God yet behave like He DOES NOT exist.
or
To flat out DENY that you believe in God yet still chose to behave as if He DOES exist?
Again let me give you the words of Jesus to help you out:
28 “But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go work today in the vineyard.’
29 But he replied, ‘I do not want to.’ Yet afterward he regretted it and went.
30 And the man came to his second son and said the same thing; and he replied, ‘I will, sir’; and yet he did not go.
31 Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you that the tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you.
Incredibly again, Jesus makes it clear that even flat out denial, though sinful, is still not as sinful as hypocrasy.
We are strongly warned in Titus:
16 They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed.
When Jesus speaks to the church at Laodicia what does He say:
15 ‘I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot.
16 So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will vomit you out of My mouth.
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When you want to make people aware of a great danmger you use the word BEWARE.
There are many things in this world that God could say BEWARE about, yet in each case the one thing God says BEWARE is what?
6 And Jesus said to them, “Watch out and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
