A High Tolderance for Absurdity
By agnosticator ~
I know a woman who is kind and cheerful, and has never shared her Christian faith with me. I respected her due to this, until recently. I overheard her raise her voice in an unholy manner while repeating the word "atheist", as if it was the dirtiest word in the English language! Her loving-kindness morphed into venomous hatred that shocked me. Christian compassion must have taken a sudden vacation.
But I shouldn't have been surprised. Atheists don't love the Truth, and they believe a lie. They are described in the "Good Book" as weeds, chaff, and goats separated and reserved to be charbroiled by Jesus. Never mind that the Biblegod is more petulant and hateful than any human could ever be! Never mind that this god is anthropomorphic, and that his absolute, objective morals cannot be identified by any of his followers...atheists are depraved and deserve to be scorned! To hell with love and compassion!
What really bothers me is the common belief that non-Christians should be judged by their lack of belief, not by the kind of person they are. The inverse is true for the Christian: it is not character that saves, but belief in New Testament writings. They mistake belief for goodness, and so conclude without belief, there can be no goodness. But good and bad (evil) are added to, not grounded in religion. Good and evil can only be experienced by a living being, not a god. God is an idea beyond life itself, outside of where values reside. So life is the most basic value there is, and good/bad are human traits.
It is good to have high tolerance for ambiguity, but low tolerance for absurdity. Christians today also mistake agape (Godly love) for love, faith for ordinary trust, sin for immorality, vengeance for justice, and masochism for forgiveness. These are the fruits of Bible belief. Conformity and a desire for certainty all but guarantees the sheep will stay in the fold. Edmund Cohen states what atheists possess, and what holds believers back from becoming the very thing they hate in THE MIND OF THE BIBLE-BELIEVER
:
But I shouldn't have been surprised. Atheists don't love the Truth, and they believe a lie. They are described in the "Good Book" as weeds, chaff, and goats separated and reserved to be charbroiled by Jesus. Never mind that the Biblegod is more petulant and hateful than any human could ever be! Never mind that this god is anthropomorphic, and that his absolute, objective morals cannot be identified by any of his followers...atheists are depraved and deserve to be scorned! To hell with love and compassion!
What really bothers me is the common belief that non-Christians should be judged by their lack of belief, not by the kind of person they are. The inverse is true for the Christian: it is not character that saves, but belief in New Testament writings. They mistake belief for goodness, and so conclude without belief, there can be no goodness. But good and bad (evil) are added to, not grounded in religion. Good and evil can only be experienced by a living being, not a god. God is an idea beyond life itself, outside of where values reside. So life is the most basic value there is, and good/bad are human traits.
It is good to have high tolerance for ambiguity, but low tolerance for absurdity. Christians today also mistake agape (Godly love) for love, faith for ordinary trust, sin for immorality, vengeance for justice, and masochism for forgiveness. These are the fruits of Bible belief. Conformity and a desire for certainty all but guarantees the sheep will stay in the fold. Edmund Cohen states what atheists possess, and what holds believers back from becoming the very thing they hate in THE MIND OF THE BIBLE-BELIEVER
:"It is good to have high tolerance for ambiguity, but low tolerance for absurdity."