How Christians Can Become
Atheists
Can Christians become atheists? Absolutely! I personally have known such people.
You see, God is invisible, but the people and situations we meet in the world are visible. So it takes far more faith to believe in something or someone we cannot see than it does to believe in what we can feel, touch, hear and see with our physical senses.
How then can a Christian become an atheist?
For starters, all he or she has to do is be human and have humanly incurable problems---problems that only God can remedy.
Next...
He or she only has to be subjected to teaching, doctrines and concepts about God (Who remains invisible and only rarely defends Himself) that either foster faith and hope---or toxify and/or destroy faith and hope.
For all the while a person is living and struggling in this physical world that feels and appears and responds to his or her actions as "real"---that person needs an understanding of God and His ways that transcends the tough realities of earth.
If one (even one who is a Christian) is not nurtured in an understanding of God that fosters hope and having a sense of a good purpose for being, what will happen finally?
He or she will finally conclude that NO GOD EXISTS.
Now, I'll share some common teachings about God, that if ingested constantly and seriously meditated on and believed (especially unconsciously) are guaranteed to unravel the hope and destroy the faith of the one who receives them.
Here are just a few of them:
* TEACHING: God helps only those who help themselves. That is, Infinite Holy Love helps only those who make sufficiently good, wise, and timely "choices" before He is forced to abandon them to pain and evil "forever and ever." How does this diabolical teaching foster anything except frenzied self-reliance instead of faith in Holy Love Himself? Thus, sooner or later the Christian who has ingested this toxic teaching will conclude: "That is what I already believed when I was a heathen: bottom line---no one is there for me---except my lonesome self."
EXIT: hope and faith.
ENTER: despair, cynicism, atheism.
*TEACHING: God is Holy Unfailing Love Personified, but He has also planned in advance to abandon most (or many billions) of His human offspring to fiery agony "forever and ever." This teaching, when constantly ingested---meditated upon---and seriously believed (in one's everyday life consciously or un) renders "Holy Love" as appearing hypocritical, irrational, and un-trustworthy. How can we love such a being who calls Himself "Love" while also seriously believing that he loves a relatively small fraction of human beings enough to help them? What makes me think that I should qualify for being one of the few he may help? How can I love Him with total commitment when He is committed to only an elect few---which may well exclude many of my own loved ones, to say nothing of myself?
EXIT: Joy, genuine hope, and love and trust toward God.
ENTER: heartbrokenness, despair, rage and rebellion, mind-binding addictions ("painkillers"), atheism.
*TEACHING: God expects you to love your enemies and your neighbors as you love yourself---at least for now---until the time comes for the saints to judge the world. Meanwhile, Unfailing Holy Love has already reserved the right for Himself to abandon to "hell forever" multiplied millions of his own little neighbors who are daily dying and departing this veil of tears. A veil of tears into which they never "chose" to be born... And what is the bitter fruit of this forked-tongued teaching? The one who seriously believes this so-called "good news truth" finds himself becoming more and more two-faced and double-minded like the hypocritical "God" he has been instructed to "believe in." The victim of this toxic teaching also notes the same horrifying discrepancy in other Christians with whom he fellowships.
EXIT: Sanity, patience with self or/and others, and any coherent concept of love.
ENTER: Hatred of "God" (or so the despairing Christian imagines) self and others, insanity, hopelessness, curiosity to investigate "new age" and eastern philosophies---finally, atheism.
*TEACHING: God is Holy Love and loves the "world". However, He has already planned in advance to consign to endless fiery torture those whom he has chosen not to save, for He intends to save only the elect. Nevertheless, as a Christian, Unfailing Holy Love expects you to oppose abortion---and why? So that He will have a "full house" in "hell" come judgment day. What does this teaching accomplish except to foster spiritual pride, a double-tongued message of "God is love/hate" and exclusivity among immature Christians? And bitter cynicism from hurting people in the world? When these "truths" (?) are seriously believed and meditated on---even subconsciously---they also destroy hope in hurting Christians who struggle with debilitating weaknesses. For they are driven naturally to question, "How could a skuzz bucket like myself be---truly---saved? Especially when I secretly detest this god who calls himself 'Love', and yet He chooses 'favorites' and has already planned to abandon all others to endless pain? And many of my friends and loved ones may well be included among the eternally damned? God (so I've been taught) has already planned that evil have predominance over good in much or most of His creation. So how do I know that seducing 'angels of light' may not have been 'confirming' my salvation all of this time?"
EXIT: Trust, hope, rationality.
ENTER: Cynicism, despair, and a ravenous hope that the universe may be something far better than the eternal nightmare prophesied by John Calvin: Only a short nightmare, lasting a few billion years... Our cosmos with it's spiral nebulas and myriad populations of swirling galaxies is but the result of the random action and collision of sub-microscopic particles. Indeed, from our limited viewpoint, this universe we happen to inhabit is a sad one. But, thankfully, at least,--- it ends. Atheism.
In conclusion...
Any thought, concept or teaching about Unfailing Holy Love that (when seriously believed and meditated on)---alienates---us from Him, does not originate from Him Who Is Unfailing Holy Love.
Any message that requires us to love God with total commitment while also "believing" that His commitment to His own creatures is limited---or conditional---is the sheer essence of spiritual abuse.
For how can we finite creatures give God our Omnipotent Creator something (total commitment) that He Himself does not possess?
Any message that destroys hope, and renders trust impossible and reduces love to irrational gibberish just simply has to be wrong.
It's origin? ANTICHRIST.
How then should we respond to those who would demand that we "believe" eternally abusive nonsense about Holy Love Himself, and yet they urge us (by their silent example) not to think about it and not to rejoice in it---except to defend it as a "truth"?
First, whatever you do, before you buy into their "beliefs", subject those beliefs to the meditation test. If these beliefs truly are "statutes of the Lord"---however austere---when you've prayerfully processed them through, they should rejoice your heart and cause you to hope all the more in your heavenly Father's goodness. (Ps. 19:9)
The Bible says not to despise prophecies (whether Scriptural ones or spontaneously given ones) and to test all things, and hold fast (tightly embrace and treasure) that which is good. (I Thes. 5:20-21)
Furthermore, our Lord tells us that His (actual) words are "spirit and life." (See Jn. 6:63) Not only so, but we are to---live---by every word that proceeds from God's mouth. (Deut. 8:3)
Wouldn't this command apply all the more to the words God gives us that essentially make up the gospel? The glad tidings of great joy? Wouldn't Paul's admonition to think (constantly) on the things that are just, honest, of good report and praiseworthy include all the essential elements of the gospel? (Phil. 4:8)
So if you want to become an atheist, just "accept" whatever comes down the pike, and if it's revolting to your conscience, just mentally "backfile" it and "join the religious club" and try not to think of it much.
Follow the example of your mentors who "believe" God is love/hate while they live daily (for the most part) as if they do not believe it. Learn to emphasize the positives while backfiling the negatives---unless they come in handy to intimidate and control others on occasions.
That way, your sub-conscious mind can meditate on "everlasting rage, despair and vindictiveness" for years. And thus you'll gradually turn into a smiling, double-talking, double-minded, Bible toting, Scripture quoting, religious robot. That robot may last for decades before it either suddenly "explodes" into atheism, or "implodes" into religious insanity.
How do I know? This is former R2 DX Robot himself talking here! :-)
God loves you---far more---than you think.
Charlie