Happy New Year. Be blessed and be a blessing!

Friday, June 22, 2007

Why Do I Pick Christianity Over Atheism?

Why do I pick Christianity over Atheism?

Disclaimer: This post does not mean to offend anyone. It is just an honest opinion from a Christian perspective.

One day, I decided to take a good look at my own level of intimacy with God and how I have been close/far to Him over the past few months. There are of course ways to improve our relationships, but what really got to me that one afternoon was the reason I chose Christianity at the first place. I (maybe God) asked myself, “Why do I want to be a Christian? Why don’t I break free from the norm of a religion and just be another free thinker or an atheist?” That question left me blank for a few days. I searched for answers all day and finally I came to these conclusions.

Unlike Atheism, Christianity gives me the sense of belonging.

Christianity tells me that I belong to God. It tells me that I am not a nobody. It also affirms my status as a child of God and if I receive the salvation, I am guaranteed a place in the heaven. Christianity mentions that I am the salt and the light of the world. It gives me a place to belong to and a dignity to live on. On the other hand, Atheism does not offer me the same assuring claims. If I were an atheist, I will make myself my own God. However, we all know that human cannot control all things in the world and thus, it makes no sense to make myself as my own God. That is because I am never powerful, strong, and wise enough to be a God. Atheism will only make me feel proud of myself but yet, I have no way to belong too. Atheism does not answer the question, “Where will my soul go to when I leave this world one day?” Neither does atheism answers my other question, “Who am I in this world?” If we are looking for peace and happiness in life, atheism will not be able to provide it because it tells us that we have control over our own life and doings. However, the fact is, we don’t. There are just things in this world that we have no control over. Atheism cannot explain those out-of-human-control situations, but Christianity often provides an answer to its believers. At the end of the day, it is not the so much of the security (like going to heaven after my death) that matters, but it is the pleasure of knowing that there is still someone up there looking down to you and say, “Good job, my good and faithful servant.” I just won’t get the same satisfaction in Atheism.

Christianity offers hope to the world, while Atheism teaches its followers to be authors.

Christian missionaries around the world preach the gospel to the most remote areas of this globe. They plant churches, schools, hospitals, and so on in the places that God send them to. By doing all these things, not only do people get saved spiritually, people also get saved physically. Hospitals help patients to recover, schools teach people how to be a better person in the society. Conversely, atheism does not promote good deeds. Atheism exists to defy the existence of any deity, and hence it does not believe in doing any good deed to earn karma as some other religions do (Buddhism and Hindu mainly). It also does not encourage the doing of good works for the benefit of the brothers and sisters in the world and for the delight of God in heaven. Atheism stands on the single purpose of defying any omnipresent, omnipotent being in this world. For that reason, many “successful” atheists are authors of best-selling book in defying the existence of God and reasoning out the “deception” and “errors” in the bible. Even if the world really did come from a single cell, or a single dot in this universe and that God never exists, what is next? It still does not make any differences nor does it contribute anything to the betterment of the world. The children in Africa are still dying from tuberculosis, AIDS, and other diseases. Hospitals and schools will still be a rare gem in remote areas of Madagascar. People are still dying; people are still illiterate. So what good exactly does atheism bring to this world even if God really does not exist? Christianity makes a difference in the world, a good one, while Atheism offers zero sense of hope to the community of people.

The act of atheism in defying Christianity proves that it recognizes Christianity as having a true God.

There are thousands of religions, cultures, occult, and spiritual practices in this world that are doubtful to be true at all. Still, atheism goes against the presence of God, especially God in Christianity, way more strongly compare to its refutation against other religions in this world? Why is that so? Given an example of a second best student in class who only goes against the best student in class because he only recognizes the ability of the best student, and not the rest of the class, a similar pattern can be observed between Christianity and atheism. The fact that Atheism opposes so strongly to Christianity further proves the point that Atheism only recognizes Christianity as a real threat, not any other religions. If you know that you only have to beat one more person to be the champion and that the rest of the field is way behind you, will you care for the rest of the field or will you concentrate on defeating the champion on top? Of course, any sane people will pick the latter route for obvious reason. Atheism is just like the second best student in the class thirsting for a taste of an undisputed champion while Christianity is like the champion on the podium because Christianity has already won through the blood of Jesus on the cross. It means that Christianity is the only truth out there that Atheism has to deal with. It also means that Christianity if the only religion that Atheism is most worried about. Therefore, it can be concluded that Christianity does indeed hold a certain degree of truth in it, if not all the truth in the world. If not, Atheism will never go against it to being with.

Christianity answers questions while Atheism results in more questions.

People tend to resort to a divine being in explaining supernatural happenings around them. When Atheism teaches people to get hold of their own life and to see themselves as the only “God” they can depend on, it ultimately denies the existence of any supernatural incidents in the world. If I had been a God, then tsunami would have been started by me. If atheists slap back the claim saying, “It’s the nature that had caused the tsunami,” then the next immediate question will be, “Who then create nature?” Is it human that first created nature? No. The questions of “why”, “when”, “who”, “how”, “which”, “what” and “where” will never cease as long as Atheists still refuse to recognize the existence of God. God is the only answer that can please human’s curiosity in exploring the truth of the universe. Christians can seek out peace in God’s presence knowing that He is in control but Atheists live in constant uncertainty because no one can tell them, “It’s all right. Everything is under control,” since human does not hold the key to the happenings of the world. Also, Atheism will never be able to explain the creation of universe without any intervention from God. Where does that singular common ancestor come from if we come from that one common ancestor? Science cannot provide all these answers but religions can. By putting God into the picture, the mist clears away instantly. God created the world. God is in control. God allows tsunami to happen to a reason. God gives us life. “God” is the only answer that people ever need, and Atheism is snatching that only answer away from everyone.

After a lot of revelations, praying, and thinking, I feel the peace at heart knowing that I am on the right side of the track. Indeed Atheism is not an all-bad-and-no-good occult; it still let people take control of their own life, take their own path without restricting themselves to any set of rules and regulations given out by a religion. It is just that Christianity makes so much more sense to me than Atheism does. Knowing that He created me in His image, He controls everything, and that He loves me, I can proudly proclaim that my faith lies in Christianity and Christianity alone. While other similar Semitic religions, Judaism and Islam offer almost the same assurance and promises, Christianity stands up as the most relatable, practical and true practice to me. Therefore, Christianity is the only way to go for me.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Amen and PTL!

Nice one again, Leen!

Writing a thesis-like testimony like this would have easily taken me one whole year! *patrified*

Leen said...

Hey, thanks.
Just a little note here: the T-shirts that you order (1 white 1 blue)turn out to be 2 blues. =/ I'll ask someone to pass a size 44 blue and a size 42 white to you at the next CA. If you can't wear it, then it's fine. Just return it. There was a miscommunication between me and the lady who made the T-shirts. Sorry.

Anonymous said...

Both will be OK and thank you Leen for the trouble.
Owe CA money, will pay ASAP *seriously*.

Pat said...

nice post... now u've got me convinced finally... haha

Shalini said...

Leen,

I'll be responding to this post in a four-part series over at my blog. I posted the first part about an hour ago.

Disclaimer: My response is not to offend anyone, either. =P

Anonymous said...

I sincerely hope this does not represent the current intellectual capacity of college students. Number of intellectual holes is truly astounding for such a short piece. Basically the whole thing boils down to "my belief in god makes me feel better therefore there is a god."

Cf. Scientia Natura for a more detailed response.

Anonymous said...

How stupid can college students get?

Anonymous said...

Wow, Christians are really stupid.

Anonymous said...

Christians, learn some thinking skills, will ya?

-lmm

Prazzie said...

Leen said: "I (maybe God) asked myself..."

First instinct was correct. You asked yourself. God is imaginary.

Anonymous said...

There is no evidence that god exists. Give me one conclusive proof of god.

Anonymous said...

The One Who Sacrificed Her Brain to Jesus said: "Christian missionaries around the world preach the gospel to the most remote areas of this globe."

She also said: "The children in Africa are still dying from tuberculosis, AIDS, and other diseases. Hospitals and schools will still be a rare gem in remote areas of Madagascar. People are still dying; people are still illiterate. So what good exactly does atheism bring to this world even if God really does not exist?

So Christian missionaries are travelling to the ends of the earth to spread God's loving message and yet we still have all these damned problems. And then she wants to know what the atheists are doing about it?

Bloody cheek! She should ask herself "What good exactly does all this missionary work bring to the world, even if God exists?" This idiot needs to remove the colossal beam from her own eye before she is let loose on the blogging community again.

Anonymous said...

The most henious and the must cruel crimes of which history has record have been committed under the cover of religion or equally noble motives.
I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.

Mohandas K Gandhi, Young India, July 7, 1950, quoted from Laird Wilcox, ed., “The Degeneration of Belief”

Anonymous said...

The existence of God does not mean the world is free from problems(because as sin came into the world through the first human being,problems and troubles followed)...rather the SOLUTION for them and the STRENGTH to face them!

As christians we have the assurance of eternal true peace,joy and hope which come from the I AM WHO I AM who is perfectly flawless.His ways are higher than ours and His wisdom greater!

Atheists can claim that they can obtain peace,joy and hope too,but allow me to ask...from where?monetary satisfaction?academic qualifications?or other worldly materials that one day will fade??

Perhaps some very intellectual ones can come out with "theories" or "solutions" to problems way beyond the capacity of humans to solve,but those are just "suggestions" and "opinions".remember that to err is human(christians are humans too,we tend to make mistakes;so please do not judge us as if we are God).somebody may be able to find evidences the next day to overthrow a certain "theory".and then it becomes null and void.
take for example,the infamous Darwin's Theory.charles darwin himself overthrows his own theory,becoming a christian himself at his death bed!
why?simply because he realized that his theory cannot stand at all and that he can find no leakholes to oppose whatever is stated in the Bible!

*i apologize for any misunderstandings...feel free to comment!thank you!

Anonymous said...

Um, Charles Darwin did not recant his theory on his deathbed. Even the fundamentalist young-earth Christian creationist site, Answers in Genesis, admits this.

Do some research before talking nonsense. It makes your faith look bad when you talk like an ignoramus.

Anonymous said...

Oh, and Shalini refuted this whole post ages ago. People, open your minds and think, for reason's sake!