Atheist or Christian................

Ephesians 4:1 I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called,

Since I am on a controversial roll so to speak here’s another one I have been rolling around in my head for a while. If it became illegal to be an atheist would there be enough evidence to convict you? How about me?

Atheist: a person who denies or disbelieves the existence of a supreme being or beings.Atheism: A theory or belief that God does not exist

Preposterous, I know you say you are a Christian, just like I do. The question being how different are today’s Christians from Atheists? Let me give you a scenario and see what you think:

Joe lives in a nice suburban neighborhood. He gets up every morning at 6 AM goes for a morning run while his coffee is brewing. Joe takes a quick shower then gets dressed quickly while drinking a cup of coffee. Once Joe is dressed he hops in the car to commute to the job he hates. Joe yells at other drivers who cut him off in traffic. He is last one to arrive at his business meeting and barely avoids the glare of his tyrannical boss. Joe spends his morning looking forward to lunch, and his afternoon counting the minutes until the day is over. At the end of the day he repeats the commute and arrives home emotionally and physically drained. The rest of his evening is punctuated by screaming children, his frazzled wife, and the game on TV. Then he heads to bed to do it all over again.

John lives in a nice suburban neighborhood. He gets up every morning at 6 AM to finish the extra work from the night before. Then he takes a quick shower and gets dressed quickly while drinking a cup of coffee. Once John is dressed he hops in the car to commute to the job he hates. John yells at other drivers who cut him off in traffic. He arrives in time to set up his presentation, but feels rushed. John spends his morning looking forward to lunch, and his afternoon counting the minutes until the day is over. At the end of the day he repeats the commute and arrives home emotionally and physically drained. The rest of his evening is punctuated by fighting with his teenage children, arguing with his wife, and trying to catch the game on TV. Then he heads to bed to do it all over again.

So who is the atheist? Is it Joe or is it John? Does it even matter?

In today’s society are we living like God doesn’t exist? The things that make us angry are they God given righteous anger or trivial nonsense. The things that give us joy do they come from God or are they the idols we worship. If you never turn on the TV again could you survive? How about if you never opened your bible again? What about if you never went to church again?

So how about some statistics on Christians today:

6% of all religious people have used drugs in the past 12 months and 40% of Evangelicals in one survey used drugs often to a few times per month.

44% of all religious people in one recent survey said they participated in gambling in the last 12 months.

23% of Evangelicals surveyed say they abuse alcohol often.

21% had viewed pornographic materials in the past 12 months.

About 25% neither agreed nor disagreed that sexual intercourse is wrong before marriage.

In fact 68% of Evangelicals said they had engaged in premarital sex and 30% of those said often.

Or what about the statistic that 4% of evangelicals are unsure if they have been born again.

52% of Evangelicals surveyed at one church said they were not involved in serving through their church and had no plans to start.

In fact over 60% felt serving in the church or in the community was not important.

13.6% of all Evangelicals say they read their bible 3 times a month or less.

And the one that always gets me divorce rates in every church stand at 50%.

So what is the difference? In every denomination you will find similar startling flaws. Put simply man has a depraved nature. We easily fall prey to sin. When we aren’t watching for it we find ourselves consumed by all the sins that the bible warns us about.

Romans 3:23 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.

Examples of sin in the bible:

Colossians 3:5-6 So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don’t be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world. Because of these sins, the anger of God is coming.

Galatians 5:19-21 When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.

Your heart will lead you to sinfulness if you let it. You’ve got to stand up for your faith. Live your faith. There has to be something setting us apart from those who believe in the absence of God. If we are chasing all the same things and living in society in the same manner as people who believe in no higher power are we truly any better than atheists ourselves. The bible says:

1 Corinthians 10:31 Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

2 Corinthians 5:20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.

It is time to stand up for what we believe. To let no doubt be left in the minds of those around us that we have been called to a greater purpose. God gave each of us a book full of tickets. Tickets to Heaven, and all we have to do is pass them out with his message. The ticket to heaven is simple. The bible says: John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. How many people have you told about Jesus today? How many people have you told in your lifetime? If you have the secret to eternal life why aren’t you sharing it with everyone you meet? If you believe something why compromise it for the promises of this world?