juggernaut17 wrote:The belief that non-practicing Christians can be considered even in the realm of a true Christian is nothing more than hocus pocus. In reality a "true" Christian will go to Heaven.
I'm not sure that I agree with you here. My argument is that non-practicing Christians cannot be considered atheists. Whether or not they can be considered "true" Christians is not relevant.
juggernaut17 wrote:This is to be accepted based on the fact that if you do not follow God's commands you are not a true Christian. And God's commands understandably are your pathway to Heaven.
This is a Judaic idea not a Christian one. Christ died for our sins and we receive remission for those sins by believing in Christ. In John 3:16-17 (NIV) it says "For God so loved the world that He gave his one an only Son, that whoever
believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. But God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." Salvation is not a paycheck given to us for a job well done, it is a gift given to us by a loving saviour. Nonpracticing Christians have expressed a belief in God and to argue that their belief is somehow weak or even nonexistent is still to commit the fallacy of "arguing from omniscience" (nobeliefs.com). If someone states that they believe in God and that Christ is their saviour then they are Christian, whether they go to church or not. We have to take them at their word unless some evidence can be shown to prove that they are lying.
juggernaut17 wrote:I would like to define a non-practicing Chrstian as one who does not attend church, pray, or allow God to play a role in his lifestyle.
So a Christian who goes to church every Christmas, says "Thank God" when his boss walks out the door, and has a crucifix on the wall at home is a "true" Christian? This definition does not seem to be reliable.
juggernaut17 wrote:According to the King James Holy Bible, Mark 1:15 says, "And saying, the time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel." This verse states a commandment from God. My definition for "repent" is, To affect (oneself) with contrition or regret for something done, basing it on the Oxford English Dictionary definition. Therefor God says regret your mistakes and change your lifestyle to fix it. Secondly it tells you to believe the gospel, which means "good news". Therefor, one must believe that God sent Jesus to save us of our sins.
James 5:15-16 states, "The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective." This clearly states that whomever prays to God, repenting and asking for forgiveness will be saved.
Nowhere in here does it say that church attendance is necessary to be considered a Christian. Repentance and belief are once again in the realm of omniscience.
juggernaut17 wrote:With this in mind there is a no way a non-practicing Christian can become a "true" Christian because they will not be able to enter the gates of Heaven without repenting, praying for forgiveness, and changing your life to revolve around God. Therefor, both a non-practicing Christian and an Atheist, are essentially the same because they will spend all eternity in damnation.
Are serial killers, rapists, and child molesters also to be considered atheists because they sin and are not repentent?
It is the professed belief in God that makes one a Christian. Whether you are a devout Christian or not makes no difference, in this instance. It is the professed disbelief in any gods that makes one an atheist. These are contradictory worldviews. Making an attempt to "muddy the water" by bringing in the possibility of some unknowable motive does not change this. A Christian is a Christian, whether practicing or not. An atheist is an atheist. The only reliable way to tell one from the other is to ask them and accept their answer.
My evidence was, an independent survey which showed that, far from dying off, the Christian Church is growing by 5% in the United States (The Pew Report). Christianity is thriving in Africa. Congo-Zaire has gone from 2% to 94% Christian in the past hundred years (Glimpses Bulletin # 151).
All of the sudden an atheist was telling me that empirical data is untrustworthy. I should just believe him instead, with no evidence, beyond an occaisional anecdote, to support his claim. (The fallacious arguments I refer to here are found on the "Continuation of Christianity Debate" thread).
