Whatever happend to being a theist? WHAT'S THE PROBLEM? LOL?

[darik2]

I consider myself to be just a regular theist and not an atheist. It seems like a person has to be part of a religious cult to be considered a theist. I'm not a Christian, Muslim, Jew or anything else. I just believe at least one deity exists. Atheists don't believe in a deity. That's the only difference between me and an atheist. I actually enjoy being around atheists most of the time because they're usually critical thinkers and very open-minded people. We enjoy a little thing called the "Socratic method". Most religious cults aren't familiar with this method; go figure. My parents are Christians, and they don't understand why I'm not. Why would I want to be a Christian though? Christians do the opposite of what their God tells them to do. They drink, do drugs, have premarital sex, break the law and do everything else their God says not to do. That's what my parents do, but then they go to church on Sunday to ask their God for forgiveness? Give me a break! lol. My dad and stepmom think I'm an atheist because I told them I wasn't a Christian. Why is it that atheists can believe I'm a theist, but not Christians? Even atheists don't consider guys like me to be abnormal. They just know I have a faith, and there's nothing wrong with that as long as I don't condemn others for not having a faith. Your thoughts?

[aingeni]

The problem you're running into here is that most theists have some dogmatic beliefs, and it sounds like you don't really have any. So to other theists, you are confusing, a contradiction in terms almost. You believe in (at least one) god, but you apparently don't associate any rules or mythology with it. Your experience of your theism is wholly different from their experience of their theism, and thus they call you an atheist.

In reality, up until very recently, "atheist" was an insult and no one in the world was actually an atheist. Jews were called atheists in ancient Rome because they denied the existence of every god except their own. Later, after polytheism was relegated to the East, Christian and Muslim mystics who believed that God was one with everything in the universe (a form of pantheism) were called atheists because other theists reasoned "if everything is God, there's nothing for God to be superior to, so you might as well not believe in God". It's the same with you. Your theism is different (and from their perspective, lesser) than theirs; therefore they see you as an atheist.

[cruz50]

The problem you're running into here is that most theists have some dogmatic beliefs, and it sounds like you don't really have any. So to other theists, you are confusing, a contradiction in terms almost. You believe in (at least one) god, but you apparently don't associate any rules or mythology with it. Your experience of your theism is wholly different from their experience of their theism, and thus they call you an atheist.

In reality, up until very recently, "atheist" was an insult and no one in the world was actually an atheist. Jews were called atheists in ancient Rome because they denied the existence of every god except their own. Later, after polytheism was relegated to the East, Christian and Muslim mystics who believed that God was one with everything in the universe (a form of pantheism) were called atheists because other theists reasoned "if everything is God, there's nothing for God to be superior to, so you might as well not believe in God". It's the same with you. Your theism is different (and from their perspective, lesser) than theirs; therefore they see you as an atheist.

Have you not just accused and condemned Christians for smoking, doing drugs, occultism, disobedience to God, breaking the law, fornication, and not having faith? You're the one who said "I don't believe in Jesus"..........Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned (Mark 16:16).
<the voice of one who fears God>

[dana]

The Christian belief that you have to attend church to be moral contradicts their own holy book.

Matthew 6:1

“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.

“And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you".

[webb]

There's nothing wrong, kid. You can be whatever you want. People learn...eventually.