Christian Atheism
Sometimes I come across a topic that grabs me…this Blog post by Craig Groeschel did that and more! It’s a topic I’m passionate about, helping believers live out their Christianity in their lives not just attend a church. So I wanted to share it with you today. Please read and study this Blog and look up the scriptures for yourself, it’s a great reminder for us all.
“Believing in Christ but living as though He doesn’t exist.”
“If you were to be put on trial for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?”
Many believers have been challenged by this question. Do we know Christ well enough to walk in His footsteps? Perhaps the problem is that we believe in Him, but do not know enough about what He wants for our lives.
Craig Groeschel defines a Christian Atheist as someone who believes in God, but lives as though He doesn’t exist. Believing in Him must lead to knowing Him. The way to know Him is to study the word of God, and spend time with others who are doing the same.
When You Believe in God but Don’t Really Know Him
THEISM
Belief in the existence of God
ATHEISM
Disbelief in the existence of God
PRACTICAL ATHEISM
Acting with apathy, disregard, or lack of interest toward
belief in God
CHRISTIAN
One who professes belief in the teachings of Christ
CHRISTIAN ATHEISM
Believing in Christ but living as if He doesn’t exist
So many people believe in God but they do not know Him (Titus 1:16).
Three levels of knowing God
· Level 1: I believe in God, but I don’t know Him.
· Level 2: I believe in God, but I don’t know Him well. Galatians 4:8-9
· Level 3: I believe in God, know Him intimately, and serve Him wholeheartedly.
Example: David is described as a man after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14).
What you call God often reveals how well you know Him.
If you seek God with all of your heart He will reveal Himself to you (Deuteronomy 4:29; Ephesians 1:17-19).
Connecting Love and Obedience
Throughout the Old and New Testaments, the Bible makes a strong connection between knowing God and living for God. In an authentic relationship with God, it is impossible to separate love from obedience, belief from behavior, faith from practice. Each reinforces and balances the other.
Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; He is the faithful God, keeping His covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep His commandments. — Deuteronomy 7:9
But be very careful to keep the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the Lord gave you: to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to Him, to keep His commands, to hold fast to Him and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul. — Joshua 22:5
If we are to be new people in Christ, then we must show our newness to the world. If we are to follow Christ, it must be in the way we spend each day. — William Law, A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life
Fine feelings, new insights, greater interest in “religion” mean nothing unless they make our actual behavior better; just as in an illness “feeling better” is not much good if the thermometer shows that your temperature is still going up. — C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
The word obedient comes from the Latin word audire, which means, “listening.”… Jesus’ life was a life of obedience… Jesus was “all ears.” — Henri J. M. Nouwen, Making All Things New
Such people claim they know God, but they deny Him by the way they live. Titus1:16
And we can be sure that we know Him if we obey His commandments. If someone claims, “I know God,” but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth. But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love Him. That is how we know we are living in Him. Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did. — 1 John 2:3-6
There is only one way to love God: to take not a single step without Him, and to follow with a brave heart wherever He leads. — François Fénelon, Christian Perfection
What God desires is reverential intimacy. He wants us close enough to Him that we know His heart — close enough to hear His heartbeat. He wants to look into our eyes, and He wants us to look into His. — David G. Benne, Surrender to Love
Loving Obedience
If we affirm that failures to obey God are sin, the next challenge is how to overcome those failures in our lives. In Surrender to Love, author David Benner describes the role of God’s love in helping us move from disobedience to obedience:
My attachment to sinful ways of being is much too strong to ever be undone by mere willpower. . . . Genuine transformation requires vulnerability. It is not the fact of being loved unconditionally that is life changing. It is the risky experience of allowing myself to be loved unconditionally.