QUESTION: What's the difference between Atheists and Evangelicals?

[Soph0571]

Hehe

[Solomon]

1. This is not quite right. I'm an atheist. I don't believe

that Jesus is God. I don't even believe he was a real person. But I believe in and follow the philosophy. Much more so than evangelicals who give it lip service.

[Major Nikon]

5. Would you execute your rebellious child?

[Mariana]

7. Would you describe "the philosophy", please?

I ask because there are so many different interpretations of "the philosophy" that I have no idea which version you believe in and follow.

[Soxfan58]

2. ...

[trotsky]

3. Ordinarily I love Betty Bowers.

But evangelicals, even the worst ones, believe they ARE following Jesus. Just as liberal believers ignore the parts of the bible they don't like, so do the conservative evangelicals. There's good stuff but plenty of bad stuff in there too, and without any definitive guide as to what's "truly" the word of a god, it's a free-for-all.

It's always tempting for Christians of one flavor to call all the other ones fake pretenders, though.

[Act_of_Reparation]

4. I think there's two things going on here.

There's things Evangelicals believe that aren't represented in Bible (which is what liberal Christians hammer away at), and then there's things Evangelicals profess to believe but do not follow (like not smoking meth with prostitutes). I believe Betty is referring to the latter.

[Major Nikon]

6. I know a hard core evangelical who is predictably a rabid homophobe

The subject of a gay teacher came up and he quipped someone should beat him to death. I asked him if that was just his idea or what Christianity teaches, and he proceeded to tell me that's exactly what Christianity demands.

I think it's just another example of how moral self-licensing works. When you are convinced of your self righteousness, all of your decisions become the right ones. Once you get past the first big hurdle on self delusion, the rest becomes easier.

[Mariana]

8. Jesus did say that not one jot or one tittle

shall disappear from the Law, till Heaven and Earth pass away. The Law prescribes the death penalty for homosexual conduct, and the language is such that there isn't much room to pretend it doesn't really mean that. So, the Bible supports the opinion of your evangelical Christian acquaintance.

What's less clear is why more Christians like him don't act on their sincerely held beliefs. Lots of them will talk about how Christianity demands that gay people should all be killed, but only a very few of them are willing to go out and kill gay people for Jesus. I'm grateful for that, but I wonder why it is.

[Major Nikon]

9. The same can also be said for breaking the sabbath, adultery, blasphemy, disrespectful children,

... and a few other offenses which require capital punishment per the Torah. The reasons Christians ignore the required punishment for all of those things is because of the so-called "new covenant" ushered in by zombie Jesus' specific instructions to Paul.

[Mariana]

10. But somehow, gay people are exempt from the "new covenant"

and should be killed because the Old Testament Law says so.

I suppose consistency is way too much to ask for.