What I’ve Learned and Two Prayers

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My journey here at Off-The-Map has lasted about 2 1/2 years and it has truly been a good time. By “good,” I don’t necessarily mean “fun” (although it was), but rather “important” or “necessary” in the formation of my own spiritual character. The journey I have been on with y’all has truly been “good.” I don’t think I could ever list all that I’ve learned here. But I’m going to list a few.
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The eBay atheist blog is closing soon

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At the end of March Off The Map will be closing the Conversation at the Edge, Justice and Compassion and eBay Atheist blogs to new posts. They’ll stay open a little longer than that for comments.

We appreciate everyone who has blogged for us on these three blogs and participated in the comments conversations. We’ll keep the existing content up even though the blogs are being closed.

The reason for closing them (more…)

Review

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From time to time I think it is useful to review what we’ve done and how we got where we are.  My first post for Off the Map was in February of last year.  I’d come from posting on the Friendly Christian site where Bill had encouraged us to discuss and debate our views on religion.  This is something that I’m always going to be grateful for.  Helen was kind enough to extend an invitation to blog here and that’s what I’ve done for more than a year.

Re-reading my first post this paragraph leaps out at me.

The most relevant thing about me for this blog is that I am an atheist. I am well aware of the path that led me to atheism. More accurately, I am well aware of the path that did not lead me to theism. I think that the distinction is important. People learn religion. I never did, so I’m an atheist.

I’m still an atheist.  I’ve still not learnt religion and, if anything, I’d say I was further away from being religious than I was back then.  At least I can say that this is not for want of trying.  While I haven’t “opened my heart to Jesus” I have explored a number of aspects of faith.  I’ve had my preconceptions challenged and my view of religion’s place in society has softened somewhat.  I still balk at some things that some theists get up to and some beliefs they promote but I better understand that the vocal proponents of these things are are minority.  Religion can help society in some ways although I still think that it can also hurt us too if misapplied.

What is a Christian?

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The Friendly Atheist forums have had a recent discussion about the spectrum of Christianity or what it means to be a Christian.  There are atheists with a wide variety of opinions including ex-Christians but there are also some Christians who comment.  There is a great deal of disagreement on what a Christian is.  They range from my own view that the only thing that is needed to be a Christian is that a person calls themselves a Christian to much stricter views that include belief in the following;

- The Trinity.
- That Jesus came to be sacrificed for our sins, and accepting Him into your heart saved you.
- The Bible as the inerrant, “God-breathed” word.
- The existence of God and divinity of Jesus.
- The existence of Heaven/afterlife with God.
- Prayer as a means to communicate with God (at least one-way communication).
- The resurrection and virgin birth and other miracles from the Bible as well.
- The duty to evangelize, as instructed by Jesus before he went back to heaven.
- Particular Christian beliefs as the only way to be saved from damnation.
- Belief that God has a plan for everything and everyone.
- Belief that being a Christian is generally a prerequisite for being a good person, or for being trustworthy.
- Belief that pastors hold a certain amount of authority as counselors and generally wise people.

Not being a Christian and not having been raised in the Christian tradition I have no way to tell what a Christian is beyond their own claims to that identity.  A Christian can even reject everything that is supernatural from the bible as Thomas Jefferson did and still identify as a Christian.  Is Christianity then a philosophy of living?  Could an atheist who follows this philosophy be a Christian if they chose to adopt this label?