...sir atheist, esquire

I have a marvelous atheist friend who I owe more than most to my logical journey with Christ.  His facebook posts are never against any other religion claiming to believe in a god.  Only Christianity...

This seems illogical.  

Why do atheists spend such inordinate amounts of time thinking about God if, indeed, he doesn't exist?  This also seems illogical to me.

It doesn't bother me.  It's just a curiosity I find illogical.

But this particular blog entry is about me processing a particular facebook post.

Sir Atheist has caused me to look repeatedly and honestly at what I believe.  I'm so very grateful!

The post I'm currently processing was a slam about someone who Sir Atheist said claims to be a "real Christian" (his quotes, not mine) who has political views he disagrees with.  (I didn't read the article, but I might disagree too.  The politics are not the point of my reasoning.

The point is that the term "real Christian" had some preconceived definition for my friend.  Since my friend didn't define what he thought a real Christian should look like,  I decided to ask myself.

"So what is a 'real Christian?'"  I mean REALLY?

To begin with, the assumption from so many of Sir Atheist's comments infer that he is fed up with self-righteousness, sham, imperfection...  The particular part of the South where he and I were raised breeds the expectation that a "good Christian" behaves a certain way... and that is "perfectly".  At least it held that expectation for me.

But here goes my thought process:

-To be a real Christian infers that there is a real Christ.

-If this Christ was historically real and actually who he claimed to be, then He was a Savior.

-By definition, to be a Savior infers that there is a situation/circumstance/condition from which a person needs to be saved.

-If Christ followers, then, are following a Savior, then to be a "real Christian" is by definition an admission of imperfection - of sham - of junk.

-Also, if Jesus Christ is who he said he was, he comes to save us because we need him, not because we're good enough to have him.

-If God sent a Savior seeing that we were, in fact, in need of one, then for me as a Christian to expect myself to be perfect by my own efforts/behavior is illogical and foolish.  I simply trade one trap for another and lose all touch with the AMAZING GRACE that the slave trader who wrote that hymn humbly saw with blinding thankfulness -  that, at our worst, Christ gave his best.

(Side thought:  Logically, I suppose there might be some hypocritical atheists as well.  LOL.  Wonder what that looks like.)

-To assume that Christians are all mature people is illogical.  They are just people.

-To assume that the definition of a Christian is "people trying to love God" is illogical.

               If I read my Bible, I come face to face with just the opposite.

-The definition of a Christian, according to what I read in my Bible,  is God loving people who are shallow, biased, haters, critical, proud, selfish, misinformed, immature - imperfect.  Christian doesn't think she's better than anyone else.  She's ecstatic that she is so loved, so accepted, so valued that the God who exists makes it possible for her to know him IF she comes to the cross not pretending to have any bargaining chips.

-To be forgiven and loved and welcomed at my worst causes me to dance in Grace!  It's the only logical conclusion to such generosity!


Yes, I'm embarrassed by what people do in the name of Christ!  But that does not negate what Christ himself did for me on the cross... by not staying there.

So, Sir Atheist, Esquire.  I love you more daily!  Thanks for being honest.  It would seem the Lord can use even a devout atheist to draw me closer to his amazing grace.  I'm more thankful for you in my life than I could possibly tell you.

With love and thanks,

your old friend, Lydia