User talk:SouthWriter/sandbox/An atheist's objections/@comment-1777104-20100810152053

Feg, I think I made it clear that no amount of good works gets one into heaven. However, to break one of the Ten Commandments - "You shall not steal," in order to "fulfill" the "Great Commandment" -- "Love Your Neighbor" is self defeating. The aim is to keep ALL the commandments. An atheist, for example, as Bat postulates, would not be "virtuous" just because he gave his millions to the poor.

He has, by his unbelief, denied the first two commandments, and the first greatest commandment. That is, he has NO god except himself, creating if he must, a god after his own image (which he then says does not exist). He denies the true God, who has revealed Himself to be self-existent - in Hebrew written 'YHWH' - a derivative of "I am" - and who requires total obedience "heart, mind, and strength" - not haphazard obedience - giving of alms to the poor.

How can you expect such a "good" atheist to be honored by the God who he denies exists just because this atheist has brought good to many people? Consider the irony of it, though. God's people, among the poorest of the poor in places throughout the world, pray for relief from the present misery. And then they receive the pity of the rich atheist who has no idea that he is the "tool" of the God he denies.

And Bat, to answer your point about the answers making "it seem like the atheist is wrong" -- Yes, it is the point in my answers to presume that the atheist is wrong. The questions showed an ignorance of pertinent information obtainable by research. In pointing to that information, I indeed show that the questioner was wrong to have concluded that these were "problems." There was no "argument" with the original poster of the questions, just answers. It was not a debate. If you see a problem with any of my answers - that is, if you can show using the same available resources that I am wrong - then I welcome your response.

As to your question, I will go on the unlikely assumption that such a virtuous atheist (in the "religious" sense of one who argues his view) exists. My previous points concerning the nature of God and the conflict mankind has with Him are clear. It is impossible for a partial obedience to get a man into heaven. Therefore, NO ONE gets into heaven by way of his own works. Repentance is a true turning from sins - be they of blasphemy (the atheist's continued denial of God and subsequent creation of god in his own image), theft, or murder. The "cruel religious man" is a sinner - relatively a much worse sinner than the atheist - and just as destined to hell. But if either man repents of his sin, it is a result of God working in his heart (mind) to change him from the inside out. The atheist would come to believe God, and so would the "religious" man who previously only spoke of a god who he had created in HIS own mind. God is in control of this whole process, not the men and women who come to believe or continue bound to the control of their particular sins.

Believing in God and "believing God" are not the same thing. A deist is a person that believes God is there, but denies that He has ever interacted with his creation. A theist is one who believes in God, and assumes that He has communicated and/or is in control of His creation. To actually believe God, though is to take Him at His Word - to trust Him to be who He said He is and has done what He has said He has done.