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How a devout believer approaches unbelievers

These days this is the question – at least, for some people. I wouldn’t be writing this if the English papers I read didn’t periodically publish the same letters written by the same people, announcing to all and sundry how clever they are to have chosen atheism. At the same time these correspondents ridicule and insult “credulous” believers and trample heavily on what believers hold sacred. This in itself is a basic lack of education on their part.

I personally have never been able to decipher what is the aim of all these repeated declarations. Is anybody stopping anybody from being an atheist? If the aim is to persuade, it backfires. The more you attack my faith, the more I think about it and hold on to it. Faith is such an intensely personal matter that it can neither be caught nor taught. It is a gift from the Creator God (whether you believe in Him or not is completely beside the point). You are left free to accept it or reject it.

People who have rejected faith in God are a mixed bag. They come in all shapes and sizes. On the local scene, they are usually lapsed or nominal Catholics while they include as well a crowd of Church-bashers whose favourite sport is to bash the Church every chance they get. Periodically they rake up old sins of the Church – real or otherwise, only God can judge – and revel in highlighting its new sins in the media.

They forget the obvious, that the Church, as a human institution, is made up of sinners. You just have to look at the original 12 to realise how flawed they were from the start. It is the easiest thing on earth to pick on the sins and failings of the Church as if this is something surprising or shocking. What do you expect from fallible sinners? Aren’t we all in the same boat?

Many people are of the opinion that, in truth, there is no such thing as an atheist. The term atheist is a misnomer. What does an atheist do? He denies the existence of God. Then, with his next breath, he will set himself up as a god and woe betide whoever does not see eye to eye with him. He will go on boring everyone quoting long, unpalatable chunks from other pseudo-gods like himself and expecting everyone to swallow them whole the way he did.

So what to do in this situation? It may come as a surprise to some that the Mother of God entered this fray long ago and is proposing a solution. Ever since August 1987, on the second day of every month, She has been coming to Medjugorje to pray specifically for unbelievers while inviting everyone to pray with Her for this specific intention. She classifies humanity not according to religion, race, skin, colour, wealth, status, nationality. No, for Her (and whether you believe in Her or not is beside the point as far as She is concerned) all the human race falls distinctly into two categories – believers and unbelievers.

Before anyone rushes to false conclusions, Her definition of a believer is one who has a personal knowledge of the love of God, one who listens to God and communes with Him. The unbeliever lacks this experience for reasons which vary from one person to another. This definition is a vast area which requires in-depth analysis and obviously cannot be tackled here. The individual must do a lot of sincere soul-searching to see in which category he fits. So what does She propose meanwhile? Do not point fingers, ridicule, insult, argue, fight, get angry or frustrated, judge or condemn or try to stand with one foot in each camp. In Her own words, just “pray, pray, pray”. And while you are at it, make sure that you pray with the heart.

These days, the lists of guest speakers at International Marian Conferences do not just include learned theologians and Mariologists. They include persons who put in brackets after their names (ex-sceptic or ex-atheist) as if this is for them a badge of honour. When you read or hear their diverse testimonies, they all insist on the same thing – and this thing is fast becoming an interesting titbit of information on the Mother of God, which you will never find in Mariology. They all claim that the speciality of the Mother of God is cracking hard nuts.

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Victor Laiviera

Jul 11th 2012, 15:09

" Is it possible that every flower, every animal, every human being is a result of chemical and physical forces?"

Yes.

Am Camilleri

May 14th 2012, 19:17

I don't know if I'm prepared to accept, but I'm prepared to listen, so go ahead and explain - although I think you misunderstand me in that I accept there could have been a big bang - but surely there were atoms, or gases or matter or something that was there forever before that? So I was asking what rational arguments there are that in fact there was zilch, nada, xejn? I do admit its a concept I find difficult to grasp.

Mike Hunt

May 13th 2012, 20:07

Please reassure me that you are only being sarcastic. Just because you do not understand the processes involved does not mean there is someone pulling the strings!!!!

Victor Pulis

May 14th 2012, 16:55

Despite your long comment you did not prove that there is a creator. Why would the sun have an ówner'?You are under the impression that the sun was created for us. That way of thinking is called egocentric. A baby thinks that the world revolves round him. As the baby grows he realises that he is just another member of society which owes him nothing. So it is with human history. Primitive men thought that the universe was made for him. (Man in god's image) Natural phenomana were caused by angry gods as punishment, incredibly there are still people who believe this! with time man discovered that he was just another organism in the universe and that he was not special.

Martin Cassar

May 14th 2012, 20:08

@ Victor Pulis.

‘Despite your long comment you did not prove that there is a creator’
You and I were born and found the sun already there. None of us could claim the creation or ownership of the the sun. …right? Is there any human claims ownership of the sun?
Since the sun is there and we can not live without it and its working in perfect order without the slightest interference or whatever from man….that means there must be a powerful manager behind the sun.

As you perfectly put it we might have not grown up yet to realize this fact.

Have you created yourself by any chance? If the answer is yes please tell me how .....and if your answer is the evolving fiction please first enlighten me what was that animal/s that was evolved and eventually became human, second who created this very animal please?

Kenneth Cassar

May 16th 2012, 07:20

@ Martin Cassar:

"You and I were born and found the sun already there. None of us could claim the creation or ownership of the the sun. …right? Is there any human claims ownership of the sun? Since the sun is there and we can not live without it and its working in perfect order without the slightest interference or whatever from man….that means there must be a powerful manager behind the sun".

Look up "non sequitur". Yours is a perfect example. That the sun is there, and that humans do not own the sun, does not mean that "there is a powerful manager behind the sun". How would that follow?

"Have you created yourself by any chance? If the answer is yes please tell me how ....."

Nobody ever said that.

"and if your answer is the evolving fiction..."

Evolving fiction? I think we're wasting our time here.

"...please first enlighten me what was that animal/s that was evolved and eventually became human, second who created this very animal please?"

Nobody did, but if you insist that God did, then who created God? I know, you'll tell me that he always existed. You're presumably one of those who says that everything must have a cause only when it suits him.

Kenneth Cassar

May 16th 2012, 07:23

"If I can not see, talk or touch the owner of the sun this however doesn’t necessarily mean the sun has no owner or works randomly".

It doesn't mean the "owner of the sun" exists either. And no, the sun does not "work" randomly. It follows natural laws, and will cease existing in time. If you could live that long when it does, you'll say that God intentionally destroyed the sun, since He couldn't have created an imperfect sun, could he?

Mike Abbot

May 13th 2012, 16:55

you are trying to bring science to creationism - care to expand?

Kenneth Cassar

May 14th 2012, 13:55

What Alex Ellul refers to as a "biological eve" is actually known as "Mitochondrial Eve".

Mitochondrial Eve is believed to be the most recent common ancestor from the maternal line, of all people living today (note: not first woman or even their first ancestor). There is also a male counterpart, Y-Chromosomal Adam, who is believed to be the most recent common ancestor from the paternal line.

However, it is understood that Mitochondrial Eve and Y-Chromosomal Adam lived thousands of years apart.

It should also be noted that the names "Eve" and "Adam" in Mitochondrial Eve and Y-Chromosomal Adam were deliberately chosen by scientists, and were obviously not their actual names.

Karl Consiglio

May 12th 2012, 19:41

Rationale is Thought Crime.

Ramon Casha

May 12th 2012, 18:50

Yes, Adam is fictional.

As for where we call came from, try searching for "human evolution"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_evolution

Martin Cassar

May 12th 2012, 19:29


@ Ramon Casha,

No need to get into the merit of "human evolution" but the question remains who created the very first human/animal that eventually developed to human?

Ramon Casha

May 12th 2012, 20:21

It wasn't a "who". The strongest evidence points to a natural process starting with the creation of amino acids from simple molecules, then proteins - and proteins can form simple cells.

Martin Cassar

May 12th 2012, 21:06

@Ramon Casha

It wasn't a "who". The strongest evidence points to a natural process starting with the creation of amino acids from simple molecules, then proteins - and proteins can form simple cells.


Still I will again ask who created all the very list of first item/s you mentioned? and another extra question who provided those items with life ;-) ?

Ramon Casha

May 13th 2012, 06:51

@Martin: Then you'll just get the same answer: There was no "who". However far back you care to look, everything is a natural process without the slightest hint of an intelligent entity involved.

"Life" is a very complex set of chemical and physical processes.

Victor Pulis

May 13th 2012, 09:21

Who created the creator of the universe? Of course he was there from eternity. But how can that be? Ah! that's a mystery! End of (rational) agument!

Mike Abbot

May 13th 2012, 09:28

Martin, your question only begs another question.. if it was a who, then who created the creator?

Am Camilleri

May 13th 2012, 17:53

I'm ready to listen to the rational arguments of why something, (anything - it doesn't have to be God) cannot have always existed.

Eric Soames

May 12th 2012, 14:26

Sincerity is not an indication of being right. One can be sincerely wrong. You sound sincere but, oops, you're peddling a book. Where does that swing the marker on the sincerity scale?

Edward Clemmer

May 12th 2012, 15:51

I suppose, from your argument, the only reason scripture exists in book form is "market forces." My books exists only to facilitate those who may be interested in exploring the gospel with understanding. There is no financial gain for me (quite the contrary) in my invitation to the books. Although the Lord provides the invitations, there are very many who provide their excuses for not attending the feast (Mt 22:1-14).

Eric Soames

May 12th 2012, 19:41

Edward Clemmer: You suppose wrong. I'm not judging the reasons you wrote the books, merely pointing out that the presumption of sincerity may be dependent on, or swayed by, other factors and appearances.

Mr leo attard

May 12th 2012, 14:58

Mr Pulis, I am not going to wste my time with arguing, but I just want to point one thing out -- the Pope DOES NOT place himself in god's place on earth (this gives an implication that the Pope sees himself as god's equal)... He is his 'temporal manager' so to speak. and i would believe that many of the major decisions are arrived at with consultations with cardinals, council, whatever

Edward Clemmer

May 12th 2012, 15:41

Religion (or belief in God) is not simply indoctrination or a cultural identification, as you seem to suggest. Granted, there are nominal believers for whom "religious belief" is a cultural or personal identity. However, in true "religious faith," the believer is actually bound (or connected or linked) to God. Many individuals, including Muslims and Christians, are bound to God by their living faith; and Christianity is the (New Testament) development of the Jewish (Old Testament) religion, same faith in the same God. A cultural Muslim may regard others as non-believers or apostates. But, any believer in the one true God will recognize the same divine Spirit in the heart of all believers: all who are children of Abraham by faith, and like Abraham maintain their hope (and belief) in Christ. Now that Christ has come, those are saved who believe in God's Son, and in the Father who sent him, and through the Spirit, whom they send into the hearts of those who believe in the name of Jesus. Sincere Muslims and Jews are not atheists any more than Christians (relative to other religions), but many nominal Christians, Muslims, and Jews, are atheists. Not all secularists are atheists, either, although many secularists are agnostic or atheist. But there is divine revelation: and, if we accept Jesus Christ for whom he is, not all religions are equal.

Victor Pulis

May 12th 2012, 18:38

You forgot the Holy Ghost who illuminates the Popes in their decisions! i wonder what illumination he bestowed upon the Borgias. What sort of god would need a mere mortal to represent him on Earth!
A temporal manager for god! very interesting title.As if we're dealing with some company or earthly organisation.

Martin Cassar

May 12th 2012, 20:41


@Victor Pulis


You keyed in:
What does an atheist do? He denies the existence of God.
.....................................
How one can deny the existence of something unless that thing in question actually exists?

Victor Pulis

May 12th 2012, 20:43

You mentioned just the people of the book Christians, Muslims and Jews. Why ignore all other religions who are not children of Abraham? Are they condemned? Of the three monotheist faiths only Christians recognise Jesus as the son of god and god himself. "Those are saved who believe in god's son and in the father who sent him." and who are these? So even Muslims and Jews fall under the category of the condemned.

To the Muslims the koran is Divine revelation and to the Jews only the old testament.

Mike Abbot

May 13th 2012, 14:17

"How one can deny the existence of something unless that thing in question actually exists?"

Facepalm

Karl Consiglio

May 12th 2012, 15:50

Ezatt, and once you been baptized they count you as a believer, even when you grow up and seize to believe, they will still count you in that "majority" that makes Malta a "Catholic country". Its so unfair.

Mr leo attard

May 12th 2012, 15:07

mr Pulis, the church does not say non believers, followers of other religion go to hell -- some priest might have said it, but that is not the church's offical statement. Sinners go to hell - who the sinner is is left to God's judgement, not man's ( in my opinion, the only sinner that Christ ever really expressed outright anger against was the hypocrite because that is not a sin of weakness but one of deliberateness... as to Medjugorje, if i am not mistaken, it is under investigation and therefore the church cannot give out an official statement --- it's not like the Middle Ages, the church has a lot of enemies and has to be very wary...

Victor Pulis

May 12th 2012, 18:55

the gospel of Mark says it. The church does say who the sinner is on number of occasions. The living in partner who isn't allowed communion, the gay couple, If Medjugorje is still under investigation (and I bet you it will continue to be under investigation just like the shroud of Turin for many many years) why does Ms. Abela use it to put forward her argument?The church does have a lot of enemies. the worst ones are from within.

Mr leo attard

May 12th 2012, 22:17

oh yes, Mr Pulis, i was going to say that myself before ''the enemy within'', and you know what? -- that was one of the prophecies of fatima: roughly, the church will suffer because of her own children. abuse has occurred and will continue to occur -- the Borgias were just the tip! One can refer to the babylonian captivity when there were 3 popes, all claiming to be the legitimate one, and that's not including the pope (patriarch) at constantinople..... But, Mr Pulis, all this doesn't subvert faith which is the personal relationship between man and god....In the Bible, christ himself accused peter of ''little faith''... there is no answer either way... you yourself might not even know the true cause of your atheism as it lies in your subconscious, just as my faith with its share of doubts lie in mine and no one can be arrogant enough to claim to know what goes on in the subconscious! not even a good psychiatrist can get at a DEFINITE answer!....take care

Ramon Casha

May 12th 2012, 14:04

According to the gospels, a true believer is one who can handle venomous snakes without danger, can drink poisons without harm, can cast out demons and can heal sick people by placing their hands upon them. :)

Edward Clemmer

May 12th 2012, 16:11

The quote from Mark's gospel is "whoever does not believe will be condemed." It is not "whoever is not baptized." There are many forms of baptism: by water, by blood, by Word. Peter and the other disciples (not Iscariot) were baptized by the Word (not by water), "One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, butg is entirely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you" (Jn 13:10). The issue is that only those who believe (in faith) will be saved (and baptism has its forms, especially by water): and, accordingly, Abraham was justified by his faith (Rom 4:3), and all who believe in Christ are children of God in the same faith. And after Christ, all "children of God" have Mary (Daughter of the Father, Mother of the Son, and Spouse of the Holy Spirit) as their spiritual Mother (Jn 19:26-27; 1 Jn 3:2).

Victor Pulis

May 12th 2012, 17:56

They can also move mountains! Not many true believers about I see!

Victor Pulis

May 12th 2012, 18:45

Here's the cut and pasted passage from the bible.

15 He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.

First one must believe to be baptised. it's not the other way round. Whoever believes and is not baptised is not a believer.I'm always amused at the way believers try to twist passages from the bible to prove their point! Some days ago I was talking to a friend and when I asked hoim if non christians go to hell just because they're not baptised he came up with the theory that there is another heaven for them. When i aked him why animals suffer he also invented a heaven for them!

Edward Clemmer

May 13th 2012, 08:54

Victor, the criterion for salvation is even stricter than you suggest (baptism); not only baptism. Jesus answered Nicodemus, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above....Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, 'You must be born from above.' The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit" (Jn 3:3, 5-8). And elsewhere, "It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life" (Jn 6:63). And he said, "For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father" (Jn 6:65). And, on the night before he died, Jesus told his disciples, "When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, thed Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf. You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning" (Jn 15:26-27). As Jesus told the Samaritan woman at the well, "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you donot know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit and truth, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth" (Jn 4:21-24).

Amen, from the Son of God, for all the children of God. As John writes in his first letter, "By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. And this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming; and now it is already in the world. Little children, you are from God, and have conquered them; for the one who is in you is greater than the one in the world; therefore what they say is from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us, and whoever is not from God does not listen to us. From this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error" (1 Jn 4:2-6).

Mr Duncan Scerri

May 12th 2012, 12:14

"If you pray and go to church regularly, you will be *wasting* at most a couple of hours a week in exchange for eternity as a reward. If eternity does not exist, well think of those hours as cultural activities."

Pascal's wager. Pretty lame-arsed god who would not be able to see through what amounts to a blatant lie. Then again, what if there really is a god, but it's Zeus and now he's really narked off that you've been worshipping a Jewish god all those years?

You'll see so much more of what is real if your stand up and look around, instead on getting on your knees and closing your eyes in prayer.

Take those couple of hours a week you spend at church and go do something really worthwhile helping your fellow man. Mumbling at a carving of a dead Jew achieves nothing for humanity.

Am Camilleri

May 13th 2012, 17:33

Well someone wrote the Koran - or do atheists not believe in the existence of such a book?

Pauline Peterson

May 12th 2012, 11:48

@ Eric Soames. Well written. I agree with your posting.

Jillian Pace

May 12th 2012, 12:37

well said!!! i couldn't have said it better myself!!

Am Camilleri

May 12th 2012, 14:28

Nobody holds those things sacred, Mr Casha, and nobody bases their beliefs on the talking snakes etc. Surely all atheists' letters aim to show how clever they are and how stupid the rest of us are? Personally, what I dislike is the insistence that there is no God and that my experience of Him is imaginary. I also dislike atheists telling me what rules I follow, what the Bible is saying to me and how I should bring up my children!

Ramon Casha

May 12th 2012, 18:44

@Am Camilleri: Be careful about your liberal use of the word "nobody". Yes, there are Christians who believe these things literally and hold them sacred, and they are not a few fringe lunatics but mainstream branches, which operate even in Malta.

If the letters demonstrate greater "cleverness", that's not the same as "describing their cleverness".

I haven't seen any letters from atheists telling you how to bring up your children, or telling you what rules you follow. but anybody can read the Bible and determine what it says, and obviously atheists are going to point out the complete lack of any evidence pointing to the existence of any god. This does not prove the inexistence of gods, but it does make belief in gods rather irrational.

W Cassar

May 13th 2012, 11:33

@ AM

"what I dislike is the insistence that there is no God and that my experience of Him is imaginary."

I agree with you ... I dislike the insistence by Catholics and the like that come knocking on my door or throw leaflets in my letterbox. That I am some what misguided and cannot see the light and I am going to hell!

Am Camilleri

May 13th 2012, 15:29

@ Ramon Casha - eh? you need to look up the meaning of 'sacred'. Catholics and many others hold the dignity of the human person as sacred and all those things you mention are contrary to this. Even those who may believe your examples to be right and just, cannot hold them sacred. And yes there are people who take and believe the bible literally - and you yourself seem to insist that's how everyone should be - but like you say - they do not base their faith in, their BELIEF ON God on these things. Belief on God is based on experience of Him and then the Bible written thousands of years ago but relevant to us today works as a guide, needs to be interpreted by experts of hebrew, greek, history, ancient societies etc . . . as opposed to someone like you who insists He should have spoken in the Queen's own language!

The writer didn't say atheists were "describing their cleverness" you did - the author said that atheists letters announce their cleverness.

Am Camilleri

May 13th 2012, 15:36

@ W. Cassar - I'm not sure what you have done or said for someone to tell you that you are some what misguided and cannot see the light and that you are going to hell, but if you are simply a loving caring atheist then they are wrong.

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