Do you hear yourself?!

So I reposted a little religious piece going around Facebook earlier. I like doing these things to get people thinking - stir things up a bit. These debates are usually what spawn my blog posts... But it was about an atheist and a little girl on an air plane...

And this is what I got out of the entire thing... what we say as believers to other people, or non-believers. How we present ourselves. The things we say to try and spread the news about Jesus. Many times I have to ask "do you hear yourself?!" Many times religious folk are the ones spewing out hate, negativity, nastiness. They are so wrapped up in their personal belief system and the idea that someone else doesn't think the same way they do, they lose focus from what they are supposed to be doing!

HELLO! I think God's up there screaming "REMEMBER ME?!" If we could just stop our religious brains for a minute, and remember those good ole bracelets we used to wear as kids - WWJD. Honestly, think about it! Think about your words - remember the post on Baggage? Words hurt, and they cut deep. What kind of impact do you think you have on someone when you tell someone they don't know crap? Or that their thoughts are just stupid? Does that make you sound intelligent on the subject? Does that really make that person want to have what you do?

A dear friend of mine (Patrick you know I love you, but I have to run with this) said he'd tell an atheist to "get get right with God." Well here's the problem - they don't believe in God. From the POV of a believer, with an open mind, trying to not only lead people to Christ, but also get these spoon-fed religious folks on the right page, I'm thinking NOT the best approach.

Someone walks up to you and says they are an atheist, God doesn't exist, etc. You turn around and blast them with negativity - the crap you're spewing isn't any better than their crap. Doesn't stink less. It's still crap. I think we need to take this to next Wednesday night's class - how should we (as believers) respond, lovingly, to someone's idea God doesn't exist? My thoughts on this - we can't really respond, not easily, and we can't change their mind in an instant. And we sure as heck aren't reaching them through our negative responses. Might be wiser to bite our tongues... and show the love of Christ... remember that? Isn't that what we're supposed to be after here? Just a thought.