FRIDAY, March 29, 2024
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Atheists misunderstand the Christian doctrine of sin

Atheists misunderstand the Christian doctrine of sin

Re: “Life boat, or ship of fools?” Have Your Say, April 17.

My apologies to “A Bangkok Atheist” for this tardy reply. You are mostly right in your assertions, though I am not sure of there being a “Christian god”. If you are referring to the Israelite deity revealed through Old Testament scripture as YHWH in the Hebraic tetragrammaton, then yes I believe in this God, as do the Jews, but manifest in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. Therefore, as an avowed monotheist, no other gods exist as far as I am concerned. 
As for believing in any text as the “literal word” of the God, one would first of all need to espouse the existence of the supernatural, otherwise it becomes a moot point. Secondly, the notion of Adam and Eve being saved is not for me to decide, but as a clue, their rebellious son Cain killed his younger brother Abel in a fit of envy, resulting in humanity’s first religious war. Yet, YHWH let him off the hook – he was sentenced to time already served. Gee! What a lucky guy. As for sin haunting humanity, it really doesn’t: there are those who don’t believe in sin, so it doesn’t really matter. And there are others who have had their debt of sin paid for them, just like Cain – and ours as well. I am a Christian not because I think Jesus was a cool teacher, or because Christian philosophy has stood the test of time. It is because I believe Jesus rose from the dead. Understandably, this is all part of myth and fable to those who reject this claim and espouse pure naturalism thus macro-evolution. Yet, this is not the reason why you are an atheist.
A Bangkok Theist

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