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	<title>Comments on: Lee Strobel Answers Your Questions, Part 1</title>
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	<link>http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2009/01/02/lee-strobel-answers-your-questions-part-1/</link>
	<description>by Hemant Mehta</description>
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		<title>By: FlyingPig</title>
		<link>http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2009/01/02/lee-strobel-answers-your-questions-part-1/#comment-786392</link>
		<dc:creator>FlyingPig</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 01 Aug 2011 20:54:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://friendlyatheist.com/?p=7350#comment-786392</guid>
		<description>Wow...Talk about a bunch of uppity non-believers.  I do believe that if we were all 10 years old, you people would throw Lee to the ground and pile on top of him in an attempt to squash him like a bug.  I don&#039;t know much about Athiests because I&#039;m a Christian.  YEP...Faith alone has brought me to my place.  You can all discount me and shrug your shoulders as you pass me on the street.  Most Christians don&#039;t really care.  

It wasn&#039;t until I was told by an aquaintance of mine that he was an Athiest that I started questioning him.  He told me that there were too many rules to be a Christian.  The told me that he didn&#039;t like going to church and he liked to sleep in on Sunday&#039;s.  He even commented that the Pope was a child molester.

I just smiled and went on my way.  All I could think was.  YES...it is HARD to be a Christian.  Yes, we have rules.  Yes, we go to Church on Sunday&#039;s and sometimes on Monday through Saturday too.  We have many denominations within our Christian Faith but that&#039;s ok too.  It keeps us on our toes.  I happen to be Roman Catholic with  Buddhist in-law&#039;s, a Pentacostal brother and a daughter who is an agnostic theist.

Reading some of these comments is eye opening.  It seems like so many of you are angry and annoyed with us Christians.  Let me ask a serious question as all of you Athiests are so interested in why Lee has turned to Christ.  Why...if you have absolutely no beliefs based in Creationism, God, or Theism...do you care what Theists do?  Why are you wasting your time with us?  Why not just sit back and snicker at us in the back of the coffee shop as we rush off to Sunday Morning servied?  Why don&#039;t you set you alarm clocks for 9am on Sunday morning JUST so you can slap the old snooze alarm once or twice...you can all smirk and think &quot;those stupid Christians are all shaving and washing their faces for Church and I get to sleep in!!!&quot;

I realize that I have asked more than one question but most of them were rhetorical.  So here&#039;s another.  Why do Athiests care if a group of Christians want to erect a Cross at the 9/11 site?</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Wow&#8230;Talk about a bunch of uppity non-believers.  I do believe that if we were all 10 years old, you people would throw Lee to the ground and pile on top of him in an attempt to squash him like a bug.  I don&#8217;t know much about Athiests because I&#8217;m a Christian.  YEP&#8230;Faith alone has brought me to my place.  You can all discount me and shrug your shoulders as you pass me on the street.  Most Christians don&#8217;t really care.  </p>
<p>It wasn&#8217;t until I was told by an aquaintance of mine that he was an Athiest that I started questioning him.  He told me that there were too many rules to be a Christian.  The told me that he didn&#8217;t like going to church and he liked to sleep in on Sunday&#8217;s.  He even commented that the Pope was a child molester.</p>
<p>I just smiled and went on my way.  All I could think was.  YES&#8230;it is HARD to be a Christian.  Yes, we have rules.  Yes, we go to Church on Sunday&#8217;s and sometimes on Monday through Saturday too.  We have many denominations within our Christian Faith but that&#8217;s ok too.  It keeps us on our toes.  I happen to be Roman Catholic with  Buddhist in-law&#8217;s, a Pentacostal brother and a daughter who is an agnostic theist.</p>
<p>Reading some of these comments is eye opening.  It seems like so many of you are angry and annoyed with us Christians.  Let me ask a serious question as all of you Athiests are so interested in why Lee has turned to Christ.  Why&#8230;if you have absolutely no beliefs based in Creationism, God, or Theism&#8230;do you care what Theists do?  Why are you wasting your time with us?  Why not just sit back and snicker at us in the back of the coffee shop as we rush off to Sunday Morning servied?  Why don&#8217;t you set you alarm clocks for 9am on Sunday morning JUST so you can slap the old snooze alarm once or twice&#8230;you can all smirk and think &#8220;those stupid Christians are all shaving and washing their faces for Church and I get to sleep in!!!&#8221;</p>
<p>I realize that I have asked more than one question but most of them were rhetorical.  So here&#8217;s another.  Why do Athiests care if a group of Christians want to erect a Cross at the 9/11 site?</p>
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		<title>By: Michael</title>
		<link>http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2009/01/02/lee-strobel-answers-your-questions-part-1/#comment-756376</link>
		<dc:creator>Michael</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 09 Jun 2011 22:56:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://friendlyatheist.com/?p=7350#comment-756376</guid>
		<description>&lt;blockquote&gt;writerdd Says:
January 2nd, 2009 at 12:14 pm
BTW, someone will ask so I’ll go ahead and put these questions out there:

1) Do you only act in a moral manner because you think God will punish you if you don’t? (I find that sad and frightening, actually.)

2) Do you think Christianity is the only way to “salvation” and that non-Christians are going to hell?

Thanks.

Donna (former born-again Christian turned atheist)&lt;/blockquote&gt;


Hey Donna,

Here is my response to your questions:

1) There is an assumption here that is fundamentally wrong. The assumption is that you do good &lt;em&gt;or else!&lt;/em&gt; I don&#039;t act in a moral manner because God will punish me. I do it because I love the Lord and what he did for me on the cross. It&#039;s his love that pulls me to act in a &lt;em&gt;moral manner&lt;/em&gt;. I do it out of gratitude.

2) There is an emotional stigma behind this question. I wouldn&#039;t be born-again unless I believed that Jesus is the only way to salvation. You know that already as a former &lt;em&gt;Christian&lt;/em&gt;. But even so, I don&#039;t believe that all Christians who profess to be Christian will be saved. Only those who are elected by God--who have put their faith and trust in the works of Jesus Christ--will be ultimately reconciled with God forever.


Michael</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<blockquote><p>writerdd Says:<br />
January 2nd, 2009 at 12:14 pm<br />
BTW, someone will ask so I’ll go ahead and put these questions out there:</p>
<p>1) Do you only act in a moral manner because you think God will punish you if you don’t? (I find that sad and frightening, actually.)</p>
<p>2) Do you think Christianity is the only way to “salvation” and that non-Christians are going to hell?</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>Donna (former born-again Christian turned atheist)</p></blockquote>
<p>Hey Donna,</p>
<p>Here is my response to your questions:</p>
<p>1) There is an assumption here that is fundamentally wrong. The assumption is that you do good <em>or else!</em> I don&#8217;t act in a moral manner because God will punish me. I do it because I love the Lord and what he did for me on the cross. It&#8217;s his love that pulls me to act in a <em>moral manner</em>. I do it out of gratitude.</p>
<p>2) There is an emotional stigma behind this question. I wouldn&#8217;t be born-again unless I believed that Jesus is the only way to salvation. You know that already as a former <em>Christian</em>. But even so, I don&#8217;t believe that all Christians who profess to be Christian will be saved. Only those who are elected by God&#8211;who have put their faith and trust in the works of Jesus Christ&#8211;will be ultimately reconciled with God forever.</p>
<p>Michael</p>
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		<title>By: St. Eutychus &#187; Strobel light</title>
		<link>http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2009/01/02/lee-strobel-answers-your-questions-part-1/#comment-351082</link>
		<dc:creator>St. Eutychus &#187; Strobel light</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 27 Aug 2009 04:30:38 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://friendlyatheist.com/?p=7350#comment-351082</guid>
		<description>[...] was so intrigued by Lee Strobel’s approach to talking to atheists at the Friendly Atheist, and so annoyed by a Facebook friend’s recent somewhat ill thought out Answers in Genesis [...]</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>[...] was so intrigued by Lee Strobel’s approach to talking to atheists at the Friendly Atheist, and so annoyed by a Facebook friend’s recent somewhat ill thought out Answers in Genesis [...]</p>
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		<title>By: St. Eutychus &#187; Let there be light</title>
		<link>http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2009/01/02/lee-strobel-answers-your-questions-part-1/#comment-346972</link>
		<dc:creator>St. Eutychus &#187; Let there be light</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 21 Aug 2009 12:03:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://friendlyatheist.com/?p=7350#comment-346972</guid>
		<description>[...] can find them here, here, here, and here. It&#8217;s a great example of respectful dialogue between two opposing [...]</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>[...] can find them here, here, here, and here. It&#8217;s a great example of respectful dialogue between two opposing [...]</p>
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		<title>By: Call Out</title>
		<link>http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2009/01/02/lee-strobel-answers-your-questions-part-1/#comment-262293</link>
		<dc:creator>Call Out</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 20 Jan 2009 14:22:15 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://friendlyatheist.com/?p=7350#comment-262293</guid>
		<description>Of course Lee would say such a retarded thing... poor Lee, lying though his teeth when he wrote it.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Of course Lee would say such a retarded thing&#8230; poor Lee, lying though his teeth when he wrote it.</p>
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		<title>By: Call Out</title>
		<link>http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2009/01/02/lee-strobel-answers-your-questions-part-1/#comment-262269</link>
		<dc:creator>Call Out</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 20 Jan 2009 13:16:59 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://friendlyatheist.com/?p=7350#comment-262269</guid>
		<description>You can tell it&#039;s a fake letter! LOL HAHAH
Everything about it screams Christian propaganda... especially when he says things like &quot;oh, I studied neo-Darwinism, and the Miller experiment proved there is no God...&quot; or &quot;I was an atheist because I wanted to sin&quot; LOL HAAH

I love SHAMS! :)</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>You can tell it&#8217;s a fake letter! LOL HAHAH<br />
Everything about it screams Christian propaganda&#8230; especially when he says things like &#8220;oh, I studied neo-Darwinism, and the Miller experiment proved there is no God&#8230;&#8221; or &#8220;I was an atheist because I wanted to sin&#8221; LOL HAAH</p>
<p>I love SHAMS! <img src='http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
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		<title>By: hoverFrog</title>
		<link>http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2009/01/02/lee-strobel-answers-your-questions-part-1/#comment-258357</link>
		<dc:creator>hoverFrog</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 07 Jan 2009 15:42:51 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://friendlyatheist.com/?p=7350#comment-258357</guid>
		<description>Apologies if someone in the previous 91 comments has already made this point.&lt;blockquote&gt;In light of the scientific evidence that points toward a Creator and the historical evidence for the resurrection of Jesus&lt;/blockquote&gt;What evidence?  Also even if there is evidence of a creator &lt;strong&gt;it does not follow&lt;/strong&gt; that this creator is the Abrahamic God\Christian Jesus.  It could just as easily be Odin who clearly made the world from the frozen bones of his slain father.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Apologies if someone in the previous 91 comments has already made this point.<br />
<blockquote>In light of the scientific evidence that points toward a Creator and the historical evidence for the resurrection of Jesus</p></blockquote>
<p>What evidence?  Also even if there is evidence of a creator <strong>it does not follow</strong> that this creator is the Abrahamic God\Christian Jesus.  It could just as easily be Odin who clearly made the world from the frozen bones of his slain father.</p>
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		<title>By: ishmael</title>
		<link>http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2009/01/02/lee-strobel-answers-your-questions-part-1/#comment-257555</link>
		<dc:creator>ishmael</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 05 Jan 2009 05:52:30 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://friendlyatheist.com/?p=7350#comment-257555</guid>
		<description>I agree with most of what has been said above, even though I am not an atheist. I am most certainly a theist, but not because of any objective evidence like Lee. Rather, I believe because of my own subjective evidence which I freely admit is not good enough to convince anybody of anything. My beef is that there seems to be only way of being a theist, and that is the evangelical Christian way.  There are others of us out there who are not trying to trash science in order to legitimatize their own personal take on religion. 
Personally, I don&#039;t know if Lee is being truthful about is commitment to atheism or lack thereof before his conversion to Christianity. To me, it does not prove anything. I am sure that is possible for an atheist to become a theist and vice-versa, but in the end, it does not prove anything for anyone else.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I agree with most of what has been said above, even though I am not an atheist. I am most certainly a theist, but not because of any objective evidence like Lee. Rather, I believe because of my own subjective evidence which I freely admit is not good enough to convince anybody of anything. My beef is that there seems to be only way of being a theist, and that is the evangelical Christian way.  There are others of us out there who are not trying to trash science in order to legitimatize their own personal take on religion.<br />
Personally, I don&#8217;t know if Lee is being truthful about is commitment to atheism or lack thereof before his conversion to Christianity. To me, it does not prove anything. I am sure that is possible for an atheist to become a theist and vice-versa, but in the end, it does not prove anything for anyone else.</p>
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		<title>By: Procrastinate Now &#171; Decisively Uncertain</title>
		<link>http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2009/01/02/lee-strobel-answers-your-questions-part-1/#comment-257489</link>
		<dc:creator>Procrastinate Now &#171; Decisively Uncertain</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 05 Jan 2009 01:22:02 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://friendlyatheist.com/?p=7350#comment-257489</guid>
		<description>[...] Monday, 5 January, 2009 in Share the LinksTags: Advertising, Alcohol, atheism, Blogging, Christianity, Limerick, Recession, Wind Power   Lee Strobel answers atheists&#8217; questions over at Friendly Atheist [...]</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>[...] Monday, 5 January, 2009 in Share the LinksTags: Advertising, Alcohol, atheism, Blogging, Christianity, Limerick, Recession, Wind Power   Lee Strobel answers atheists&#8217; questions over at Friendly Atheist [...]</p>
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		<title>By: I Don&#8217;t Heart Lee Strobel &#171; globalizati</title>
		<link>http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2009/01/02/lee-strobel-answers-your-questions-part-1/#comment-257483</link>
		<dc:creator>I Don&#8217;t Heart Lee Strobel &#171; globalizati</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 05 Jan 2009 00:39:58 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://friendlyatheist.com/?p=7350#comment-257483</guid>
		<description>[...] props where they&#8217;re due: Strobel is engaging with Hemant Mehta and his readers at the Friendly [...]</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>[...] props where they&#8217;re due: Strobel is engaging with Hemant Mehta and his readers at the Friendly [...]</p>
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