Atheism and Followers of Jesus? Authority, In name of Jesus?

Definition of terms and explanation of concepts

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ndf8th
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Atheism and Followers of Jesus? Authority, In name of Jesus?

Post #1

Post by ndf8th »

The definition of weak atheism based on what some philosophers
wants it is that atheists lack of belief in gods or are without belief
or are absent of such belief.

AFAIK if you get baptized to be a Christian then it is done in the name
of Jesus Christ. You become a follower of a particular god as God
and Lord and that God has authority over you.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_and_ ... _Testament

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authority

In the Bible Jesus is addressed in Matthew as Emmanuel
meaning God is with us. But also referred to as Christ the anointed one
and Jesus

"you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins"
the Greek Kyrios came to represent his lordship over the world
Authority
In religion, there is a tendency to act in the belief that what will result will be different than what would have happened had a subservient act (e.g. prayer, meditation, service to others, etc.) not been performed; this is the essence of exercised authority.

What one does in expectation of meeting with the approval of the divine is derived from some means of obtained faith.

The faith comes by being affected by the authoritative direction of the divine.

Authoritative sources in religion communicate their direction through commandments and/or expressed approval of behaviour deemed to be acceptable or beneficial, with the expectation that the subject of this didactic process will use wisdom and understanding in their actions of service.
To be legal contracts are usually signed by the name of those involved.

So when atheists asks:

Do you believe in god? They seems to me to ask a very general question.
they don't name which God or what kind of authority that one gives that god.

To the atheist the question seems to be about the formal existence of
something that is independent of the believers personal experience of
being in relation to a particular religious tradition. Most likely a philosophic
question that is not related to any tradition?

What I try to hint at is that atheism is very different from
what I think religion is about?

As I get religion you relate to a named God. Not to a general
un-named any kind of god or gods of philosophy.

In religion that God is your Lord and have authority over you.
You follow that particular God. Do things in the name of that God.

In atheism you answer a question about very general gods.

Atheists very seldom asks. Are Jesus your Lord?

What I want to discuss is that atheism seems to be about something else
than what a religious believer is about.

But there are persons that maybe fit into believers in the unnamed gods
and those are the Non-affiliated believers that don't approve of the known
religious traditions. These are a bit like the very general kind of believers
that atheists name theists.

I've talked to hundreds of believers and none of them saw themselves
as theists. They did not follow any gods they only followed a particular God.


It can be my lack of logic that miss some nuance here and there.
But I find it likely that atheism seems to address a very narrow part of
what it is like to be a follower of a religious tradition.

AFAIK many atheists are very much into: "Does your god exist or not? "

Now I am not a self identified atheist while I may be it formally due to their definition
but I am not believer or follower either due to the demand to have a Lord over me
but I know that I feel very religious and that seems to be totally ignored by atheists
and followers.

So am I a third category?

Edit. For the sake of the friendly discussion.

I am not an Agnostic about God or gods.
Agnosticism is something else. We have to talk
about agnosticism in some other thread. sorry

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Divine Insight
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Re: Atheism and Followers of Jesus? Authority, In name of Je

Post #2

Post by Divine Insight »

ndf8th wrote: I am not an Agnostic about God or gods.
Agnosticism is something else. We have to talk
about agnosticism in some other thread. sorry
Agnostic simply means "Without Knowledge".

So if you're claiming to not be agnostic about a God or gods, then you must be claiming to have some sort of knowledge about their existence.

It's my stance that all humans are agnostic when it comes to a God or gods.

To claim otherwise is to claim to have absolute knowledge about a God or gods, and I personally don't believe that any human possesses any such knowledge. Although I've met plenty of kooks who have deluded themselves into believing that they do. But that's a whole different thing. ;)

Artie
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Post #3

Post by Artie »

Atheism just means non-belief in gods. Originally people believed in many gods. Then mono-theism came along. Mono-theists were the original atheists and still are. Christians were originally persecuted for being atheists, because they didn't believe in the gods others believed in. I would say I am an atheist for not believing in gods, and an agnostic for having no evidence for the existence of any gods.

ndf8th
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Post #4

Post by ndf8th »

AFAIK even Rickard Dawkins are formally agnostic about
the existence of God but are in practice some 99.99... sure of
that it is very or highly unlikely that there exist a creator god.

So in that sense I sure am agnostic too. But I am almost certain of
that there is no supernatural god due to the way they describe
the supernatural.

i am rather certain of that the word God instead refer to a kind of
social tool that Humans came up with way back in time.

Most likely it started with faith in that ancestors somehow remain
after death and can watch over us in "spirit". And those ideas
later where turned into ideas about all kinds of spirits and gods?

But that is a guess that I have. But I think one do things in the name
of an authority. Or Legacy.

Compare with the "legacy" of how one can play music or compose
music or legacy of a way to be moral or an intellectual stance?

The person is dead but his or her legacy remains and are revered.
It is acts in honor of that legacy and remember of what they stood for.

Jesus Buddha and so on. One are a follower of their way of doing things .
A life practice how to live? In the name of that person that inspire one to act.

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