Blaise Pascal

[Char-Gar]

"There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of each man which cannot be satisfied by any created thing but only by God the Creator, made know through Jesus Christ.”

Blaise Pascal

[Thundarstick]

Those who try and fill it with "things" are still empty, no matter how much they stuff in it.

Great quote.

[GhostHawk]

Yep, material things will never scratch that itch. Only love works, and our creator's love is the strongest. It can light you up like a 150 watt light bulb.

[Blackwater]

That pretty well sums it up. So many now are pursuing the "good life," mostly meaning riches, power and sex, and the more they get of it, the emptier they are. There will never be any sort of substitute for knowing God, and having a personal relationship with Him. Never. And atheists who glory in their atheism, do so mostly trying to convince themselves that they're smarter, wiser and abler than the rest of us, who believe. But somewhere down deep inside them, they KNOW (not believe, but "Know") what they're doing, even if they'd never admit it. It seems that many, if not most, who've really committed themselves to disproving God, have only wound up worshiping Him instead. C. S. Lewis is one great example, but there are many more. I saw a program on TV recently where a man I'd never heard of before, and who was a committed atheist, became Christian just by making a half-hearted attempt to disprove God. Most cases of this type are never publicized, so we never hear of them. And most too are probably a bit ashamed of their foolishness in disbelief. God IS, and always WILL be. And He rules over us whether we like it or admit it or not.

It's often said that "There are two kinds of people in this world," and then they divide us up into various classes. Well, there really are two kinds of people in the world: 1. Those who are honest and believe; and 2. Those who pretend, and claim disbelief. God did not manifest Himself to confuse us, or mystify us. He has revealed Himself to nurture and guide us, and so that we can be happy and satisfied. He did not create the universe and all of us in it just to stand in Heaven and fulfill our every whim. He made us to serve Him and His purposes. This world is a testing and proving ground, not some sort of Eden where everything we need is no further away than a plea. Atheists want God to do all the hard work FOR us. Christians want to put their shoulders to the load and do our part.

You can tell a lot about a man by whether he's honest enough to be a Christian, or whether he's muddling along in his atheism, claiming he's doing "alright." No man is complete without God in his heart. No man. Many may not know this, because they've never had God in their heart, so they can't possibly know the difference. But it's true, and ol' Blaise wasn't the first to say it, either.

And one more thing: God never made Truth to be so obscure that we can't know it. He made Truth, ALL His Truths, to be found rather easily, actually. All that's necessary is a humble heart and an honest and earnest desire to know it. My young Down's syndrome cousin found it, and knew more than enough to know how valuable it was. Those who claim Truth is "unknowable" are just trying to make excuses for themselves. But the effect is to make them unfit for entry into Heaven. They make all sorts of jokes about being glad of that, but I don't think they'll be joking when it comes to pass for real. Have YOU ever seen a humble atheist? I haven't. All have been haughty and proud enough to keep them from simply seeing plain and simple and self evident truths. That's an awful load to carry in this life. I feel sorry for them, at least in a way. But I'm glad that God keeps Heaven fit for those who love and try to serve Him. That is priority #1, and He's very, very good at it. Do we serve an awesome God or what?

[EDG]

You are very wrong about atheists and many other things.
We simply do not believe in any supreme being. When we get up in the morning we are thankful for another nice day. But we do not attribute that nice day to some magic friend in the sky.
To the extent that you mis-characterize and run down atheists you violate the teachings of your own faith. What's new? You do not make yourself taller by cutting off the legs of someone else.


That pretty well sums it up. So many now are pursuing the "good life," mostly meaning riches, power and sex, and the more they get of it, the emptier they are. There will never be any sort of substitute for knowing God, and having a personal relationship with Him. Never. And atheists who glory in their atheism, do so mostly trying to convince themselves that they're smarter, wiser and abler than the rest of us, who believe. But somewhere down deep inside them, they KNOW (not believe, but "Know") what they're doing, even if they'd never admit it. It seems that many, if not most, who've really committed themselves to disproving God, have only wound up worshiping Him instead. C. S. Lewis is one great example, but there are many more. I saw a program on TV recently where a man I'd never heard of before, and who was a committed atheist, became Christian just by making a half-hearted attempt to disprove God. Most cases of this type are never publicized, so we never hear of them. And most too are probably a bit ashamed of their foolishness in disbelief. God IS, and always WILL be. And He rules over us whether we like it or admit it or not.

It's often said that "There are two kinds of people in this world," and then they divide us up into various classes. Well, there really are two kinds of people in the world: 1. Those who are honest and believe; and 2. Those who pretend, and claim disbelief. God did not manifest Himself to confuse us, or mystify us. He has revealed Himself to nurture and guide us, and so that we can be happy and satisfied. He did not create the universe and all of us in it just to stand in Heaven and fulfill our every whim. He made us to serve Him and His purposes. This world is a testing and proving ground, not some sort of Eden where everything we need is no further away than a plea. Atheists want God to do all the hard work FOR us. Christians want to put their shoulders to the load and do our part.

You can tell a lot about a man by whether he's honest enough to be a Christian, or whether he's muddling along in his atheism, claiming he's doing "alright." No man is complete without God in his heart. No man. Many may not know this, because they've never had God in their heart, so they can't possibly know the difference. But it's true, and ol' Blaise wasn't the first to say it, either.

And one more thing: God never made Truth to be so obscure that we can't know it. He made Truth, ALL His Truths, to be found rather easily, actually. All that's necessary is a humble heart and an honest and earnest desire to know it. My young Down's syndrome cousin found it, and knew more than enough to know how valuable it was. Those who claim Truth is "unknowable" are just trying to make excuses for themselves. But the effect is to make them unfit for entry into Heaven. They make all sorts of jokes about being glad of that, but I don't think they'll be joking when it comes to pass for real. Have YOU ever seen a humble atheist? I haven't. All have been haughty and proud enough to keep them from simply seeing plain and simple and self evident truths. That's an awful load to carry in this life. I feel sorry for them, at least in a way. But I'm glad that God keeps Heaven fit for those who love and try to serve Him. That is priority #1, and He's very, very good at it. Do we serve an awesome God or what?

[Bigslug]

Let's see if I've got old Blaise and BW's bullet points square in my bean:

Even if a person lives what they perceive to be their purpose to the fullest every day; makes it their reason for getting out of bed every morning; goes to bed and sleeps soundly every night because they feel like they did it to their utmost; and even if those acts might be something that one of a Christian bent thinks THEIR god would approve of, if the person performing those acts did not stamp "These works performed in the name of Jesus" on them, then that person is leading a bleak, unfulfilled existence. To make matters worse, even if that same person's purpose and acts happened to square with some Christian ideal, such as curing the Pope of cancer, they'd still be going to hell.

This seems a lot like a junkie telling an alcoholic and a pot head that heroin is the only path to true bliss. Everybody wants something to quiet "the voices", and we all pick our own drugs - literal or figurative - so maybe applying my-way-or-the-highway fascist reasoning to your own isn't the best course. Perhaps we should add the letter of every conceivable outlook and philosophy ("R" for Religious) to the end of the LGBTQ alphabet and let everybody debate who and what is the best thing to fill our various "voids" with.

From the Book: Cinderella, Chapter: Heartbreak Station, Verse: Shelter Me https://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video?fr=mcafee&p=cinderella+shelter+lyrics#id=1&vid=572aa95cff0b0e7bcbd43d80ce917ea3&action=click

I perceive a great deal of what I can only describe as "spiritual racism" wrapped up in the premise of the OP. If you've ever wondered why so many folks recoil from that particular world view as though it's a cancer that needs curing, you might consider that angle for a moment.