Catching Idle Butterflies

Stepping out

Why I am Not a Christian

That's the title of a book I bought yesterday written by Bertrand Russell.

Now why would a Christian buy a book by an atheist who despises all religions, Christianity in particular?

Because chalaedra was correct in her comment: "Your problem, if you have one, is you lack the confidence to believe in yourself."

That lack of confidence stems from my lack of knowledge. I keep going back to a blog entry by PlannerDan : "Invalid Entry"  (Please read it if you haven't yet, or even if you have, read it again, it's that good).

I want to know why an atheist is an atheist, because I have not a clue. I bought the book for two reasons. One, I want to know different points of view, to learn from others. Two, how can I better state my perspective if I'm arguing in a way an atheist can't understand?

For instance, I've always believed in God. I can't imagine a world without Him. All my arguments then stem from what I know about Scripture. If I approach and atheist with "The Bible says this, or Scriptures say that," all I would get is a blank stare in return. An atheist sees the Bible as a mere book, with no universal or timeless authority. He or she would claim whatever I say as irrelevant; the Bible is no proof of God's existence.

I also bought a second book of Russell's titled The History of Western Philosophy. The world is not separated by Christians and atheists. There are hundreds of philosophies and religions out there, and I want to know where they came from, and what those philosophies are.

I won't stop there, because one man's opinions and research on religion and philosophy isn't the only one out there, nor do I believe he represents all athiests. I recommend Voxxylady 's blog entry "A Lesson of "History""  which talks about the importance of reading both sides of a subject.

I have my work cut out for me, that's for sure.

Where will I find the time? I haven't quite convinced myself sleep is overrated, or as my cousin says, "Plenty of time to sleep when I'm dead."