Great comment, greginaurora.
«This is what they’ve been taught. Every facet of modern life is teaching them that they should hate Christ. »
This is the root cause. It is «everything except Christ». When you see people in a spiritual quest, it is always some exotic religion but not Christianity, which is weird, because these are Western people. It is why LGBTI and Islam are compatible. If your goal is «not blue», you can have black and white at the same time. Not X is not a coherent position.
For me, an example is the story of Cat Stevens, now Yusuf Islam (taken from Wikipedia, this source of rigor):
In 1976, Stevens nearly drowned off the coast of Malibu, California, United States, and said he shouted: «Oh, God! If you save me I will work for you.» He related that right afterward a wave appeared and carried him back to shore. This brush with death intensified his long-held quest for spiritual truth. He had looked into «Buddhism, Zen, I Ching, numerology, tarot cards, and astrology». Stevens’ brother David Gordon, a convert to Judaism, brought him a copy of the Qur’an as a birthday gift from a trip to Jerusalem. Stevens was quickly taken with its content, and he began his transition to Islam.
Buddhism, Zen, I Ching, numerology, tarot cards, astrology and finally Islam. WTF? Is there any religion that is missing from this list, especially when we are talking about a Western guy, with Western parents and in a Western culture?
So when you are hungry you got on a plane and go to India, China and the Middle East to eat some exotic and strange food but you never never think of going out of your apartment and simply grab a burger.
When you are spiritually hungry, you have to try everything except Christianity. You don’t think: «I will start my spiritual quest with the spiritual tradition that is more easily available and the one that is more compatible for my culture. Then, if I found it wanting, I will look for other spiritual traditions». No, it is everything except Christianity. This reveals the high degree of brainwashing that modern people have against Christianity.
Comment: This is the original comment of Greginaurora
I’ve found nearly all atheists I’ve met have been not atheists at all, but rather anti-Christians. Not all of them. Some have no hostility and are better classified as agnostics. But most are, and they want you to know they’re an atheist and Christianity is a problem.
They’re not hostile to any other religion.
This is the giveaway. Gays who hate Christ but are fine with Islam. Anarchists who hate Christ but are fine with Hinduism. Jews who hate Christ but are fine with Buddhism. Feminists who hate Christ but are fine with a resurgent Viking(!) religion.
This isn’t a matter of questioning their own faith, nor is it being angry with God through their own lack of humility. This is what they’ve been taught. Every facet of modern life is teaching them that they should hate Christ. In doing so, they reject everything Good, they reject Truth. They become unhinged and lose their minds.
They believe anything they’re told.
There’s a great insight that came out of the chans; in the modern age, being subversive means going to Church, raising a family, being honest and humble. Everyone else has rejected the Truth and subsequently lost their minds. (edit: I think most of the churches have been converged, so “going to church” may not be the best way to know Christ and worship God, but that’s a larger discussion).
The loudmouth atheists are, sadly, the ones who need the presence of God in their lives most, to guide them. They’ve become ships unmoored. They could become normal people with humility before God. But they’ve been taught to hate God. They’ve no guidance and no restraint.
They’re sad. I think these people WANT God to exist, want to be punished for their indiscretions, want discipline and restraint. Traditionally, this would have been provided here in this world by the Church. God allows us to succeed or fail on our own merits in this world. Some can find guidance through the Holy Spirit. Others need physical, tangible guidance, what they could get from going to the physical church.
Maybe, and this is a metaphysical question, but maybe this is a culling. Maybe the physical churches are being corrected. Or maybe those who need physical, tangible guidance are those who cannot be reached by the Holy Spirit, and are not of God. Maybe those that are rejecting God are actually those who have been rejected BY God.
I don’t know what God’s plan is. Nor does anyone else.