Anna at Bigger Than Me, has written an article, Spiritual, Supernatural Things (Part 2), which has brought on some interesting comments from truthwalker.
Now I know, it’s easy for us believers, especially me, to point our fingers at truthwalker and say, “You shoulda done this. You shoulda done that. What’s your problem?”
Anna admitted in her article:
And to be quite honest, this scared me. How is it possible that someone who had known the love of Jesus would willingly walk away?…God simply wasn’t there for them when they needed Him. And at this pivotal point, doubt entered in… And what scared me the most is that this could happen to any one of us, even me.
Most of us believers have a little bit of Peter inside us which on the one hand boasts, “Lord, I will never leave you” and on the other hand looks for the next bus out of town when everything falls to pieces.
Of course, maybe you are the rock-solid exception. If you are, God bless you. But for the rest of us, maybe this is a good time to ask, “At what point, will I fall away?”
And if you do not carry your own cross, you cannot be My disciple. But don’t begin until you count the cost…(Luke 14:27-28 New Living Translation)
Swimming Upstream appears at this blog site on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. It’s a little of this and a little of that, all written to encourage and exhort believers in their Christian jouneys.
Larry Who 
Larry, thank you for linking to my post. For me it comes to knowing that as a human, I am quite capable of falling away. I have learned where to put up the fences in my mind, so as not to go too far — but even this isn’t good enough. In Christ alone I place my trust. And I have to take Him seriously when He tells us to pray this way: “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Why would He tell us to pray this way, if we can keep ourselves in His care by our own power?
Anna,
Good points.
One of my favorite scriptures that holds a great promise for all believers is Jude 24. “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy.”
Our dependence is upon Him, not us.
You make a common mistake sir. You think an atheist choices this viewpoint. We don’t. No one can make themselves believe something they don’t believe. Belief is not forced, it simply is.
Atheists are not people who see God and look the other way, we are people who can’t see God at all.
There’s a world of difference.
truthwalker,
Thanks for your comment.
I write from a Christian and scriptural viewpoint, not an intellectual one. So, that being so, a believer is a person who has given his (or her) life to Christ, and a new birth (John 3:3 and 2 Corinthians 5:17) has taken place.
Now, let’s say for whatever reason, the believer decides to turn his back on Christ. Maybe, he calls himself a Buddhist, a Hindu, a Muslim or an atheist, but it really makes no difference what the person calls himself because scripturally, he has fallen away from the faith.
In the Old Testament, when a person turned his back on God, he was labeled a “back slider.” Meaning, he walked away from God.
The New Testament does not use this term with believers. Why? Because Jesus lives in the heart of the believer. So, even if the person denounces Christ and walks away from the faith, guess what? Jesus still lives within the person. After all, how do you get un-born again? Not possible!
But if a person is an unbeliever and an atheist, then you are correct with your assumptions. And it is true, atheists are people who can’t see God.
To be honest, I seldom succeed in a discussion with an atheist on the internet. After all, we are just slinging words back and forth.
But in person, I have never, ever lost a discussion with an atheist.