Aug 01 2008
Functional Atheism
“Hello, my name is Steve and I’m a functional atheist.”
“Hi, Steve.”
This is from a comment on the Panera Ecclesiology post at InternetMonk:
Most of our luxurious lives take for granted how functionally atheistic they actually are[.]
And Aliasmoi’s spot on about Bonhoeffer — he’ll make you uncomfortable alright (from The Cost of Discipleship): “Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline. Communion without confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ.” Or, to put it even more clearly, it is to hear the Gospel preached as follows: “Of course you have sinned, but now everything is forgiven, so you can stay as you are and enjoy the consolations of forgiveness.”
The context was a conversation overheard at a restaurant between two men a) griping abut a woman who wouldn’t sleep with them and b) discussing their church preferences. (Read the original post and all of the comments.)
This one hurt. You can say what you like about the two young men in question, but it goes to the heart of what passes for the Christian walk these days. How can we claim the name of Christ and still be hip-deep in this kind of behavior? There’s a passage in Romans that I frequently hear when this topic comes up:
“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?” (Romans 6:1-2, NASB)
As I examine it, though, I don’t think it applies in this context (or at least as I have always interpreted the passage). It seems to say, ‘Can I sin so that I can get more of God’s grace?’ but the context implies ‘I’m going to sin because I think God’s grace will cover whatever I decide to do.’
That’s functional atheism. It’s acting as if God did not exist. We profess to follow Christ, but we act as if there is no cost. We act as if God’s presence is irrelevant to our actions. I’m guilty and that makes me a functional atheist as well. How do we walk when we can’t live up to God’s standard of behavior?
It goes back to the Law in the Old Testament, whose purpose was to show Israel that they couldn’t keep it. There was and is a need for a force outside of us to make a change in who we are. That’s called sanctification and it’s the job of the Holy Spirit to work within us to shape our lives into a Christ-like pattern. As a functional atheist, I fight him every day. Why?
August 2nd, 2008 at 02:08 am
It is the voice of sanity and reason. Don’t worry- you’ll kill it soon enough.
August 3rd, 2008 at 18:27 pm
Sam,
Functional atheism is distinct from ‘traditional’ atheism in that many nominal Christians (me included) often act as if their faith in God’s grace overrides any obligation to act in a Christ-like manner. It’s certainly not a badge of honor.