Eric Fromm: Lifting the Curtain | Beacon Bolt: “Yes, you read that correctly, I am an atheist. For those of you who didn’t already know about my nonbelief, this news may be a bit shocking, but I was an atheist long before I came to NCU. I was baptized Lutheran, and raised Methodist, but as time went on I slowly came to the conclusion that God wasn’t real. For me, church was an empty ritual that I participated in so I could see friends, scripture was largely mythological, and Jesus was a great moral teacher, but he wasn’t God..”
While reading his letter it is a shame to hear that Christians would reject him.
“When people found out that I was an atheist, they started treating me differently. Sometimes they would verbally attack me, sometimes they would give me the cold shoulder, and sometimes they just gave me dirty looks. “
I’ve said it before I’m not 100% sure of my faith, I’m more or less agnostic but I recognize and value those of faith around me. I also value those without it. My best friend is a graduate of Asbury Seminary and he was one of the most influential persons in getting me to go to church and understand what Christianity is all about. Without his friendship and his guidance I would probably have never attended Liberty University, I may have never graduated from college at all.
Even as a non believer or someone on the cusp of believing I think I grasp what his peers did not. The great commission is about going out embracing non believers and bringing them into the fold. The students who before this letter was written have failed at their first mission as Christians and this is saddening. Christianity is not about bullying one on faith but about introducing the love of Christ into the lives of those who need it.
In a follow up interview with ABC Mr. Fromm has said that the reception since his letter was written has been for the most part better than expected.
“I actually have gotten more hugs than ever before. It’s a very strange thing,” Fromm told ABC News
But there are still those Christians who do not understand their actions. This is of course to be expected nobody is perfect, Christian, Jew, Muslim, Atheist. We are all flawed and the reception from some will no doubt fail to live up to the ideals professed by a faith’s theological teachings.
Atheism as defined by Webster means “the disbelief in the existence of a deity”
In Christian circles it is more refined to mean: “Denial of the existence of God in the midst of full knowledge that the True God does indeed exist”.
I think this latter definition is a bit more fitting in the Christian sense as it clearly delineates the difference between somebody who does not believe in God despite full knowledge and the one who does not believe in God because of the lack of knowledge. While the Tencommandments takes a much more brutal approach towards Athiests and Agnostics, damning even myself, the definition explains the difference much more clearly.
Mr. Fromm and myself would fall much more closely into the Christian definition of Atheism than many of our secular brothers as we not only don’t believe but we have immersed ourselves in the belief structure, surrounded ourselves with believers and taken the time to learn what the faith and theology truly is instead of just outright reject it.
I cannot speak for Mr. Fromm as to if he has received a true and credible witness, though one would hope this happened given his choice of school and the people he chose to surround himself with. If he hadn’t though, the argument could be made that the rumors, and accusational tone and questions from his peers resulted in a Christian Blockade on the way to faith. If this is the case then Mr. Fromm is theologically speaking not an atheist, he is simply a non believer. He even said he wanted to believe but couldn’t.
What some Christians do not understand is God leaves a path for the non believer. The path is not just through Christ, nor is it through following all of God’s laws. Christians should be wary of bearing false witness to Christ as this drives would be saved souls away. Not only does this drive people away, but it is in direct violation of the Ten Commandments, Though shalt not carry the Lord’s Name in vain. Contrary to many contemporary teachings of this commandment in that you shouldn’t swear using the Lord’s Name, it might better be understood that you will not carry out acts under his authority that are in fact less than Holy.
To this end, Christians that would like snidely at a non believer are in truth a greater sinner than those who don’t believe. The non believer may be living in sin, but is doing so blindly. The believer who actively breaks a Commandment of the Lord is doing so in full knowledge of the Lord. Academically speaking the believer may be saved, but at what cost? His sin works as a wedge, he is in violation of the great commission as well as following the first commandments the Lord set out for us.
The truth is that Salvation is not done via works, or by obeying the law rather it is through grace. “For it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God not by works, so that no one can boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9.
But Mr. Fromm does not have faith, he sees the community he is in as one that he felt comfortable in and wanted to be a part of but could not get over the hurdle of faith. The motivator for him to write his letter was because he no longer felt comfortable in his community. Christians should not feel comfortable, they should however be able to present the credible witness of Christ to the non believer. Spreading rumors, questionable glances these are things that are not in keeping with the student mission.
I do hope that the feeling of welcome Mr. Fromm has received since coming out continues, and more so that he remains receptive however skeptical of the word. My first set of prayers go out to his fellow classmates at NCU as they clearly are failing in their own faith.
-BrotherLeRoy