I've been "neglecting" both of my blogs, but this one even more than the other one, the past couple weeks. I've been really busy, and I just got done spending this week working the overnight shift. I'm hoping I'll be able to get back into the regular swing of things within the next couple of days. Until then, forgive me if my thoughts seem a little disjointed, as I'm somewhat sleep-deprived right now.
At work, there's a girl (we'll call her K) that runs the department next to mine. I get along well enough with K. In the past, we've had our differences, but now that we're working alongside each other much of the time, we've been getting to know each other a lot better, and
we're slowly developing a friendship. K's best friend just moved across the country, and her other best friend lives a couple hours away, and is married with a kid, so K doesn't get to see her much either. I can tell she's feeling a little lonely, and I'm more than happy to cheer her up. This past week, K worked the overnight shift with me, so we spent 40 hours, pretty much side by side. We've had a lot of conversations and
goofy moments, and the friendship that had been building seems to be growing even more. This is great news for me too, as I don't have many friends here, and I feel kind of isolated, especially living on the very edge of the suburbs, because I don't get back "into town" very often, so to have someone to talk to is great.
K and I have one big difference though.
She's a very outspoken atheist, and I'm obviously not. She is probably the single most respectful atheist I have ever met though. We are able to see past that glaring difference and respect each other's beliefs. We are even comfortable enough with it that we are able to have a few jokes about it. One day, K sneezed, and I looked at her and said, "Well, usually this is where I say
'God bless you!', but....I'm just not sure what to do here!" We both laughed, and it spurred a discussion on what to say when an atheist sneezes (She'd frequently heard "Take care" as an appropriate response). It's become a bit of an ongoing joke with us.
In the time we've known each other, I've never known her to say anything mean or offensive about my faith, which seems to be rare for the atheists that I've met. And because she shows me that respect, I return that respect by not overtly witnessing to her. I believe that I've shown her through my actions how my faith affects me, which I think is part of why she does show me that respect.
I think a lot of the time, we as Christians spend a lot of time sheltering ourselves and saying that we can't be friends with non-believers. And I also think that when we do that, we miss out on not only the chance to show others the Christian faith, but
we miss out on some really great friendships too. K and I will never be "best" friends, but I am really happy to be able to call her my friend.
How do you feel about being friends with non-believers? How "diverse" is your group of friends?
Comments (15)
Hey, I'm the guy you agreed with about The Secret. I don't know if you know, but I'm an outspoken atheist too.
The atheists who are rude or disrespectful, ie "religion is BS" "stop believing in fairy tales" etc in my experience usually say such things not out of malice towards believers, but frustration because of all the crap they have to put up with and see going on in this country because of religion. George Bush Sr (current president's daddy) said publicly that atheists should not be considered citizens or patriots. George Bush Jr. has said that he invaded two countries because god told him to.
Imagine how absolutely terrifying this kind of thing is from an atheist's perspective.
Anyway, just my .02
Thanks for befriending a godless heathen : P
The longer I have spent as a Christian, the harder it becomes to keep the contacts that are not christian. Some are easy, like our high school friends, (they will go on forever) but others are just too far apart from us in most of our normal everyday lifestyle.
There have been some, but all in all my real fellowship is with fellow christians and the others are more like on the fringe with no depth.
@agnophilo@xanga - I definitely don't have a problem with outspoken Godless heathens. :) I also don't believe that religion should play a part in government, especially the presidency. Our nation was not founded to be a Christian nation, as so many of my brethren would like to believe, it was founded on *religious freedom*. I can definitely see how the presence of a "Christian" like either of the Bushes in the Oval Office would make any non-Christian uneasy. Hell, they make ME uneasy!
Anyways, it's nice to "meet" you here. :)
In my experience, most atheists (or agnostics for that matter) tend to not discuss their religion much at all, unless the topic comes up. Those that won't shut up about the non-existance of God are no fun to hang out with anyway, regardless of religious belief, or, as agnophilo@xanga
said, when they get fed up with religion being forced upon them, or when looked down upon for lack of religion; I could go on, but that's not the focus of this post.
I'm glad you made friends with an athiest. I myself and deist, and my friends span all kinds of religions. Just as you have said that Christians may be missing out on great friendships by not associating with non-believers, non-Christians may miss out on great friendships by not associating with Christians.
Thank you for sharing this post, it makes me glad to see people able to get along regardless of faith.
Thanks for your visit. Being a witness to your co-worker is a wonderful challenge for the Lord---He is using you. I wish you well.
Blessings
frank
@Biblerapture@xanga - I'm an atheist, about as far from religious as you can get, and I have no problem talking to, being friends with etc believers. So long as they're not obnoxious or something of course.
@pinksunfiredragon - It's nice to see those views coming from christians. It's amazing that it's mostly non-believers who are offended by abuse of religion, when to us it's horrible, but to you it's also blasphemy. You'd think christians would be the most offended by bush's politics, but the most "religious" are the only ones left supporting him.
@agnophilo@xanga - Yes, I have read your comments here on this website. You are at the top of my prayer list my friend...
@Biblerapture@xanga - Way to be condescending. You're christian? I know a good psychologist you could see, clear that right up.
@agnophilo@xanga - Sorry if it sounded condescending, I did not mean it that way. You bring a smile to my face. :>) It is a natural thing for me to pray about everything; from the small to the large.
It's extraordinarily insulting to a non-believer to be told "I'll pray for you" because they're not christian. Especially since we're told that so often.
I don't mean to bite your head off, it's just the ten thousandth time.
I don't get that "witnessing" thing. I was raised as a Catholic and nobody told me I was supposed to go around acting like that. Is it a protestant thing?
Why can I comment on your blog but I'm banned from revlife?
@agnophilo@xanga - I have no idea. How did you get banned from Revelife?
I noticed they were deleting my comments and I said it wasn't very christian and ended my blog comment with "Assholes". I was banned in about ten seconds.
I know I shouldn't have, but ideological censorship pisses me off big-time.
They could've left any insult imaginable on my blog or in their blog comments and I would've responded reasonably and not in kind. But actions speak louder than words, and to just delete whatever comments you don't agree with - fuck them.
I'm still pissed.
I'm thinking of writing a blog about pseudo-christianity and revelife and listing a dozen or so biblical commandments they just ignored, like forgiveness, turning the other cheek, loving your enemies etc.
Most atheists I know are ten times the christians people like them are.
Mark.