I'm using this thread as a place to write down some of my thoughts on Christianity and hopefully spark some interesting and educating conversation.

No order.

Main question! Why believe in Christianity?

1. There are many religions, ones that focus on nature, and ones that focus on self wisdom and the like. I mean, nature is real, the earth is real. I'm standing on it. I'm looking right at it. You can't see God/Jesus.
2. The Bible. It was written by scientifically UNEDUCATED people. And then translated in 30 different languages. It can not be word for word correct.
3. Fundamentalists are fuckin idiots. You really think a man lived inside of a whale for a week? No. God created Adam from a rib? No.
4. If the Christian god is real, then why are there so many other religions? Some coming before Christianity. That fact right there should be enough to disprove the Christian faith.
5. You always hear about "faith" and "belief." That's because there is NO HARD EVIDENCE.
6. A book proves nothing. When people try to justify something because it is "in the bible" is ridiculous. That is like saying stuff out of Harry Potter is real!
*7.* God is like Santa Clause, but for adults.
8. The Bible contradicts itself left and right, and people make their own interpretations of the meanings. If God is "all-seeing and all-knowing" then surely he can be "all-communicating" and he could actually TELL US HIS MEANINGS.
9. If you are a true Christian, you do not get upset about other people's beliefs. In the Bibles it states that God gives free will. That means he said I'm allowed not to believe, even if I do burn in hell for eternity! Don't get mad.
10. Hell. Two words. Scare tactic.

Why can't society establish right from wrong and morals and ethics WITHOUT the use of a religion?

Spot the difference!
-Santa Clause, as a kid you were told to be good the whole year or you won't get PRESENTS on Christmas day and instead you will get a bag of coal. No one wants a bag of coal.
-God, be good and follow his rules your whole life and you can enter the gates of Heaven when you die, or instead you will be sent to Hell. No one wants to be sent to Hell.

Basically I feel if you are Christian or similar, you are ignorant. You are afraid to think critically and rationally. You were told what to believe as a child and are afraid to hear that you are now wrong.

I can understand believing in a god or higher power, but not the Christian god!

I feel like every religion should be respected. When someone claims that they are right and everybody else is wrong and only they know the true way to salvation, I feel like they are being a little greedy. I love religion. Even if you do not believe in any religion you have to at least agree that it is the biggest reason behind living in a safe society. If it was not for the laws from God and the consequences for not following those laws, this world would probably be a pretty scary place to live in.

If everyone suddenly knew for a fact that Christ never existed the world would be in utter chaos. I feel like it really does not matter if he existed or not. The christian bible is a historical landmark for the greatest morals discovered. It doesn't matter how you look at it; The bible is fascinating.

I am not claiming to be a christian. I just feel like christians aren't doing anything wrong by believing in their faith. Maybe when they read about the promises that Christ gave it brings them joy. Maybe it touches their heart in a way that no other religion does. Maybe they are christian because their parents raised them like that. the point is it does not really matter. If it makes people happy and they are not harming other people, then where the hell is there room for complaint?

God created Adam from a rib? No.

Well, at least you got that right.

the term christian is used to cover a wide range of beleifs, stereotyping only shows ignorance.

If everyone suddenly knew for a fact that Christ never existed the world would be in utter chaos. I feel like it really does not matter if he existed or not. The christian bible is a historical landmark for the greatest morals discovered. It doesn't matter how you look at it; The bible is fascinating.

I am not claiming to be a christian. I just feel like christians aren't doing anything wrong by believing in their faith. Maybe when they read about the promises that Christ gave it brings them joy. Maybe it touches their heart in a way that no other religion does. Maybe they are christian because their parents raised them like that. the point is it does not really matter. If it makes people happy and they are not harming other people, then where the hell is there room for complaint?

I'm pretty sure the Egyptian Book of the Dead has the same morals, and was written way before Christianity existed. I guess that doesn't mean the bible could still be a landmark though.

I really think mankind could have adapted on our own to learn the difference between right and wrong, without having a book persuading the masses to do the "right" things or else they will be punished. That just seems ridiculous to me. Even if it has good intentions...

Christianity makes worms thrive and crushes all great, strong, intelligent and truly spiritual people. It's very message glorifies all of humanity's weaknesses and condemns his strengths by calling them 'sin'.
Seriously, who wouldn't condemn a religion who condemns human nature?

Christianity makes worms thrive and crushes all great, strong, intelligent and truly spiritual people. It's very message glorifies all of humanity's weaknesses and condemns his strengths by calling them 'sin'.
Seriously, who wouldn't condemn a religion who condemns human nature?

Man you're talking about bibliolatry and churchianity, get with it bro, it's about loving your neighbour!:D

thread fails.

a) too broad, not specific enough.

b)Your questions are loaded statements.

For some reason or another it seems like non believers are always attacking christians and their god. Why does it matter to atheists what christians believe in?

Why does it matter to atheists what christians believe in?

Sadly religious people have a lot of political, economic, and social power. They don't keep their religion to themselves.

So, you have Christians wanting to have prayer in schools, wanting to remove evolution from the Science curriculum, wanting to put the ten commandments in courtrooms, you have Muslims wanting to institute or perpetuate Sharia law, etc.

So it matters a lot to atheists.

2. The Bible. It was written by scientifically UNEDUCATED people. And then translated in 30 different languages. It can not be word for word correct.


That isn't necessarily true. The majority of the Old Testament was written by Kabbalistic Jewish Priests who were arguably the most educated people in their society. These books were written by Kabbalists, with the intention of other Kabbalists reading them. It is everyone elses fault for taking what they said exoterically.

10. Hell. Two words. Scare tactic.

Correct, Hell and Satan didn't exist until after the Vatican did.


Basically I feel if you are Christian or similar, you are ignorant. You are afraid to think critically and rationally. You were told what to believe as a child and are afraid to hear that you are now wrong.


Unfortunately this is a problem with a lot more people than just religious people.

I feel like every religion should be respected.

I am part of a religion that believes God put children on this Earth for grown men to fuck them.

Still respect it? Repect it enough to let your daughter/neice/sister join? To repect her descision to join?

I thought not. I can think of numerous examples of something someone somewhere can call a religion and it ultimately begs to be disrespected.

I have and can point out numerous reasons why the Abrhamic religions and other bronze age and even modern day religions don't deserve respect.

That isn't necessarily true. The majority of the Old Testament was written by Kabbalistic Jewish Priests who were arguably the most educated people in their society.

The most educated in the Bronze Age is like bragging about how smart a first grader is. Perhaps the most educated in the first grade, but pretty stupid compared to the later periods of education.

thread fails.

a) too broad, not specific enough.

b)Your questions are loaded statements.

Your attempted dismissal fails:

I love how......

a) Nobody respected your bullshit assessment of the thread, and continued on as if you and your bullshit assessment did not exist

and

b) How fucking dumb it is to assert someones QUESTIONS are loaded STATEMENTS.

--------

It would have been better if you just said:

"I don't have the first clue, how to attack the OP; not that it is immune to attack or argumentation mind you, it is just that I am incapable of doing so, so I will attempt to dismiss it".

Perhaps not better, but at least honest.

Those things were in place as far as prayer in school, ten commandments in the court room. I guess it was the atheists who had them removed. Obviously, atheists have a lot of political and economic power.

1. There are many religions, ones that focus on nature, and ones that focus on self wisdom and the like. I mean, nature is real, the earth is real. I'm standing on it. I'm looking right at it. You can't see God/Jesus.

Contrarily, you can see Jesus quite easily. Still your mind until you reach enlightenment, then ask for the truth to be revealed to you. The problem with this though is that most people abhor enlightenment and will only seek it when in the grips of a demoralization so thorough and deep that suicide is the only other option.

2. The Bible. It was written by scientifically UNEDUCATED people. And then translated in 30 different languages. It can not be word for word correct.

The books of the Bible were written by many people; some militaristic, others poor and ignorant, others extremely well educated in the academia of their time.

3. Fundamentalists are fuckin idiots. You really think a man lived inside of a whale for a week? No. God created Adam from a rib? No.

If that is how they interpret the book, then so be it. I don't understand how that is a valid criticism of following Christ, though.

4. If the Christian god is real, then why are there so many other religions? Some coming before Christianity. That fact right there should be enough to disprove the Christian faith.

Humans don't much like God. We craft softer and more palpable idols to ease our conscience and the burden of our wrongs - what man enjoys guilt in his heart? And what is more tempting for a man to do about his guilt: Confession and atonement, or changing the standard of right and wrong in one's mind by denying God and replacing it with a lie?

5. You always hear about "faith" and "belief." That's because there is NO HARD EVIDENCE.

And there is no hard evidence of love, nor trust, nor compassion, nor envy, nor wrath, nor sloth, nor procrastination, nor deceit, nor lust, nor hope, nor anger, nor sorrow, nor thought, nor feeling, nor sensation, nor sight, nor sound, nor taste, nor scent. However, we trust our experience of these things to be an accurate perception of what is real; what makes these experiences valid, yet experiences of the divine invalid? I am prone to guessing that it is nothing more than your own contempt for anything that threatens the delusion in your mind that you wield power...that's what it was in my own mind.

6. A book proves nothing. When people try to justify something because it is "in the bible" is ridiculous. That is like saying stuff out of Harry Potter is real!

Have you ever been to China?

*7.* God is like Santa Clause, but for adults.

Only according to your concept.

8. The Bible contradicts itself left and right, and people make their own interpretations of the meanings. If God is "all-seeing and all-knowing" then surely he can be "all-communicating" and he could actually TELL US HIS MEANINGS.

As per your first contention, the guidance you mockingly request is easily found in a state of enlightenment. The 'contradictions' become easily understood and seem to be commonly known by all those who practice the Bible's instructions on reaching enlightenment.

9. If you are a true Christian, you do not get upset about other people's beliefs. In the Bibles it states that God gives free will. That means he said I'm allowed not to believe, even if I do burn in hell for eternity! Don't get mad.

True, we don't get upset by others' beliefs. However, we do lament according to the wrath that burns inside their hearts against the Creator; it is the sorrow we experience when God shows us humanity through His eyes. This sorrow is not because mankind doesn't believe in kind, it is because those who do not believe are subject to God's mercy, and as such, are stricken from existence all together so that they do not have to live with the agony of knowing for eternity what it is that they have rejected. Our family shrinks.

10. Hell. Two words. Scare tactic.

Two words: Complete Mercy

Hellfire is used to destroy those who reject God's love. It is an end of pain, not an enduring of it. Existence itself is consumed so that a soul, now aware of what has been lost through its sin and rejection of forgiveness, does not have to endure that pain eternally. The soul is eternal: without the act of mercy known as 'damnation', the soul would continue to exist in indescribable pain.

Why can't society establish right from wrong and morals and ethics WITHOUT the use of a religion?

Are you kidding? People don't even do what is right when they believe their eternal soul is at stake!

-Santa Clause, as a kid you were told to be good the whole year or you won't get PRESENTS on Christmas day and instead you will get a bag of coal. No one wants a bag of coal.
-God, be good and follow his rules your whole life and you can enter the gates of Heaven when you die, or instead you will be sent to Hell. No one wants to be sent to Hell.

Not much different. Thankfully, you express a heavily errant portrayal of God.

Basically I feel if you are Christian or similar, you are ignorant. You are afraid to think critically and rationally. You were told what to believe as a child and are afraid to hear that you are now wrong.

I feel like you greatly misunderstand the concepts and themes expressed within the Bible. I also feel as though much of your post was founded in bad experiences that occurred with unstudied individuals claiming Christ as Lord. I also feel as though you greatly misunderstand the Bible, Christ, and Creator in order to hold the view that it is contrary to critical thinking skills and rational discernment. It appears as though you have also blanketed all Christians as brainwashed children: this is simply not the case. I didn't read the Bible until I was 19 years old, and only believed it because of what I experienced immediately after finished The Revelation of John and closing the book.

I can understand believing in a god or higher power, but not the Christian god!

I don't see why, but okay.