A Problem With General Christian Beliefs

by AllTimeJeff 61 Replies latest watchtower bible

  • AllTimeJeff
    AllTimeJeff

    First of all, lets head off some potential problems before they start. I am not doing this thread to argue. If you would like to, thats fine. Also, I totally understand and allow that someones individual beliefs as a Christian might be very different from the organized religion I am referring to here.

    Ok, here goes.

    In thinking about the claims Christians in general make, overall, they feel they worship the one true god, Jesus. You will frequently hear statements that Jesus saves us from our sins, that Jesus will protect his people, destroy the wicked. (if you don't think he will destroy the wicked, thats fine, I talk to people everyday who says he will do that to non Christians. So lets acknowledge that these kinds of Christians are out there)

    Then there is the matter of those who learn evolution and see that science and the bible are at odds when a literal reading is done. Of course, if it requires more then a literal reading, my next question is, who gets to interpret these supposedly non literal passages. You? Me?

    Then there is the problem of the accident of your birth. Christianity as a percentage is somewhere in the 12-15% range depending on the numbers you choose to use. Hardly an overwhelming number for the one true religion.

    I personally continue to see that there isn't a lot of acknowledgment on the above issues. While on the one hand, they feel their way worship is best, their god superior. Yet other religions claim the exact same thing with their holy book, their deities, and their dogma and explanations. All sides who make such claims have the exact same evidence.

    While doubt is mentioned by some as a key ingredient to a healthy faith, in the bible, it is also condemned. Even if you personally don't condemn it, most Christians do. And what about doubters who are scientists, rationalists, humanists, who are only being intellectually honest with the questions and objections they raise?

    If asked, I don't mind saying that I am Christian, much in the same way Catholics say they are Catholic. (i.e. they were raised that way, that is their identity) I come from a Judeo-Christian background in a Judeo-Christian world. So that is indelibly part of me. However, I don't worship the Christian god, I am a cultural Christian. (btw, if that offends, I won't make a big deal out of it if you don't want to call me a Christian, that isn't my point...)

    What I see as a problem is the sheer number/math issue. God is god. You can't all be right. Yet, Christians are a minority. Even if that isn't the point, the fact that the majority of the world believe differently due to background, culture, etc, seems to put their lives at danger.

    What will Jesus do with the continent of Asia? Burn it? They can't possibly be saved. Muslims? Sure is a shame that over a billion people are born into a hatred of Christianity. These poor people never have a chance. Is that their fault?

    So why believe that you have the best religion, the best god, that your beliefs are superior, when for most people on planet earth, they are not? And what does that say about your god that most people truly don't have even a remote chance of ever converting, ever learning about Jesus, due to the accident of their birth?

    The smaller the world gets, the less important religion becomes.

  • THE GLADIATOR
    THE GLADIATOR

    Belief and Non-belief are two sides of the same coin. They are both activities of the mind seeking to establish a substantial reality through the use of words. Belief is allowing ourselves to accept something that we have no evidence of; just hope and illusion in place of experience. While we debate whether or not we believe in a certain school of thought, reality slips away unnoticed.

  • zoiks
    zoiks

    While we debate whether or not we believe in a certain school of thought, reality slips away unnoticed.

  • leavingwt
    leavingwt

    For many of us, what is TRUE is less important than what is USEFUL.(I stole those terms from 'slimboyfat'.)

    So long as these "useful" beliefs are not violent and as long as they do not seek to deprive others of liberty, they don't bother me, no matter how untrue they are.

    I'll take it a step further. I will admit that I am, on occasion, I'm envious of the folks who actually believe they're going to live forever with Jesus. It sounds wonderful!

    BTS has said that he has the, "God Gene". I do not. The reality of NOW is overwhelming in a positive way, to me. I'm tickled that I was even born.

  • JWoods
    JWoods

    Traditional Christianity also (for me) has the troubling aspect of human sacrifice. Actually, if you think about it without romantic bias, about the same thing that the ancient Aztecs used to practice before Christians conquered them and put a stop to it.

  • OnTheWayOut
    OnTheWayOut

    I once visited Greece and was on a tour of the temples. I asked the tourguide if any Greeks still worshipped their gods.
    She laughed and laughed and thought of how silly that would be. "We know better" was part of her answer.

    So today's society laughs at cruel gods that intermingle with the humans and don't have the humans best interests at heart and occasionally have sex with the humans and produce incredible offspring. Oh, I could go on and on, but you get the idea. Such beliefs are silly now. Many of the ones laughing believe that the sons of gods could come and intermingle and have sex with the humans and produce incredible offspring or that God himself could impregnate a virgin human and produce incredible offspring. The God they worship could have streaks of cruelty against people who don't really know of him, but humans know better now. How do they know better? No matter what happens or what the Bible says, humans who worship the god of that Bible agree that HE has humans best interests at heart.

    So much progress.

  • hamilcarr
    hamilcarr

    they feel they worship the one true god, Jesus.

    Don't they worship one God, the Father (1 Cor 8:6), and isn't the belief that Jesus is the Father considered a heresy by orthodox christianity, called patripassionism?

  • Robert7
    Robert7

    The smaller the world gets, and the more scientific knowledge we gain, the less important religion becomes.

    People used to believe god was the cause of the unexplainable, earthquakes, disasters, the rainbow, plagues, etc. We now know scientifically they all occur naturally on their own. The more we learn, the less we need religion.

  • leavingwt
    leavingwt
    the belief that Jesus is the Father

    I didn't think that Jeff was implying that anyone believes Jesus is the Father. Jesus is God the Son to most Christians.

    I added a new word to may vocabulary, thank you -- patripassionism. I wasn't familiar with that.

  • AK - Jeff
    AK - Jeff

    I find close agreement with your thoughts here expressed, ATJ.

    The further I moved away from the dogma of Jwism, the more I was able to see how similar it was to Christian dogmatic opinion in general. The more I moved away from Christianity in general, the more I found it to be so similar to religion in general. The more I moved away from religion in general, the more I became aware of inability to discover God in any of it.

    Forests of cloudy belief systems are all very similar. The forest can only be seen as we get away from the center of it and look at it from a distant perspective.

    Good thread. Thanx

    Jeff

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