To non-Christians, I am curious.......?

Question

Why all the questions on religion and Christianity. Please don't misunderstand I am not offended. This is only for the non-christians who have asked intelligent questions. Many of the questions by non-Christians have been thought provoking and intelligent. Many have made me research my bible and that actually gave me a blessing. Afterall, christians have to be prepared to answer questions about the Bible, right? However, it also seems the askers are not asking because they are seeking but to disprove God. What motivates you to spend that kind of time. I think homosexuality is a sin but I don't spend any time asking questions in that catorgory. I don't spend the time trying to get them to convert. Not that I don't care, I don't think it would be effective. So, my question is to those who ask good questions....why are you seeking answers to biblical questions if you don't believe in the bible? Do you think you need to disprove God? Is it your form of "witnessing"?

Ok, Ok, I was called self-righteous once and it seems a few others mistook my question. I think non-christians have every right to ask anything on this catorgory. I was NOT disputing that. I also said I was not offended by the questions and even said they were thought provoking. I simply wanted to know the motivation. I studied psych in college. I wonder what drives people. Oh and I will be the first to admit there are plenty of Christian jerks to go around. Motivation was all I was after. Thanks so far to those who understood and answered accordingly. I promise I was not trying to offend. I don't really see how it even appeared that way.

Answer 1

Just as a good christian considers it his/her holy duty to spread the gospel to those who have not heard, I consider it my duty as a free thinker to ask thought provoking questions that make people question their beliefs.
I am not against christianity, islam, judaism, buddhism, or any other religions. Every one of these religions contains valuable lessons and is based on sound principles. However, an over-reliance on religion can cause some very ugly effects in people, like hate, intolerance, bigotry, pride, and worst of all, the attitude that "everything that happens is god's will" (or a total abdication of responsibility for one's own actions).
Personally, I consider organized religion to be the chief source of evil in the world. So much evil has been wrought in the name of god, allah, whatever, that it simply boggles the mind.
That being said, I believe that 99.9% of those who follow organized religions to be good people, simply misguided by their elders, or those more learned at manipulation. This is my impetus for asking questions about the bible (since christianity is the religion I am most familiar with). I feel that if I can get one person to _really_ think about what they are devoting their life to, I have done some good, regardless of whether I can change their opinion or not (which admittedly I rarely do).
To some people, this makes me an evil person, because I refuse to accept god into my heart and ask forgiveness for being the person he made me to be. That is fine with me, because I can go to bed every night and feel that I have done good things.
Besides, god warned you that there would be guys like me to test your faith...I'm just filling the position.

Answer 2

I don't try to disprove God. While I don't believe in a Christian God (or any other religion's Gods for that matter) I do believe that there is some type of "God" or "Gods" that did create us. When I ask questions about Christianity, it is usually about things I don't understand about it, or to see why Christians think the way they do. I have read some questions and answers here though that seem to try to disprove God. It is the same reason many Christians try to convert people, they think it will make the world a better place. So many people are causing wars when it comes to religion, they think that if people stop believing in it all together, well, it would be easier for everyone to get along. At least, that is probably one of the reasons anyway.

Answer 3

God (as understood as omnipotent, omniscient, and all loving) has actually been disproven. That doesn't extend to everything else, and the other question is "So what?"

Personally, I'm playing devil's advocate with myself. I like to figure out the logical situations of the area. And ultimately, whenever someone tries to convert me to Christianity, it tends to come up being "You've made an illogical conclusion in your arguement, and as thus it is no longer an arguement, and I don't have to bother trying to argue with you, because my arguements will be equally as irrelevant."

But those of us who have gained a skill in recognizing failures of logic are the ones that are willing to engage in these tedious discussions because, while predominantly pointless, they at least blow some time. It doesn't take that much energy on my part to disprove things or make logical arguements, it's just something I do in my spare time. I will admit, though, that the "Divine logic" arguement was on my mind the other day, and I was considering asking for some kind of evidence that such a thing really existed. I eventually came up with the idea of the paradox: a logical impossibility. "This sentence is false." If it's false, it suddenly becomes true, and it can't be true or else it's false. Logic is almost always binary: True or false. However, in this case, the answer is neither. But not that it is somewhere inbetween true or false: that's foolish. It's simply unverifiable. So ultimately, I came to the conclusion that there are some things that logic cannot attest to (usually the truth of a situation in which the truth of the situation affects the truth of the situation; This Sentence is True is actually also unveriafiable, not because neither answer is possible, but because both true and false can describe it). So, what religion thinks that god is neither true or false, but rather unverifiable? Agnosticism! Well, Ignosticism anyway.

It's just a thought experiment for a lot of us, something to spend time on. And really, when world views clash, there tends to be disagreements. I generally give people the benefit of the doubt.

Answer 4

Sometimes people need to research and hear a good answer before they take their steps into religion.
Its like asking which symptoms of a drug, or whats in a dish before you eat it. You don;t just dive in the water without putting your toe in and looking around to see if others are having fun.
You may not have gone through the transition of being non-denominational to being christian so you may not know that there are a lot of holes and doubts that have risen from past mistakes that all of the religions have made....before devoting your life to something so deep and so time consuming you must surely believe that you have to test and test and see what answers "true Christians have".
I have been in that situation and have found that true Christians that will hold their hand on a book are the most evil and off minded people i have ever known...maybe because something that they believe in isn't "paying off", or maybe because they are just nuts, but lets get realistic...before you say I do to Christianity don't you think that they as human beings...as citizens and equal moral brothers have the right to ask questions.
It may seem to you that they are prying and trying to down God, but the truth is that we are all looking for some assurance that we are not going to get burned by someone who is for another cause.
We all know as humans that there is plenty of that around.

Answer 5

wow what a very good question!
and once again i see you equate God with Christ! And this is the error we try to shed not only light on but to give you thought to the error and pray that you will see that the true interpreter is guided by King James!
now how many Christian has ever read The Torah!
if you never have then do i beg of you to know where your religion has stemmed from if you only read the new testament you know nothing of Christianity!
Now once again there are many Christians that no very little of the Old Testament and this is so very sad and why is it Christians so not understand Christ teaching was all done in Parables how much common knowledge is it to understand the man Only spreaded all he knew in the old testament in his parables to make the people of his time Understand , So i beg you all to read and study don't just listen to what is normal, do research as you do read fully understand that the New testament has been badly tampered by a leader a king! oh which is James!!

Answer 6

I don't consider myself a Christian any more, though I acknowledge my Christian heritage. What annoys me even more than some of the really offensive questions on both sides are those fundamentalist Christians who want to silence honest legitimate questions from people, like the ones you were referring to. It makes all Christians look like idiots. Example: some people say people are damned or saved according to what they might say in a question or answer here. If you believe in God, as a Christian, wouldn't you agree that it is up to God to decide who is damned and who is saved. This is pure demagogy and fear-mongering.
I consider myself an agnostic with Buddhist tendencies. Anyone can believe whatever they want. People should be free to question and think about these issues. Whether you believe in God or not, it is an intensely personal issue, and no one can force you to accept their point of view.

Answer 7

If you don't understand how the majority of people think then you can't be successful in their world. I am pretty sure there was no flood, and people don't get risen from the dead, and that the earth is billions of years old and you can't populate an entire sexually reproducing species with just two individuals, but I'm fascinated by people who believe this stuff.

I want to know what makes them tick so I can understand them better as people. The whole confontational method of discourse we have developed is great at arriving at truths. You put your ideas up to public scrutiny and then invite other people to challenge them. When you're done your persuasion skills have improved and you learn a lot about the subjects you're studing. In fact you are forced to learn in order to support your arguments. So I think it's a good exercise.

Answer 8

I tend to ask more spiritual questions rather than religious ones. A non-believer, even an atheist like myself, can be spiritual.

I personally like seeing how different people, not necessarily how different belief systems, answer questions; even when I don't ask them. I think I missed my true calling and should have majored in Sociology in college. I respect anyones right to believe as they will, I like the same in return but I don't expect it. I don't witness... I believe the only way a person should come to ANY belief system is through self-realization.

Answer 9

Muslims are the true followers of the Bible and Torah. The combination of the Book of David, Moses, Jesus makes many parts of the Holy Quran. Muslims use biblical facts from the Bible and Torah because those WERE the True word of God. many parts have been erased, misinterpreted, and made up ever since they have been touched by jealous and evil people they are no more the word of God or the followers of God. We use the Quran as a source to all of our questions and answers but not from the Bible and Torah. Finally, that Muhammad (PBUH) is the final and promised messenger.

Answer 10

in many ways I consider it a form of self defense. Trust me I have problems with Christianity or Christians. What bothers me is when you whiteness and try to convert people who are completely ignorant in Biblical scripture. As a result I make it known that Christianity has its flaws too, and one should know these full well when he accepts a religion and not go into it with only one perspective.