I need help from non-Christians .. .... .?

Question

Please define " shoving your religion down my throat ".
Does that mean that if a Christian speaks their mind. . . then they are guilty of shoving their religion down your throat ?? Oh, and I would like clear examples to help me understand. OK?

Also, please define exactly how you think the Church CONTROLS Christians. Do they not have free will ?? To believe what they want.. . .just like you ?? Oh, and I really need strong examples of that as well. . . Thank you very much.

Answer 1

I'm not sure that it is possible to define your first phrase, simply because it is a phrase, not a thing, and therefore will have different definitions for different people. To me "Shoving - etc" would imply that someone was telling me something when I specifically asked them not to.
As to your second. . . Does the Church control Christians? There may be little sects within the Church that exercise too much control, but I haven't noticed that in general.
When you come to free will, however, I suspect that you may be on much more difficult ground. In my opinion, what seems to be free will is actually overshadowed by our up-bringing, early training, social mores, peer pressure and so on. We may be able to freely choose little things, but our big choices are pretty much already laid down.
But you may feel differently.
Jon C

Answer 2

I am Christian.

Sometimes when a non-christian accuses a christian of "shoving their religion down my throat", it could be a case of the non-Christian just having HAD it with Christians or those that call themselves Christians trying to convert the non-christian. We were all created with free-will and intelligence and if a person has decided to not accept the Christian faith, it usually is after some exploration into christianity so they may feel that the Christian is beating a dead horse and they are really tired of the topic.

It could also be that they are super sensitive and that they take any little thing a Christian says about their faith as a judgment against them.

I can see that it must be tiresome for people of other faiths to hear about ours but it's nice if they can appreciate that preaching and teaching about Jesus is part of our worship, since he gave us that commission at Mt. 28:19, 20.

As for the Church "controlling" christians. It happens. People do have free will and the right to come to their own conclusions about faith but a lot of churches don't encourage personal bible reading/studying/talking about faith with people of other beliefs so their members just listen to what their clergy tells them and often it's a lot of lies....If a person hears that they will go to hell if they don't worship or believe in just the way their pastor says, it can put fear into people and can be very controlling. Personal Bible reading and education is very freeing. Question everything you hear from a human's mouth about God and the Bible. Find it out for yourself.

Answer 3

Okay. Just stating your opinion isn't shoving religion down peoples' throats. I don't know if you're guilty of this, but almost every day, at least one person here posts Scripture and asks people if they want to convert in a "question." Also, many people have asked questions about non-Christian or interfaith topics, and been told they need to convert or "I'll pray for you." And the prayer's never for health and happiness, is it? No, it's to make the other person believe just like them.

Recent incidence I got, that made me feel even better about being Pagan:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AqDMCbaA4H6pAfQpty5MCmXsy6IX?qid=20061110073505AAMyVDI

I don't think all or even most churches control Christians, but I do think some are controlling. I came from one, an Assemblies of God church where we were told how to vote, what to listen to and read, how to dress, etc.

Answer 4

-Huckleberry Finn isn't a "good" book because of the ideas contained therein, rather than the writing, story, and historical signifigance. Many other books are likewise threatened.
-People are encouraged to waste their lives volunteering rather than to work for money to improve their's and everyone else's lives through the trickle down gains of simple production.

There's a difference between "speaking your mind" and spouting nonsense from an ancient perspective based on ignorant mythology, rather than millenia of science and reason. If I told you I believe that dinosaurs are alive and well today, then I'd better have proof, otherwise I am just "shoving" my opinions rather than backing them up with facts.

Christians should shut up about their beliefs, unless they have concrete proof, not just the little anecdotes of odd coincidences, odd feelings, or hallucinations they finally admit to when pressed as the "reason" for all their beliefs in the supernatural.

If people believed what they want, they wouldn't go to church to listen to someone else tell them what to believe. It works more like: I want to do this and this, but the church says no, so I am too scared to do it, or if I already did it, I am so guilty I have to seek forgiveness, so I must go to church and must find a way to obey, because otherwise it's hell for me when I die. The only way out is to stop believing in Hell, Heaven, sin, and god. A leap most people can't make. They're also forced to give money to support the organization which is telling them they are evil for what they really think and stopping them from doing what they want to do. How twisted is that?

Answer 5

I never my self understood

" shoving your religion down my throat"

though their is a concept called manners. If I am speaking to a Christian on a non religious subject and they comment that I should accept Jesus or I will burn in hell its a rude thing to do.

also keeping religion out of public schools, their is a reason I will not send my kids to a public school because they do not need to feel like I did when the entire Assembly is singing silent night and you feel out of place.

things along this line mainly

Answer 6

"Shoving your religion down my throat"--That includes statements of "If you're not Christian, you're going to Hell!" More than that is the push by Christians to legislate laws in America based on religious beliefs. Everything from banning abortions and gay marriage to distorting stem-cell research is included here.

"the Church controls Christians"--Christians have been indoctrinated by what the churches have said. The Bible was compiled in CE 325 to give the church more power, as well as to sustain male dominance. Many writings were discarded for fear they were not "worthy." In reality, certain books such as "The Book of Hours" would utterly distort things for it showcases the female side of divinity.

Answer 7

ya know? this question has been asked and answered ad nauseum. you can speak your mind as much as you please but if you're speaking as a Christian collective mind that seeks influence our secular government to institute Christian dogma as the law of the land you'll certainly get opposition. if Fundy Christians would not insert themselves into politics, trying to get prejudice written into the Constitution and trying to assert control over the wombs of women they don't even know and trying to impede the progress of medical science and trying to replace science with myth in the public schools then maybe America's nonChristians wouldn't be so hostile.

we nonChristians would still have to put up with Christians preaching their hell mongering conversion tactics but that's just an annoyance. such irritations don't affect our rights and civil liberties.

oh and as far as folks being controlled by their Church. well, it does happen. remember Jonestown? the Branch Davidians?
examples of the extreme to be sure but if you're a part of a collective you'll conform to the mindset of that collective. isn't that why you gather in fellowship? to express solidarity with your collective?

Answer 8

Stacking the deck with threats of hell for one thing. Remember most of the stories in the Bible were taken from the Jewish faith. Jews do not believe in hell, so why is it that Christians felt the need to improve on the purposed word of God?

Answer 9

'You have been decieved by Satan.'
'You need to open your heart to Jesus in order to save your soul.'
'You will burn in Hell, if you continue to deny the Truth'
'You've had 5 miscarriages as a punishment from God for not believing'

just to name a few of the 'friendly' ways of trying to get me to convert!

EDIT: and then there are Jehovah Witnesses (who I'm sure are lovely people) but when it takes half an hour to get them to leave you alone. Which was only achieved by threatening to call the police!

Answer 10

i say if you want to believe so be it i just dont want to hear it if you come at me and say if you died right now where do you think you would go my answer would be the morgue but since you say different and you try to convince me otherwise thats shoving your religion down my throat i believe nothing and if you believe in god so be it thats great i just dont care