Why do Christians fear logic?

Question

Be it Christian or Muslim I find that religious people are so afraid of logic that they refuse to remove bias on issues. Bias could include beliefs because something "Feels right". Feelings are often mislead and are a very clouded form of judgment. When we use emotions to make our decisions we are far more often wrong than we are right.

Second mistake made is belief by desire. You want there to be a God, so therefore there must be one. I’ve had people asking me what life would be without a God. My response is “you may already know, but not realize it.” It’s probably one of the most clouded reasoning that affects a great deal of people. We have to come to grips with the possibility that the universe isn’t what we want it to be.

Third mistake made is belief by populace. There’s an argument people use "95% of the world believes there's a God". We use others to confirm our beliefs. In fact, that’s often the fuel behind the fire when Christians or other religions try to convert. For some reason people are under the idea that making others believe your religion makes yours more right and though I don’t believe they consciously do this. I certainly believe that it’s a big motivator for them to “spread the word”.

Fourth mistake made is belief by fear. I guess this explains why people convert to a religion soon before they die. Honestly, I think it sucks believing that there is nothing after I die, but the truth of the matter is that I didn’t mind not existing before I was born, so I can conclude that I won’t mind after I die, but I refuse to rush to a religion for the fear of damnation. I’m not out to appease any God. I’m out to find truth, and if Christianity were to show itself to be true then I’d believe it.

Fifth mistake made is assumption. All Christians assume that I never read the Bible, hear the word, tried, truly believed, accepted, wanted, loved or any other excuse to say I didn’t do it right. I tried to understand and I tried to believe. I spent a great deal of time beating myself for doing that which is imbedded in my very nature. I can’t believe unless I know. Your judgment on me not trying is only because it makes you feel better. Christians believe I didn’t try because imagining that a prayer was never heard . It would contradict their belief so they labeled me as faithless.

Sixth mistake made is you’ve never considered. Churches make you fear atheism, because they know that it’s the only threat to their Church. We use reason, they use scare tactics and make people judge with emotion. As an Atheist, I’m not beating you with buzz words and scripture to get you to believe. I say to be reasonable and not to jump to conclusions. I judge things on what I know and understand, because that’s all I have to go with in a world were people want you to believe in things they hardly understand themselves. And you’re probably thinking that I’m referring to Christianity, but this really goes for all walks of life. We come into this world looking for answers and a Truth. That “Truth” does exist in this world, but we have to remain vigilant in not letting our judgments be clouded by the extremists.

At heart, I believe many Christians are Atheists. I believe that fear keeps you from considering all possibilies. When I see people cut and paste scripture I think “fear”. I see it as a way for a person to cover their own doubt by snowballing people with scriptural babble, but accepting our doubts is how we evolve. We need to be open to all possiblities at all times and remember that churches aren’t out to find Truth. They’re only out to prove that what they believe is true.

But this is all just another of thousands already posted. You'll go on chasing a religion and I'll go on chasing "Truth". I'll remain open with no set foundation. Because after all it is just belief regardless of whether it is by logical deduction or the latest brocure I picked up and read. I chose to live my life accepting that what I know now, may not be true tomorrow and I say that only the strongest of minded people can do this.

Ok dog Sneeze since you seem so sure. What fallacies have you noticed? Making a statement without even one example is like firing blanks and thinking it means something.

Point taken Meg Michaels. I'll break it down to almost all Christians I have spoken with assume I haven't read the Bible, tried to believe, etc..

Contact me by email at [e-mail]. I'm open to all perspectives.

Answer 1

You say that truth does not exist on this earth. Is that statement true? You yourself cannot avoid making 'truth' claims. You say that religious people fear logic. Again another 'truth' claim, and not a very good one at that. Have you met every religious person on Earth? If not, then LOGICALLY, you cannot say that all religious people fear logic. You need to realize your own hypocrisy as a relativist, pal. I'm a religious person and I just demolished your argument with LOGIC, zero religion. Right there is a contradiction to your assumption.

Answer 2

Why do Christians fear logic?...

I would go on to say that they speak without believing or understanding what they're talking about.

I agree 100% with your observations BUT.. I would say that this also describes a lot of the people in the US, not just Christians.

There are plenty of Athiests, politicians, writers, talk show hosts, and just plain Americans that use fear, popular opinion, assumptions, biases, etc. to influence other people or show that they know more than they actually do.

I think it stems from the fact that attention spans are getting shorter, and people just want the "sound bite" , rather than the full story. They are becoming more and more superficial and only look at the surface, never looking into the inner workings. That leaves a void that must be filled with phonyness, fear, assumption, and emotions to cover their lack of knowledge or thinking.

There used to be a time when people would be an apprentice, (years of working almost for free - perfecting their craft), before they would go out and open their business. Nowadays, you take a few classes and suddenly you're an expert.?

Answer 3

You do make several valid points, and I agree with you on several of those.

The reasons I believe in God are derived from logic.
I do not believe that something (this universe) can come from nothing.
This is one of the first statements in ANY Physics/Science books. Therefore, logic would lead one to believe that SOMETHING had to exist in the beginning to create this.
Maybe all the complications we've put in it are wrong (Umpteen different religions, with who knows how many sects).

Also, I've always kind of felt that if you believe in God, die, and find out there's not one, you haven't really lost much other than a few minutes of prayer.
If you don't believe in God, then find out there IS one. . .
:-D

I also believe that there are WAY too many Christians refuse to accept the possibility that Science, logic, and religion can coexist.
Ok, I'm done!
:-D
Sheena

Answer 4

I have asked a number of times here who has studied logic for academic credit and to what extent. Very few people here have. I am lucky to have one atheist and one Christian reply positively.

Furthermore, just scanning your little essay, I noticed a handful of informal logical fallacies. I doubt you have ever taken Logic 101 and please correct me if I am wrong. I if want me to show you the fallacies by name, just email me.

[edit]

Here are two:

For starters, the lead question is called a "loaded" question. It can only properly be answered by accepting your (false) premise that Christians do in fact fear logic. Example: Have you stopped beating your wife? In court it is often called leading the witness. This is a logical fallacy.

Second, the entire spiel is based on "false generalization" which infers that since some Christians do X, all Christians do X. This is a logical fallacy.

Etc. etc.

Answer 5

I don't think they fear logic. Many of them simply believe that logic "has its place" and "its place" isn't theology.

The mistakes you've listed are all variations of either Pascal's Wager or the so-called "fallacy of enlightenment". I think both of these lines of thought are logically very flawed.

The first two mistakes are sort of fallacy of enlightenment type mistakes. That, we only have 5 senses, so what if things exist beyond those 5 senses? Sure, maybe there's a lot we don't know, but why in the world would you just start making things up about the virgin birth or a 6,000 universe in that case?

Why Pascal's Wager? Why not Joe's wager, that maybe Hinduism is the correct wager? Why not fear Poseidon instead of Yahwey?

Answer 6

There is true Christians and "actlike" Christians. Some know the basics but they haven't really put it in their heart. True Christians aren't scared out so called "logic." There are many facts that prove the Bible true. Go to www.exposingmysteries.org they have a lot of research on proof for Christianity.

Answer 7

Well i'm christian and i like logics alot and i'm not afraid of bieng wrong well if you don't believe than don't belive it's like some people belive in santa well i don't but you don't say anything so why say anything to them just say belive what you want and for them to trust there harts and the course will be set...I have tons and tons of more explinations!!!!

Answer 8

I actually had a long converstion with a very intelligent christian woman yesterday. She is very religious, but it comes from manyears of studying and rumination. I was very impressed with her. Except for the usual dogma, her ideas were thoughtful and logical

Answer 9

Sounds like you pretty much have us figured ,huh? When I took Jesus as my savior I gave up man's logic when it comes to sin,pride,immorality. God has man totally beat on that. We don't act on feelings but what's right or wrong and this world has it totally wrong. As far as fear,don't have any about anything.

Answer 10

True Christians fear nothing but God.