NONCHRISTIANS answer ONLY please. Why are you not a Christian--serious answers, please.?

Question

Please Explain, for example-- I never thought about it, I choose not to be, I don't know what it is, I think it's stupid, whatever. Just please be serious. Thank you for your answer.

No offense Jayma, but research before you speak, the bible does prohibit cross dressing

Andrea C, just to let you know, Darwin was a Christian

I gotta alot of good answers, so I am going to let the public decide on this one-who should get the best answer. Thanks so much for all your answers!

Answer 1

There are several reasons for me.

1. The "Our way or the highway (to hell)" attitude. Please. How arrogant is it to believe that a Christ would only reveal itself to one select group of people, only once in history? Moreover, I cannot count the number of times that I've been harangued by people who have taken a rather interesting set of teachings and used them to launch rude verbal assaults because my hair was too long, or my music too loud.

2. Not enough evidence. When folks start citing a Bible, they're talking about a composite set of books that have been edited many times by many folks throughout history, each of whom had their own agenda, usually stemming from a desire to rule and control others. And remember, it's not like Jesus wrote his own book - it was written long after his death, and even then not by anyone who had ever hung out with him. Most of the New Testament came from Paul, not Jesus, and Paul had visions. today, when people have visions, we medicate them -- that's not disrespectfully said, it's just the way things are.

3. Remember the huge gap in the New Testament between the completely fantastic story of Jesus' birth -- the circumstances of which cannot be substantiated (the Romans never forced people to return to the places of their birth for the purposes of a census or tax collection) -- and the beginning of his ministry. Since Buddism pre-dates Christianity and was certainly one of many religions known within the Roman empire at the time, can we rule out that Jesus was not only aware of this teaching, but maybe studied it in that timeframe and *was* a practicing Buddhist? The Romans were tolerant of many religions -- they liked having lots of gods. And much of what Jesus actually said is right in line with Buddhism.

4. I'm more inclined to believe in Einstein's Unified Field Theory (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_Field_Theory). To oversimplify it, everything, everyone, everywhere is one, single field of energy, so we're all connected. This harkens back to the Buddhist concept of non-duality, and even Jesus' teachings (Matthew 25:40; 22:40). So, there's no you and me, no us and them, no "I win, you lose." If you win, I win. If you lose, I lose.

5. The "fundagelical", American Taliban movement that wants to do away with the 1st Amendment ("Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.") by legislating its beliefs in small bites, e.g., overturning Roe v. Wade.

Those are just a few reasons. If we ever sit down over a pizza and beer, I'll share more.

Cheers!

Answer 2

I went to Sunday School a few times as a child, but Christianity was never forced upon me. As I grew older Christianity was not answering some of the questions I had about life.

I could not understand why a person with a kind and true heart would ever be sent to hell just because they had never heard of the Bible, Jesus Christ, etc. which is what I was taught at the time. I always felt that how people treat each other is FAR more important than what they believe.

After an unsatisfying stint as an athiest, I began to explore other religions including Wicca, and Buddhism. I also began to learn about comparative religion. It made a good deal of sense to me that the core of many religions all have the same message. So, this is the message I chose instead of the specific teachings of any one religion.

I feel that when a religion becomes too organized it can lose sight of its central message of peace and love.

Answer 3

A great many of the "truths" Christians hold dear are demonstrably ridiculous and have been shown to be so through science (the age of the earth, immaculate conception, coming back to life after being dead, turning water into wine, the idea that two of EVERY living thing on earth could fit into a wooden boat, etc.).

If the bible could be thought of as a book of metaphorical lessons and stories, the purpose of which is to guide someone in how to live a virtuous life, instead of taking everything so damned LITERALLY, it might be different. However, I know of no organized faith that permits such inquiry.

Answer 4

I don't follow any organized religion because I find it remarkably hard to believe that something someone wrote centuries or even millenia ago can have any relevance on what happens today.

I believe that prophets were merely philosophers who wanted to believe their philosophies were "right" so they say that they were inspired by god in order to get others to go along with them.

I think people needed religion in the past to try to make sense of the world and also as a means to control the lower classes in society so that they might accept their plight because they believe that they will reap their rewards after they die. These are things that I don't see as having a necessary place in the world today.

This isn't to say that I don't believe that there is anything beyond what we are here in the spiritual sense, just that I am very skeptical of any sort of institutional spiritual organization because they have a stake in spreading what they believe to other people.

Answer 5

I'm not a Christian because neither of my parents were Christians, so I was not raised with that religion. Isn't that the reason MOST people follow whatever religion they belong to? Most of them just stick with what they were exposed to the most during their formative years. Unfortunately, in some people, that amounts to closed-minded brainwashing. And NO, I'm not directing that jab at Christians. I'm directing it at people of ANY religion who "indoctrinate" their children and/or frighten their children, instead of simply "teaching" them. *sigh*

As for me, now that I'm an adult, I like the religion I was raised with, but I'm not exactly a "practitioner" of it. However, I'm even less interested in Christianity. I'm very SPIRITUAL, but not religious. I guess I'm just too liberal and open-minded to fit into the Christian mold. I have trouble figuring out if I even believe in God, so how could I believe in Jesus being born from a virgin, not to mention his being the son of God, being resurrected, etc. I also don't believe in the existance of Satan, and I certainly don't believe in Creation the way the Bible tells of it.

Just for the record, I'm NOT making fun of any of this. I have several Christian relatives and I respect their choices. Their religion makes them happy, and that makes ME happy. :) I just am unable to engage in "the willing suspension of disbelief" that's necessary to be a true Christian.

But I *do* think Jesus was an intelligent, loving, sensitive, powerful wiseman/prophet, and I think the world could learn a lot by following his good examples and parables more closely, rather than being so hypocritical and cruel to one another.

Answer 6

It is NOT a conscious decision on my part. I was born a Vedic Hindu , and found Hinduism more than adequate to fulfil my spiritual needs. Hence I continued there.

It is likely that Christianity ( which I studied in School and College)or Budhdhhism are better, but not to the extent to make me relinquish the religion which my ancestors had found good enough & so do I.
As to Islam , the less said the better.

Answer 7

I'm not a Christian because I don't believe in organized religion. The way I see it organized religion has brought far too much chaos to this world. I mean look at all the different religions and how many wars are started because of them. If we could all just say "Ok your god is as good as my god" then all of our problems with religion would be solved. Instead people build these organizations around god and if you don't follow their rules their way you go to hell. Ok I know that that may have been a slight exaggeration but the fact of the matter is who cares how you worship your god, or what name you call him by? Why should people be forced to be Muslim, Jewish, or Christian? To me it's seems so simple to just say "yes I believe there is a god." However I refuse to label myself under man-made practices and archaic rules that have nothing to do with my relationship to god.
So that's it. I'm just someone who believes in a higher being.

Answer 8

When I was eight years old, I realized that the biblical tales could not be reconciled with science, and since science is obviously right (it works!), the bible had to go. That, of course, included the whole Genesis thing, including original sin, so the notion of salvation was dubious from the start. The basic proposition of Christianity is that God created Jesus for the purpose of getting God to remit sins. Which, when you think about it, is just as silly as it sounds. See reference for much more on this.

Answer 9

The reason i am not "religious" (not just Non-Christian) despite my parents being christians is simply because of Science. For me, when growing up and being placed in a private religious school (they were christians) i just became very curious as to how things worked and asked the teachers why things in the world didnt make sense from the religious point of view as laid out by the bible. And every time i asked they would shun it or give me an answer that didnt fit well which led to more questions until they became frustrated. And then when i got more into science i found this elegant story of a requirement for "facts" (not faith) and it literally laid out how things worked perfectly. It was then i realized that i couldnt be religious...

And let me be clear...It is the aspect of Chritianity (or religion of any kind) that deals with the idea of a need to believe in a Supernatural that i will not believe..I need facts to support this and their are none. But the message of the bible is common sense and i abide that because i believe them myself.

Answer 10

Wow... this is strange, but true: I had to read parts of the book "The Golden Bough" for an art history class. I had always wondered whether the Christianity story was true or not, but after reading the book I knew that it wasn't. I'm sure I'm going to get a lot of "thumbs down" for this answer, but in my case, this is what happened. I was raised as an Episcopalian. It was a huge disappointment, as I would much prefer that the story WAS true.