If you are not a Christian?

Question

Could you tell me, as intellegently as you can, what Christianity is and the teachings within to the best of your knowledge?

I know you already believe it to be false (or else this question wouldnt be meant for you) but could you tell me what the beliefs within Christianity are?

(This is not for Atheists only... Id like to hear from every different belief system)

Just Curious

Answer 1

I could, but I don't have that much time.

I will tell you this. My uncle is a retired minister. My mother is a retired church secretary. My aunt sings in the choir. I took my piano lessons in my church from the leader of the church choir. I attended church every Sunday into my late teens. I was an altar girl who lit the Sunday candles for many years, and into my college years would come back to sing solo hymns for the congregation. My grandfather used to read us Biblical stories when we visited, well into my teen years. I am intimately acquainted with Christianity. I wish more Christians were. The mega churches out in the Midwest that have done surveys to figure out how to "lure" new members, and have removed all religions symbols from their "churches" because people don't like looking at a cross or stained glass windows appal me.

)O(

Answer 2

The core issue which makes Christianity distinctive are the assertions that:
Jesus of Nazareth was not just a human teacher, but also divine. He has a unique role in healing a historic divide between the human race and the creator God of the universe. This required his sacrificial death.

(His specific teachings are thus, however important, still secondary, and the arguments of exactly in what way his death achieved that reconcilation are many, and can get heated.)

The first requirement to becoming a Christian is to trust and accept that this is what Jesus is and has done, and that no other means or method, act or intent, was or is sufficient to achieve this.

What follows after that, having accepted that Jesus is divine, is the gradual process of trying to see the world his way, and act as he would have done.

Answer 3

The beliefs of Christianity are, foremost, that Jesus was the son of God, made mortal in order to repent for th sins of humankind and bring us salvation. Most Christians believe that the only way to go to Heaven (and they see it as a pretty clear Heaven/Hell split, some with Purgatory involved) is to accept Jesus Christ as one's Lord and Savior. One should also strive to live a life of which Jesus (who was very into love-thy-neighbor) would approve, obeying the major laws of the Old and New Testament, though often that's defined by the current generation of ministers, since many Christians *do* see homosexuality as a go-to-hell sin and *don't* see eating pork as a go-to-hell sin. Most Christians believe that the Bible is the Word of God and cannot be mistaken because the spirit of God guided its writing. And translations.

I'm sure I've missed things, since it's a 2000 year old religion, but that seems about it.

Answer 4

Christianity like all religions is an amalgamation of prior mythologies. The purpose is the same as in all mythologies to assert the knowledge in the individual of an afterlife, however nonsensical that concept may seem to a civilized person all primitives need it because of their inability to reconcile their intellect with their instincts.

The belief in the supernatural, the concept of an afterlife, is a way for people to reconcile two distinctly contradictory facets of being human. First, being animals (albeit intelligent) we are in a very large part governed by our first instinct, that of self preservation. Second, since we are intelligent we realize that all animals die, so, we must too. The belief in an afterlife for us and all of it's ramifications, a god, a place for that god to live -heaven- a counter god and his dwelling etc (all together a religion) is simply a way to reconcile by explanation this two opposing traits of our humanity, you see, we die but not really.

The concept of religion was the greatest leap forward for mankind ever. It was a valiant attempt at explaining our surroundings, ourselves and reconciling our intellect with our instincts, the best
our primitive ancestors could came up with. It has an incredible mental leap for them, considering they were animals not too long before they started believing in an afterlife. Today we have explained most of our surroundings and we are educated, yet some of us choose to believe in an afterlife via their religion because it is something they are confortable with and most are simply not willing to face reality. However in time our society will be educated enough and most importantly mature enough to be willing to face reality and relegate the belief in the supernatural to that of their primitive ancestors (us). I imagine they will view us and our beliefs in an afterlife much in the same way we view our ancestors who believed the wind, fire and lightning were all manifestations of Gods, or the ones that were a little more educated and believed that the Sun and the planets were Gods, or the ones that were a little more educated and believed that God is an invisible Flying Spaghetti Monster... ohh no wait that is us... ;-)

If we continue our technological pace forward religion will be history, if instead we move backwards and teach our children to believe in the supernatural then religions such as Voodoo, Christianity, Wican and many more will be around for a long time in one form or another.

Elí

Answer 5

I don't know too much about it, but I'll try.
It's a monotheistic religion that worships a deity named Jehovah. They may or may not believe in Jesus and "the holy ghost" which form a trinity with Jehovah. Jehovah is an all-positive, all-knowing, and all-powerful deity. His counterpart is an all-negative entity named Satan. Their holy text is called the bible which contains stories, their ethical codes, songs, and predictions for the future. After death and judgment by their deity, they feel that everyone either goes to heaven (a reward) or hell (a punishment). They think that there is only one "correct" religion---Christianity. They feel that their deity commands them to tell others about their religion. The most important tenet is that they accept their deity and dedicate their lives to him. Other rituals include baptism which is using water to cleanse their souls. (?) They believe that humans are born evil and to counter this, the son of their deity (Jesus) died to atone for their sinful nature. There are many different beliefs due to various interpretations of their bible and personal gnosis.

Answer 6

I grew up in a Christian family. Went to church, read the Bible, pray, believed etc. Because of some amazing events that happened to me it made me question if it was really what God wants for me. I didn't realize until I left Christianity how restrictive, intolerent, ignorent, hypocritical, and dare I say "evil" it was. I was literally brainwashed. Now I have found my own path. Sad thing is (proving my points) I can't tell my parents I have left Christianity because they will think I am going to hell. It would create conflict between us as a family. I respect their beliefs but according to the Bible they can not respect mine.

Answer 7

Christians strive to be Christ-like, its about loving others no matter how different they are. The beliefs within Christianity are that you must accept Jesus as your savior (I guess because Jesus said he was the savior) and as the Son of God (but paradoxally he is also God in human flesh) and to do good as Jesus did which will ultimately let you into Jehovahs Kingdom, Heaven. No matter how good a person is, if they don't accept Jesus, they will go to Hell, which according to the bible, is your grave, but Christians believe Hell is like what is described in Dante's Inferno, where sinners go to another world that is engulfed in fire where you'll be tortured for bad deeds. All bad deeds are the actions of Satan and his Demons to try to lure Christians into evil. Sadly, unbeknown to them, Many Christians have fallen from what Christ stood for and said and have fallen under the power of basic human nature and instincts (which is known as the power Satan)

Basically, do good in the name of Jesus, tell others about Jesus, and you'll be richly rewarded.

Answer 8

Christianity is about Jesus. Unfortunately many Christians ignore his teachings. Jesus was about love and knowledge.

The bible is used as justification to point fingers and spread hate and bigotry. If you would lose the book and admit that there are many roads to God I would respect the religion.

There are many wonderful open minded Christians, but the fundies are prevalent on here.

Answer 9

I just gave up Christianity 3 years ago after 23 years of it. I went to Catholic school and attended many Christian churches. Am I exempt from answering this?

Oh and plus you all disagree on a few things but the basic point is that Jesus is god and if you don't believe that you go to Hell.

Some believe you have to be born again others don't. Some think you can be baptized at birth, others don't.

it goes on and on like that for just about every principle after the believing in Jesus thing.

Answer 10

The chief principle of Christianity is the same as any other religion: you must submit your intellect to some alleged "higher power," in this case, Jesus, and not question whether there is any actual physical evidence to demonstrate his hypothetical existence or not. You must submit your mind to the dictates of those "authorities" of the institution, Christianity, in all its myriad forms; and you must never question what their so-called "holy" book says, no matter how foolish. For a perfect book, however, the Bible makes no mention that the earth is round or that it is a planet orbiting the sun. The Bible also appears to know nothing about the Americas or even about China. However, ours is not to question why; we are to submit our intelligence and our will to the dictates of this book, this faith, and this institution...no matter how out of place its commands are in the modern world.