Christian faith offends so many. Why is that?

Question

The very basic element of Christian faith is this:
Love each other and Love God.

Everything else is open to debate, interpretation, manipulation, etc. Religions are not ordained by God and are man-made attempts to control and assert power. Christianity in itself is merely the desire to follow the example that Jesus set.

Can you seperate bad 'Christians" from Christianity? If you go to the basic teaching, there is nothing to be offended by.

I would like to address the mentions of the old testment.

Christian means "little Christ" and is a reference to someone who wants to be like Jesus and follow his teachings. This is a new Testament teaching. People in the old testament were Jewish, and although I have great respect for them, it has little to do with my question.

Answer 1

"Religions are ... man-made attempts to control and assert power."

THIS I agree with but the basis for the rest is still there. Even looking at the "basic teaching" it is still a my way or the highway type of deal. THAT is what is offensive to most.

I respect your opinion even though I may not wholey agree with it. You acknowledge the inperfection and misinterpretations of organized religion and still find faith in your God. There is something to be said for that. We are more alike than not perhaps, even though I do not believe in the Christian God.

I think this is one of the few really sincere and intelligently asked questions in R&S.

Answer 2

It is not the religion but it's followers.

Many times there have been questions here such as why do Christians hate homosexuals etc. The simple answer is that God and the bible do not hate anything. That is the destructive emotion of the Christian person.

If you cannot seperate the Christian from Christianity does that mean all the people who murder prostitutes etc and then say they were obeying the voice of God are good Christians?

The simple fact is that the church, including the Roman Catholic church is loosing members very fast indeed. Have all these people lost their faith or is it as I suspect that they cannot stomach being associated with the extremist and zealous bigots that call themselves Christians nowadays?

Christians have to recognise that the inmates appear to have taken over the madhouse. Unless good Christians open their eyes and speak up to take their church back to the loving, tolerant and forgiving religion it once was - it is doomed.

Over Christmas official action was taken to curb some Christian activities in the US, Canada, Australia and the UK. Unless the church reigns in the morons governments, states and the law courts will increasingly be forced to act to curb the religious extremists.

A respected UK Christian think tank called for 'Civil Disobedience' at the end of last year. How long before the first Christian terrorist incident then?

I had to laugh about the bit about following the example Jesus set. Very, very few Christians get anywhere near that and I am sure even Jesus in his most forgiving state would not want many so called Christians remotely linked to him!!!

Answer 3

the "problem" with Christianity is very few people actually know what it involves. Most people think it is the bible. However, the bible is the "guidebook" for many religions. Most Christians accept the bible as a historical book. Something of that time that told the stories from mans point of view. They also accept the basis for Christianity is Christ and Christ alone.
People in general look for an argument to "prove" they are the one and only intelligent person. A lot of times people argue against things even when they believe in them. Its human nature.
All religions are essentially saying the same thing, using different terminology. All semantics. There is nothing to be offended by in almost all religions, but for some reason there is always one person who refuses to be happy.
The only true atheist, is one who doesn't argue their case. Arguing just shows hope. Everybody just needs to let everybody do their own thing.

Answer 4

These are the words of Jesus.
John 15:19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.
The theme of Jesus' message to the world was that if you turn from your sin and have faith in him, that the Lord would forgive you and cleanse you from your sin. This is the message of salvation to all.
John 3:15 Everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.
John 5:24 I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.

"The world" at large does not agree with forgiveness. They like to think that the evil are not acceptable to God, even if they repent and have faith. They think that their good morals and their good works should be rewarded with salvation (self righteous pride.) They deserve salvation more than others. But Jesus offered salvation to everyone; not just the "good people."

Eph 2:8 God saved you by his special favor when you believed. AND YOU CAN'T TAKE CREDIT FOR THIS. It is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so non of us can boast about it.

Jesus is the one who gets the credit. Non Christians want to give themselves the credit for their salvation.
So the reason that the Christian faith offends others all comes down to PRIDE. They think that they deserve something that they worked for and they don't want to see the sinners being accepted by God.
"For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God."

Answer 5

First of all Christianity is NOT the desire to follow Jesus, since not all Christians put Jesus in the same light as God. There are bad Christians as well as bad Muslims and bad Buddhists. I can claim I am an accountant that doesn't make me one. It isn't our faith in God or Jesus or the lack of faith, it is called free will. We each have our free will to choose what to say and what to do. Some people tend to act or speek before they think. It doesn't matter what religion you are. People are not perfect.

Answer 6

That's a fair question. I'll take a shot at it. There is indeed nothing to be offended by in the essential message of Jesus. So far so good. Many Christians---most, in fact---then extend this believe in the goodness of Jesus to a literal translation of the bible, saying that in order to be a Christian, one has to believe their interpretation of an ancient text. One has to reject science and accept Adam and Eve.

But even that is not offensive. Here's what IS offensive. That same literal interpretation of an ancient text of what Jesus said or didn't say and exactly what he meant when he said it leads many Christians to believe that God does not hear the prayers of people of other faiths. Many of them will even say that other religions are not even faith! They will call other religions---Buddhism, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism---cults! They will tell pious prayerful people of other faiths that God ignores their prayers! Many of them---not all, but many---will tell people of other faiths that they are going to hell for all eternity.

When you question them about this, they will often say, "It is not me saying that. It is God." This makes a mockery of God! What sort of God would allow millions of human beings that He created to suffer in Hell for all eternity just because of the way they worshipped Him during the very brief time that they lived on this Earth?

So, you see, it isn't Jesus's message of love that offends reasonable people about Christian faith. But do you not think it's just a tiny bit offensive to tell the religious, prayerful Jew or the highly more and pious Buddhist that God ignores his prayers and that he and his family are all going to hell unless YOU can convince them to abandon their own deeply held religious faith and adopt yours?

Answer 7

because each so often we are subjected to the reaction without asking the question. you gained't for my section bypass as a lot as human beings and start up preaching yet many human beings do. It ability that others are incorrect of their beliefs. there is also the very incontrovertible reality that typically even as questions are requested, the reaction has a tendency to contradict the movements of the fellow responding. some Christians, per chance no longer you for my section, are speedy to sentence, decide and many times harm others over their beliefs. Being that Atheists and Non-Christians are nonetheless in the minority, I extraordinarily doubt that Christians are those who extra many times victimized. the burden of information nonetheless lands on anybody else to boot.

Answer 8

Jesus was crucified because of his teaching. Loving God first and loving your fellow man requires repenting of the sin in our lives. That is why Christians are persecuted, because the message of the cross is offensive. To be made aware of the need for repentance is not received by most and is looked on as something to avoid, ridicule, and justify doing so because man is sinful in nature. There are few who will hear the good news of salvation through Jesus' saving blood and run to it.

Answer 9

I agree with you and I think non-Christians are offended by Christianity because of all the evangelicals who are always harassing them about converting and telling them they will go to hell if they don't convert. The evangelicals need to give it up and stop trying to convert people after they have made it clear that they aren't interested. When Jesus tried to preach to people, some of them weren't interested. He didn't continue to pursue them because He couldn't change their minds. I don't know why evangelicals think they can change people's minds when the Son of God couldn't!

Answer 10

Love each other a basic element of Christian faith? Haha!

Sit down and read the old testament - and pretend you're not a Christian so that you won't be biased and can actually see what is in there.