Christianity is an interesting religion, but it worries me...?

Question

because of it's lack of empathy for human beings who don't hold the same belief as them, believing they will be sent to eternal suffering. This is very sad, and I think the whole meaning and good teachings that go along with the religion is destroyed by this sadistical, egocentric viewpoint that was added to the religion at some point in the 15th century. Why does any1 believe a god would do this to innocent people? Beliefs are decided by culture not some good/wicked decision that each person makes...this can easily be recognized by looking at a globe and the percentage of population that follow christianity/ to those that don't in each region, so not only is sadistical and egocentric to hold this belief and still worship the god, but it's ignorant as well. Can't christianity do without the whole hell thing?

Answer 1

Stop worrying about it. The atheists that killed 100 million people in the last century...that should worry you.

Answer 2

Don't put all of Christianity into this boat. The people I've known with the most empathy for others have been Christian. There are some of them who believe as you say, but I don't think it is the majority.
But I also don't believe all beliefs are by the culture. I believe there is a conscience in each of us which could be there regardless of the culture we are in (this can be silenced by our choices).
I do believe there are some people who deserve hell, though it is few and far between. Certainly not those who don't believe the same way I do (they certainly shouldn't be held accountable for something they don't know) Frankly, to me these are people who do unspeakable acts against others and never feel sorry for what they've done. Maybe it's just hard for me as a person to forgive these people as I should, but I'm glad when the law shuts them up and I don't think I would feel sorry for them if they were punished for what they did.

Answer 3

No matter which religion you look at, all will say, "I'm right you're wrong". There is one religion that if you have questions about other religions you have every right to ask questions and are allowed to investigate. The main problem is that there are too many hipocrites among the Christian faith. They can slam and judge Jews, Muslims, ect. but, the funny thing is that if one person would read the Bible and actually take the laws of God seriously, things would get better, but too many people take too many things out of context. It is written in the book of Deuteronomy that PORK is forbidden, why is this not followed? One woman actually told me that is was an outdated thing to follow as it was meant that the meat spoiles and it is ok to eat now.
I don't know what is more pathetic, people trying to justify themselves or about how many people with no education of what God even is will call themselves priests, pastors, reverends, whatever.
In all of God's holy books, it is about peace and justice. Unfortunately, there has been people that have changed the Bible to their benefit. How many sects of Christianity have omitted books from the Bible because it didn't suit them.
Only the Torah and the Quran are the only books of God that have not been messed with.

Answer 4

People don't like the thought of accountability! Then they are responsible and feel that they are being held down or being judged. Hell does sound horrible and nobody likes the idea of anyone going there. Even God! That's why He sent His Son to die on the cross. God doesn't want you to go there even more than anyone else. Even more than you! Believe in Jesus and there'll be no problems. By the way...it's not a scare tactic either. Hell is reserved for the devil and his angels and was never intended for any person. People choose to go there by there unbelief. I can't believe people will end up there just because they don't wanna believe. Why is that so hard for people to do...All you have to do is believe. Pretty simple!!!

Answer 5

Do you believe the words of Jesus?
Jesus is the one who talked more about Hell than anyone.

Matthew 13:42
and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Matthew 13:50
and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Matthew 13:12
"For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.
Matthew 24:51
and will cut him in pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Matthew 25:30
"Throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Not to mention the rest of the New Testament. Either Jesus was righteous and good, who He said is is; or he is a horrible deceiver, a liar that set out to deliberately mislead the people; or insane, on the same level as the man who says that he is a poached egg.

Congratulations, you have just stripped God of His love and His justice. Everyone, no matter who thay are, no matter what they have done in this life, no matter whether they ever repented and asked forgiveness, everyone is going to the same Heaven. How do you like your heaven? With Hitler, Idi Amin? Stalin, Tojo?

Not all gods are the same, witness the capricous gods of Hinuism. The LORD God is the same yesterday, today, and forever!

Do you want an arbitrary God that cannot be depended upon to do that which is right? Because that is the god you are asking for.

Answer 6

"it's lack of empathy for human beings who don't hold the same belief as them"

As you have no knowledge of history, I'll fill you in:
The earliest Christians recognized their imperative in Matthew 28:18-20, including, "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations." Christians were pleading with those of the world to "be saved from this perverse generation." That people refuse God's message, however, is not our fault.
European Christianity (NOT European politics, which the Catholic church was) was very concerned for other people's souls, such that the first hospitals, orphanages, and universities were set up by Christians (I graduated from Pomona College, whose motto at the time was "Our Tribute to Christian Civilization.") Name me an atheist hospital. You have many negatives in your paragraph, which clog the thinking.

The real question you have is, "Why does any1 believe a god would do this to innocent people?"
1) There are no "good" people (nor innocent, nor clean.) "All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23) is not popular, but if you are honest with yourself and with history, you will see that it pretty much sums up us humans quite well.
2) God not only can judge you and everyone else, He MUST because His righteousness and holiness demands it. Essentially, God cannot change; therefore, you must. Sorry, that is what you face. Like it or not, God won't do it any one's way but His way. As God, He gets to decide what is "fair."
3) And, the fact is, God was rather unfair, for His righteous justice is met by the sin being punished, even if I am not the one taking the punishment for my sins. So, He sends His own Son to take my place, and purchase me out of the sin I chose. And you're going to tell Jesus that He didn't need to do that? Don't expect Him to like you for believing that.
4) Christianity cannot do without hell because God cannot, and I'll explain why. First, God decides. What God decided is that you will exist forever. The point is that you would live with Him forever, but He wants to love you. That requires that you be able to choose whether to love Him. Most choose to hate God, as you have well noted. See #2 above for how God handles that. But God gives each person who rejects Him two things: one thing they want, and one thing they need. You will exist eternally in a physical body. In that body, you will need heat more than anything else. In that body, you will want God to leave you alone (as your paragraph well indicates.) He leaves you alone . . . forever. But don't complain if the thermostat runs out of control. You told the one in charge of it to not come back.

Answer 7

After reading so many awful Christian post, I ask atheist to have compassion for Christians. I'm not joking. I hope this give some insight for others into Christianity. This post was also meant to provoke thought to Christians. I found some of the posting by Christians horrifying. In response, this is what I posted:

Are they on a Holy War?

Don't think too unkindly of Christians though...if you were taught to believe that other human beings were going to burn and suffer horribly by the very god of love that you were raised on...somewhere inside, if you are normal human being, you'd have to begin to disassociate yourself and begin to dehumanize others, in order to continue believing in that kind of god...a god that will do the same to you, if you disagree. I think it's sad. They 'Jesus-Jihad" only because they feel they must. They can not see beyond their own fear.

Have compassion for them. They suffer so.

I'm a Christian (really), He's a Christian, She's a Christian, We're all Christians, Wouldn't you like to be a Christian too?

Answer 8

You are basing your views of Christianity on the beliefs of a very, very small minority. If you were interested in Asian culture, would you base your information on the Karate class down at the YMCA?
If you are really interested in Christianity as a religion, you need to compile a list of the most influential primary sources (i.e. historians, theologians, etc.), and start your search from there. Look at what shaped Christian thought down through the centuries, and look at how that thought is expressed in modern denominations.
My denomination is the oldest and second largest in the world, yet most American Christians have never even heard of it.

Answer 9

This may come off as nit-picking, but which Christian religion are you talking about? There are several, each with a separate, albeit similar and in many cases overlapping, set of beliefs. This fact seems to be something that believers and non-believers on this forum overlook all the time.
I'm not even any type of Christian, but it seems important to me to avoid broad generalizations, such as painting all Christianity with one brush, because such generalizations inevitably end up proven wrong and used against the one who stated them. And can be offensive.
To answer your question... yeah, that's a big reason why I quit Catholicism.

Answer 10

You are right to be wary.

Keep in mind that this doctrine of eternal punishment to lack of belief in something for which there is no evidence was invented by a reformed Rabbi named Paul in the BRONZE AGE.

The morals, ethics, sexists themes and commentary on slavery reflect and enforce the ideal that most of this book was written almost 2,000 years ago at a very different time indeed.

Paul is horrible, but much of what Jesus says is good stuff. But so is Confuscious, Buddha, Plato and many other thinkers of the time. Don't think you need to buy the whole thing just to recognizing "being nice to people" is a good thing.

You don't need any faith or religion to believe that, you just need to agree it makes common sense to be nice to folks. It's as easy as that.

Answer 11

You will find that the God that people believe in is a reflection of who they are inside. Their God can only be as good as what they read, what they imagine, and what they believe for themselves. As God is everything, this everything is limited to what they know and read.

And their universe revolves around this everything that they know.

Why can't the concept of hell be ignored or obliterated?

It is the fear of death. The concept of the after life is to make death accceptable. The thought of us not continuing on after we die is a very scary concept. Hence, the afterlife and heaven . The concept of hell is created to create further fears into the hearts of people.

Fear, my dear friend, has created the chaos in this life that surrounds us.