How many times have we heard it here on R&S? It seems what Christians really want is for someone to validate their existing beliefs with homilies and pronouncements of "God Bless you" and "praise the Lord".
2007-03-01 19:48:29 · 23 answers · asked by Brendan G 4 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
The Ce Ce: you're a perfect example. You'd be the first to call someone else's god a fairytale, but can't take it from others. As atheists, we are only stating our position - do you have a problem with that?
2007-03-01 20:01:34 · update #1
Giorgia: Hitler rejected religion in Mein Kampf? Do you mean here?:
"Hence today I believe that I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator: by defending myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord."
2007-03-01 20:16:56 · update #2
Ouch...that hurt....but it does ring true.
2007-03-01 19:50:59 · answer #1 · answered by Greed...Is Good 3 · 4⤊ 1⤋
This question could be turned around as well, but for the sake of addressing it- Iam not a Christian but I do believe that God exists and that Christ is the Son of God (meaning the only express manifestation of God in the flesh).What offends me is when non-believers call what they do "making a challenge" and yet conveniently confuse God and Christian bashing as such without ever providing a single shred of authentic, objective, and verifiable evidence that believers are somehow deceived. Christianity isn't a "religion"- it is a Way of life.Just because catholics, protestants, lutherans, etc attach the word "Christian" to their own seperate doctrines and heretical observances does not Christianity make.Ephesians 4:5 says,"One Lord, one FAITH, one baptism." So why do we have all these different "faiths"? I hate religion. I hate it with a passion. Christ Himself hated religion as is evidenced by how many times He tore the "religious" leaders of the people a new one every chance He got. Religion is merely the obedient observance of God's word and the doing of the works He gave believers to do- without all the hypocrisy of wanting recognition from the masses, as so many "believers" love to do today. Believe me- I don't get offended if someone "challenges" my beliefs. But don't get all pissy with me,either, when I challenge you to offer verifiable, objective evidence when you make some of the ridiculous claims that you make. You either have sound evidence for your assertions, or go home. I don't care to hear uninformed opinion, God-bashing, wild , totally unproveable claims about the Word or the apostles, or even Christ Himself. Isaiah 53:8 says very clearly,"He was taken from prison and from judgement, therefor who will declare His generations?" There goes the entire Jesus- Mary Magdalene theory right out the window. Like I said, I'm not a Christian, but don't tell me that I don't understand that which I believe in - a favorite accusation of non-believers to believers. I've forgotten more about the Bible than you've ever read. So let's just agree to disagree and focus our attentions on other things- like the number of homeless veterans wandering around our "rich, opulent" nation. Okay?
2007-03-01 21:58:10 · answer #2 · answered by 4everamusedw/humanity 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
The woomas had the simplistic answer that without religion+no wars, of course that would leave out ghenghis khan, adolph hitler(raised chriistian but rejected it in mein kampf)pol pot, mao tse tong, che guevera, WWI and wwII, gulf war vietnam war and korean war, each had nothing to do with religion. Wow! so much for that theory.
In other words you were at a public forum and some christians got offended yet you exclude the other christians who didnt get upset or didnt participate but watched?
Some people get offended because they are not secure in what they believe, the same reason an atheist might get upset if challenge his or hers.
It certainly isnt expected of them from a biblical perspective. Perhaps you might want to ask yourself if the criticisms expressed are respectful in nature and not condescending in tone!
2007-03-01 20:03:24 · answer #3 · answered by Giorgio M 2 · 1⤊ 2⤋
You think so? Most of us are only offended at the NATURE of the "challenges." For example, are we not supposed to be offended by people asking, "Are Christians gullible, or just stupid?"
What I want is for EVERY atheist to answer a question with something other than, "It's all just a fairy tale, there is no God."
I know there are some who actually do answer questions without insulting the asker (or their beliefs or lack thereof), but be honest. How many variations of that statement does one find under a Christian's question?
I have no problem with my beliefs being challenged, so long as it's done in a respectful manner. On the same token, I've admonished Christians for not being polite when challenging an atheist's beliefs or lack thereof.
You're one of the polite ones, and I have NEVER complained about you. As a matter of fact, I've not complained about ONE atheist in this section, save perhaps Julia.
Edit: Excuse me, but I have NEVER disrespected another person's religion on here. I have not disrespected ONE atheist on here, either. I have NEVER used the term "fairy tale" in reference to someone else's beliefs. Perhaps you should take a look at my Q&A.
2007-03-01 19:56:11 · answer #4 · answered by The_Cricket: Thinking Pink! 7 · 2⤊ 2⤋
If we didn't want a challenge, then we would never answer questions posted by people we know are not Christian. That is taking on a challenge, in a sense.
It is not just Christians who want validation. Don't you think everyone does? It's not easy being a Christian and coming on this site and seeing your beliefs attacked and made fun of( I'm not accusing you Brendan, but plenty of people do that) If we couldn't handle that, we would stop coming here. For me, it would be very boring if this site was filled only with people who think just like me. What then would I have to say that would be worth saying?
I don't think anyone is complaining about being disagreed with, just the insulting. And yes I know all sides are guilty of that.
2007-03-01 20:03:12 · answer #5 · answered by out of the grey 4 · 2⤊ 2⤋
Most Christians love Jesus. And when someone says something against some you love, you could get offended. However, since it is an open forum, people are allowed to speak out offensively or defensively right?
2007-03-01 20:24:32 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Are we not all here to spread our message and opinion. Atheist believe and expound on their belief. Buddhist believe and expound on their belief. Christians believe and expound on their belief. Jews believe and expound on their belief. Islamic believe and expound on their belief and on and on and sorry if I left anyone out. All are just as certain that the others are wrong. Lets discuss it with dignity. Thats what a forum is for.
2007-03-01 20:03:57 · answer #7 · answered by martha d 5 · 2⤊ 1⤋
I suppose that it is for the reason that many Christians feel called to spread their beliefs through every possible medium. When one person uses their someone else's rhetoric against them, that is usually hard to deal with.
Fortunately, Metron Ariston, (Moderation in All Things) is a good way to approach these issues......
2007-03-01 19:54:31 · answer #8 · answered by Anne Hatzakis 6 · 4⤊ 2⤋
That's so true! It does some like they are here for validation, doesn't it? Or maybe they have a conversion quota they have to meet by the end of the week and they are looking for some free advertisement.
2007-03-01 19:50:37 · answer #9 · answered by eastchic2001 5 · 5⤊ 2⤋
They're probably upset because they only assumed it was a Christian forum. If it really was they wouldn't have been challenged in the first place and there would have been no reason for their upset. There aren't any such thing as Christian forums that I know of. Seems to me that the reason non Christians join in is because THEY are the ones who need their feelings validated. Hmmm. ?
2007-03-01 19:54:22 · answer #10 · answered by aintnobeans 3 · 4⤊ 4⤋
Their faith is weak, and it's close to being broken. Let's face it, those loud-mouths are petty and hateful, displaying all the traits counter to what they profess.
2007-03-01 19:59:34 · answer #11 · answered by novangelis 7 · 3⤊ 1⤋