A question for christians?

Question

Whenever someone (atheists, pagans, etc) says something that you disagree with or when they give your answer a retort.....why do you always chalk it up to their fear and not your own dogma and hostility?

Example: I recently answered a question with some funny bumper stickers that were poking fun at your religion. I found them to be very cute. I'm sure they would offend some christians. To be fair, many christian bumper stickers offend me, but I'm okay with that as I truly believe in freedom. A christian stated that God must be pulling at their heart strings! Ridiculous! Many times christian say things like "atheists really do believe in god, they're just scared" or "your rebelling against God".

No, truly I'm not! I am truly not afraid to die...without your God. I truly do not cry out to God in times of trouble. I truly live a highly moral life...without God 'making' me do it. Why is that so hard to accept?

Do you really believe that all people feel the way that you do?

SORRY.... that was a huge generalization!!!! Please know that I mean "alot" of christians do this....NOT all.

WHY are the christians "witnessing" to me instead of answering my question? Hmmmm?

Answer 1

For a lot of Christians, I am a Christian, (though, I'm not a 'great' one, I have to be honest)
they believe in a complex system of do's-and-dont's. As a result they must fully buy into the entire system of beliefs inorder to it to work. If one piece of the puzzle is out of whack, then the system fails.
Therefore, if you or anyone even a fellow Christian, tries to propose some type of alternative idea, it causes them to have a mental delima and they can not compute any idea outside of the 'brain-washing' they have recieved at Church from the pulpit.
My wife and I went to one church and the pastor was making harsh remarks about gays and liberals and he went on and on about his lesser god (George Bush). "what a great day it will be etc etc.....Bush this and Bush that...." (Yuk!)
Both my wife and I are Democrats and cant stand Bush.
Generally, Republicans and Evangelical Christians are identical, even as far as there REAL morales are concerned!" Such things as the awful war in Iraq, outright hatred toward gays and lesbians, Complete opposition toward Community Based Social Service programs ( they feel it is evil, that it is a form of Socialism / Communism), they are against Public Health Care, they are against
( secretly against ) Afirmative Action programs. Against the Federal Government paying for people's college tution.
They are for Getting Rich and staying Rich, owning Property and having lucative networks within church.
This is the typical Christian, but they are like sheep being lead to the slaughter.
In church we are taught that it is OK to be rich and have wealth. And that if we give 10% of our wealth to the Church, then we are "BLESSED". WELL of course the preacher is going to say that, HE wants $$$$$$ !

So, I propose that some of us form a Church where there is NO church building, NO pressure to give 10%, NO major overhead expenses, NO Loud Christian Rock and Roll Band to bring in Teenagers..
BUT instead we follow the Piece of Scripture that says,
"When I was hungry you gave me food, naked and gave me clothes, in prision and in the hosptial and you came to vist me." ---- This is called Communtiy Service.
So my proposal is that Christian get off their BUTTS and get busy doing the REAL work of Christ.
WE Don't need Chruches and Pastors and all that crap that has been pushed on us from Church for the last 1,500 Years. The Catholics started all this and the Evangelicals are keeping it going.
The 12 Apostles pretty much gave up all their love for Wealth and property OR, they had it taken away by the Romans.
Hey, look at it this way, JUDAS was really into MONEY
Makes you think, doesn't it!!!!

Oh, Yeah, one other thing, to be a TRUE Christian, you only have to ask Christ into your heart as your personal savior. then once that happens you become Born-again, spiritually. You then have Christ living in you. His presents leads you to do things that HE would have done on Earth. Being a Mean, angry hostil and judmental person is NOT Christ like, those things are the symptoms of a Religous Freak, not a Christian.

Answer 2

I'm glad that you caught your own generalization. I don't make assumptions about all atheists, and I don't think it's good logic to make assumptions about all Christians, either.

When someone disagrees with me or makes a retort, the only think that I chalk it up to is the fact that we don't agree. I'm not a mindreader, and I have no idea of what your motivations are. Only you can say why you respond the way that you do.

I'm also not responsible for you or your salvation. I can tell you what I believe and why I believe it, but the way that you choose to live your life is not my call. If there ever comes a day when your highly moral life is no longer satisfying and you're in need of something more spiritual, feel free to talk to me about it.

And obviously, no, I don't believe that everyone feels the way that I do. If they did, we'd have to close down this forum because I'd be the only one here.

Answer 3

Christian, Atheist, we are all pretty defensive. When our beliefs or person are challenged, we tend to react by attacking the other. The irony in this forum is that we all come here voluntarily to dialogue and exchange ideas, but then can't handle the exchange. I am guilty of that defensiveness myself.
As a side note, I am a Christian and some of the Christian bumper stickers offend me too.

Answer 4

Christians are to tell others about God. Some, however, go way beyond what they should say and do. They get to a point where they make enemies, which is wrong in and of itself. Once you tell someone about God your job is done. It is up to them whether or not they believe or reject God. There is no place in the world for extremist who think they have to badger a person to death. Everyone has a choice. You can choose to believe in God, Allah, other gods, or none at all.

Answer 5

a religion needs followers or it will die. no matter what, they need to convince a certain amount of people. The only way to do that without facts in their favor is to tell stories. Mythology. Stories that lead to the most converts release hidden feelings and wants in a person who then link the messages to their own world. They then usually become LESS tolerant of other peoples' way of life or views and morals! Bummer man! Let's pray or Hope, Want, Work towards; that the whole world doesn't disintegrate into another Religiously driven world war again someday.

Answer 6

People have to be open to the concept of God to ever feel his presence or feel connected to him in any way. People who are not from Christian families are less likely to be open to these concepts and therefore do not experience God or feel his prescence. He is just some hokey foreign fairy tale. It's like trying to describe an orgasm to someone who has never had one. When athiests disagree with me, the only emotional response I have is sadness that they were not born with the advantages I was and sadness about the fact that family plays such a huge roll to many people's detriment.

Answer 7

Thank you for clarifying your generalized statement, the rest of us fundie xian wacko religious nut Christian types appreciate it.

If you are truly not afraid to die, then you should be happy and satisfied in this world, congratulations. I think chdoctor said it best, I will second his statement.

I am so sorry that I didn't make my answer clear enough for you that you had to post another question about it. Let me try again:
Whenever someone (atheists, pagans, etc) says something that you disagree with or when they give your answer a retort.....why do you always chalk it up to their fear and not your own dogma and hostility?

I don't DO THAT. Better?

Answer 8

The duty of a Christian is to give God glory. Jesus' last commission to christians was to go make disciples of everyone.

We, as christians, often screw that up by forcing it on everyone in whatever way we can see. It's often a direct non-face-to-face approach. Since you don't know who we are, and we don't know who you are, it's easy to tell you the gospel without having to worry about being persecuted (because we don't HAVE to read your response to our response to you, if that makes sense). So they (we) take the easy way out and find a way around your question and answer it the way they wanted you to have asked it.

It's both convenient and easy. I've done it before honestly, but I've learned since then.

I know what you mean about being in control of your life without fear. I've been there. I don't claim to know everything about it, and there's no way I can convince you otherwise. I, personally, had to be broken both emotionally and spiritually in order to realize how frail and insufficient I really am. Feel free to e-mail me if you want any more honest answers. I've done the best I can at midnight after a long day of stuff.

hope this helped

Answer 9

You are correct. Not all do that. Whether anyone that I talk to about Christ is converted or not, I do what the Word of God says that I should do and that is tell them. It is not my job to do the actually converting, Jesus said He would do that if I just lift Him up. I know that not all people feel the way I do about Jesus. That is evident in everyday life if nothing but what I see and hear on here. The choices we make in life for our eternity. I do beg to differ though. I don't feel that you can be a genuinely moral person without Christ. And whether you choose to acknowledge Him or not, Christ is in us all daily as long as we have breathe in our bodies. For He alone is the Sustainer of life. May God Bless U.

Answer 10

No you don't. Your life is lived in your fleshly desires,you aren't fooling God or anyone else,and i feel sorry for you. I wouldn't waste time with someone like you. If you don't desire to learn the only thing inportant in life which is God's Word,then by. You don't amout to anything. If you only count on this miserable 80 or so years. If you can't get right,then so long the eternity will be better without you.