Something I don't get about Xians...?

Question

"If you believe in God, you are not free. You can't do something just becayse you like it. So, those who wants to obey their desires blindly, they deny God just to justify their behaviour."

That's a pretty common thing to hear. Atheists apparently deny the Xian god because we want to act like depraved nymphos.

By this reasoning, Christians are to be held to a higher standard. It should be a terrible thing if they break those rules that their god set forth in their holiest of books. Rules like adultery and remembering not to wear clothing of mixed fibre... That brings me to the other thing I hear from Xians a lot when the get caught sinning:

"We are all human, and flawed." or "We're not perfect, we're just saved."

So, if there's no penalty in life or death for doing bad things, as long as you maintain your relationship with god and pray lots, how can you use the argument that atheists only deny your god because they want to behave badly?

Isn't it the other way around?

With Xians choosing religion because they don't want to be held personally responsible for behaving however they want, and wanting an easy way out of the personal guilt?

Answer 1

You raise some very interesting questions. Hopefully, I can do justice. In every loving relationship, a person willingly gives up certain "freedoms" in order to grow that relationship. For example, a man would give up intercourse with women other than his wife in order to pursue a deeper and more healthy relationship with his wife. Another exasmple would be a person giving up their freedom of hanging out, drinking with their friends so that they can develope and spend more time with their spouse and children.

Point #2: Unfortunately, Christians are as responsible for driving people away from faith in Jesus and God the father, than atheists personal decision to reject Him. This being said, those who reject God DO tend to live less moral lives. They will tend to fall into more traps of bodily wants and desires.

Point #3: You are absolutely correct and accurate that Christians should be held to a higher standard. We should not only hold ourselves to that higher standard but the Church should as well. It is one of the gravest tragedies in today's society that Christians allow themselves to fall into the trappings of the secular society. The worse part of this tragedy is the fact that countless people are going to go to Hell because they judged God and decided to reject Him based on the actions of His "followers."
Point #4: Christians ARE still human and therefore subject to weakness and sin even though they have accepted Christ's saving grace and forgiveness. This being said it does NOT give them a "blank check" to do whatever they want. God knows their heart and will judge them on it. Plus, the saying is still true... "action speaks louder than words." This means that the deeper we feel towards God, the more we should want to live according to His Word and follow His Commandments.
Point #5: There are going to be a whole lot of "Christians" who are going to go to Hell because their actions do not show any love for Christ. Please don't judge all Christians from the hypocrites.

Answer 2

You're exactly right. The Christian idea is that being "saved" takes precedence over all else. "All our righteousness is as filthy rags." This concept is "hedged" often enough with actual injunctions to morality: "What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid!" And yet the obvious conclusion is that such a thing would be possible. The "elected" simply try to refrain from sinning out of polite deference to God - but nothing can "unsave" them.

Add to this primacy of "faith" over morality the Christian concept that we are ALL corrupted from birth with "Original Sin," and in bitter need of salvation regardless of whether we've actually committed personal "sin" or not, and you begin to see why the Christian religion caught on, and why Jesus has always been so popular in prison and rehab. Christian "faith" is literally the complete abdication of all personal moral responsibility.

Answer 3

This Christian sins...and believes all people are sinners. I do not care what you choose to do and I am free to chose to do what I want. Not once in my life have I ever said atheists only deny God because they want to behave badly. A statement such as that would certainly indicate that a person knows nothing about atheism.

Christian or atheists though, we are known by our words. Religion has nothing to do with decency, empathy and manners.

BUNNY

Answer 4

That's one of the best questions I've seen on YA.

I tried Christianity, and one of the things I was told was, "You won't WANT to commit sins anymore." Oh, but I did want to do the things they labeled as "sins." Then I was told, "God can help you not want to do it anymore." I tried this, but it felt exactly the same as using my willpower when I'm on a diet. And I never used any gods to help me have willpower not to eat. The times I've dieted successfully, *I* was the one who turned down the food or forced myself to exercise. Nobody else did it for me.

According to everything I've heard about the Biblical god, no matter what we humans do, he's going to find something to b!tch about. I finally got to the point where I realized it's no use trying to please someone who insists on complaining, no matter what I do.

Answer 5

In the first place the Christian definition of freedom is different than your definition of it. In Christianity freedom is not the right to do what you want to do but the power to do what you ought to do. Secondly for those who want to obey their desires blindly, the desires of a Christian are different than the desires of the non believer. When the spirit of God enters into you at salvation he gives you a new heart and new desires and you no longer have the lust and the desire for the things of the world as you use to have and so we do have the ability to follow the desires of our heart but they're different. Christians are held to a higher standard not by you, but by God. There certainly are penalties in life for doing things that are wrong. They are the same consequences that every human being faces. On top of that God also disciplines His children when they disobeyed him and in eternity although there's no condemnation of sin there is a decrease in the rewards of heaven.

Answer 6

Where do you get that Christians are not held responsible for their sins? We are not judged by our sins if we have sought forgiveness and have repented, but if we have unconfessed sins that means we have not repented and turned from sin and can be judged on those.Responsibility for sins is something most Christians take very seriously. I say most because there are some that feel once you are saved you dont need to be responsible any longer that your sins are forever forgiven without any action from them . Which is wrong. Salvation is not a one time thing, it is something that must be worked on daily. Being responsible enough to seek forgiveness each and everyday.

"I am already saved (Rom. 8:24, Eph. 2:5–8), but I’m also being saved (1 Cor. 1:8, 2 Cor. 2:15, Phil. 2:12), and I have the hope that I will be saved (Rom. 5:9–10, 1 Cor. 3:12–15). Like the apostle Paul I am working out my salvation in fear and trembling (Phil. 2:12), with hopeful confidence in the promises of Christ (Rom. 5:2, 2 Tim. 2:11–13)."

Answer 7

I think a lot of the problem (at least that I had) with Christianity is that it attempts to *guilt* you into doing what's right. That makes it very easy to "keep sliding" once you've done something you know is wrong. Just my $0.02

Answer 8

Why is it that as soon as a person wants to give something up (dieting, gambling, drugs etc) all of a sudden they want to do it more. That is the sin that is inside them. If a person dies in this sin they are trapped forever. Christianity sets them free from this sin. The sin is dead on the cross with Jesus so when you die you go free with him.

Answer 9

There are lots of things I can't understand about religion in general. I've yet to find a religion that stands up to any level of scrutiny. I wouldn't waste my time trying to justify all of the contradictions religions are happy with. I think its all part of the fun. The mystery of the Magical Mr jesus and his pals holy mo and the supernatural league of no justice.

Answer 10

i agree completely with your point, and have argued that with my xian friends. usually the answers i get are things like - god is the only way to heaven, jesus died for you so you need to take him into your heart, etc etc, which has nothing to do with the actual question! i was able to stump one friend by saying "so what you're telling me, is that you can basically do anything wrong once, as long as you repent and are truly sorry, and you'll still get into heaven?"
i'm interested in seeing if there are actually any "good" answers

EDIT: and so far there aren't any valid answers