How Come Christians In Here Seem So Hard On Each Other?

Question

Perhaps it is just fish bowl atmosphere of Yahoo Answers! But from an outsider's vantage point, it just seems like , your religion seems like a VERY tense affair, full of rules, constant judgement, comparisons, guilt, insecurity (I am always seeing Christians asking or worrying they are not measuring up and need other people's opinions about how good a Christian they are) and there is SO MUCH competition and nit picking over who is more Christian than whom in every aspect of people's lives. So many bible quotes and every which way of interpreting them to judge some OTHER Christian about what THEY are doing.....it just seems so exhausting! How do you deal with the pressure?


And that is just what I have seen a lot of you doing to EACH OTHER, your OWN fellow Christians.

I would like to think Yahoo Answers isn't reflective of the religion as a whole and things are actually more exaggerated here than in real life.

Is it? Or are you guys REALLY that persnickety ?

Answer 1

Very good question, many of them think they have special revelation from their god and have trouble dealing with other beliefs, even from other Christians.
It would be interesting to see their responses, dishonest or otherwise.

Answer 2

Well, there is a fair amount of disagreement among Christians on various points, which is a very sad thing and NOT what Jesus intended we should be doing.

Online these kinds of things tend to get exaggerated because online forums are always a very contentious space. People get very defensive and tend to always feel like they need to be right, or need to "win" an argument. In real life, there's actually not anything like this level of contentiousness; at leat, not in my life there's not. Most of my coworkers aren't Christians, but noone is this hostile or tense about it. They know I am, I know they're not.

One of the problems is that when people post a question, say, about a particular verse, or Christian doctrine, and want some explanation, a lot of other people just use that as an opportunity to attack Christianity, instead of actually answering the question. For example, I posted a question here last week, asking if anyone had read this particular Christian women's book I was thinking of buying, and if so, what they had thought of it. The only answer I got was "Shut up!".

Not terribly helpful, you must admit.

But you're also right in that Y! Answers forum is a very in-the-trench kind of thing. People don't have the time and space to devote to explaining things fully (or they do it rarely), and tend to just toss off something that sounds good. And frankly, a lot of people just post whatever comes to mind without thinking, in order to earn their 2 points.

On the Internet people say all kinds of things that they would normally not say to someone face-to-face... that's part of it too.

Answer 3

It is sad but true. Many Christians have varied beliefs and the unfortunate thing is that they read from the same Bible.

For instance, one group preaches about the gifts of the Holy Spirit while another group preaches that was only for the church back then and not for today's church.

And there are even more little things that have divided the church for so long it just seems common place anymore. That is sad and saddens my heart. Even one verse of scripture is hard for ALL denominations to agree on. That is Eph. 4:5. It clearly states "One Lord, one faith, one baptism." I have looked at many different translations and all say the same thing. And yet there is no unity.

Finally, real life is just as disheartening as Yahoo Answers. The same bickering and attitudes are evident even more so in real life because there are no sensors to block or filter out the language and hypocrasy.

Great question though. It is a good sermon waiting to be preached. Thanks.

Answer 4

Just an opinion here, but anybody who registers with yahoo answers is the type of person who either has strong opinions on certain subjects, likes to help people, or both. Christianity is a lot like politics, in that believers range from the liberal to the extremely conservative, depending on the denomination. When you combine that much diversity of belief with strong willed personalities, you're bound to have some conflict.

Answer 5

Are we not often 'hardest' on those who we love the most--much like we are to the members of our own families?

When you look at others--whether it is to observe a 'religion', or other doctrinally based ideology, you need to FIRST separate the doctrine FROM the people (or the acts of the people).

I believe this is what you are really talking about and/or observing; and could be as easily applied to ANY 'religious ideology'--or other ideologies and practices such as politics.

I believe if you werestudy the principles as taught by just about any 'group', you would find that probably none of these 'groups' teach what you are observing. Again, I believe you are simply seeing the 'acts of people', and/or how people are--no matter what.

Regards,

Answer 6

Unfortunately, yes. Alot of Christians are like that, and its sad. I'm sure it hurts Jesus to see it.

Some Christians have a hard time realizing that we're all God's "work in progress". Being saved does cause a change in our hearts, but it doesn't change everything about us overnight. We still mess up. Messing up doesn't mean we aren't Christian, it means that we are imperfect sinners -- which is why Jesus died for us to begin with.

I honestly think that some people aren't secure enough in their own salvation that they have to go after others. "Surely, if someone else is worse than I am and I bring attention to that, God will notice their sins and not mine!"

Answer 7

Short of joining or hanging out with a group of Christians so that you really understand them, it's unlikely you'll ever know if your perceptions are real or imagined.

To be frank, I think you are accusing Christians of being guilty of something that all groups of belief (including atheists) are guilty of to some degree or another.

Indeed, the very fact that you posted this suggest that you are just as capable of creating controversy between your belief system and another as Christians are. So you do in fact understand their need to argue and debate differences of belief that they perceive as important.

Answer 8

if everyone really did believe in the word of God as final we wouldn't have so many different denominations, but people go at each other because they want the satisfaction of knowing they don't have to follow someone else's interpretation, that they were right and they don't have to change their ignorance and prejudices. religion is about power, money and control.

Answer 9

Because for some of us, it is more important to BE right than it is to DO what's right.