I have two problems with Christianity. Help?

Question

Firstly, Im Christian.

Problem #1: Most Christians (Or at least the ones in Illinois) arent very nice people. Okay, not most, but a fair enough portian to present a problem.

Problem #2: Many Christian myths (the word myth does not necessarily imply untruth) show direct patterns of development from other older myths such as Nah and Unabatish from the Epic of Gilgamesh, and the Cherubim from the Assyrian Sphinx.

Sorry Angel, but Muslim myths are the same way

Answer 1

#1 The ones, who aren't very nice people, aren't very Christian. It's much easier to say you're Christian than to actually be one.

#2 This is just more Bible criticism. I view the Bible as a collection of mythms and fable with some moral value. It's just a book. If I try to expect too much from it, my BS detector starts screaming, because too much of it is unreasonable to begin with.

Answer 2

Answer #1: Ok, a pretty wild generalisation, as Illinois hardly represents a demographic of the whole world. Possibly a good thing. Anyway, some Christians will be good, some will be bad. Morality doesn't come from the Bible, so Christians can be either.

Answer #2: That's because the Bible was written by humans (I hasten to avoid the feminist-riling "men", but it probably was just men back then), and as such, they had to get their stories from somewhere. The incidents in the Bible that don't involve rather formulaic mundane matters of violence/sexuality are usually traceable to other sources. Very rarely is there a biblical myth that is untraceable to some prior culture.

(Incidentally, those are the facts. Whether this affects your view of the Bible and God or not is up to you. I'm just stating the obvious here, not taking sides for or against religion.)

Answer 3

#1, well, many people in general are not necessarily very nice. I think one of the issues with christians is that they claim to follow jesus, who preached the whole love your neighbor thing, so it is pretty hypocritical to be a jerk to everyone. That's just a fact of life, though. If you really find merit in a religion, by all means, go ahead and believe it. If mean people are your major reason for disbelief, maybe you should look harder at the actual religion, because you will probably find some other hypocrisies and contradictions that go beyond that.

#2. This was actually one of the issues that got me to start really questioning my own beliefs when I was young. When you look at all the world myths and religions, you'll find similar stories and themes written in different ways, over and over. If you believe in god and believe that your religion is the true way to go, what about all those others, don't they pretty much believe in the same god?

My own response to this problem was, I deduced that either a) every person's beliefs and every version of god must be true in some sense, or b) that it is all just made up and that there is no god and no truth to any of it. After many years of deliberation and going between being a pagan (believing in many gods) and atheist, I settled on atheist. I feel less internal conflict and less hypocrisy than when i was a christian, i feel that my beliefs (or lack of) are in line with my senses and intellect, and generally am a happy and moral person.

Answer 4

Answers:

Problem 1= Christians are sinners and some just aren't very nice. God is still working on them.

Problem 2= I am a Church historian and I find no direct patterns of Christian teaching coming from previous Pagan beliefs and worship. There may be some similarities, as would be expected as both beliefs come from faith belief systems but that is accidental instead of intentional and certainly does not suggest that Christianity comes from any other faith system other than Judaism.

Critics of Christianity and in particular of Christ's Church use such apparent similarities to attack the Church but such accusations do not hold up under scrutiny and are false.

In Christ
Fr. Joseph

Answer 5

Why is the use of earlier myths by Israelite authors a problem? You might find an approach to Christianity that takes Biblical scholarship into account more helpful. Try reading good academic Biblical commentaries, and perhaps some of the books by Keith Ward.

On the subject of myth Rudolf Bultmann is perhaps the author I'd recommend most - not least because some of his writings are available online:

http://www.religion-online.org/showchapter.asp?title=431&C=292

Answer 6

You know what your problem is? You concentrate tooooo much on the myths and look toooo much at what people are doing. The Bible says, "you will know them by their fruits". Someone calling themselves a Christian does not necessarily mean they are Christians. A Christian (true Christian) is loving, considerate, does not engage in gossip, slow to anger, helpful, forgiving and so much more, just like Jesus Christ is.
Look to men and you will be disappointed. The Bible says, "Trust in the Lord" and that is all you need to do, don't be looking at what the other Christians are doing because on judgement day we are all going to be judged for our works and when that day comes you cannot say, "Lord I felt discouraged to follow you because the majority of the Christians were nasty", there will be no excuse on that day. So follow the Lord with all your heart, He will not let you down.
How do you spot a true Christian? Listen when they talk because the Bible says, "That which comes out of a man's mouth is who he is/that's what his heart is.

About the myth, I don't know what those myths you mentioned are but if you are a Christian you should have faith in everything the Bible says. "Without faith you cannot please Me (God)", sayeth the Lord.
May the Lord bless you.

Answer 7

#1-There are all kinds of "Christians"-some not even being true Christians (followers of Jesus). The Bible tells us that from the very beginning there were some who rose up to challenge the apostles' authority and draw away people to be disciples of themselves rather than of the Lord Jesus.

You will be disappointed with Christianity if you look to "Christians" rather than to the Lord Jesus for happiness. If you are in the right church ( and denomination), however, you should be able to find some good fellowship. Just be careful not to judge people prematurely (actually-don't judge people's hearts at all).

#2- Christianity is a continuance of the Old Testament which starts from the beginning of time and precedes these other accounts you mentioned. Jesus is the Messiah prophesied throughout the Old Testament. I think you'll find that other religions have either come up with their own ideas about God or have "borrowed" or been influenced from the Jewish and other early writings. It's up to you to find out who's got it right or who borrowed from who.

Thankfully, God is still in the business of confirming the right message with signs following.

Answer 8

Neither issue you mentioned are relevant to the personal relationship with Christ.

1. Your term "most" Christians might be exagerated, but you are right. Alot of Christian neglect the true meaning of loving everyone else.

2. Jesus came to tell us what the truth was.
John 14:6 Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Till then there may have been some confusion. The world was lost. The Father sent His son to save us.

Answer 9

Two major problems there! I have often wondered why some religious people are such obvious nutters. Present company excepted, of course. Accept that they are nutters. And concentrate on the guys who you think represent true Christianity.
2nd one - If you accept that God created Adam and Eve, then his religion was around long before any ohter religion. So maybe those religions got their "myths" from the Israelites? Or were taught so by their forefathers, who could have been the sons of Cain and Abel?

Answer 10

#1 Hanging out our dirty laundry? The congegation where I attend has had some mean spirited people in the past, too. This is not Christ-like. Of course, we couldn't have kicked them out because that's not Christ-like either. Aside from the fact that we have no scriptual authority to make them stop coming. But over the past 10 years or so, we've grown in a Christ-like spirit. Some of these people have left because they were not comfortable with the direction of the church. We're smaller in number but closer to God...I pray. I suggest you pray, along with others who see what you see, that God changes the Christians in your area for the better.

#2 We refer to the Bible for all of our information. If it comes from the Bible, it comes from the true source of all information...God. I would suggest that the things you mentioned are pattered after the Bible, not the other way around.