What is it about Christ that you reject?

Question

I see a lot questions asking about "true" Christians -posed from atheistic thinkers, the agnostic fellowship and those of other faiths.
I like that. And I understand why so many of the best answers are those that support one's intial theory.
What I don't understand though is this:
If you are able to know what a "true" Christian "should" look like or what a "true" Christian is "not", doesn't that say that you know a lot about what a "true" Christian should be, who Christ was, what He taught and His example to us? If this is the case, what is it about Him and His teachings that you reject? If your answer is based on disbelief of His existence is your reasoning for this line of questioning anything other than seeking opportunity to belittle those who think/believe differently than you or to cause division?
***Please note that I am WELL aware that there are many "Christians" who use Christ as a battering ram.
***I'm trying to understand to build better tolerance and wisdom.
THX

Answer 1

Wow! Thanks for that question.

Some of what I reject:

That any Christians today are capable of doing that which Christ himself said they could do. He said that they could do more and greater things than were done during his ministry. They are not. People aren't being raised from the dead. Amputees remain amputees. The lame who do walk are most often shown to be frauds; as well as the blind, deaf and dumb that regain use of their senses and bodies.

That the Christian faith is truly of the lineage of Christ.

That Christ actually was raised from the dead and ascended into heaven.

That Christ was any more the only son of god than any of us are truly indwelt by the Deity of the universe.

That he is the "only way".

While I believe there was likely a prophet named Jesus, I believe his message was twisted. With all of the gospels out there, and all of the writings describing his life, and the ministry of the early church, what remains in the Bible is a small subset, chosen by men to promote a specific understanding of history, and a message to support a specific tradition as truth. I can't accept it as true.

Answer 2

Just because someone doesn't believe the teachings of Christ doesn't mean they don't understand or aren't knowledgable in that field. Most Atheists were raised Christian or have studied Christianity, so they're simply relaying what they understand to be the lessons taught by your religion.

I personally am Agnostic and I don't reject Christ. I reject the idea that he was the son of God, the saviour of mankind and that he rose from the dead and will some day return to the Earth. I just don't believe it. But I also don't deny the power of Christ. You can look around you almost everywhere you go and see the power that he has on some people's lives. I believe that Jesus was a mortal man who taught great things and inspired millions. I respect him the same way I respect people like Ghandi or MLK Jr. I just don't believe that he's the son of God.

Answer 3

I don't reject Christ he sounds like a great guy and his wisdom should be adopted by all. I just reject as I think most agnostics do the church set up in his name when even according to its own bible stands opposite many of his views. Such as Jesus never congregated inside huge elaborately decorated building he went to the people. Jesus actually believed anyone could commune with god ANYTIME and ANYWHERE. No intermediary needed. In fact The very thing the catholic church became is what got Jesus killed in the first place. As a Catholic as a child I was taught Jesus was killed for claiming he was the son of god. That's true but it wasn't his claim that got him killed it was the fact the Leaders of the time lost vast sums of money from their differing religious cleansing or offerings when the people started listening to what he had to say. In closing I would love to meet Jesus and have him explain it all to everyone. As for the son of god I would like to believe he was but the church has so corrupted the bible trying to control the people that there is no way of knowing what the real story is.

Answer 4

I don't reject Jesus. He was one of the mightiest Prophet who ever walked the Earth.

I accept his miraculous birth without a father. I accept his miracles, including healing and bringing people from death.

However, I reject trinity, which showing Jesus as the begotten son of God and even, as a God.

Jesus had never been regarded as a God until 300 years after his cricifixion. It was a decision made by the Roman Emperor and the Church, and became the foundation of today's christianity.

I also reject the concept of original sin. A son shall not be punished because of a mistake made by his father. One should only be responsible for their own wrong doings, and not of others. With this regard, I perceive a new born baby as pure and sinless.

I also believe in God's unlimited power to forgive anyone without any cause (including sacrificing a man). God is Most Forgiving.

Answer 5

I think most who openly reject Christ are really just rejecting Christians and you have good reason to feel that many so called Atheists just want to belittle those who believe. However, there is a lot of room for genuine doubt in Jesus existence. There is certainly reason to doubt that He ever claimed to be God. Just because you doubt, doesn't make you hateful.

Answer 6

I think that Jesus, the man, probably had some good things to say but he was far from original in what he was preaching. I do not believe that Jesus was a god because I am 99.99999
% sure that gods do not exist. I do not want to belittle anyones beliefs BUT I believe that "faith" has damaged mankinds progress for too long not to attempt to fight against it. It is not any particular religion (although some are much more obnoxious than others) that I am against but rather the whole idea of "faith".

Answer 7

I understand your thinking on this but the fact that we know how a "true Christian" should behave does not mean that we are validating the existence of Jesus Christ. It simply means that we acknowledge and are aware of how the Bible says a "true Christian" should leave their lives and we are informed about what the Bible teaches.

Answer 8

Christians identify Messiah with Jesus and define him as God incarnated as a man, and believe he died for the sins of humanity as a blood sacrifice. This means that one has to accept the idea that one person's death can atone for another person's sins. However, this is opposed to what the Bible says in Deuteronomy 24:26, "Every man shall be put to death for his own sin," which is also expressed in Exodus 32:30-35, and Ezekiel 18. The Christian idea of the messiah also assumes that God wants, and will accept, a human sacrifice. After all, it was either Jesus-the-god who died on the cross, or Jesus-the-human. Jews believe that God cannot die, and so all that Christians are left with in the death of Jesus on the cross, is a human sacrifice. However, in Deuteronomy 12:30-31, God calls human sacrifice an abomination, and something He hates: "for every abomination to the Eternal, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods." All human beings are sons or daughters, and any sacrifice to God of any human being would be something that God would hate. The Christian idea of the messiah consists of ideas that are UnBiblical.

Answer 9

"...what is it about Him and His teachings that you reject?..."

No one can "reject" Jesus because no one knows the truth about him or his ministry. What we do know is that there were dozens of messiahs in his day, that many Jews believed the world was ending immediately back then, and that Jesus' own followers who knew him personally had very little influence on the establishment of Christianity. We also know that the early Christian church was made up of ignorant and power-hungry men who did a lot of "cleansing" of the pagans and others who wouldn't convert.

As far as what's recorded in the bible about Jesus, I see bits of value there but a whole lot of corruption by the people who twisted his message, corrupted his ministry and perverted historical facts.

Answer 10

I am smart enough to realize that whatever is taught about Christianity is twisted to meet the needs of the moment, and the *teachers* are spiritual salesmen and women who call themselves ordained, when they could have learned the same tactics at the car lot. I am smart enough to understand logic and science, and not to fold to pressure to live in fear of a 2000 year old myth. The bible is a book of perception and stories that were handed down and exaggerated, I do believe that there are some good ethics to be taken from this book, but to live my live in fear of it....no thanks...I want to live my life, enjoying and appreciating every minute of it.