Do Christians have it better than us?

Question

For one thing, they go through life believing that all of their suffering will be rewarded and that all of the wrong they endure will be either punished or wiped away by the repentance of the wrongdoer.

For another thing, they'll never know the fact that they're wrong, but we'll never know that we're right.

No wonder Christianity is so appealing to people. You get a sense of justification, when you feel like the world is completely screwed you can just believe that it's transitory anyway and you never have to realize the fact that you're wrong. And here we atheists have to simply deal with the fact that people can be basically evil and there's nothing that can change that.

I wish I could be a Christian, but I've lost the ability to lie to myself.

So do you think that Christians have it better than us in some ways?



Yes, I went THERE. :P Seriously, though...no offense to any Christians.

"How about seriously looking into Jersus Christ to see whether or not all He said is true?"

Has anybody heard of this Jersus Christ? I would like to know more about him. hahahaha :P

Answer 1

No offense taken. You have gotten most of it right.


=====edit====
"Christian Smith on Why Christianity 'Works' "
By Hunter Baker, posted 9/13/2007 08:31AM
Journal Watch: Sociology of Religion

Peter Berger once imagined that the end of the 20th century would witness believers huddled together in small sects as they tried to survive a worldwide secular culture. He's now a critic of the theory that humankind is slowly outgrowing religious faith, but the question persists: Why isn't the world more secular? And why are there still so many Christians?...

...CT: So what does make Christianity work?

Smith: According to my argument in this article, Christianity "works" from a sociological perspective because it is able to successfully address a whole set of basic human needs and desires, particularly offering an emotionally as well as cognitively satisfying experience for ordinary believers. Whether or not various philosophers and scientists raise objections to Christianity, the fact seems to be that in believers' phenomenological experience, there is tremendous power in living in a theistic universe, having a way to deal with moral failure, believing one is loved and cared for by God, having communities of worship and belonging to be a part of, and so on. For many millions of people, that is much more compelling than arguments Freud or Darwin might have made....

Answer 2

To answer the question simply, no, Christians dont have it better than us, and I'm taking the word "US" to encompass everyone else, including non-atheist. This is why:

I am gonna base my answer on my own religion-Hinduism,

"they go through life believing that all of their suffering will be rewarded" - I believe this too, god will never let me suffer in vain. Heaven is just the christian (and i believe catholic) name for what is called Nirvana by hindus, where all my suffering and pain will end.

"all of the wrong they endure will be either punished or wiped away by the repentance of the wrongdoer"- simply put, I call this Karma. My religion taught me what christianity taught its followers, do unto others as you would want done unto you, with the assumption that things will come back to bite you or reward you.

"never have to realize the fact that you're wrong" - if people actually do this, then they are outside of the religion talk, maybe they should go to the psychiatry forum. If a person uses their religion to remain oblivious to right and wrong and simply always live in the "gray", then they are misusing their religion, whether they are christian or not.

"I wish I could be a Christian, but I've lost the ability to lie to myself." - Personally I dont think that this statement does anything other than contradict you (sorry). You show from your words that you think Christians are eluded to reality. But most of them would think that an atheist is eluded to reality too. Accepting someone elses belief openmindly, WITHOUT thinkin you are supreme and right, is what makes religion work.

A hindu believes that all religions are paths to god, and that "what someone else believes in, is as good as what I believe in". Maybe as an atheist you should think about that one belief, so that you wouldn't look at people of religion as people who live in ignorant bliss, (even if they do) and then you can decide what is or who is wrong or right, with sincere openmindedness.

I hope I didnt offend you. :)

Answer 3

As a Christian, I do see evidence of this among Christianity generally but not in my own life. I believe that Christianity is not primarily about the afterlife but about this one - living eternally is what we can do right now if we are "born again," meaning we subjugate our selfish egos and love others as we love ourselves.

These benefits you see in Christianity are available to atheists via humanist existentialism. Read camu's essay The Myth of Sisyphus: http://www.humboldt.edu/~jwp2/sisyphus.htm. Camus can offer you pretty much all the hope and comfort you are desiring here. If you like that, I highly recommend looking at Nikos Kazantzakis' works like Zorba the Greek and The Last Temptation of Christ. They're good on their own anyway.

Answer 4

I see the conundrum you're facing, but the fact is that we Christians are faced with the same troubles here on earth as anyone else. But on top of these things, is the burden of the rejection of so many because of our stand. Christians have been martyred down through the ages, and yet have remained faithful to the "call" of God on their lives. In my own case, I was kidnapped for my faith and went through certain "deprogramming" and "brainwashing" techniques to try to pull me out of Christianity. Only later did I learn that the techniques used on me were very similar to techniques used on POWs. I still love the Lord, even though I had a moment of weakness and fell under the influence of what I was going through. (I am sad to report that at one point, I actually DID deny Jesus. But He never gave up on me!)

An excellent book I would recommend is called "Fox's Book of Martyrs" that shows case after case of Christians being being killed just because they refused to recant their beliefs.

Answer 5

Interesting question...I would say that even though there are plenty of people whose lust for power, revenge, wealth and fame are the catalysts for all sorts of evil-doing in the world and there's little we can do about their character failings, we CAN and SHOULD do everything we can to COUNTERACT that evil.

Judaism teaches that its followers are under a spiritual obligation to do good works to keep the evil of the world from overwhelming mankind entirely.

The power of good is vastly superior to the power of evil, if only we would employ it.

Answer 6

God's law far excels alternative moral values of man. As the apostle Paul wrote, "the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God" (1 Corinthians 3:19).
By rejecting God's revealed way of life, people unknowingly cut themselves off from blessings and sentence themselves to suffering!......"See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, in that I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the LORD your God will bless you . . ." (Deuteronomy 30:15-16).

It's sad that most people choose not to accept God's offer of a way that will lead to an abundant and fulfilled life.

Answer 7

You certainly have no difficulty lying or deceiving yourself about Christianity. Sorry to be so blunt but you have a very skewed view of Christianity. Perhaps that is the belief of some, but I don’t know them.

Answer 8

Yes we have the satisfation of knowing that we aren't going to hell. Seriously though you are the type of Atheist that I was talking about when I asked my question earlier. You should check it out.

Answer 9

True! It seems like in some ways you need to delude yourself (or, at best, suspend your disbelief) to be the kind of Christian that many people seem to be.

Answer 10

Why do you single out Christianity? I would think believers of any faith have it better than atheists.