How many 'fake' Christians do you think there are (read the whole Q)?

Question

By Fake I mean christians who only pray to God and go to Church because they think "Well If its not real then nothing will happen, but If it is real then better be on the safe side,"

I.e. only being a christian to avoid punishment.


and a follow up question, do you think the idea of hell was meant to do this to people?

Gray, your an idiot, your not even worth the virtual paper this is written on.

Answer 1

I think there's loads of them, but at the end, if it all turns out to be true, God will know they were faking!! What i really have is the poeple who are all preachy and go to church every Sunday, but are terrible people during the week, and seem to think that as long as they go to church for absolution every sunday, its okay to be a terrible person the rest of the time!

Answer 2

I believe there are many fake Christians who do that. They are pressured to fear by the Church, then they fall in hypocrisy.

The concept of hell has been evolving for thousands of years.

Revelation 20
10 And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever

That last part was possibly added to scare people (this is only said in the sense that angels are inmortal beings so therefore their torment is supposed to be eternal but if it is spoken of second death means is final). The devil is (opposition to God - a figurative entity) The false Prophet is (False religions, and leaders who are not eternal) And the Beast is joined spiritual social structure)

Because the beast is not a real entity, but a social system representing satan's organization: Revelation 17
The Woman and the Beast. The beast came out of the water second out of the earth, the waters are are peoples, multitudes, nations and languages, it represents the evil in men and the world exercised through evil angels.

Revelation 21
8 But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death."

So hell is the second death, which means no chance for resurrection, dead forever. Past, forgotten. finito.

Yes, the idea of hell was meant to do this to people.
The only payment for sin is death. But God is merciful.

Answer 3

I think at least half if not more of people who call themselves Christians are really "doing this to cover my a s s" Christians. I've met most of them.

I remember going to church camp when I was like 12 or 13 and there was this one kid who just went because his friend went. Well a lot of the other kids and a few adults ganged up on him for the whole week trying to scare him with hell.

I think the idea of hell was conjured up to scare people who otherwise wouldn't become Christians for the right reasons into becoming Christians. I honestly don't think there is a hell in the most conventional sense of the word. I don't see why God would make a special, unique human being just to throw them away. That would be very similar to a theological abortion. I think it's probably something more like purgatory (although not strictly in the Catholic sense of the word) where you go to work on your faith and your relationship with God until you fully understand and accept salvation.

That's just my take on it tho.

Answer 4

not sure how to answer, but here i go.i don't think their is such thing as a fake christian, i think that maybe some people just have not found a spiritual experience and they are still looking . trying to understand things.but when the time is right God will open there eyes, so just pray for them.

and no i don't think the idea of hell was meant to do this to people

Answer 5

Wow! This is such a general question which provokes general responses. No one except for the Lord God knows the true heart of man. This my friend is something that one can not fake. If one is "faking", being a Christian they have missed the whole point of why Jesus Christ died on the Cross. Anyway, people can fake all they want it won't get them into Heaven. Only a true relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ will do that. Something that can not be duplicated, replicated, or fabricated.

Answer 6

It would be interesting to know this.

There's a statistical technique for getting accurate information about things that people are likely to lie about (though not when they're lying to themselves).

But other than somehow conducting a solid study using it, it's impossible to say.

Your question is asking us to guess.

I think it's probably smaller than a lot of your non-Christian answerers has said.

It has puzzled me to see this argument seriously proposed to us non-believers, however. It IS a cheat, isn't it?

I've been told to believe on the chance that I'll burn if I don't. HOW do I believe in something I don't believe in, and if I'm being told to pretend, isn't that a no-no?

It's possible that a lot of genuine believers ward off doubts by considering the possibility of burning for them. But that's not necessarily being fake.

The threat of hell is NOT conducive to free thought, though, is it?

Answer 7

The only thing pray does is to make the person praying feel better about something. So if going to church and praying makes someone feel good, more at easy, or they think it will improve their social standing or even if they think they are more likely to go to heaven, supposing such a thing existed, then why not. Generally it does not do any harm

Answer 8

1) I have no idea. Really, how can you expect anyone here to have the definitive answer to this question?

2) I don't believe in hell, but whether or not the idea of it was originally intended to keep people in line, I'm sure it has in fact operated that way. It's only human to want to avoid pain.

Answer 9

To be honest, i would guess a very large number of christians are indeed "fake". I wouldn't give a percentage b/c that would be complete speculation. Also, I would think that people in the middle of their lives are actually the ones the most susceptible to being a "fake".

Answer 10

Pascal's Wager!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascal's_Wager

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