Mike D Posted November 5, 2005 Share Posted November 5, 2005 In my experience it seems there are pretty much 2-3 main emotional reasons to believe in Christianity. I am curious to know what others' main reasons were/are for believing. Interestingly, when I was a Christian if I took this poll I would have either said "because I love God/Jesus", or "All of the above". The reason for that is because when I was a Christian, I would never have answered a question like this honestly. To do so would have required me to acknowledge that underneath the surface I really didn't think I loved Jesus or God, because in my mind love wasn't just a statement, it was something I had to feel. Did I really feel love for a being I couldn't see, hear, interact with, etc., or that I could not even say I knew for certain even existed? The honest answer was no I could not. Anyway, as any Christian knows, allowing even a fleeting thought that you may not love Jesus or God is a place where no Christian wants to go, and so it is pushed as far down into subconscious as possible so it will never ever be confronted or dealt with. In my own case, I had to delude myself by never ever allowing myself to acknowledge something so contrary to the basic tenents of my beliefs. I felt as long as I believed I loved Jesus/god, (even though I knew down deep that this wasn't true), that everything would be just peachy keen and I was on my way to heaven. Today I am going to answer the question honestly, which was fear of hell or hope for heaven. I was mainly concerned with what was in it for me. Guess that makes me a selfish greedy bastard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willybilly30 Posted November 5, 2005 Share Posted November 5, 2005 fear of hell mostly. as a christian i felt bad that i couldnt love jesus more than my mom and dad like the bible says. as an exchristian i say thats bullshit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndreasBolle Posted November 5, 2005 Share Posted November 5, 2005 I was reared in that faith. I never had any particular fears. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vixentrox Posted November 5, 2005 Share Posted November 5, 2005 I picked all of the above but it's really a bit too simplistic for how it really was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike D Posted November 5, 2005 Author Share Posted November 5, 2005 as a christian i felt bad that i couldnt love jesus more than my mom and dad like the bible says. 102173[/snapback] Heehee, yeah that was a problem for me too. I mean when you think about it, what does that even mean to love Jesus "more" than your parents or anyone else? Is love a measuring stick, or is it just something you either feel or don't feel? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waynus Posted November 5, 2005 Share Posted November 5, 2005 I was raised in the faith so I thought it was the "truth". Boy, was I wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mythra Posted November 5, 2005 Share Posted November 5, 2005 Eternity. That was the biggie. Eternity is a long long freakin time. I think maybe I had a love for Jesus. I never could really bring myself to say I had an overwhelming love for God. I read the bible too much. Of course, Jesus and God and the Holy Phantom are one. So - no, I never loved either / both / several/ all three/ of them/him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amethyst Posted November 5, 2005 Share Posted November 5, 2005 Mostly I was a Christian because it was spoonfed to me from birth. Yeah, there was the hell thing, but I was more afraid of being hated by my family for having a different religion from them than almost anything the religious dogma had. It took me years to gain the courage to question, and more years to finally take that last step and deconvert. Yeah, I loved Jesus and all that too. But you tend to love tangible people more than invisible ones, or at least, I do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asuryan Posted November 6, 2005 Share Posted November 6, 2005 Fear of torture in hell for me, and hope of ending up in a wonderful cloudy place and fluttering around with angel wings too. And, of course, social indoctrination and conditioning. The whole "loving jesus" thing was always a bit difficult for me to understand. As I was just a child, I thought "how do I love a guy that I've only read about on books and heard about it from people reading the same books to me? I love my grandma, but I know my grandma, I've seen her and talked with her, and she gives me presents." Children are so wonderfully simple... at least catholic ones. It was really like loving the faerie godmother that helps cinderella - she was supposedly good and could do miracles too, but was ... a character of a story, just like jesus. It's not that I could love jesus only because people kept telling me that the faerie godmother is not true, while jesus is true. When you are a child, is much easier to love unicorns than love jesus... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kalidasa Posted November 6, 2005 Share Posted November 6, 2005 I was pretty much raised to be Christian. Until my mid-teens, I honestly didn't know any other way of life. All I can say is, thank the Goddess I came to my senses when I did... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToHellWithMe Posted November 6, 2005 Share Posted November 6, 2005 Definitely the hope for heaven. The other stuff I was only interested in as a means to reach the eternity of happiness. Also, because I felt bad for being so selfish, I prayed God to make me better follower and find a motivation in love rather than in anticipation for a reward. Therefore I might've answered this honestly even couple of years ago; it was not one of those problems that needed to be kept away from thoughts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
All Gods Fail Posted November 6, 2005 Share Posted November 6, 2005 I was the classic religious patsy. My background was pretty secular, but I was reeling from some hard blows life had given me and looking for some kind of miracle. The church saw me coming a mile away. But there's more to it than that - one of these days I'll post the whole sad story in an expanded eximony. It was kind of complicated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizard Posted November 6, 2005 Share Posted November 6, 2005 I was the classic religious patsy. My background was pretty secular, but I was reeling from some hard blows life had given me and looking for some kind of miracle. The church saw me coming a mile away. But there's more to it than that - one of these days I'll post the whole sad story in an expanded eximony. It was kind of complicated. 102383[/snapback] That sounds like my story.. Raised secular, then some bad times and I thought that would be the way to turn things around. Didn't work..but I "tried" for over 20 years.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spamandham Posted November 6, 2005 Share Posted November 6, 2005 I voted "both" even though that isn't really the whole story. I was a Christian out of fear of existence being without absolute purpose, and out of fear that death is permanent. Of course, being brainwashed since birth was the ultimate reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Dreamer Posted November 6, 2005 Share Posted November 6, 2005 I was a Christian because I was raised with and was taught to believe in it, so I did until I started questioning that is Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
All Gods Fail Posted November 6, 2005 Share Posted November 6, 2005 I was the classic religious patsy. My background was pretty secular, but I was reeling from some hard blows life had given me and looking for some kind of miracle. The church saw me coming a mile away. But there's more to it than that - one of these days I'll post the whole sad story in an expanded eximony. It was kind of complicated. 102383[/snapback] That sounds like my story.. Raised secular, then some bad times and I thought that would be the way to turn things around. Didn't work..but I "tried" for over 20 years.. 102407[/snapback] Yeah, I guess it could've been worse - I might've ended up as a Moonie or something. Altho what I got involved with was almost as bad. Cie le vie... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dianka Posted November 6, 2005 Share Posted November 6, 2005 I was scared of going to Hell, but that was not the real reason why I turned to Christianity. I really got into Chistianity as a response to the emptiness I felt when all my friends were too fucked up for me to associate with. I stopped talking to them and was a total loner for a while. Then I met my Christian friends who I thought really wanted to associate with me, but in reality I was just a mark for them. Weak minded and broken down enough to believe anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueGiant Posted November 7, 2005 Share Posted November 7, 2005 I promised myself that I would never be cowed into belief by fear ever again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuddhistCommunist Posted November 8, 2005 Share Posted November 8, 2005 My belief was rather interesting. It didn't stop me from being openminded, I just considered it the basis. I never really believed in the bible, I just considered everything in it, interperetable the truth. Like I knew that the dinosaurs' died out 65 million years ago. I was more of a theistic evolutionist than a christian. Then one day I noticed I was being scorned for my beliefs and when I read the bible (the supposed foundation of my beliefs) I found it all to be a lie. So I try my hardest to influence the ones who are constant victims of Fundamentalism. Those who are more like how I was, I generally leave alone. I feel they can find out for themselves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluesman Posted November 8, 2005 Share Posted November 8, 2005 I answered both, and can say that I really loved God/Jesus. I used to imagine Jesus dying on the cross for ME!!! This was before the grusome images of the Mel Gibson movie, so I would imagine what Jesus really went through, and that caused me to love him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antlerman Posted November 8, 2005 Share Posted November 8, 2005 Ironically, I sought out Christianity. I was looking for meaning to my life and understanding existence. I surmised there must be a god when looking at the awe and wonder of the universe (wonder where the god idea came from? Answer: culture and Hollywood). I sought out answers from various ministers as I viewed them as having them about this god. All of them were perplexed by my really looking for answers (so it appeared to me by there fumbling about). Unfortunately I came across a fundi who held out with such confidence the very answers about this god I sought. Foolish, naive, young me sucked it all in, soon headed off to Bible College to become a minister called of god; studied, studied, studied, till I saw the cracks deepening, widening, and become absolutely irreparable. It was all a creation of man. Now I am here. The short version. I'm thinking it may be nearing time for my eximony? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ouroboros Posted November 11, 2005 Share Posted November 11, 2005 ...I'm thinking it may be nearing time for my eximony? 103811[/snapback] Absolutely! Would love to read it... hurry up... (comes from a person that took 6 months before he wrote his ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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