Were There Any Benefits To Christian Living?

[StarGazer]

My English Language speaking exam is based on a topic that interests us particularly, and mine was Religion's effect on the world. But after giving it a practice go with my Examiner, she suggested I think of positive benefits to religion.

 

I've seen several studies that suggest religious people are happier than Atheists. I'm not going to turn this down. Based on my facebook friends alone, I see a clear divide between the happy and the unhappy. The unhappy tend to be Agnostic/Atheist whilst the happy tend to be the ones who thank God for 'Giving me another day' (Blegh!)

 

So I figured, why not ask here? Were there any benefits to Christian living over Atheist/Agnostic/Whatever living? 

[TrueFreedom]

Yes.  There are many benefits to being part of a tribal community.  We helped each other move, held baby showers, scheduled meal delivery when someone was sick or injured, donated money when someone had a special need, shared in holiday parties, volunteered for service projects together...  We were friends.  I lost most of that when I left church.

[Guest Furball]

To be honest, i didn't really find any benefits to christian living. Sure there were christian people i would call friend or brothers when i went to church on sunday. To be honest, my 13 years in christianity were filled with fear and anxiety. My life was way better off before i became a christian. It got worse due to the biblical doctrines such as hell, the uncertainty of salvation, that i was not worthy of life, that my life outside of jesus had no meaning, that living in this world and for this world had no meaning as well as making me an enemy of god if i did live according to it, and it also gave me horrible low self esteem and made me think very little if not bigotry judgmental of my fellow men and women. I found the christian religion to be very dark and negative, both spiritually and physically. I also found the christian religion to be very depressing. It has a bleak and horrible outlook on life and death, and a possible afterlife.

 

When i became a deconvert, i found that as time is passing, i become happier as a person in general, my outlook on life is very hopeful and positive now, and my overall mental, physical, and spiritual health seems to have improved significantly. To answer your question, i found no benefits of christian living over atheist living, but strangely i have found atheist living significantly better in every area over christian living. I hope this helps in some small way friend. -me(ow)

[mymistake]

Really the only benefit came from the community.  If you join the religion then suddenly you have all these people who treat you like you are family.  That gravy train lasts as long as you keep talking gospel and toe the line.  The problem is that when everybody around you talks gospel this messes up your thinking.  It results in mass delusion.  So all that fellowship comes with a heavy price.

[yunea]

Kind of in line what TrueFreedom and MM say, I've heard it said that religion is good for uniting people. Like after a war when there's a lot of need for charity, religion can help motivate people to it. 

 

As for myself it's a bit hard to say what's been a "benefit" when so many "good" things were really lies.

 

Well, when I was a believer I met some awesome people that I still am great friends with because *drum roll* they too deconverted. Wouldn't have met them without the faith I had. Haha. 

[traveller2]

I found some  benefits early on,as with many cults despite the many many disadvantages Christianity stabilized me emotionally for a few years however other problems came in that outweighed those hugely.So after the age of 19 it was slowly destroying me and retarding my personal growth.By that time though I was brainwashed enough to admit inside it would be easier to live outside of Christianity ;unfortunately i really did believe and that if I left and 'backslid' I would always have god on my tail wrecking my life until i came back or i would go to hell.i actually believed that god would kill me after ten years or so if i walked away from it all.

Crazy stuff huh?

As with others I found since finally leaving Christianity ( I had just had enough after 15 years that I got to the point where my will power was strong enough to leave no matter what I feared would happen), that I have found healing in the world and in interaction with that 'world' that was apparently so evil and with normal people.I have come on leaps and bounds even in the shortish time that I have been on ex Christian net and wrote my poisonous but cathartic extimony lol.I am much happier and healthier than when I was in the evangelical cult.

[violetbutterfly]

Only that I found comfort in the delusion when things were difficult. I'd say my prayers and feel like I'd turned the control over to God. But there were so many other parts of faith that did not compute, that never fit quite right. I'd rather know the truth, as harsh as it may sometimes feel, than live with a comforting delusion and a nagging feeling that it was somehow not right.

[Ellinas]

I rather suspect that the nature of any benefits depends on the character of the person experiencing them...

 

Yes, the support network/community can be useful.  It got me a lot of free meals when I was away at college.  Then again, I am reasonably anti-social and tend to be a loner, so just having company and a ready made network of people who would tend to support me (as long as I agreed with them) was never a real benefit and became a burden.  Others may well value that side of it more.

 

I suppose if you crave certainty as to your moral framework and view of how the world works, Christianity can provide that as long as you are prepared to close off your mind to other influences.  However, if (like me) you refuse to stop thinking just because you are supposed to do so, and prefer questions to certainties, that is no benefit either.

 

So, it depends...