I find it shocking

[Anodos]

I have been as guilty of what I am about to say, as anyone else. To the point: the severe lack of critical thinking in mainstream Christianity. The question is why?

A Christian,  in every other aspect, can behave and think rationally. Make good decisions, analyse a situation clearly and so on. Yet, when it comes to doctrinal issues, this critical thinking faculty seems to switch off. I have a few theories -

 

1. one is the idea that a simplistic faith is a virtue. The 'innocent trusting faith of a child' is to be esteemed. I do see some merit in this, but as we all know the bible is a huge collection of texts, far from easy to comprehend and often seemingly contradictory.

 

2. Questioning somehow implies a lack of faith. (But is it not through questioning, that one gains more understanding?)

 

3. 'We'll never know the answers to these things, so there's little point in asking the questions'. How do we know which questions will and will not be answered?

 

4. 'Avoid foolish arguments'. Isn't that what it says in the bible?' I agree. But I wouldn't ask these questions if I didn't think they were important. 

 

5. 'That was the Old Testament. We live in the age of Grace now.' 

 

6. 'I just believe He died for sinners. That's all you really need to know.' So, forget the rest of the bible. John 3:16 is enough?

 

7. 'I just believe what the bible says.' This implies that because you question aspects of the doctrine, you therefore do not believe. 

 

I'm as guilty of this as the next person. For years, I would read/hear passages from the bible. I did not question anything but just accepted everything I read. 

 

Many years later, I did begin to question. Naively, I approached church members and posed certain questions. I got a shock at the response. They did not want to know. They made me know that. I was astonished. How was this? I could not understand. The reactions I received  generally fit with those summarised 1 - 7.  They were verbally aggressive often, ridiculing. I gave up in the end realising it was getting nowhere. But I do not blame these people for I'm no better. They're human like the rest of us. I simply ask the question how it can be that an otherwise normal human being can accept 'truths' that, in any other context would be appraised with a critical mind? 

 

 

 

 

 

[TheRedneckProfessor]

When I was about 5 or 6 years old, I went to Sunday School at my parents' church.  The teacher was constantly telling us all of the things that make jesus cry.  Running in the hallway makes jesus cry.  Not sharing crayons with the new kid makes jesus cry.  Starting a fight with Davey Wayne makes jesus cry.  Crawling under the table to look up Tina Cochrane's skirt makes jesus cry.  Everything, it seemed, made jesus cry.

 

I asked the teacher about it one day.  I asked her, if every little thing makes jesus cry, how was he able to go to the cross as silently as a lamb?  She did not come back the following Sunday.

 

I may have been on to something there...

[☆ DarkBishop ☆]

2 hours ago, Anodos said:

. I simply ask the question how it can be that an otherwise normal human being can accept 'truths' that, in any other context would be appraised with a critical mind? 

 

It does boggle the mind when your finally outside the faith. I've asked the same questions and I think that it is multiple influences that cause the cognitive dissonance. So here are my thoughts about what may be the cause.

 

1. The salvation experience. I know that this is different across the denominations. But in American evangelical churches the salvation experience is VERY powerful. I consider it religious gaslighting. The pastor preaches a sermon about how all people are under sin and destined for Hell. Usually the unsuspecting candidate has already been preprogrammed to know the difference between heaven and hell through childhood indoctrination. This makes it easier but doesn't have to be the case. Either way the pastor convinces the candidate that they are guilty of sin from birth and that they are destined to be tormented for eternity. The candidate is now uneasy. This person doesn't want to go to hell. And the pastor begins to expound how we can't do anything ourselves to rectify this situation. In God's eyes we are lowly sinners worthy of eternal torment. But wait there's more! Don't despair. Enter the passion of Christ. He took your punishment upon himself. Then the pastor expounds the heartbreaking story of Jesus. And what he went through just for you. He was sinless but was made sin for you and I. The pastor may be very emotional at this point. Crying and pleading for anyone outside of Christ to accept Jesus. This pastor truly believes all this himself. He believes so passionately that the emotion hits the candidate as well. The candidate is in miserable condition at this point. Believing that they are the scum of the earth for something they didn't even do. And to top it all off this good, wholesome, innocent person who didn't deserve what the candidate does took their place instead. They know they need Jesus to save them. Apparently..... its the only way. The pastor reads from the Bible. "Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the father but by me. 

       The candidate is now racked with guilt and fear. At the altar call they finally can't take it anymore. They kneel and pray asking Jesus into their lives. They have already been told what happens when they do this. So when they do it the intense feeling of relief they feel when they believe Jesus has taken all that sin away is profound. They feel light as a feather. All that guilt and dread is gone in an instant. In seconds they go from the worst feeling of worthlessness to the extreme happiness of being a child of God. 

    My theory is that this event is so extreme one feels that it must be from God. But no. It was just religious gaslighting and the candidate was never worthy of the punishment the pastor put into their minds. But its done. The experience is there in their minds now. And this experience alone will keep most people in the faith. 

 

2. Intense indoctrination/brainwashing that the Bible is "True" above anything else is a huge factor. People are literally programmed to not listen to anything contrary to the bible. We've all seen it and probably done it before when we were in the faith. 

 

3. Familial connections either alive or dead. Ex-Mrs. Bishop holds to the fact that she knew her grandfather and how passionately he believed and "knows" there is a God because of that and "everything" else she saw. Like a woman "possessed with demons" that the pastors cast out. I'm thinking that specific event was probably in her childhood. The family alive make a person feel like they will be an outcast if they leave the faith. And in some cases this is very true. I know denominations that will shun someone who leaves the church and even tell there family they must do the same. 

    And the prospect of never see dead relatives in heaven keeps people believing as well. 

 

4. Hell

Hell is the punishment that hangs over every Christian that doubts the faith. If the church is a "once saved always saved" church they will just believe you never had salvation to begin with if you leave the faith. In holiness churches we believed you could lose salvation. Hell is a very effective tool for keeping people tithing and in church. Unfortunately even when people leave the faith, this fear is so ingrained that it is hard to shake. 

 

Those are the four main reasons I think Christians turn a blind eye to facts and rational thinking. But I also am thinking that the rational mind may be our next step up the evolutionary ladder. Or atleast that is my hope. 

 

DB

[older]

An excellent analysis, DB.

 

As to humans evolving a rational mind, that would only happen if a substantial portion of the species is prevented from breeding.