Why I am not a personally a Christian

[quantum]

Firstly, I will be generous, there are some useful teachings in the Bible and some goodness and kindness, but on the whole it stinks. 

 

It gives orders that no one should ever obey (hating and abandon your children) and it cannot even get its theology straight. This is shown in the very many different sects who despite reading the same Bible disagree with each other with regards to the teachings. 

 

Christianity, Judaism and Islam, are a blight on the development of the human race and a stain on our history. I think Islam the worst of the three, but all three are wicked and cruel. 

 

A rejection of all and any of them, is the path to fulfilment and inner peace. 

[TheRedneckProfessor]

Well said.  The lack of unity and coherence in the christian religion certainly raises an eyebrow, especially since christ himself seemed to envision one church universal.  But the radical differences in doctrine and dogma really demonstrate, for me, that the entire religion is a human invention. 

[◊ Weezer ◊]

3 hours ago, quantum said:

 

A rejection of all and any of them, is the path to fulfilment and inner peace. 

 

I wouldn't say it is THE path, but I believe it is a step in that direction.  Welcome to the forum.

[☆ moxieflux66 ☆]

2 minutes ago, Weezer said:

I wouldn't say it is THE path, but I believe it is a step in that direction.  Welcome to the forum.

Yes welcome! I have advocated for spirituality to begin from the inside out. Self love and all that rot (sorry, american UK humor). But more to the point, with all the choices of religion, deities, blah bah, HOW DO YOU KNOW WHICH ONE IS "RIGHT" especially with all that competition. They ALL claim to have the right answer. You could spend several lifetimes trying out the dishes. But with that style of buffet religion, isn't it more like sampling until you like the menu? 

I understand our good friend and authetic christian here (who I've tussled with a bit already, poor guy) doesn't subscribe to a church or denomination in particular. Yet his spirituality seems quite sound. I posit we should ALL do more sampling if that's the chosen method. But christianity is in itself a flavor fest. 

I think in the end, I take the sample, test it out, see if it works, then pack a doggie bag and move on to the next dish. 

Sorry, in a bizarre mood today so don't take me too seriously. 

[AnonSan]

9 hours ago, TheRedneckProfessor said:

Well said.  The lack of unity and coherence in the christian religion certainly raises an eyebrow, especially since christ himself seemed to envision one church universal.  But the radical differences in doctrine and dogma really demonstrate, for me, that the entire religion is a human invention. 

 

Even with the useful teachings in the Bible, I have been seeing more Christians hyper-fixated in cherry-picking certain scriptures to justify hateful ideas, arbitrary/petty rules, and/or take advantage of others for selfish reasons. At this point, the many flavors of modern Christianity have become hindrances in fixing serious social issues.

[TheRedneckProfessor]

35 minutes ago, AnonSan said:

 

Even with the useful teachings in the Bible, I have been seeing more Christians hyper-fixated in cherry-picking certain scriptures to justify hateful ideas, arbitrary/petty rules, and/or take advantage of others for selfish reasons. At this point, the many flavors of modern Christianity have become hindrances in fixing serious social issues.

They seem to be creating more problems than they solve here lately. 

[freshstart]

12 minutes ago, AnonSan said:

I have been seeing more Christians hyper-fixated in cherry-picking certain scriptures to justify hateful ideas, arbitrary/petty rules, and/or take advantage of others for selfish reasons.

True. I've also seen the opposite (though perhaps fewer in number): Christians who are so compassionate and empathetic that they reinterpret the cruel things in the bible to make it more fitting with their own sense of decency as well as their distaste for the more judgmental fundamentalist narrative. These are the Christians who believe hell is not literal, being gay is not a sin, Jesus was a "liberal" wanting to help the poor and outcast, etc. It is people like Rob Bell who had an epiphany after seeing a picture of Mahatma Ghandi with the words "he's going to hell" scribbled across it. They start to realize how cruel their god is and. . .  it does not compute. But instead of exploring the possibility of a higher power as perhaps something very different than what is described in ancient religions, they cherry pick at the bible,  spin it like crazy and try to make the bible fit into a more just and compassionate religion than what it really is.

[◊ Weezer ◊]

13 hours ago, TheRedneckProfessor said:

 

 especially since christ himself seemed to envision one church universal.  

 

Maybe a universal church could have happened if they had stuck to the simple gospel of "love neighbor as self".  But they got bogged down in all the ritualistic requirements the church came up with.

[☆ moxieflux66 ☆]

So how prevalent is this buffet christianity anyway? Maybe I don't know how big this trend really is. I've been engaged by 'drunk' christians, 'cokehead' christians, and so on. They don't necessarily go to church but I meet a lot of weirdos so I figured they were rare. 

[◊ Weezer ◊]

31 minutes ago, moxieflux66 said:

So how prevalent is this buffet christianity anyway?

 

Look at all the denominations.  And all the independents.  And all the members of each congregation who have opinions slightly different than the other members of the church.   

[☆ moxieflux66 ☆]

2 minutes ago, Weezer said:

 

Look at all the denominations.  And all the independents.  And all the members of each congregation who have opinions slightly different than the other members of the church.   

Yes, but........now it's more of a free-for-all than ever! Christians without churches. Seems to me that would make for even more charlatans. I haven't been in a church since 2004. My, how things have changed...

But AnonSan's point is about charity. Where HAS that part gone?? 

[☆ moxieflux66 ☆]

2 minutes ago, moxieflux66 said:

Yes, but........now it's more of a free-for-all than ever! Christians without churches. Seems to me that would make for even more charlatans. I haven't been in a church since 2004. My, how things have changed...

But AnonSan's point is about charity. Where HAS that part gone?? 

OH, maybe that's in another thread........

[◊ Weezer ◊]

20 minutes ago, moxieflux66 said:

 

But AnonSan's point is about charity. Where HAS that part gone?? 

 

That cherry got thrown on the ground and trampled on. 

 

18 minutes ago, moxieflux66 said:

OH, maybe that's in another thread........

No, she implied charity.  

[☆ moxieflux66 ☆]

So where DOES all that passin' the plate money go? Does it pay the preacher? Bills? .............a new jet airplane? 

[AnonSan]

12 hours ago, moxieflux66 said:

So where DOES all that passin' the plate money go? Does it pay the preacher? Bills? .............a new jet airplane? 

 

That's why I am not keen on megachurches. They are a business exempt from taxes due to separation of church and state, but the lines are being blurred as more conservative leaders run offices and influence lobbies to enforce Christian theology in laws and policies. 

 

 

[AnonSan]

16 hours ago, freshstart said:

True. I've also seen the opposite (though perhaps fewer in number): Christians who are so compassionate and empathetic that they reinterpret the cruel things in the bible to make it more fitting with their own sense of decency as well as their distaste for the more judgmental fundamentalist narrative. These are the Christians who believe hell is not literal, being gay is not a sin, Jesus was a "liberal" wanting to help the poor and outcast, etc. It is people like Rob Bell who had an epiphany after seeing a picture of Mahatma Ghandi with the words "he's going to hell" scribbled across it. They start to realize how cruel their god is and. . .  it does not compute. But instead of exploring the possibility of a higher power as perhaps something very different than what is described in ancient religions, they cherry pick at the bible,  spin it like crazy and try to make the bible fit into a more just and compassionate religion than what it really is.

 

There are a lot of people in my family's church like that. They emphasize that God is love and an everlasting relationship. But whenever they read questionable scripture in Genesis, Exodus, Deuteronomy, Kings, and Revelations, they either had no comments or become apologetics. Members in my family's church were highly educated as many graduated from Ivy Leagues and UC campuses in hard STEM fields. Yet, they neglect or refuse to apply critical thinking outside of academia and rather live in ignorant bliss while attending special events that speak ill about everyone lacking the "highest gospel." I would be insulting myself coming from a biology/healthcare background if I were to remain in a faith that frowns upon scientific advancement and think they are morally better than everyone else.

[older]

On 11/13/2023 at 8:44 AM, AnonSan said:

But whenever they read questionable scripture in Genesis, Exodus, Deuteronomy, Kings, and Revelations, they either had no comments or become apologetics.

  

I call this hypocrisy. 

 

And to the title of this thread: It makes no sense. It defies logic, denies the facts and ignores reality. It's a psychological teddy bear that people who are afraid of the dark can cuddle with while hiding under the bedcovers.

[pantheory]

On 11/12/2023 at 3:18 AM, quantum said:

Firstly, I will be generous, there are some useful teachings in the Bible and some goodness and kindness, but on the whole it stinks. 

 

It gives orders that no one should ever obey (hating and abandon your children) and it cannot even get its theology straight. This is shown in the very many different sects who despite reading the same Bible disagree with each other with regards to the teachings. 

 

Christianity, Judaism and Islam, are a blight on the development of the human race and a stain on our history. I think Islam the worst of the three, but all three are wicked and cruel. 

 

A rejection of all and any of them, is the path to fulfilment and inner peace. 

 

For me all religions are a bunch of silliness like Greek mythology. But like you said, some value can be found within them, like many books, based upon interpretations.