Why Are You a Christian?

[Tabletform]

Why do you think God does not make some people Christian?

The fact is most people on earth are not Christians, there are more than twice as many people in this world who are not Christians than are Christians.
Until recently there were people all over the world who had never heard of Jesus or Christianity, the internet and phones have opened the world up to millions and millions of people, perhaps there are still millions of people who haven't yet heard.

 

[New_Believer]

The fact is most people on earth are not Christians, there are more than twice as many people in this world who are not Christians than are Christians.
Until recently there were people all over the world who had never heard of Jesus or Christianity, the internet and phones have opened the world up to millions and millions of people, perhaps there are still millions of people who haven't yet heard.

Another sad fact is that 80% of people in churches are not Christians. I learned today that only 4 percent of people born after something like 1977 do not have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. It's gone way down!

Sorry, off-topic.

 

[Alonso_Castillo]

Preferably good answers, but bad ones will work too.

why am I christian?, and not only Christian but Catholic?

Well there are many reasons and your question is far from simple answers. the first answer is that I fall into faith when I start to trust in the doctrine that I received when I was child, My mother told me about God and I believe in my mother, then I started to believe in God, until I came to believe in God, not just for my mother's teachings but fo my own experience. I realize that there were no coincidences, but causalities, and i found the origin of all those causes in the only being that I can't see but to whom I can speak.

As I grew up, my faith also grew with me, I started to read more by myself about that God, who is said is Pure Love. Then I came into the knowledge that the only God spoke to a man who started to trust in him, Abraham, and that this man showed that we are capable of Him, through Abraham God established a relation with human kind to elevate us to the truth of His existance and of his plan for us.

His plan is a plan of salvation, through his plan we are called to follow him, He has done everything possible to reach our hearts, the most terrible and tremendous proof of his love to us, is testified in the death of his Only Son, Our Lord and God Jesus, through whom we are saved, but his death was followed by his resurrection and with the love He showed us in his death he also showed us the greatest hope for human kind in his resurrection.

He conquered me, and I have no merit to receive his gifts, to respond to his love I only can give Him what only belongs to me, and the only thing that belongs to me, is I myself.

I then understood that my baptism was a gift of life, My parents took me to be baptized because they wanted to share with me the tremendous gift that they received and accepted from God, the gift of being adopted by Him through His Son.

I also realized that my baptism came to me not from nowhere but from the community of the ones who believe in Jesus, God, Son of God, from the times when he came to our world, the Catholic Church, I cry of conmotion and I bless God for his infinite grace, for choosing me to be part of his family, and I fight every day to be loyal to His incredible gift.
You must not think that you are excluded from this grace, He Is your Creator and wants to be your Father, come to his home.

 

[StupidUserName]

I will tell you about myself. I very well may get banned for this post, but oh well. Please excuse me if I seemed pretentious and pompous earlier. I act like this mainly when I'm on guard...

My name is Jarred and I live in mildly rural Pennsylvania. I'm currently just a high school student hoping to do something good in the world, make a difference. I really don't hang out with friends (only occasional), but rather with with my girlfriend who I am extremely devoted to. My dream has always been to be a modern day Socrates, just to make people think, to question everything - to make people dream bigger than just living an average life full of self-indulgence and stupidity - to open people's eye up to compassion and understanding and acceptance - to make the world better.

I was raised in a Christian family and became a very Christian child. For the majority of my Childhood, God was an extreme part of my life. I always attended Sunday school, I went to Bible Camp (or something?), and hell, I wanted to go to a private Christian school.

Though, I never really KNEW God or Jesus. I was merely told that God created everything and Jesus was his son who died to save me from Hell. I never understood why Jesus had to die to save me, but I just went with it. Eventually I actually wanted to LEARN about God... and when I did read and learn about him, things didn't add up to me. Things just flat out didn't make sense. Of course, you surely know most of the arguments (and many of you apparently refuse to listen). This caused me to lose my faith during the beginning of Middle School. I even came on this very forum begging people to help me truly find God. All failed.

I became very depressed and I didn't know where I was headed in life. My entire childhood I was told that God had a very important plan for me in life and that I was to grow up to do something amazing. This idea was now gone. The thought of an afterlife - gone. God watching over me - gone. I began arguing with my parents. Had no friends. Started doing worse in school (I've never gotten anything lower than a B in school, though...). All starting looking bleak to me. I decided to look at religion after religion after religion trying to find the truth that really spoke to me.

There were three issues that were my main problem with Christianity:

1) Why did God have to become Jesus and die for our sins, rather than God just forgiving humans? We could argue with for hours about this, and not one person has given me a good, logical, intelligent answer.

2) The concept of Hell I find to be EXTREMELY sadistic, and no amount of reasoning will let me see otherwise. One lifetime of sin, no matter how bad - not even for someone who would murder my family or even Hitler - deserves an ETERNITY of torture and torment. That is not a just punishment. And the logic behind Hell, not just ethics, makes no sense too.

3) What makes Christianity more true than any other faith-based religion? This is the reason for making this thread.

Eventually, though, I met a girl and we became like yin and yang - inseparable. Its not a normal relationship. Some may consider it obsession. We are nearly always together. I know that this attachment if bad - but of well. And when I finally started becoming happy again - I find something just as fantastic: Buddhism.


Christianity teaches us that we will be punished for our negative actions.
Buddhism teaches we will be punished by them. (Although punishment is a bad term)

Christianity teaches us to have beliefs.
Buddhism teaches us to let go of them. (Disregarding superstitions in different Buddhist sects, such as Tibetan.)

Christianity teaches us that true happiness will be in the future. (Heaven)
Buddhism teaches us that true happiness can be right now.


So, I became a Buddhist. It just kind of rang with me. An Agnostic-Atheist Zen Buddhist. Sure, I am a very bad Buddhist - but I try. I love religious debate, and I am a very judging person. I hate stupidity and irrationality. I am a bit shallow at times. I pretty much just kind of fail at being a Buddhist, but that's okay. I'll get better.


Now that you know me... Hi.

PS: Another reason I am SO against Christianity is because for many Christians, if you don't follow the same beliefs, you are a damned human being who should act just like them. They push their views on others and say that you are a terrible person if you don't follow them. Its horrible.

 

[vector]

...snip...

1) Why did God have to become Jesus and die for our sins, rather than God just forgiving humans? We could argue with for hours about this, and not one person has given me a good, logical, intelligent answer.

...snip...

So, I became a Buddhist. It just kind of rang with me. An Agnostic-Atheist Zen Buddhist. Sure, I am a very bad Buddhist - but I try. I love religious debate, and I am a very judging person. I hate stupidity and irrationality. I am a bit shallow at times. I pretty much just kind of fail at being a Buddhist, but that's okay. I'll get better.

...snip...

So you're a Buddhist who intends to become a better Buddhist.

Why then are you still asking yourself questions about Christianity? Is it for your own curiosity or do you think that asking these questions will illuminate others?

Or are you just a bit scared of the consequences of being wrong?

I'm not sure what reasons people have given you for the need of Jesus dying for our sins but my understanding is that the penalty for sin is death. The death of Jesus was the sacrifice of a sinless life to pay the penalty for the sins of many.

We could ask "why didn't God just forgive" but we'd be underestimating the serious nature of sinning against God.

We could also ask ourselves why we think we have the right to question God's will at all.

 

[New_Believer]

There were three issues that were my main problem with Christianity:

1) Why did God have to become Jesus and die for our sins, rather than God just forgiving humans? We could argue with for hours about this, and not one person has given me a good, logical, intelligent answer.

2) The concept of Hell I find to be EXTREMELY sadistic, and no amount of reasoning will let me see otherwise. One lifetime of sin, no matter how bad - not even for someone who would murder my family or even Hitler - deserves an ETERNITY of torture and torment. That is not a just punishment. And the logic behind Hell, not just ethics, makes no sense too.

3) What makes Christianity more true than any other faith-based religion? This is the reason for making this thread.


PS: Another reason I am SO against Christianity is because for many Christians, if you don't follow the same beliefs, you are a damned human being who should act just like them. They push their views on others and say that you are a terrible person if you don't follow them. Its horrible.

It's too bad you've met Christians like this. Remember that not everyone who claims to be a Christian really is. Jesus does not teach this at all.
We should all know that we've all sinned so there's no reason to call someone else a terrible person.

As far as pushing beliefs on someone else, I don't think they do it intentionally. If you saw someone running towards a cliff, wouldn't you stop them? Christians don't want anyone to go to Hell. God tells us in the Bible to share the good news of Jesus with everyone. Although no one can force anything on anyone.



1. God is a Holy God and has no sin. Why would He forgive us sinners? There had to be a perfect sacrifice. Jesus was the unblemished lamb. In the Old Testament the Isrealites would have to sacrifice animals to atone for their sins. We no longer have to do that because Jesus paid the price for us.

God's wrath is against those who sin, which is all of us. But the blood of Jesus erases our sins if we repent.

2. I can't disagree with this one. I take it on faith since I do believe the Bible is the true Word of God.

3. I used to wonder the same thing. I haven't been a Christian much of my life so I've had experiences with other religions. For me personally, faith in Christ has been the only thing that has made a true change in me. I couldn't earn my way in or anything...it was all about faith.

 

[LOCO]

I will tell you about myself.

Now that you know me... Hi.

PS: Another reason I am SO against Christianity is because for many Christians, if you don't follow the same beliefs, you are a damned human being who should act just like them. They push their views on others and say that you are a terrible person if you don't follow them. Its horrible.

Thank you for that introduction Stupidusername,

Yes, I agree with you that many Christians are not like Christ when it comes to interacting with other Christians or the marginalised and outcasts of society.

Also, disciplining of the tongue is difficult.

When I look at the Teachings of Christ though, I cannot fault it. Nothing outside of my relationship with God comes close to the spiritual fulfilment or enlightenment I receive from it. No person or thing on earth will satisfy that emptiness.

I try daily to make sure that people who encounter me also encounter Christ in my behaviour. This is a deliberate, conscious effort on my part, it does take a lot of willpower and discipline.

I am not against any other religion. Some Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists or Jews are not so nice.

Regardless of how some of their believers choose to behave towards others who do not share their views, I believe all human beings should be able to practice their religion without fear or favour.

Blessings

 

[StupidUserName]

Why then are you still asking yourself questions about Christianity? Is it for your own curiosity or do you think that asking these questions will illuminate others?

Or are you just a bit scared of the consequences of being wrong?

I live in America. I am surrounded by Christians. Religion, being very important to me, typically comes up in conversations. When a Christian finds out I don't believe what they do, they seem to have a personal vendetta against me. Or, they want religion in government which oppresses my rights, or they claim I'm going to Hell (which offends me. Doesn't scare me - it offends me BAD).

So, probably the first thing you said. I can only try to illuminate others IRL, because people on the internet don't listen to other people on the internet.

I mean, I think Christianity would be great if it weren't for one thing: The concept of Hell. The concept of Hell ruined Christianity. It is what makes Christians look down on others. Its what makes Christians feel as though they should have the right to put their beliefs in government (abortion, gay marriage, God in pledge, etc). If Christians didn't believe they were worthy of Heaven while others were not - everyone would be equal. Not just whites. Not just heterosexuals. Not just Christians. But rather, everyone. It would make people equal.

Of course, not all Christians are like this. Many of the intelligent adults that I've met that were Christians weren't like this, so I don't mind them. Its people like my family, peers, and people who work at McDonalds that are.

 

[vector]

I live in America. I am surrounded by Christians. Religion, being very important to me, typically comes up in conversations. When a Christian finds out I don't believe what they do, they seem to have a personal vendetta against me. Or, they want religion in government which oppresses my rights, or they claim I'm going to Hell (which offends me. Doesn't scare me - it offends me BAD).

So, probably the first thing you said. I can only try to illuminate others IRL, because people on the internet don't listen to other people on the internet.

I mean, I think Christianity would be great if it weren't for one thing: The concept of Hell. The concept of Hell ruined Christianity. It is what makes Christians look down on others. Its what makes Christians feel as though they should have the right to put their beliefs in government (abortion, gay marriage, God in pledge, etc). If Christians didn't believe they were worthy of Heaven while others were not - everyone would be equal. Not just whites. Not just heterosexuals. Not just Christians. But rather, everyone. It would make people equal.

Of course, not all Christians are like this. Many of the intelligent adults that I've met that were Christians weren't like this, so I don't mind them. Its people like my family, peers, and people who work at McDonalds that are.

Well I'd be lying if I didn't admit to having problems with the concept of Hell myself. I worry about people who don't have a problem with it.

Worry or not though, I can't find an escape clause in scripture for Hell so I have to go with it. Mainly because Jesus believed in Hell.

For me the truth is always about Jesus first. Just the idea that God would sacrifice His Son for sinners is so powerful a motivation.

When I asked you why you were still asking questions about Christianity, I avoided the answer that was obvious to me because it could have sounded patronizing. That answer was that you could be here because God is calling you to keep looking.

 

[Tabletform]

When I asked you why you were still asking questions about Christianity, I avoided the answer that was obvious to me because it could have sounded patronizing. That answer was that you could be here because God is calling you to keep looking.

He's a Buddhist so for him our God does not exist and how would he know that God was calling him to keep looking?

 

[Tabletform]

Someone who doesn't believe in the power of prayer. Guess there's a first time for everything.

I would appreciate it if you could please explain to me what you think happens when you pray?

 

[StupidUserName]

He's a Buddhist so for him our God does not exist...

Were you insinuating that I believe in another god?

 

[vector]

He's a Buddhist so for him our God does not exist and how would he know that God was calling him to keep looking?

I'll let Jarred provide his own answers

 

[elman]

The fact is most people on earth are not Christians, there are more than twice as many people in this world who are not Christians than are Christians.
Until recently there were people all over the world who had never heard of Jesus or Christianity, the internet and phones have opened the world up to millions and millions of people, perhaps there are still millions of people who haven't yet heard.

You did not answer the question--If we have nothing to do with being a Christian, why did God not make some people Christian?

 

[John 10:10]

Why Are You a Christian?

Pure and simple, I'm a Christian because I chose to be a "whosoever will" according to John 3:16 instead of a "whosoever won't" according to John 3:18, then the truth of John 1:12-13 & 3:3-7 became a living reality for me.

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

Jesus answered and said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one http://www.biblestudytools.com/nas/john/3.html#cr-descriptionAnchor-6is born http://www.biblestudytools.com/nas/john/3.html#fn-descriptionAnchor-bagain he cannot see http://www.biblestudytools.com/nas/john/3.html#cr-descriptionAnchor-7the kingdom of God." Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old ? He cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born, can he?" Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of http://www.biblestudytools.com/nas/john/3.html#cr-descriptionAnchor-8water and the Spirit he cannot enter into http://www.biblestudytools.com/nas/john/3.html#cr-descriptionAnchor-9the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I said to you, 'You must be born http://www.biblestudytools.com/nas/john/3.html#fn-descriptionAnchor-cagain.'

What is Christian prayer and why do I pray?

Christian prayer enables one to enter into God's heart. Then as God gives us His heart, we can pray and tell God to do the things that are in His heart.

 

[Tabletform]

He's a Buddhist so for him our God does not exist and how would he know that God was calling him to keep looking?

Were you insinuating that I believe in another god?

Our God means yours and mine the Christian God.
As far as a Buddhist is concerned OUR God does not exist, as far as every other religion is concerned OUR God does not exist, is that any clearer for you?

 

[Tabletform]

Why do you think God does not make some people Christian?

That's a very bad way of putting it, before I answer let's find out what question you are really asking.

Are you asking why God makes some people Christians and other who are not?

 

[elman]

That's a very bad way of putting it, before I answer let's find out what question you are really asking.

Are you asking why God makes some people Christians and other who are not?

If He makes some people Christians and there are others who are not, then those people who are not, God chose to not make Christians--why? I don't think God makes anyone Christian. Christian is to obey the command of Jesus to love others. Jesus said it is not those who call me Lord but those wh do what I command. God does not make anyone love others. If He did it would be God doing the loving and not the person God made do it.

 

[Tabletform]

If He makes some people Christians and there are others who are not, then those people who are not, God chose to not make Christians--why?

I think you will agree that before anyone can know Jesus they must first be told about him, you can not believe and trust someone you have never heard about or do not know, you're from the US and I'm from Ireland so we got to hear about the Christian God as soon as we were able to understand (well I did), had we been born somewhere else or to parents of another faith we would have been told about their God, we can say we were lucky it was the Christian God we got to know but that's because he's the God we believe in so we are bound to be somewhat biased.

I don't think God makes anyone Christian. Christian is to obey the command of Jesus to love others. Jesus said it is not those who call me Lord but those who do what I command. God does not make anyone love others. If He did it would be God doing the loving and not the person God made do it.

God does not make people believe in him because if he did everyone on the planet would be a Christian.

 

[Mr Dave]

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