So why Christianity?

[ChristianT]

That's a typical Christian response. How wonderful it must be to be in constant dread of a sky deity monitoring your every thought, waiting for you to slip up so he can judge you.

that actually sounds like an ancient greek perspective of who satan is... I think your teachings have been mixed up... Dread is only what people have when they don't know something or the event of something. Dread helps them to cope with their lack of foreknowledge... too bad cope is not equivalent to coming to peace.

If a person is in dread for God judging them, then they have not been saved, been corrupted by a non-Bible believing church, and have a great disadvantage.

 

[Publius]

Fearing God is not equivalent to being afraid of God. There are other religions that have gods that if I actually believed in them I would be afraid of because they are whimsical or pitiless or uncaring or even sadistic. The Christian God is one I fear but has told us over and again to "be not afraid".

People don't tremble before something they're not afraid of.

That's a typical Christian response. How wonderful it must be to be in constant dread of God monitoring your every thought, waiting for you to slip up so he can judge you.

Not really. I didn't really care. I just went on about my life, living in my sin and disregarding God like any other unregenerate person.

But you said you fear him correct? So why don't you care?

I fear Him now but I didn't fear Him then. That's why I didn't care. If you construct a god in your own image, then he tends to like the same things you like and dislike the same things you dislike and he tends to look the other way when you sin.

I'm hearing two difference, contradictory, stories from you. One the one hand, you say fear god, on the other, you say I don't care about sinning.

No, I said I do care but that I didn't care about sinning before I knew God.

One is in the present, one is in the past.

revere |riˈvi(&#601r|
verb [ with obj. ]
feel deep respect or admiration for (something): Cézanne's still lifes were revered by his contemporaries.
ORIGIN mid 17th cent.: from French révérer or Latin revereri, from re- (expressing intensive force) + vereri ‘to fear.’

this is what the 'fear' and 'dread' for God means. All we are called to do is respect Him. We admire Him. What is bad about that? Even Castro admired someone or something.

In pop-Christianity these days, there is a strong desire to soften God's image. To make excuses for Him. Why not just let God be God and let His characteristics be and let the world think what they will? Why the need to turn God into something palatable for the unregenerate?

There's nothing in the text that says "fear" really means reverence. While we certainly should revere God, fear and reverence are two different things.

People don't tremble before God because they revere Him. They tremble before God because it is a fearful thing to stand in God's presence.

 

[seekingagnostic32]

Not really. I didn't really care. I just went on about my life, living in my sin and disregarding God like any other unregenerate person.

Thank God He saved me from that.

But you said you fear him correct? So why don't you care? I'm hearing two different, contradictory, stories from you. One the one hand, you say fear god, on the other, you say I don't care about sinning.

 

[ChristianT]

revere |riˈvi(&#601r|
verb [ with obj. ]
feel deep respect or admiration for (something): Cézanne's still lifes were revered by his contemporaries.
ORIGIN mid 17th cent.: from French révérer or Latin revereri, from re- (expressing intensive force) + vereri ‘to fear.’

this is what the 'fear' and 'dread' for God means. All we are called to do is respect Him. We admire Him. What is bad about that? Even Castro admired someone or something.

 

[ChristianT]

He said he didn't care, implying in the past.

 

[seekingagnostic32]

He said he didn't care, implying in the past.

My mistake, I must have misread somehow. Never mind then.

 

[Chany]

Uh, back to the question?

 

[golgotha61]

Out of all the religions of the world, what makes Christianity the obvious choice over all the others?

Short story? For me it is the continuity of the Scriptures leading to the resurrected living Christ.

 

[grasping the after wind]

People don't tremble before something they're not afraid of.

I don't accept that statement as true. Further,trembling is a sign of weakness in the trembler not a sign of strength in what the trembler trembles before. God is to be feared and worthy of fear not because weaklings tremble before Him but because He is Who He is. His followers should have the courage to not be afraid because His promises are never broken. IMO any who follow simply out of their own cowardliness are not fully contributing to His glory. I would never be so proud as to think that God would find it necessary to coerce me into accepting a freely given gift.

 

[Jamesja]

Christianity is the whole life religion. It is the one when you are 80 and dying and look back you will say," It was good." You will look forward and say, " It is awesome."

 

[Chany]

The logical reasons, please. Not the "open your heart and the path will show itself, warm fuzzy feeling inside" answer.

 

[grasping the after wind]

The logical reasons, please. Not the "open your heart and the path will show itself, warm fuzzy feeling inside" answer.

It isn't a choice that one makes through logic. What are the logical reasons for falling in love with any particular person? If you can't abide the emotional component of the decision, it is a you problem not a problem of those making the decision.

 

[Chany]

Emotions can lead us to make irrational decisions. How many people "love" each other, get married, then divorce? I feel a lot of things. Why do people seem to pick other religions? Because it is what they "feel" or "know in their heart" is right. That is what I'm asking: why is Christianity different from the rest of them?

 

[grasping the after wind]

Emotions can lead us to make irrational decisions. How many people "love" each other, get married, then divorce? I feel a lot of things. Why do people seem to pick other religions? Because it is what they "feel" or "know in their heart" is right. That is what I'm asking: why is Christianity different from the rest of them?

You mean you're asking why it is demonstrably better than others. I don't think it is very hard to point out the differences. You've gotten some of those type of answers and some of the emotional stripe. You are unhappy with being told about the latter, but when it comes to matters of religion I find it difficult to dismiss the emotional component. Though irrational decisions may turn out to be disastrous there is as good a chance that they may save one's life. Try going through a rational progression of thought when an alligator suddenly vaults out of the water toward you. After you've run away because of emotion you might sit down and work out the rational reasons for doing so, but it wasn't a rational thought but an irrational emotion that saved your life. Since, in the case of what religion is better, we have not had the chance to look back upon our total religious experience or to weigh all the facts that might come to light in future, I find that the emotional response is as valid as any.

 

[Chany]

But the emotional response is what brings people to all religions, not just Christianity. And lets not forget the 40,000 plus different Christian sects. Those people followed their emotions, and they cannot all be right: the sects all say different things. The emotional response is what everyone defends their religion and its one difference between them.

 

[bling]

But the emotional response is what brings people to all religions, not just Christianity. And lets not forget the 40,000 plus different Christian sects. Those people followed their emotions, and they cannot all be right: the sects all say different things. The emotional response is what everyone defends their religion and its one difference between them.

This is what I said:
Christianity gives logical answers to all that has and is happening.

The whole system is set up perfectly.

There is lots of logic behind, why God does not make Himself obviously known.

The existence of a benevolent Creator is the most logical alternative.

There is a logical reason for God to create man and the universe.


Man’s earthly objective fits Christianity.

 

[Hishandmaiden]

Out of all the religions of the world, what makes Christianity the obvious choice over all the others?

For me, I was born a taoist.
When I was a taoist, I was confused about which 'god' to believe in.
There were so many gods in this world. How could I be certain that the 'god' I was born with is the true God of the universe?

So, I pray this prayer:

To the One True God,
I call you the one true God because I don't know which religion you are from. Please reveal yourself to me, and show me which religion you are from.

Many years later, I just suddenly have the faith to believe in Christianity. That faith just comes suddenly. It is almost as if the True God has revealed Himself to me, because I pray to him to reveal himself to me.

As a christian, my faith in God is further strengthen by the bible and my personal experience.

One of my personal experience:

I was at this birthday gathering of a christian friend. We worshiped and prayed to God. Suddenly, I had this feeling in my heart that I needed to tell a christian gal that I had never met before that God wants her to be a social worker.

Thinking that this feeling is probably my imagination, I went to this gal and cowardly asked her if she had anything to do with social work?

The gal replied that she had always wanted to be a social worker but she felt she was not qualified to do so because she is a timid person.

Certain now that my message is from God, I share with the gal that the reason I asked her the questyion about whether she had anything to do with social work was because of my impression in my heart that God wanted her to be a social worker.

My message encouraged that christian gal who I had never met before deeply, and it strengthened my faith in the Christian God. Many such personal experiences build up my faith in my God.

 

[SonOfTheWest]

Out of all the religions of the world, what makes Christianity the obvious choice over all the others?

If statistics are any indication, the religion of one's parents and the predominant religion of one's society dictates that answer.

For me, I don't think it's the obvious choice. But I don't speak for a lot of Christians.

 

[Chany]

This is what I said:
Christianity gives logical answers to all that has and is happening.

The whole system is set up perfectly.

There is lots of logic behind, why God does not make Himself obviously known.

The existence of a benevolent Creator is the most logical alternative.

There is a logical reason for God to create man and the universe.


Man’s earthly objective fits Christianity.

Explain.

 

[Hentenza]

But the emotional response is what brings people to all religions, not just Christianity.

Not me. I was happy being an atheist.

And lets not forget the 40,000 plus different Christian sects.

There are not 40,000 Christian sects. That number comes from the Barrett study which considers Christian churches by country. So, for example, if the Baptist church is in 242 countries then he lists 242 denominations. Divide the number, which is actually 30,000 according to the study, by 242 and you will have a closer actual number. Plus he counts non denominational churches as a denomination when they are not a denomination, hence, the non denominational moniker.

Those people followed their emotions, and they cannot all be right: the sects all say different things.

Emotions are always right for the person having them while logic is not. God is logical.

The emotional response is what everyone defends their religion and its one difference between them.

Not really. Many misunderstand a Christian's testimony with emotion. The testimony could be emotional but that does not mean that it is emotion that caused the testimony.