In my opinion, I see no difference than being a Buddhist or a Hindu or a Taoist or a Muslim or a Jew or a Samaritan or a Zoroastrian or anyone of the other religions that people belong to. Like any other religion, Christianity is a worldview that provides an explanation of the world and provides a moral philosophy (ethics) that helps the practitioner live with some sense of meaning/purpose/direction in life, implemented in the beliefs, traditions, and practices. So, what's so great about being a Christian?
1. The theology is confusing, and there are many interpretations to the Bible. Because every Christian likes to think that he/she has the *best* interpretation, this can become quite problematic. I think this is one of the reasons why you are not supposed to cite the Bible in a semi-formal term paper in a college/university English course. No matter how tempting it is, the Bible can't be trusted enough to be used in a term paper, presumably because of the equivocal interpretations. (This has never really happened to me, but I know from a grading rubric that you can't cite the Bible . At the time, I knew very little about the Bible besides a few stories and quotes, so it didn't pertain to me whatsoever.)
2. There are too many dogmas and doctrines to remember. This goes along with the theology. As Francis Crick, co-discoverer of the double-helical model of DNA, thought that all religious beliefs (or dogmas) were without proper foundation, he coined the term "Central Dogma of Biology" based on this notion. If a clergyman were to inform a neophyte about one doctrine in his parish, then that clergyman would be indoctrinating that neophyte. In other words, the neophyte must accept the doctrines without question. That's the purpose of doctrines and indoctrination. You are not supposed to question the doctrines.
3. Like any other religion, there would be rituals. If a person wants to become a Christian, then he/she would wish to become baptized, join the Christian community, and participate in the Eucharist sacrament with other Christians at Holy Communion, and do this on each Sunday for as long as he remains a Christian (hopefully till the day he dies). As an irreligious person, you may forget about rituals altogether and consider doing more productive activities than going to church on Sunday (e.g. donating your money and time to charity or participating in community service or studying/doing your homework/working).
4. It is questionable whether or not morality really does come from God. What is good? What is altruism? Can a person really be altruistic? I don't know about you, but I take an evolutionary approach. Humans, like other animals, are evolved to be selfish. What may appear to be altruism in nature may really be a kind of kin selection, thereby narrowing the possibility of altruism to ever exist. That said, if altruism cannot exist the nature, then why do Christians treat altruism as if it's good and selfishness is bad? Selfishness can be good, if it's benefits the species! I am starting to believe that there is no god, and people aren't good. They are inherently selfish, and even though selfishness can manifest itself in negative ways, the only thing that humans can do is cooperate by loving, caring, and helping each other in order to benefit the species. Selfish as it may be, but at least it's better than self-destruction and a total wipe-out of the species.
5. Reading the Bible is difficult, boring, completely irrelevant, and time-consuming. It's difficult, because it's like reading what people from millenia ago, people with a different sort of mentality, thought about the world who wrote terse stories without any explanation for what they meant. Personally, I feel that reading the Bible is as difficult as reading poetry. Sure, there are laws in the Bible, but the laws are never really taken seriously anymore due to concerns about human rights. It's boring, because I usually have no idea what I have just read after reading it, and if I do have a hint of the interpretation, it is most likely going to be wrong or debatable. It's irrelevant, because I live in the modern age. The authors probably have no idea what it's like to live in the 21st century. The only thing that the Bible would be useful and valuable in is that it may be treated as a work of literature (not as a product of God), and as a work of literature, it records human experience and age-old wisdom, from a monotheistic perspective. The only problem is, human experience varies from individual to individual. If two persons are placed in the same situation, there is no doubt that they will interpret the same situation somewhat differently and subjectively. Reading the Bible is also time-consuming. If I have to spend hours and hours trying to understand a passage, then I am going to just quit and forget about reading it! Plus, the Christian Bible includes the Old Testament and the New Testament, so if you think the Hebrew Bible is long, then try reading the Christian Bible (with Apocrypha).
In the end, it seems to me that being a Christian is no better than being an atheist. A Christian would just believe that he/she is better off because he/she is going to justified to go to heaven, but in reality, an atheist who just reads a translation of the Bible out of pleasure and curiosity sounds like a better position to take than a Christian who slavishly reads the Bible out of devotion to God and understand God better and trying to apply an old book to one's life as if every single passage is supposed to be meaningful to the individual.
1. The theology is confusing, and there are many interpretations to the Bible. Because every Christian likes to think that he/she has the *best* interpretation, this can become quite problematic. I think this is one of the reasons why you are not supposed to cite the Bible in a semi-formal term paper in a college/university English course. No matter how tempting it is, the Bible can't be trusted enough to be used in a term paper, presumably because of the equivocal interpretations. (This has never really happened to me, but I know from a grading rubric that you can't cite the Bible . At the time, I knew very little about the Bible besides a few stories and quotes, so it didn't pertain to me whatsoever.)
2. There are too many dogmas and doctrines to remember. This goes along with the theology. As Francis Crick, co-discoverer of the double-helical model of DNA, thought that all religious beliefs (or dogmas) were without proper foundation, he coined the term "Central Dogma of Biology" based on this notion. If a clergyman were to inform a neophyte about one doctrine in his parish, then that clergyman would be indoctrinating that neophyte. In other words, the neophyte must accept the doctrines without question. That's the purpose of doctrines and indoctrination. You are not supposed to question the doctrines.
3. Like any other religion, there would be rituals. If a person wants to become a Christian, then he/she would wish to become baptized, join the Christian community, and participate in the Eucharist sacrament with other Christians at Holy Communion, and do this on each Sunday for as long as he remains a Christian (hopefully till the day he dies). As an irreligious person, you may forget about rituals altogether and consider doing more productive activities than going to church on Sunday (e.g. donating your money and time to charity or participating in community service or studying/doing your homework/working).
4. It is questionable whether or not morality really does come from God. What is good? What is altruism? Can a person really be altruistic? I don't know about you, but I take an evolutionary approach. Humans, like other animals, are evolved to be selfish. What may appear to be altruism in nature may really be a kind of kin selection, thereby narrowing the possibility of altruism to ever exist. That said, if altruism cannot exist the nature, then why do Christians treat altruism as if it's good and selfishness is bad? Selfishness can be good, if it's benefits the species! I am starting to believe that there is no god, and people aren't good. They are inherently selfish, and even though selfishness can manifest itself in negative ways, the only thing that humans can do is cooperate by loving, caring, and helping each other in order to benefit the species. Selfish as it may be, but at least it's better than self-destruction and a total wipe-out of the species.
5. Reading the Bible is difficult, boring, completely irrelevant, and time-consuming. It's difficult, because it's like reading what people from millenia ago, people with a different sort of mentality, thought about the world who wrote terse stories without any explanation for what they meant. Personally, I feel that reading the Bible is as difficult as reading poetry. Sure, there are laws in the Bible, but the laws are never really taken seriously anymore due to concerns about human rights. It's boring, because I usually have no idea what I have just read after reading it, and if I do have a hint of the interpretation, it is most likely going to be wrong or debatable. It's irrelevant, because I live in the modern age. The authors probably have no idea what it's like to live in the 21st century. The only thing that the Bible would be useful and valuable in is that it may be treated as a work of literature (not as a product of God), and as a work of literature, it records human experience and age-old wisdom, from a monotheistic perspective. The only problem is, human experience varies from individual to individual. If two persons are placed in the same situation, there is no doubt that they will interpret the same situation somewhat differently and subjectively. Reading the Bible is also time-consuming. If I have to spend hours and hours trying to understand a passage, then I am going to just quit and forget about reading it! Plus, the Christian Bible includes the Old Testament and the New Testament, so if you think the Hebrew Bible is long, then try reading the Christian Bible (with Apocrypha).
In the end, it seems to me that being a Christian is no better than being an atheist. A Christian would just believe that he/she is better off because he/she is going to justified to go to heaven, but in reality, an atheist who just reads a translation of the Bible out of pleasure and curiosity sounds like a better position to take than a Christian who slavishly reads the Bible out of devotion to God and understand God better and trying to apply an old book to one's life as if every single passage is supposed to be meaningful to the individual.
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Of course Isaiah had no idea was 2012 is like!
