Why not believe in Christianity?

[vajradhara]

Fred Phelps seems to be a very good reason to avoid being associated with anything about that being... especially his religious ideas.



metta,

~v

 

[Zakath]

Good point!

My dad always said that, "No one is good for nothing. They can always be used as a bad example."

I think Freddie boy is an excellent illustration of that point.

 

[CSmrw]

I am curious to what causes doubt among unbelievers. Thanks for the input!

I can't.

 

[Eudaimonist]

I can't.

Can't what?

 

[Mumbles]

I am curious to what causes doubt among unbelievers. Thanks for the input!

Actually, I don't have much doubt - I'm about as sure as I can be that christianity (and theism in general) is wrong.

As to why...well, when I learned about christianity, I couldn't make any sense out of any version of it, and I still can't. When I tried contacting the christian god, I received no reply. When I asked people about him, they gave me wildly different answers. And then there are the other religions, each of which have the same problems, but who contradict christianity, and each other, even further.

If I didn't know better, I'd find your question to be insulting, and I'm still suprised that people take this stuff seriously.

 

[Zakath]

I am curious to what causes doubt among unbelievers. Thanks for the input!

Similar to Mumbles, I don't doubt the existence of YHWH. Doubt implies uncertainty.

I am reasonably certain (though not absolutely so) that YHWH does not exist. I am also reasonably certain that Zeus, Odin, Brahma, Vishnu, Ahura Mazda, the Invisible Pink Unicorn, and the Flying Spaghetti Monster don't exist either.

 

[CSmrw]

Can't what?

Believe in Christianity.

 

[Rae]

I don't believe in Christianity for the same reasons that you don't believe in Islam. I don't believe Christianity to be true in the slightest.

 

[sidhe]

I don't believe in Christianity, because if God - The All-Loving Creator, is also God - The Jealous Judge, then there's a contradiction going on there.

Or, as has been said before, if God exists as many Christians describe him, he's a sadist.

 

[morningstar2651]

I am curious to what causes doubt among unbelievers. Thanks for the input!

Subjective experience contradictory to Christian doctrine.

 

[Smith87]

I see. Well would you honestly even want Christianity to be true?

 

[CSmrw]

I see. Well would you honestly even want Christianity to be true?

The list of what I would WANT to be true is vast and probably not family friendly in a lot of ways. As far as the fundamentalist version of Christianity, absolutely not. It's not as bad as sacrificing babies or anything, but it's not even up to basic humane thinking. A more liberal version has some drawing power, though. I would like to see all humanity resolved to itself, and if need be it's "creator". I would like to imagine my time spent on the planet will not amount to a rotting corpse who overstayed his welcome in life. I would like for there to be a sympathetic ear to hear me cry and feel my deepest pains, and to tell me it will be worth it one day.

 

[Rae]

would you honestly even want Christianity to be true?

No. I dislike all forms of Christianity, though if I had to have some form of it be true I'd vote for the uber-liberal segments of it.

 

[Zakath]

I see. Well would you honestly even want Christianity to be true?

In the universe in which I live, what I want to be true has little bearing on what actually is true (i.e. reality).

 

[Smith87]

In the universe in which I live, what I want to be true has little bearing on what actually is true (i.e. reality).

Alright, I see your point. But that didn't really address the question.

 

[Zakath]

Alright, I see your point. But that didn't really address the question.

It does for me.

What I "want to be" doesn't necessarily matter one whit to anything or anyone else than me.

If you're looking for a point blank answer, then I don't "want" Christianity to be "true" any more than I "want" Islam, or Hinduism, or Zoroastrianism, or Judaism to be "true".

Nor do I believe that any of them are actually true.

 

[Illuminatus]

A lack of evidence and rational argument persuasive to me that Christianity is true. It's that simple.

Well, that pretty much covers it.

 

[simpleton]

yes, I would like the idea of some pleasant eternal after-life(heaven) to be true.

 

[Smith87]

Hi Smith87,

I am new here, my first real post (beside a 'hello I am new' post)


My doubt stems from the preposterous, magical and supernatural claims, that lack any credible proof and adhere to reason and logic even less so.

The immoral acts, the murder, the genocide, the torture of vast swathes of mankind strangely bothers me less in the respect that I do not judge what is true or false on what meets my ethical standards. An example would be that the horrors carried out by Nazi Germany during world war two do not make me 'doubt' or disbelieve that the Nazis existed.

As an unbeliever yourself (in Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, Animism, Judaism etc etc ), what has caused your 'doubt' in these other religions ?



Telephone

It is a matter of presumptions and individual perspective (we all have beliefs). I was skeptic once as well, placing the value of religious concepts as labels and nothing more.

 

[Mumbles]

I see. Well would you honestly even want Christianity to be true?

Which particular version of christianity are you talking about? As it stands, this is like asking me "do you like flavor?"