Thursday, November 8, 2007
My Mission
I am surrounded by countless people who aren't Christians, from my direct family to my very best friends, and I don't think that's by coincidence. Naturally I feel God put me in their lives for a reason and I hope that I can do what I can to help guide (not drag!) them to God. I mean why not believe? I understand that it may be a step out of people's "comfort zone," yet at the same time the Christian way of life coupled with the promise of eternal life sounded good enough for me to at least look into it and learn about it... I hope the people that I love so much feel the same way.
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3 comments:
First I'll begin by addressing why
I am coming to you about this. I have spoken to many christians on the subject of religion and so forth and have poured countless hours into the topic. Now I would like to say over the course of this I will probably end up bashing Christianity a little bit, and I mean no offense, but I do actually have some beef with the concept. But back on topic, most Christians I have spoke to tend to (not to generalize I am speaking empirically here) think rather shallowly on the topic. None seem to ever question what they have been taught or even think about it at all. The reason I am so interested to talk to you about it is because I respect your opinion very highly and I know you are far more open minded then most I have spoken with. And now to the bulk.
Hmmm, where to start on this. I guess the best way to start would be to describe my own "religious orientation". I would call my self an "Optimistic Agnostic-Atheist". I'll start by saying, being 100% atheist is entirely contradictory to being an atheist, which is, claiming that there is no god or anyway to prove so, because conversely there is no way to disprove one. I put optimistic there because while I seriously doubt a god's existence, I actually hope there is one. I say that because, a being that supercedes our own existence implies a continued existence, which I would want more than anything. I have asked myself on many occasions, what i would rather do, not exist or go to "hell". Ironically I would choose hell, due to my overwhelming value of my own self-worth, I feel any existence would be better than none. Now this all clearly points to why I should be religious, and I can assure you if I legitimately jumped ship it would be comforting. But the problem is I don't have the evidence to believe it. I personally refuse to live my life pretending to be a Christian in the hopes of receiving a post-life care package I don't believe in.
Personally I do not see the need for an existence of a "god". With the gaping scientific uncertainties still present like the origin of time and even the earth, one would be a fool to not acknowledge that a higher power doing it all is possible. However, I certainly feel it could have happened without one.
I guess now I'll focus more explicitly on Christianity and the Bible. The entire system has far too many uncertainties and contradictions. The greatest being the bible was written by man. That in and of itself implies that imperfection and flaw are completely possible. That fact in an of itself should make anyone question it's so-called flawlessness. Another appalling fact of the bible is that the canonized or commonly used bibles contents were voted on in the past. Certain books were excluded from it. Personally, if it is all the word of god, all of it should be in the book. Also, you can find some very disturbing facts from some of these or even in the bible. Some examples are stoning children for disobedience, killing a man for working on the sabbath day, or ,directly quoted from Jesus, allowing the punishing of slaves as long as it is proportional to whatever crime they committed. (Just one website here but it isn't too hard to find these things if you look long enough. http://www.inu.net/skeptic/slavery.html)
Even in the bible Satan himself killed far far fewer people than God. Regardless of who he massacred being sinners or those of opposing faith, it is a mixed message to be sending. All of this plus a plethora of factual/historic inaccuracies, such as no even remote proof of 40,000 Jews ever living in Egypt or supposedly wandering in the desert for what I believe was supposed to be forty years?
Probably the most startling evidence is that there is actually no contemporaneous evidence of Jesus ever existing. The first book noting his existence came roughly forty years after his death. I don't remember which temple it was (but you can find the exact one on the ABC night line debate, Rational Response Squad vs. Way of the Master), but a very well documented, record keeping, culture had not even a shred of record claiming Jesus came into their temple and started a riot.
Now to all of this you may say, as many do, the bible is not meant to be taken literally, it is to be used for its moral value and the lessons it teaches, which is more reasonable. This would then lead me to the more serious flaws.
My number One Problem With Christianity is the amount of gray matter/confusing uncertainty a "Perfect God" leaves when dealing with something so important as whether you have eternal happiness or damnation. For example, if the bible is meant to be taken figuratively, it should say, IN BIG BOLD LETTERS, these stories did not happen, they are fables for moral benefit.
For your convenience, I'll try and space the rest of this out more, point by point at least.
I personally have a great problem with a system that values thoughts over actions. Many will argue when I say technically to get into heaven, all you must do is legitimately believe in Jesus and repent for your sins. Regardless of argument, the bible says if one is truly repentant no sin goes unforgiven.
So with that assumption, Christianity rewards a belief over action. This concept is absolutely absurd to me. An atheist who devotes their life to helping others burns in eternal hellfire while a lazy apathetic Christian who truly believes in God/Jesus gets heaven. There is no justice in a system like that. It takes no courage, no faith, no resolve, and no bravery to think/believe on behalf of something. Conversely it takes great amounts of all of the above to act on behalf of something you stand for. If Christianity is correct, I personally would rather go to hell. The concept of rewarding thought and belief over action is ludicrous.
On the topic of hell, it is unnecessary entirely. I would have no problem with Christianity if it consisted purely of a reward for the faithful. It crosses the line when it Must punish those who are different.
If we truly do go to hell for being wrong and thinking differently then Christianity, than it is no one other than God's fault himself. My reason for my atheism is not from hatred of God or Jesus, or being evil. It is my nature, which would technically have been created by God. I don't believe Christianity because I am curious. I saw questions that led me to my belief. It is human nature to question things. If Christianity doesn't explicitly lead me to think it's correct, my nature is to not believe it. A just God would not punish his creations, that he loves, for acting upon their nature.
Again this is highlighting my number one problem, When referring to something as urgent as eternal damnation it is nothing but pure evil for a perfect being to not make the choices black and white. Leaving this much uncertainty is not a method of testing one's faith, it's encouraging closed-mindedness.
Hell will consist of too many good people. Sure there will be rapists and killers, but there will also be the confused. I believe the number of Christians in the world number roughly around 2 billion give or take a couple million. The world's population is roughly 6 billion. Christianity therefore condemns 66% of the world to hell. No offense, but that is a pretty (for lack of a more appropriate term) fucked up system. Now the typical response I receive from a Christian at this point is that all people hear the gospel at some course of their life (which is certainly not true for all people), but assuming they do. From my own personal experience, even as a former Christian, hearing the gospel was not special. The text did not glow, I did not hear special voices. That either means God is prejudiced towards me (doubtful :-D) or not all people are enlightened upon hearing said doctrine or they interpret it differently. Far too many people are going to hell for misinterpretations, which again I find quite evil.
Usually also at this course I get hit with, "Missionaries are everywhere spreading the truth of God, etc." To that I, again no offense want to laugh.
A simple example of what the effectiveness of missionaries would be Muslims telling us were wrong. Now assuming hypothetically here, (Many Christians I have spoken were unable to do this with me, which is astonishing.) Let's Assume Christianity is wrong for examples sake, and Islam is correct. What is the likelihood that you or any other Christian would actually convert or change your ways upon hearing passages of the Kuran. People's religion is influenced by two things, their parents and their region. People born in the Middle East will almost always be Muslim. One thing religion has taught me, is how impressionable children can be. A child with Muslim parents, and born in a Muslim community, will reject Christian gospel 98% of the time, because that is what they are taught. Christians are no different. To punish one to hell for being born somewhere else is again, unjust, unfair, and evil.
I am going to conclude now, because construing this monstrous composition has led me to forget the other 40% of reasons I have to say. I am sure I will think of them, but I assure there is much much more.
In a nutshell, there is far too much gray matter in Christianity. Too many variables, inconsistencies, and uncertainties
for it to be correct, in my opinion anyway. Anywho, Halo time! Ill probably post again if i remember the rest.
oh i was rewatching that debate i spoke of and this is one very very interesting clip concerning jesus. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5txJAH95cc&feature=related
the first half is about that, the rest is also interesting. I encourage you to watch the entire debate though, it's a very good watch!
oh last thing, the two christians who debate on behalf of christianity are terrible. I am positive there are far more intelligent christians who could have presented better argument. However the main reason I linked it is that those two atheists make great points.
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