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I feel like people tend to forget that a religion like Christianity is an entirely new way of framing the universe. Re-discovering Christianity in my 30s was li
by xamuel 8y ago
I feel like people tend to forget that a religion like Christianity is an entirely new way of framing the universe. Re-discovering Christianity in my 30s was like learning how to read and write for the first time in my life.
Activist atheists tend to paint religious folk as just mindless sheep blindly bumping through ceremonies because their parents did. It's similar to how anti-drug education tries to paint, say, cannabis as just this ritual people do out of peer pressure and no other reason. Then, when you actually experience cannabis for yourself, you suddenly realize, oh. People do this for a reason!
It's fashionable to talk about how it's so good to be non-judgmental. Come join our rave, bro, everyone here's so open-minded and chill! But what I found is that those groups are just as judgmental as religious folks, only the rules are unwritten. Which makes it that much worse. I love how in proper Christianity, the baseline assumption is that everyone is utterly, hopelessly depraved (yes, even the pastor). Only when you start from a common assumption like that (I find) can you actually start to realize a truly welcoming and non-judgmental society.
- sametmax 8y agoReligions, because of their nature, are used to motivate behavior, hold jugement and organise communities. Since behaviors, jugments and communities are subject to dispute, it's only natural people will attack their source and motivation. If you kill somebody, you are hated. If you kill somebody in the name of something, that something is what's been hated.
- AnIdiotOnTheNet 8y ago> Religions, because of their nature, are used to motivate behavior, hold jugement and organise communities. You're describing culture, not religion. The two are often intertwined but are not the same.
- sametmax 8y ago"We use the weight of a hammer to hit nails" "What you are describing is gravity, it's not the same thing"
- jmcqk6 8y ago>I love how in proper Christianity One common thing religious people tend to share is that they all think their own interpretation of their religion is the right one. Is there any reason to believe your use of "proper christianity" here is any different from that? Besides that, though, I found your comment about how christianity makes the assumption that everyone is utterly, hopelessly depraved very good. I agree with you, but I haven't considered it in that way before. I'm an ex-christian, because I've found I can't bring myself to believe in the supernatural, but I still see valuable things in the religion. I don't think that you need to start off with the assumption that everyone is hopelessly depraved in order to have a non-judgemental society. I'm not even sure that's really desirable, or how that would work. But I definitely agree that we tend to be too judgemental and ego-driven.
- xamuel 8y agoTrying to come up with the one correct interpretation is as futile as trying to get to heaven by good deeds (impossible). All interpretations fall short just like all humans do. Salvation is not won by ingenious interpreting, but by grace through the sacrificial death of Christ, given to believers regardless of denomination. See 1st Corinthians 3:12-15. That said, I think certain denominations do a better job of spreading Christianity. Some liberal denominations seem to think they can win hearts and minds by being bland enough. Who would go to a YMCA with a preacher, when they could just go to a regular YMCA instead? See Proverbs 14:12; James 4:4.