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I think it's an apples and oranges comparison to lump in Christianity (a religion that outright predicts that people will abuse it and protects itself against t

I think it's an apples and oranges comparison to lump in Christianity (a religion that outright predicts that people will abuse it and protects itself against that) with liberalism/marxism (a philosophy that has no such protection and can be mangled into whatever you want). If anything, liberalism/marxism are more like secularized offspring of Christianity, given that they would probably never developed if it wasn't for their founding figures living in a western moral context completely drenched in Christian ideas.

kstrauser 2y ago
I think I would’ve used Objectivism as a contrasting example. It’s designed around the idea that whatever a “strong” person does to fulfill their goals is inherently good. Objectivists wouldn’t phrase it that way, surely, but that seems the inevitable end result.
tliltocatl 2y ago
I'm not comparing them. What I'm saying is despite all the differences, the end result (dogmatic and self-righteous ideology with zero ability to align beliefs with reality) is eerily similar.
DangitBobby 2y ago
Curious how Christianity protects itself from abuse? From my perspective, Christianity is used to justify incredibly un-Christian activities pretty much constantly.
- throw83288 2y ago
  1. Christianity (like other religions) has built-in protections against false teaching within their own theology, which isn't really the same for secular philosophical frameworks. 2. There's a level of outlier visibility going on with a lot of people who abuse Christianity. The Christian who sincerely follows Jesus and walks in obedience don't seek out visibility or to exalt themselves. Even ones that evangelize do it on a local scale most often. Meanwhile people who abuse Christianity (Prosperity gospel, Christian nationalists, etc.) try to seek out large followings to bolster their power or wealth, making them seem like the "face" of Christianity whe
  - DangitBobby 2y ago
    > has built-in protections against false teaching within their own theology You are just saying the Bible has a bunch of text that lays out what being Christian is and isn't?
    - throw83288 2y ago
      Sort of. To elaborate, the idea is that a Christian (someone who has accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior) will show an outward transformation into someone who is Christ-like and obedient to God. When this doesn't happen at all, and that they remain completely un-Christian, you know it isn't genuine (See Matthew 7:15-20). The idea of how a Christian is shown by their outward renewal also touched on in Romans 12:9-21, Galatians 5:16-24, etc. It's not a perfect process, and it's the renewal is not a pre-requisite to salvation but rather an end result of salvation (Ephesians 2:8-12). Therefore, Christians have a framework that can be used to identify and rebuke people who distort the teachings of Christianity into something that is in rebellion to God. This doesn't really exist with secular philosophy, which lays out the "ideal" but has no way to prevent itself from being warped.

kstrauser 2y ago

I think I would’ve used Objectivism as a contrasting example. It’s designed around the idea that whatever a “strong” person does to fulfill their goals is inherently good. Objectivists wouldn’t phrase it that way, surely, but that seems the inevitable end result.

tliltocatl 2y ago

I'm not comparing them. What I'm saying is despite all the differences, the end result (dogmatic and self-righteous ideology with zero ability to align beliefs with reality) is eerily similar.

DangitBobby 2y ago

Curious how Christianity protects itself from abuse? From my perspective, Christianity is used to justify incredibly un-Christian activities pretty much constantly.

throw83288 2y ago
1. Christianity (like other religions) has built-in protections against false teaching within their own theology, which isn't really the same for secular philosophical frameworks. 2. There's a level of outlier visibility going on with a lot of people who abuse Christianity. The Christian who sincerely follows Jesus and walks in obedience don't seek out visibility or to exalt themselves. Even ones that evangelize do it on a local scale most often. Meanwhile people who abuse Christianity (Prosperity gospel, Christian nationalists, etc.) try to seek out large followings to bolster their power or wealth, making them seem like the "face" of Christianity whe
- DangitBobby 2y ago
  > has built-in protections against false teaching within their own theology You are just saying the Bible has a bunch of text that lays out what being Christian is and isn't?
  - throw83288 2y ago
    Sort of. To elaborate, the idea is that a Christian (someone who has accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior) will show an outward transformation into someone who is Christ-like and obedient to God. When this doesn't happen at all, and that they remain completely un-Christian, you know it isn't genuine (See Matthew 7:15-20). The idea of how a Christian is shown by their outward renewal also touched on in Romans 12:9-21, Galatians 5:16-24, etc. It's not a perfect process, and it's the renewal is not a pre-requisite to salvation but rather an end result of salvation (Ephesians 2:8-12). Therefore, Christians have a framework that can be used to identify and rebuke people who distort the teachings of Christianity into something that is in rebellion to God. This doesn't really exist with secular philosophy, which lays out the "ideal" but has no way to prevent itself from being warped.