I think that everyone accepts that Christianity is the answer for some people. But since we are all different, Christianity could never work for all of us.
There are many diffrent religions and beliefs arround the world. What you see as a true religion someone elts may see it diffrent read and study diffrent religions and you will see what i mean.
i think most people would like to see things before they believe in something. just like if i told you a football team was the greatest ever, someone wouldn't believe me unless they saw it. People want prove, not beliefs.
1. a non corporal Gd can have a son
2. that he would use his son as a sacrifice for sin
3. their are so many contradictions between different accounts in the Gospels
4. If you must believe that Gd can be 3 and one at the same time
5. If you do not believe the above then you will burn in hell forever -- this is completely opposite to the old testament
6. If you do believe that this guy died for you sins you get a free ticket to heaven.
Because Christianity believes in Jesus Christ and sees other founders of religions as no one who made sacrifice only Christ was the son of man, and Only Christ died for our sins. Plus Christianity has a set of rules and rules are not easily accepted by some people.
Ok guys (and girls). You all know that the reason you don't like Christianity is simple: It goes against you. If you were to become Christian, you wouldn't be able to do the sinful things you enjoy doing. As a Christian, I am called to like a life according to the Bible. Sure, I mess up, but I'm sorry for what I did, and ask forgiveness from the person I offended and from God. The whole thing of it is this: Christianity convicts you. If you accepted it, you would have admit you were wrong. At least admit this: You wouldn't want to say "I was wrong, forgive me" would you? No. It would hurt your pride. Pride is the thing that keeps us from heaven as sinful humans. Jesus didn't come for the people who think they are perfect, He came for the sinners. Who do you think would be more thankful, the one who was forgiven much? Or the one who was forgiven little?
For me - the fact that there is one GOD (Check the 1st commandment in the OT) alone without any partners - the Trinity seems to contradict this.
And in the OT, God forgives those who repent to him (with or without sacrifice). Why is that any different today. In the OT people came to God directly for forgiveness, his Mercy is great enough to forgive whenever we ask. This is what I do in Islam. Have a relationship direct with my Creator!
Also I realized the PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY I have for my own sin before GOD. I can be forgiven if I have true repentance to God and Faith in him.
Some people are born into different faiths. It is no harder for them to accept Christianity as it is for you to accept Hinduism.
For myself, an atheist, I cannot accept anything on faith alone. This may be because there is a genetic component to faith that I lack (see Dean Hamer's "The God Gene"). I can't state that with certainty though, so I can only tell you what I know.
I know that it is plainly evident to me that Christianity is no different than belief in Ra, Zeus, or Odin. It's just the most popular mythology during the time that I am on Earth. There is no reason to believe in Jehovah, as he was clearly invented by men to explain things that seemed unexplainable.
If this were the extent of it, Christianity would be easy to "accept." However, the truth is that Christianity (and many other faiths) gives license to its adherents to behave in ways that I think leads all of mankind down a dark path. I'm not even talking about Christianity's history of bloodshed, but rather the way in which most Christians behave towards homosexuals. I see people around here who would turn gasp if ever accused of racism say openly hostile things to gay kids who come here for advice. It boggles my mind, as it is the same thing.
Simply because an ancient book says something is not enough "evidence" for me to accept it as fact.
I believe that Christians are a misguided bunch. I have made friends with some very devout individuals through Yahoo Answers, but I believe that their faith (and any faith) is based on a faulty interpretation of reality.
That's why it's hard for me to accept Christianity.
I had trouble accepting it because it isn't internally constant ant. It may not have been as big a deal for me if the bible wasn't supposed to be the infallible word of god, but as that IS the case, once I started noticing the contradictions, errors, and statements that made no sense I decided it wasn't for me.
AFN, please remember that Christians do not have a monopoly on morality. The Buddhists were practicing and teaching the same identical morality 400 years before Jesus was magically born to a virgin. So do not think that people who do not accept the christian myths refuse to do so because they want to sin. that is hokum. In fact the best place for a sinner is in the christian church as he is allowed to sin continually and then always be forgiven without any price. (70 X 7) That is really the big attraction to Christianity. You do not have to actually DO anything to be one, just say you "believe" the dogma and then you are "Saved" from your sins and forgiven blah blah blah. What a great way to get easy converts.
Other religions expect BEHAVIOR to qualify you for heaven, not just lip service. It is hard to get to heaven in any other religion, or the equivalent thereof. Christians get a free ride at no cost. YAHOO! lets all join.
(Buddhists do not actually talk too much about afterlife as they think this life is the important one for you to serve and prove you are worthy to return to the source (GOD?) and cease to reincarnate. it is an offshoot of the old medic Hindu beliefs with a twist, just like Chrisianity is an offshoot of Judaism, with a twist.
The main reason, beside this, is that the stuff you must believe in is ridiculous and illogical and basically just plain stupid. Poor Jesus would be shocked to learn what idiotic drivel is being sold to fools in his name. He never preached any of that crap you all believe. HHS was a cool guy and tried his best to pass his wisdom on but was just casting pearls before swine. Most of the present day Christian Churches, especially the born-agings, are way off base, misguided and being used and distracted from ever learning the truth. but they can't handle the truth anyway, so I guess it does not matter.
See ya in heaven dude. If you make the cut, that is. Otherwise, you are doomed to come back here again and again until you finally get the message that the Christs bring to save you from the sin of ignorance.
"Christian" character doesn't require all the verbal and pretentiousness that's most often delivered under the guise of preaching, teaching, being a witness, blah blah blah.
I'm cool with Jesus, and I would much rather hear, read, know 100% truth of it all. Until that much is known, I'll hang on to the opinions I trust most (even if it is my own) even if that means disagreeing with the majority.
I wonder, when I read/hear this question, if the questioner is not-so-subtly asking, "Why is it hard for you all to see it, think it, say it, sing it, believe it exactly the same way I do? I'm right! You're wrong! That's that!
Ignorance of what Christianity really is about, both from those who profess to be one and those who would rather believe their own or other peoples preconceived ideas and opinions. They make something that is really simple complicated. Pride is what causes most to fail. We let our "self" get in the way, to avoid the guilt and shame of facing the truth. We latch on to things which validate and support our own beliefs, including those we want to believe about Christianity. This does not change the absolute truth of what is Christianity. This truth simply is what it is, not relative to what we want to believe. The belief in only one God, in this one faith on the person of Jesus Christ, providing the only way to a real and dynamic relationship with the living God.
Exclusive? Yes. For everyone? Yes. True? Yes. That simple? Yes. Universally believed? You have only to read the comments here to see that it is not. Only those who go beyond the lines they have drawn, to venture outside the boxes they have built and take that simple step of faith will see there is so much more to it than they have ever dreamed. Will they do everything right and be perfect? No, but they will be changed people, trying to love God and others. The proof is in their changed spirits, and because they know and have a ongoing interaction with the indwelling Spirit of the living God. This means that they will repent; to quit doing the things that hurt God, other people and themselves the way they once did. Is this something to be feared? No, it is the greatest continual spiritual experience one can have in this physical dimension. You will not find this proof in the Bible or science books, but only in the experience itself. Millions have found what everyone else believes to be an archaic and misguided belief to be real and true. Come and see for yourself.
In a way, Even is right. I can not accept something that tells me that what I know in my soul to be true is false and will buy me a one-way ticket to hell. I know that I am not "paying for the sins of Eve," and I will not be subordinate to a man. There is nothing wrong with homosexuals. They are people too and deserve the same rights as the rest of us. There is nothing wrong with sex. It is a beautiful thing when it is between two loving, consenting adults.
That's what I believe. Christianity says I'm wrong. My head and my heart say I am right. So, I'm going with my head and my heart.
Give me one piece of INDISPUTABLE evidence that Christ was indeed God and I will back down.
Give me one piece of INDISPUTABLE evidence that Heaven exists and I will back down.
Give me one piece of INDISPUTABLE evidence that the Creation occur ed as it says in the Bible, and I will back down.
Give me one piece of INDISPUTABLE evidence regarding the truth in anything that is part of the foundation of Christianity and I will back down.
As to why I actually dislike Christianity, it is simply because of the people who go around supporting it unconditionally. And the majority of them either don't live by the Bible, don't know the Bible, or both. And those challenges regarding proof are true challenges, if met with cold hard fact I WILL back down.
I accept that Christianity exists and that some people find spiritual meaning in it. But if you mean to ask why I don't accept Christian doctrine as my own spiritual belief, there are many reasons.
1. I do not believe that a god who is all powerful, loving and infinitely wise would devise a reward/punishment system such as Heaven and Hell. I know the excuses, I've heard them all. None of them make sense. If you have a being that is all powerful, loving and wise beyond our comprehension, even WITH free will, he would be able to devise a far better and more sensible system than torturing people for eternity for disobedience.
2. At best, a being that devised such a system would have to be exceedingly immature, cruel, and probably quite evil. Think about it for more than a few seconds. As humans, we are NOT infinitely loving. And yet how many of us would sentence even our worst enemies to be *tortured for eternity*? If the common person would not do this, and we are supposedly far less good and moral than a supreme being, how exactly is god good again?
3. If Hell is somehow not his fault, because we should have just accepted him, Satan created it, or whatever else... still makes no sense. If he is all powerful, Hell exists at his bidding, and what happens to people there is by his will. If not, he is not all powerful. If he is not all powerful, then all the fuss over him is moot anyway.
4. Not only does the Hell threat inspire me to lack a reason to believe in such a being as the omnipotent creator of all, but even if it was so that god did exist, hell existed, and I would burn for eternity without accepting Jesus - nope, still not converting. I'll do the martyr thing and burn for eternity rather than support such a cruel and unjust god.
5. It makes no sense that, if there is but one god, he would send his "truth" to only one tiny area of the world, and wait for it to spread (through conquest, violence and bloodshed) across the globe over centuries and Milena. If it were true that Christianity were the only way, that would mean that millions of people would be damned or die eternal death for not knowing the truth, when it was IMPOSSIBLE for them to know the truth. There are still people today in isolated regions who have never heard of Christianity. 2,000 years ago it only existed in the Middle East. That means that until the last 500 years or so, far more people went to hell than heaven, when they had no possible way to know "salvation". How is this their fault?
6. Because Christianity constantly contradicts itself and can't even admit that. Denominations and individuals can rarely agree on the "true" meaning of various Biblical passages, or what the most important feature of being a Christian is, and yet so many of them are dead set that they know the truth! They can't even decide what it is for themselves.
7. Because, contrary to taking Jesus' example of being kind to people and loving one another, many individuals and many churches use Christianity as an excuse for bigot try and hate. Again we see contradiction here.
8. None of the beliefs surrounding Christianity really make sense to me, in fact many of them seem downright ridiculous - the idea that one man (ahem, excuse me, the "son of god") needs to die and "wash" my sins away with his blood? The idea that we are born deserving worse than death, when we have done nothing? Why would god create such hideous creatures as we must be?
Why is it so terribly important to Christians that they convince everyone else of their rightness? Perhaps it's due to a deep-rooted insecurity regarding the validity of that 'rightness'.
1) The sheer number of ass-clowns that claim to be Christian. While many Christians believe that cursing is taking the Lord's name in vain, I suspect a more intelligent analogy would be taking a spouse's name in marriage. And that's what you do by saying publicly you're a Christian. So when you claim to be a Christian, and exhibit extraordinarily non-Christian behavior, it makes your religion look BAD.
For example, anti-abortionists who bomb Planned Parenthood buildings. Anti-Gay activists who honestly think being gay is a simple choice. Presidents who bring a country into an unjust war. And on the unjust war, would some Christians please read the Just War doctrine? The US broke EVERY SINGLE TENANT of the JWT. So even if you believe that war is acceptable in Christianity, absolutely no scripture or even human inspired doctrine agrees. The US would not be in Iraq, if the Prez was actually behaving like a Christian. Turn The Other Cheek does not equal Pre-Emptive War.
2) Many Christians don't even know the scriptures, but feel free to parrot their own loose interpretations as gospel. How many times have I been told that money is the root of all evil? More times than I can count.
3) Many Christians don't practice what they preach. How many angry Christians have you met? I've met a lot. If I'm not mistaken, Ghandi said something like that he'd be a Christian if it weren't for the Christians he'd met.
4) Most Christians are unclear about what constitutes 'sin'. Homosexuality is considered a 'sin' by some Christians, yet it is only referenced in a few places in the Bible. The only places in the OT it's mentioned are in books that most Christians conveniently ignore most of. The ones in the new testament refer to other letters that no longer exist, so it's difficult to tell what is being taken out of context. If Homosexuality is a sin, according to OT Law, so is a woman attacking a man who has broken into her house by grabbing him by the balls. Or a man ever cutting the hair on the sides of his head. Or a man seeking revenge for the rape of his daughter.
5) Most Christians focus on the 'saving' people bit, something Jesus didn't really talk about much, and COMPLETELY IGNORE most of what Jesus taught about compassion, healing, or helping others. They take the easy way out--find the one thing you can do that requires NO ACTUAL EFFORT.
The way they portray God is far too savage. I don't believe in "virgin births". I don't believe in zombies or magic.
There are so many reasons, but what it really boils down to for me is that I've learned to accept my fears, and acknowledge that I don't understand much of anything really. And I never will, It's just not in the cards.
I would rather accept my ignorance, then to adopt what I know to be untruth as truth. At least then I'm being honest to myself.
Brian, Gravtol, Devouring Winds, Baron Karza took the words out of my mouth. KUDOS!
I cannot believe in a "god" that is a jealous, very angry, that would outright CONDEMN "its" own children to eternal hell just for not believing in "it" or in Jesus' dying for our sins. Frankly, that scares me AWAY from Christianity. It smacks too much of "conditional love" to me, not unconditional. My parents showed me and younger brother UN-CONDITIONAL love once, and I know what it feels like.
Even said: ""Who do you think would be more thankful, the one who was forgiven much? Or the one who was forgiven little?""
You DO have a point. Stop before you swell your ego, though....forgiving has nothing to do with Christianity or any other religion. It is a wonderful but simple act of humankind. I have forgiven much, Sweetie, and I have NEVER been a christian at all, even if I read some of the bible. I am thankful for a whole darn lot in my life. Wanna me list them privately to you? Email me and find out what I am SOpooankful for and what I have forgiven in the past. :-) Psst, NO preaching or scriptures, please...that is, if you are willing to listen---as I have to your answer.
Why is it hard for people to accept Christianity?
