Fundamental Arrogance in Christianity

[Odoital77]

There's a lot of debate nowadays between Christians and skeptics over whether faith is a good or rational basis for belief and it seems that generally speaking Christians today (more so than in the past) are so timid to the point of just wanting to have the foundation of faith tolerated as a basis for belief and not mocked.

To me the peculiar thing about this is that up until very recently Christianity was saturated in an arrogance that still exists, but is not nearly articulated as much as it used to be, and this arrogance is basically that it is not only reasonable to have faith in their religion, but that we have a moral obligation to have faith in their religion.

It would be one thing to say: "I know we can't really prove the truth of our religion and that it requires faith, but if you simply aren't convinced of Christianity, it won't be held against you, no harm no foul". In reality however the Christian message is essentially this: "You owe us your belief, you owe it to us to have faith in our religion in all of its aspects and obey it in every respect it demands obedience in; if you fail to fulfill this moral obligation you will suffer unimaginable horrors for all eternity."

Christians still believe this today but often try to camouflage this fundamental arrogance in Christianity by appealing to pluralistic ideals, saying you don't have to believe if you don't want to and can believe or disbelieve what you like (leaving out the part that God is apparently so offended by this unbelief that you will be tormented for eternity).

Coming to this realization was one of the biggest moments in my de-conversion process as I actually started getting quite angry at the thought that I was being needlessly controlled by a Church that impressed upon me from childhood the idea that I owed them everything. The onus was on me to give the Church my faith, and my obedience in all things they demanded, and to surrender my future and all it would entail, even to the extent of surrendering my own future children by handing them over to the rites and indoctrination of the Church, repeating the process over again in a new generation. 

Ultimately, when one is trapped in such a web of religious arrogance, it is a revolutionary act simply to say: no, the onus is not on me to have faith in what you say and I don't owe you my belief. The onus is on you to provide reasons for belief that justify the extraordinary claims and demands your religion places on people.

I'm genuinely mystified by what you've written here.  I've been a Christian for 36 years, and a serious one, of sorts, for the last 20, and much of what you've said that Christians believe is completely foreign to me.  In re-reading it, I think I can make some tenuous connection to it, but it's been so twisted and re-stated to make Christians seem far more arrogant and militant than they or their beliefs would actually make them in reality.

First, yes, it is reasonable to have faith.  Second, yes, you are morally obliged to put your faith in God.  However, your moral obligation is not to me and not to the Christian religion.  Your moral obligation is to God, and Him alone.  Everyone is morally obliged to obey their Creator.  In fact, if the God of the Bible actually exists, then this would seem to be a pretty uncontroversial claim, would it not?

You owe us (i.e. Christians), absolutely nothing, in terms of belief.  Any obligation you have is owed specifically to God, not to me, Christians, or the Christian religion.  It is impossible, by way of the human will, to fulfill our moral obligations to God, which is why every single human being is considered to be a sinner, in the context of a Christian understanding of human nature and the fall of mankind.  This is specifically why God has provided a way of escape through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, which paid for the sins of all mankind and is efficacious to those who accept this free gift.  If you reject this free gift and decide to make restitution for your crimes against God yourself, then yes, you will do so in a place and state of suffering for all eternity.  Eternal punish is the only kind of punishment adequate for a finite creature to pay restitution to an infinite God.  Just tangentially, this is not that unusual, apart from the expanded time-scales that we often have a hard time grasping, but we do this kind of thing all the time in our own punishment systems.  We punish people for their entire lives for acts which often took them mere seconds to carry out.  And sometimes, depending on the country, we even take their lives, based on the heinous nature of their crimes.  And keep in mind, that this is punishment for a single crime often times.  In the case of your being punished by God, we're likely talking about hundreds of thousands or even multiple millions of crimes that you've committed each and every day of your life.  I know I would certainly be guilty of crimes in the millions.  The longer I live, the more aware I am of just how much I fall short of God's standard, and that's taking into account that I see myself far less clearly than God does.

I can only apologize for your experience in some kind of church.  It bears little or no resemblance to what I know of as Christianity.  I would suggest that you've experienced only a narrow slice of an expression of Christianity, and I'm not sure how much veracity to put into that particular expression.  It seems rather far from anything in my experience.

I agree, Christians must be ready to provide reasons for belief.  I think the existence of a supreme mind or intelligence is obvious from what exists.  I also think that the existence of such a being is the best explanation for the beginning of the Universe and its contents.  I also think that the existence of God is the only way to ground true objective morality, which I firmly believe is a rock-solid feature of the world, regardless of our various levels of understanding and wisdom in application.  I also think that God's existence is the best explanation for the Bible and the basic historical narrative of the life of Jesus of Nazareth, including his resurrection from the dead.  I think good solid arguments can be constructed for all of these things and more, and that believing in the God of the Bible is far more reasonable and rational than the extant alternatives, especially if we're talking about materialism/naturalism.

I hope your anger subsides over time, and that you'll eventually have different experiences with Christians that will not leave you so hurt and hostile.  Be well.