RE: Whats even attractive about Christianity anyway that people want to stay in ignorance
February 29, 2012 at 5:31 pm
One thing that made me hold onto my faith (for a while) was the whole "personal relationship with Jesus" thing. To deny him was like betraying a close friend...someone who loved you so much he laid down his life for you. To even comprehend doubting him was the highest form of treachery. Also the idea of not living forever, and losing your helper and protector...you feel alone in a cold, heartless universe at first. (Which is BS of course, since you have other humans, and God never helped you out of many terrible circumstances to begin with. But to the religious mind one is "never alone"...your shepherd and comforter is always with you. That can be a nice fuzzy feeling when you're feeling hopeless, and coming to terms with the nonexistence of God can be a big leap to make for religious people who rely on this "crutch"). But interestingly, the cold heartless universe was one of the (many) reasons I ended up leaving the faith. I just couldn't believe in the existence of a good God anymore.
Really, it all depends on what brand of Christianity they were raised in. In the old fashioned, vengeful-God version of the religion...yeah, I don't really understand it either. But I was raised by Universalists, who believed that hell was a corruption of the Bible and that punishment after death would be non-eternal. This meant my vision of God was not as fear-based. That's not to say I don't have as any negative impressions of my religious upbringing - I have plenty. Harry Potter was Satanic (though granted, I wasn't missing much by not reading it
), evolution was a "lie", my father used his faith as an excuse to yell at us whenever he wanted and be a patriarchal tyrant because God gave him the "authority", and it seemed to encourage the overuse of corporal punishment. It influenced my upbringing in very negative ways, no question.
But it was counterbalanced my positive ones. There was the richness of my own spiritual experiences, which at the time I associated with Christianity and the Christian mythos (expanded on by my own imagination). There was the influence of my loving grandfather (my Mom's Dad), the man who ironically inspired my father to convert to Christianity. His faith inspired him to be kind, patient, considerate, and loving. He is one of my all-time heroes and someone whose example I intend to follow if I ever become a parent. Most Christians I was in contact with as a kid tended to be honest, accepting of people who seemed "odd" to others, down-to-earth in a kind of cozy way, and definitely very generous - usually much more generous than the atheists I knew. (My opinion of their "acceptance" faltered when I learned about what most of them thought of homosexuality, but still, most of them were closer to Ned Flanders than Jerry Falwell).
So contrary to a lot of other people's experiences, when I was a Christian the positive behavior I saw in many Christians helped keep the faith in a positive light. My Dad, too, (after he defeated his depression) became one of the most living and supportive parents I could wish for (though that happened at about the same time as the liberalization of his religious views...hmm...). Again, there was a lot that I found quite stifling, constraining, irrational, and unethical about my Christian upbringing. But there were certainly draws. So yes, I can see why people might want to stay in Christianity (at least certain forms of it). Problem is, it's just not true...
Really, it all depends on what brand of Christianity they were raised in. In the old fashioned, vengeful-God version of the religion...yeah, I don't really understand it either. But I was raised by Universalists, who believed that hell was a corruption of the Bible and that punishment after death would be non-eternal. This meant my vision of God was not as fear-based. That's not to say I don't have as any negative impressions of my religious upbringing - I have plenty. Harry Potter was Satanic (though granted, I wasn't missing much by not reading it
), evolution was a "lie", my father used his faith as an excuse to yell at us whenever he wanted and be a patriarchal tyrant because God gave him the "authority", and it seemed to encourage the overuse of corporal punishment. It influenced my upbringing in very negative ways, no question.But it was counterbalanced my positive ones. There was the richness of my own spiritual experiences, which at the time I associated with Christianity and the Christian mythos (expanded on by my own imagination). There was the influence of my loving grandfather (my Mom's Dad), the man who ironically inspired my father to convert to Christianity. His faith inspired him to be kind, patient, considerate, and loving. He is one of my all-time heroes and someone whose example I intend to follow if I ever become a parent. Most Christians I was in contact with as a kid tended to be honest, accepting of people who seemed "odd" to others, down-to-earth in a kind of cozy way, and definitely very generous - usually much more generous than the atheists I knew. (My opinion of their "acceptance" faltered when I learned about what most of them thought of homosexuality, but still, most of them were closer to Ned Flanders than Jerry Falwell).
So contrary to a lot of other people's experiences, when I was a Christian the positive behavior I saw in many Christians helped keep the faith in a positive light. My Dad, too, (after he defeated his depression) became one of the most living and supportive parents I could wish for (though that happened at about the same time as the liberalization of his religious views...hmm...). Again, there was a lot that I found quite stifling, constraining, irrational, and unethical about my Christian upbringing. But there were certainly draws. So yes, I can see why people might want to stay in Christianity (at least certain forms of it). Problem is, it's just not true...
