(May 14, 2012 at 9:11 am)NoMoreFaith Wrote: I came across this thought experiment in a blog I read, but the argument goes thusly;
What would happen if Christianity went on Strike...
That means, no proselytizing, no praying, no evangelizing, no talking about Jesus, no apologetics.
What would happen to Christianity if this were to happen.
Would the Christian God intervene, or would he allow mankind to go to hell, one and all.
By removing the human element of propagation of the faith, the only avenue for the survival of Christianity, would be through independent revelation from God/Jesus/Spirit.
The hypothesis, is that Christianity would die out, disappear completely without humans spreading it like a disease.
The question is; If you have faith that your religion is true, why do apologetics, and proselytizers work so hard to defend it. God requires defending only means that there is no faith that God would do ANYTHING to defend himself.
What if Christians didn't share their faith with anyone else? Grant this and then ask yourself if there is anything about the Christian religion that would survive into the future.
Personally, I think this is a fair assessment, any faith, without an actual deity behind it, is doomed to die out, without the proselytizing of its believers.
It would perhaps be replaced by something else.
Basically;
1. If Christianity is true then the Christian faith will probably not die out if Christians stop proselytizing.
2. The Christian faith will probably die out if Christians stop proselytizing.
3. Therefore Christianity is probably false.
Now, the obvious answer is, why do we assume it would die out, which is exactly the question I pose to the Christian. If it is probably not true, what would survive if believers kept their faith entirely to themselves.
If Premise 3 is non-sequitor, then do you accept that God has no interest in whether Christianity survives or not, instead leaving it entirely up to mankind to choose what to do, and if so, quite willing to send each and every one of us to hell (in some denominations).
EDIT: Note on poll, given that it is an Atheist Forum, the results are almost certainly biased, but I'm more interested in what Christians think their God would do
Interesting experiment. Here are my views.
Firstly, strike here is somewhat vague. Even if the Christians stop proselytizing, would they stop practicing as well. It is possible for Christianity to survive through sheer reproductive potential - assuming that children who grow up with parents practicing Christian traditions and around Christian literature would automatically become Christians, even if they are not actively indoctrinated.
Another possibility is, suppose the complete practice of the religion comes to a halt. Suppose everyone starts thinking of Christianity the way they think of Greek Mythology and start teaching their children the same way - alternatively reading to them the "Once upon a time..." stories or the Bible (especially when they want the kids to fall asleep fast). Even so, the records Christianity would survive. And given the very character of human beings, it is probable - nay, expected - that someone down the future would start believing the crap again and start proselytizing. Christians right now would view that expected event as god's intervention, even though it would just be a matter of statistics.
