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How does Christianity gain ADULT converts?
July 19, 2012 at 12:50 pm
I have been wondering how religions, in particular Christianity, gain willing adult converts. I don't mean people who were in a hard place (addiction, divorce, depression) and were preyed upon by religious folk claiming the religion and not the counseling, community, and support made them better. I mean adults who converted on their own whim to Christianity.
I think the same kind of brainwashing going on in children can occur in adults by way of missionaries, apologetics, and only being exposed to one source. I have trouble seeing how someone could read anti-apologetic and anti-missionary materiel, scholarly bible studies, and information about other religions and come out a conservative Christian. I suppose there's also atheists who were always unaffiliated with religion or never gave it much thought and could be swung over to a form of theism easily. The same thing goes for theists though.
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RE: How does Christianity gain ADULT converts?
July 19, 2012 at 1:09 pm
People are stupid and gullible.
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RE: How does Christianity gain ADULT converts?
July 19, 2012 at 1:35 pm
They send missionaries to third world shitholes, like they've always done.....
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RE: How does Christianity gain ADULT converts?
July 19, 2012 at 1:37 pm
(This post was last modified: July 19, 2012 at 1:39 pm by Anomalocaris.)
Christianity gain converts by taking advantage of the wrong tail of the bell curve distribution of human intelligence and sensibility.
Christianity gain influence by taking advantage of the fact that the weight of a person's vote does not conform to his location in the ranked order of human intelligence and sensibility.
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RE: How does Christianity gain ADULT converts?
July 19, 2012 at 1:40 pm
(This post was last modified: July 19, 2012 at 1:43 pm by Undeceived.)
By reason. The same way anyone is convinced of anything.
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RE: How does Christianity gain ADULT converts?
July 19, 2012 at 1:47 pm
(This post was last modified: July 19, 2012 at 1:50 pm by Anomalocaris.)
You and your christian friends added together forms a negligible quantity in the reasoning department, so how would any or all of you together know where any significant amount of sound reasoning leads?
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RE: How does Christianity gain ADULT converts?
July 19, 2012 at 3:03 pm
(July 19, 2012 at 12:50 pm)Marnie Wrote: I have been wondering how religions, in particular Christianity, gain willing adult converts. I don't mean people who were in a hard place (addiction, divorce, depression) and were preyed upon by religious folk claiming the religion and not the counseling, community, and support made them better. I mean adults who converted on their own whim to Christianity.
I think the same kind of brainwashing going on in children can occur in adults by way of missionaries, apologetics, and only being exposed to one source. I have trouble seeing how someone could read anti-apologetic and anti-missionary materiel, scholarly bible studies, and information about other religions and come out a conservative Christian. I suppose there's also atheists who were always unaffiliated with religion or never gave it much thought and could be swung over to a form of theism easily. The same thing goes for theists though.
A new study shows that at least 30% of atheist convert after they become adults, not all to Christianity but some religion. CNN.com
God loves those who believe and those who do not and the same goes for me, you have no choice in this matter. That puts the matter of total free will to rest.
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RE: How does Christianity gain ADULT converts?
July 19, 2012 at 3:05 pm
(July 19, 2012 at 3:03 pm)Godschild Wrote: (July 19, 2012 at 12:50 pm)Marnie Wrote: I have been wondering how religions, in particular Christianity, gain willing adult converts. I don't mean people who were in a hard place (addiction, divorce, depression) and were preyed upon by religious folk claiming the religion and not the counseling, community, and support made them better. I mean adults who converted on their own whim to Christianity.
I think the same kind of brainwashing going on in children can occur in adults by way of missionaries, apologetics, and only being exposed to one source. I have trouble seeing how someone could read anti-apologetic and anti-missionary materiel, scholarly bible studies, and information about other religions and come out a conservative Christian. I suppose there's also atheists who were always unaffiliated with religion or never gave it much thought and could be swung over to a form of theism easily. The same thing goes for theists though.
A new study shows that at least 30% of atheist convert after they become adults, not all to Christianity but some religion. CNN.com
So you're openly admitting that religion has set children with minimal reasoning skills of their own as their primary target?
Thank you. :-)
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RE: How does Christianity gain ADULT converts?
July 19, 2012 at 3:09 pm
(July 19, 2012 at 1:40 pm)Undeceived Wrote: By reason. The same way anyone is convinced of anything. Jesus Christ you're dense.
Okay. What's the justification for believing in Christianity?
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RE: How does Christianity gain ADULT converts?
July 19, 2012 at 3:10 pm
Marnie Wrote:I have been wondering how religions, in particular Christianity, gain willing adult converts.
They actively get converts by seeking out the uneducated and credulous. They passively get converts, because the fear of an inevitable death is too much for some to bear.
Even if the open windows of science at first make us shiver after the cozy indoor warmth of traditional humanizing myths, in the end the fresh air brings vigor, and the great spaces have a splendor of their own - Bertrand Russell
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