My honest review of Christianity

[Vivalarevolution]

But to give a short and concise answer, it's not that I thought hinduism was wrong. It's that I found Christianity to be more true. (My opinion)

Do you use some rational metric to determine which idea is more true or is it simply based on a gut feeling? To put it another way - if I present you with ideologies regarding different forms of government, say monarchy, oligarchy, democracy etc., how would you determined which of them is more correct and do you use the same standards when deciding between religions?

Again Genkaus, I never forced you to believe in anything. Hell I wasn't even talking with you.
You don't want to be god like- fine. When did I force you to do anything?
You will be proud to stand against god. I don't care.
My original answer was in context for orthodox Christians

That doesn't answer my question - even IF your beliefs were true, what reason would I have to live by them?

What reason you ask? No reason. Don't live by them. It's your life. We'll live by them because we know thats how god wants us to live

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I also don't think only religion and science are incompatible . I always believed in a god. I was intrigued by why the world came to be the way it was.
1)At enough distance from the sun to be a good temperature,
2) full of molecules made up of exactly 2 oxygen and 1 hydrogen atom which housed the first organisms and continues to be a vital part of our lives,
3)a perfect composition of nitrogen, oxygen and CO2 to be breathable and sustaining of plant and animal ecosystems,
4) carbon forming in different structures to form different materials and also the human body.

These factors originally gave birth to life. The big bang theory needed to have a cause. The formation of life on earth ( and possibly other planets) seems too complex and magnificent to be an accident. I believe it took a mighty lot of planning

Your deciding factor is which is MORE TRUE, right? how many facts did the bible get right compared to science?

Also a puddle fits the hole perfectly right? so someone must have planned the puddle in advance, right?

For all your questions, did you ever bother to check for any alternative explanations or questions?
Like why there are billions of other planets in the universe which are also at a perfect distance from the sun?
Why is water molecules not at all uncommon in other planets?
Why didn't the earth start off with that breathable environment rather it got to this stage, capable of sustaining life, after a long period of climatic changes?
Why does the human body comprise of carbon, iron and other stuff found on this planet as well as nearby planets and space?

I said I believed life exists elsewhere. I wasn't saying anything about water not being on other planets or them being the perfect distance from the sun. DID I?

Also what's with the puddle analogy? Puddles form because there is a hole. The rest of the rainwater goes elsewhere. What's your point?

[JesusHChrist]

What reason you ask? No reason. Don't live by them. It's your life. We'll live by them because we know thats how god wants us to live

How do you know that's what God wants?

[Vivalarevolution]

What reason you ask? No reason. Don't live by them. It's your life. We'll live by them because we know thats how god wants us to live

How do you know that's what God wants?

THAT'S what Jesus taught. Follow ten commandments and love god and your neighbour

[JesusHChrist]

But how do you know any of that happened? Because it's in an ancient book?

[genkaus]

What reason you ask? No reason. Don't live by them. It's your life. We'll live by them because we know thats how god wants us to live

So, you are against proselytization and conversion, then?

I said I believed life exists elsewhere. I wasn't saying anything about water not being on other planets or them being the perfect distance from the sun. DID I?

Also what's with the puddle analogy? Puddles form because there is a hole. The rest of the rainwater goes elsewhere. What's your point?

Conditions on earth are "perfect" for human life the same way the shape of the hole is "perfect" for the puddle - that is to say, not at all.

[Jenny A]

I am not sure how to react to that decision, but I hope you do find a good psychiatrist soon.

Well I'm really happy with my decision and I have made new friends in church who share my beliefs. My life has been more joyful and I try to be more kind, loving, gentle, patient, self controlling, good, faithful. ( yeah fruits of the spirit. ) are you saying that all Christians are dumb, misguided, retards who have no foundation in science or logical reasoning?
Well I don't care. I know what real Christians are like and all of them are happy with their lives and feel fulfilled and wouldn't give a damn if you told them to get a psychiatrist because they clearly don't have any problem.
But me and my friends wouldn't tell anyone they have a psychological problem just for stating their views. Now if you can relate to that while telling your parents you're atheists I'm really sorry.
But real christians would never judge like that. In the few hours since I joined the forums I've been called pathetic, a looney, and now this, while I tried my best to keep it as respectful as possible

emphasis mine

Setting aside that some of the most judgmental places I've ever been are churches and church groups, what you are missing is an understanding of where you are. An agnostic thinking of converting might be welcome in a church, but an atheist who wants to de-convert the congregation would not.

Unlike the church, we welcome you all right in for discussion. But also unlike the church, we don't just nod and smile at everything you say, we ask for facts and reasons. And from my stand point, saying I left Hinduism for Christianity is the equivalent of saying, I used to believe in fairies, but now I've decided that they're really Martians because Martians are so much nicer than fairies.

[Brian37]

Yep. I made the decision to convert in Canada. That being said I'm not yet baptized

Let us help you out. Skip it, it is a waste of time. The only good reason to study any religion is to understand why humans invent gods and falsely believe in them.

The appeal is the companionship, appeal to emotion, appeal to tradition, but it is all still gap filling. Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Mormon, Scientology.....ect ect.

Trust us when we say if you are having feelings that a god exist, they can feel very real and be very intense, but is still you doing that and not any real god. It may sound mean to you, but it really is not personal. Think about all the other religions you do not buy into and all the dead myths you rightfully reject. Atheists simply go one god and one religion further in rejection, but for the same reason you reject all others.

[Aractus]

And that's not pedophilia? And forget Joseph, he was never part of the equation

Paedophilia is sex with a prepubescent child, so - no. Also Mary could have been 18, 19, 20, the bible doesn't say.

Yeh more leniency towards this also shows their standing towards the topic of rape. A slap on the wrist isn't good enough to prevent rape in any time-period.

The point wasn't that they wanted to prevent it, but they had retribution. Also, fornication itself was a sin.

...Or the king just wanted to control his subjects. Just like Hitler and his concept of chosen people. Unification and control aren't really two mutually exclusive concepts, rather they go well hand in hand, and religion has been used for this purpose since before christianity was concocted.

I think it's more likely that he wanted control over the religion.

[dyresand]

i wasn't expecting this to get so big but also for people who think pedophilia in the bible was immoral guess what god did not care so it is moral. so at least give me proven evidence of such in that bronze age book.

There is no direct mention in the Bible about pedophilia but that does not mean that this is something that we cannot address with timeless principles that come out of Scripture. One concept that we could look to is the sin of "fornication" and this word has the same idea in both the Hebrew and the Greek. The Greek word is "porneia" and we get the English word "porno" from this word and one can recognize that it is the basis for the word "pornography." The word in Scripture refers to any illicit sexual activity and therefore this would include the abhorrent acts of a pedophile, including the gathering and trading of graphic sexual pictures of young children. People who involve themselves in this type of activity usually graduate from looking to actual actions that bring harm to children. Fornication is something that is present on the lists of the "lusts of the flesh" (Galatians 5:16-21) and also on the list of the evil things that come out of the heart of man apart from God (Mark 7:21-23). <- hint only a sin if that person is not a child.

"They fought against Midian, as the LORD commanded Moses, and killed every man........Now kill all the boys [innocent kids]. And kill every woman who has slept with a man, but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man. (Numbers 31:7,17-18)"

so...... rape little girls...huh...and the virgins..... really moral that bible huh?



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pretty much even catholic priests know its not a sin.....

[The Grand Nudger]

But to give a short and concise answer, it's not that I thought hinduism was wrong. It's that I found Christianity to be more true. (My opinion) I read the bible, with open eyes. I was shocked seeing the difference between jesus in the new testament, and god in the old testament. But I read both sides of the arguments- the atheist and Christian. I read it again, and accepted that as Jesus was a part of the holy trinity, and therefore god; the things done in the old testament, while never being compatible with what I would do, were part of judgement on gods part. It doesn't happen now and I'm thankful. But its basically reading the gospels and letters that got me into it

You must think it's possible that both Hinduism and Christianity are simultaneously true, then, if one is just "more true" than the other? I'd love to see an elaboration of why/how the two religious viewpoints have some compatible relationship or interpretation. Probably make a good thread.