Why should Christians be moral?

[Lemonvariable72]

I mean what real motive does a christer have to be moral when their blood price is paid. I mean a christian can go around murdering and fucking whom ever they want and all they have to say is "god please forgive me" and boom entrance to heaven.

[vorlon13]

Why ?

Who said they were ???

[Brian37]

What motivates some sects of Buddhists to value claims of Karma?

We argue Christian morality because that is what we run into the most.

The more I see this on top of my 13 years, the more I see that even atheists get stuck in the moment and stuck on one label, which does not take into account our species flawed perception in evolutionary terms.

I am not saying do not argue one label, it is still needed. But it should also be done in the context of how evolution leads to gap filling overall. I am sure you have read "The God Delusion" but also important and to me more important books are "God The Failed Hypothesis" and "The New Atheism" By Victor Stenger, that address a very broad evolutionary scope as to why religions are set up and used to justify morality. In the end our evolutionary reality is that our species capability of being cruel or compassionate are in our evolutionary behavior, and not books of myth or religious cluibs of any label in our species history.

I would say however, the god of Abraham claims are particularly immoral as human invented constructs because the head character itself is an immovable figure whom, at best, will only be kind to you as long as you agree and market him and or defend him without dissent.

Overall though, our species still, even if these religions were scrapped, we would still be capable of cruelty because evolution works through both brute and compassion.

[atheism is illogical]

The apostle Paul answered a very similar question in Romans 6:1-2, “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” The idea that a person could “trust in Jesus Christ” for salvation and then go on living just as he/she lived before, is absolutely foreign to the Bible. Believers in Christ are new creations (2 Corinthians 5:17). The Holy Spirit changes us from producing the acts of the flesh (Galatians 5:19-21) to producing the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). The Christian life is a changed life because the Christian is changed.

What differentiates Christianity from every other religion is that Christianity is based on what God has done for us through Jesus Christ—divine accomplishment. Every other world religion is based on what we must do to earn God's favor and forgiveness—human achievement. Every other religion teaches that we must do certain things and stop doing certain other things in order to earn God's love and mercy. Christianity, faith in Christ, teaches that we do certain things and stop doing certain things because of what Christ has done for us.

How could anyone, having been delivered from sin's penalty, eternity in hell, go back to living the same life that had him on the path to hell in the first place? How could anyone, having been cleansed from the defilement of sin, desire to go back to the same cesspool of depravity? How could anyone, knowing what Jesus Christ did on our behalf, go on living as if He were not important? How could anyone, realizing how much Christ suffered for our sins, continue sinning as if those sufferings were meaningless?

Romans 6:11-15 declares, “In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!”

For the truly converted, then, continuing to live sinfully is not an option. Because our conversion resulted in a completely new nature, our desire is to no longer live in sin. Yes, we still sin, but instead of wallowing in it as we once did, we now hate it and wish to be delivered from it. The idea of “taking advantage” of Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf by continuing to live sinfully is unthinkable. If a person believes himself to be a Christian and still desires to live the old, sinful life, he has reason to doubt his salvation. “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?” (2 Corinthians 13:5).

[Esquilax]

What differentiates Christianity from every other religion is that Christianity is based on what God has done for us through Jesus Christ—divine accomplishment. Every other world religion is based on what we must do to earn God's favor and forgiveness—human achievement. Every other religion teaches that we must do certain things and stop doing certain other things in order to earn God's love and mercy. Christianity, faith in Christ, teaches that we do certain things and stop doing certain things because of what Christ has done for us.

So, are you actually proud of the fact that your religion's rewards are totally unconnected to the actions of the people involved?

How could anyone, having been delivered from sin's penalty, eternity in hell, go back to living the same life that had him on the path to hell in the first place? How could anyone, having been cleansed from the defilement of sin, desire to go back to the same cesspool of depravity? How could anyone, knowing what Jesus Christ did on our behalf, go on living as if He were not important? How could anyone, realizing how much Christ suffered for our sins, continue sinning as if those sufferings were meaningless?

Is there a threshold for sin that will discount the sinner from the rewards? Or is faith in christ all that's needed for the reward? Your above statement implies the latter, in which case it's kinda irrelevant whether they go back to sinning or not, isn't it?

By the way, are you ever going to demonstrate your username?

[abaris]

By the way, are you ever going to demonstrate your username?

Going by his post record so far I would say it's YoucancallmeDave resurrected - at least in spirit.

As for his reincarnation, I don't think he will do so.

[The Grand Nudger]

What differentiates Christianity from every other religion is that Christianity is based on what God has done for us through Jesus Christ—divine accomplishment.

An entire meso-american pantheon threw itself into the sun so that human beings wouldn't freeze to death, so that the corn would continue to grow.

One measly demigod against an entire divine court.

Christianity, like all the rest - requests that we pay something back to those forces which the faithful feel have done us some service, and implies (or directly states) that it is some failing of ours if we choose not to do so (often enough, enforced by a stick, either divine or mundane). But inasmuch as what a god is said to have done for us...particularly as set against what other gods are said to have done......christianity barely registers. At the end of the day, all of the promises are empty - but I figured we may as well not gloss over the contents of the various gifts or favors on offer to those that might bend the knee.

[Lek]

A person who does not love his neighbor also doesn't have faith in Christ. The apostle Paul stated that love is the most important christian virtue. Faith isn't just saying that you believe that Jesus is your savior, but actually following him. Of course, we will fall into sin sometimes, but if we're true followers of Christ, we will continually improve our lives. A christian doesn't just live a sinful life on purpose with the intention of repenting before death. Even if he did, there's no true sorrow or repentance.

[Whateverist]

So that God won't fuck with them forever in the unholy woodshed of unrelenting torture. Duh.

[Brian37]

A person who does not love his neighbor also doesn't have faith in Christ. The apostle Paul stated that love is the most important christian virtue. Faith isn't just saying that you believe that Jesus is your savior, but actually following him. Of course, we will fall into sin sometimes, but if we're true followers of Christ, we will continually improve our lives. A christian doesn't just live a sinful life on purpose with the intention of repenting before death. Even if he did, there's no true sorrow or repentance.

The fact that you bought the words in an old book, does not mean atheists or theists of other labels cannot be good or do good.

You are doing the same cherry picking I have seen from moderate and liberal Muslims. Same cherry picking I have seen from moderate and liberal Jews.

All those holy books have very nasty stories in them, and the only way the west has become civil is because of cherry picking.

To literally do what any of those books say word for word, you would have to become a monster.

Now would you like me to go through the contradictions? Like the dodge you will use and claim "that was the OT god" then I point out where Jesus says he came to fulfill the law? Or would you like me to point out where he says to abandon your own family if they do not follow him? Or the part where he says he brings not peace, but a sword?

The problem with ALL holy books is that they are used to justify both compassion and cruelty.

I skip all holy books because I know our ability to be cruel or compassionate is not in a book, but in our evolution.

Religion is nothing more than a comic book reflection of our natural group survival. It is an artificial excuse to create a social structure.