How can women be Christian?

[Wyrd of Gawd]

the people who i marvel at are adult converts. they are at an age of reason, and yet still choose christianity?   lol

As you already stated, it took a great deal of time for you to undo what brainwashing and indoctrination you had undergone.  

Some people never receive the message of reason, for they illogically reason that their faith is being tested and that they have passed by still believing.

A person can be brainwashed without even realizing it.  Consider characters such as Superman and how they reinforce racial stereotypes.  A white guy from across the galaxy comes to Earth and he has all of these super powers.  Christianity has its magical Jew who is supposed to save a good part of humanity and take them to heaven.  Islam has its white Arab Mohammed who is supposed to be some god's last prophet and whose revelation can save people from hell and get them a spot in paradise with 72 virgins and a herd of cute little boys.  Religions and super heroes are very effective brainwashing tools to constantly reinforce the idea of racial superiority.

[robvalue]

Indoctrination, I think we can all agree, is a huge factor.

If someone is brought up from a small child with certain things taught as fact and continually reinforced, it's perfectly understandable that they would continue to believe them. Especially when they are heavily dissuaded from questioning them. If they never talk to anyone outside this bubble, it's again easy to see how they might never burst it.

It becomes more difficult when the indoctrinated come up against those not in the bubble. They have the opportunity to analyse their beliefs that you could say is unrealistic to otherwise expect, at least from people who are not naturally extremely logical/sceptical.

This is happening more and more, especially with the internet. I don't at all think it's as simple as "they are dumb, it's obvious it's all shit". It's obvious to me, but my brain is able to think about it free from pre conception and mental defences. Being willing, or even able, to combat your own "programming" is no small thing. Is everyone capable of doing so? That's an interesting question, I really don't know.

The comfort of long-held beliefs is an incentive not to analyse them. Considering you may have been fundamentally wrong for a long time is something of a daunting prospect as well. The path of least resistance is to just shut out all objections, even your own. It takes willpower and some sort of motivation to be able to question things at a fundamental level.

[Fake Messiah]

You're right, people are so indoctrinated they don't want to know the truth and are even afraid to think for themselves. They have been trained to except only what priests and bishops tell them and to believe, to believe anyone else is to believe the devil. It also doesn't help that church claim good deeds that happen in the world like abolition of slavery as God's (meaning churches) deed. It goes so far that when people go to the doctor and get well by medication think that God healed them and not doctors - and it all comes from church installing in them such low image of themselves as beings with impure thoughts that certainly never were in the heads of Virgin Mary and Jesus. So they think "Oh thank god for having mercy on my such a repugnant being." It never occurs to them that in, for instance, 14th century when people only had prayers for medicine 400 million people died in Europe out of Black Plague, compared to today where it's almost eradicated.

[ErGingerbreadMandude]

How can anyone be Christian?

[Pyrrho]

Maybe some people are not afraid of endorsing traditional gender roles.. After all it's work pretty well for what 5000 years or so..

Not having modern medicine worked for more than 5000 years, so why like modern medicine?  Why not prefer dying young, as most people did in the past?  Why not live without electricity and running water, like people did for many thousands of years?

apples and oranges sport.
Traditional male and female roles are sociological interactions not a matter of life and death or physical health. The only valid comparison you made is between old and something new. Because medicine and gender roles in the way you compared them share nothing else.

Your 'reasoning' in your post was simply that something has worked for society in the past.  And that exact same reasoning applies to all of the things I listed.  Society in the past worked without all of those things.  The point is, just because something worked in the past, that does not mean that such a thing is optimal or best.

[*Deidre*]

the people who i marvel at are adult converts. they are at an age of reason, and yet still choose christianity?   lol

As you already stated, it took a great deal of time for you to undo what brainwashing and indoctrination you had undergone.  

Some people never receive the message of reason, for they illogically reason that their faith is being tested and that they have passed by still believing.

True. One has to want to look for reason though. It doesn't just jump out at you, when you have been um...unreasonable for most of your adult life. lol

[CapnAwesome]

How can women be Muslim?

[T.J.]

The same way black people or homosexuals can be Christians despite the racism and homophobia found in churches and the likes. These things either don't register to them or they dismiss it altogether.

[stop_pushing_me]

Some people, both men and women, simply need God in their life. I need it too, without it I would be a smartass and a prick....

So, I am to understand that you believe that you be less moral without your belief in god?

[Iroscato]

Maybe some people are not afraid of endorsing traditional gender roles.. After all it's work pretty well for what 5000 years or so..

When you say 5000 years...