Christianity interesting?

Cyperium

Cyperium

I'm always me
Valued Senior Member
This is mainly directed at atheists. Do you find christianity to be interesting?

If you don't, is that a reason for not believing it is true? - of course not, you will probably say, but just a thought...

If you do find it interesting, what parts?

If you don't find christianity interesting, but find religion interesting then comment that too if you want.

This is just plain curiousity from my side, thought that maybe they just don't find it interesting and we all learn better when we are interested in something.


DISCLAIMER:
I don't want to imply that we can only believe what we are interested in.
I don't want to imply that believing comes from learning (you have to believe what you learn).
I don't want anything bad with this post (wow, why haven't anybody thought about this before).
 
I think your idea is very valid.

I've been surrounded by Christian culture most of my life and so it does appear boring and dull while the cultural aspects associated with other religions seem interesting, beautiful, and mysterious. But, that doesn't make their religion any more plausible to me.
 
I think the history of how Xianity came to be what one would call Xianity today is interesting. But then again, I also think the same of Islam and the Qur’an. Or the affect the Iliad or Aeneid had on how Greeks and Romans imagined their beginnings and worldview - its really fascinating. The stories societies tell to teach one another and for a collective cohesiveness - really does reflect on the human psyche - which is, one could say, interesting :)
 
I find Christianity to be interesting to the same extent that I would find a loaded gun pointed at my head interesting. I am very highly motivated to understand the mentality of my assailant so I might be able to render him inert and avoid a disaster.
 
My religious beliefs completely depend on my mood. Well, amount of life experience also counts. I did find Christianity interesting for a while because of ethics it promotes (those were the days when I really wanted to become a saint-like person). I never really got into close contact with it until my art history classes where, obviously, Christianity looks very pretty.

What discourages my beliefs regarding many religions is the way they treat individuals. Christianity keeps saying people are bad. I can't believe in that. We are all inherently GOOD from birth, without any sin; believing the contrary is self-destructive. (etc, etc, etc.... I can bring up many things Christianity says that contradict what I learned in life, and that has nothing to do with science.)

I call myself an atheist because I can't stick to any particular religion for too long, I always find things wrong with it. I can also make my own religion. Anybody read Cat's Cradle by Vonnegut? Some good religion that's described there.
 
whitewolf said:
My religious beliefs completely depend on my mood. Well, amount of life experience also counts. I did find Christianity interesting for a while because of ethics it promotes (those were the days when I really wanted to become a saint-like person). I never really got into close contact with it until my art history classes where, obviously, Christianity looks very pretty.

What discourages my beliefs regarding many religions is the way they treat individuals. Christianity keeps saying people are bad. I can't believe in that. We are all inherently GOOD from birth, without any sin; believing the contrary is self-destructive. (etc, etc, etc.... I can bring up many things Christianity says that contradict what I learned in life, and that has nothing to do with science.)

I call myself an atheist because I can't stick to any particular religion for too long, I always find things wrong with it. I can also make my own religion. Anybody read Cat's Cradle by Vonnegut? Some good religion that's described there.
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Christianity don't say people are bad. Christianity say that no one is good except God and that we are all sinners.

Christianity is for the sinners, so that they can be saved through Christ that died for our sins. But we have to accept that the world isn't OK as it is now, we can't just let it be. The change must come from within, so we must accept that we are sinners too.

If we are sinners then we are adding to the total misery, we can't afford having our eyes closed.

It's like a butterfly effect, the sin you do to someone is at high risk of being forwarded to hurt not only the one you made the sin to, but also to others which are completly innocent (even if the first person wasn't), it could also by upbringing be added to children (for example certain types of contempt) so that they forward it to other people, and so on...

So what you do to a single person, DOESN'T effect just that person, it affects people around him, you are a part of a chain, where things you say get forwarded along that chain, if you don't forward the sin that others has put on you, then you break that chain. See? You may break a chain that has millions of links.

Sure there are many other chains, and the sin will take a different way, but you have done what you could.

Don't take me wrong, everything isn't bad, there are chains that forward good stuff also, where someone does something good to you and you feel that you want to make good to someone else too. You should be part of that chain instead, or better yet, you could be the link that stops the sin while forwarding something good instead, thus making your own good chain? You do know where all chains end don't you? It ends and begins with God.



So we aren't totally lost after all.



The above is my beliefs on chains that are around the world, and I know that to some degree it's correct.

The above isn't pure christian thought, there are indications in the Bible about this though (original sin as an example of sin that can be passed on).

But the thing I wanted to say, in essence is this: People in general aint bad, but no one is good except God.
 
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Christianity say that no one is good except God and that we are all sinners.
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But people are good! Some do more bad things than others, but people are good! Humans do have inherent kindness, caring, sympathy, love, other stuff.... It's destructive to one's self-esteem to keep thinking he is filthy with sins all over for the rest of his life. Besides, "good" and "bad" are relative, interests are bound to conflict somewhere.

Yes we do "bad" things. But why call it a sin? Why scare people with a hell? Why can't people simply be civilized (at the modern day, not earlier in history)? Why can't a person act with consideration about pains and pleasures of others and effects of his own actions? Christianity seems to promote a sort of cowardliness and bribe people into doing good things. There's no virtue in that.
 
Cyperium said:
Christianity is for the sinners, so that they can be saved through Christ that died for our sins. But we have to accept that the world isn't OK as it is now, we can't just let it be. The change must come from within, so we must accept that we are sinners too.
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The world isn't okay is due to God's incompetence and imperfect creation. Maybe it's not really God you are worshipping but Demiurge.
 
This is mainly directed at atheists. Do you find christianity to be interesting?
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The bible is an interesting story and im more fascinated by why people believe it and how it came to exist, church sermons however seem to have the highest death rate due to boredom.(maybe everyones just sleeping though)
If you don't, is that a reason for not believing it is true? - of course not, you will probably say, but just a thought...
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It seems as though you feel the reason nobody believes it is because its boring, that would actually just be the reason nobody goes to church, how interesting something is does little for how true or believable it may be.
This is just plain curiousity from my side, thought that maybe they just don't find it interesting and we all learn better when we are interested in something.
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Of course we learn better when we are interested in something, but thats quite irrelavent as to whether or not somebody would be a christian, you dont believe something because it is interesting, or do you think middle earth and hobbits exist because they are interesting?
 
Lemming3k said:
The bible is an interesting story and im more fascinated by why people believe it and how it came to exist, church sermons however seem to have the highest death rate due to boredom.(maybe everyones just sleeping though)

It seems as though you feel the reason nobody believes it is because its boring, that would actually just be the reason nobody goes to church, how interesting something is does little for how true or believable it may be.

Of course we learn better when we are interested in something, but thats quite irrelavent as to whether or not somebody would be a christian, you dont believe something because it is interesting, or do you think middle earth and hobbits exist because they are interesting?
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No, but if I was really interested in it, then I would have a far better chance at understanding it.

I don't like football very much. Thus I know next to nothing about it, if I were in a middle of a football argument then I wouldn't have much to say.
 
But we have to accept that the world isn't OK as it is now, we can't just let it be.
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Why can't we just let it be? Each does his own part in his own small world, and that is enough. People think up these strange utopias and try to enforce them.... It does only more harm than good.

I agree with your thoughts on the chains. It doesn't have to be pure Christian thought, it is a thought that is based on experience. See, we really can learn from experience!
 
whitewolf said:
Why can't we just let it be? Each does his own part in his own small world, and that is enough. People think up these strange utopias and try to enforce them.... It does only more harm than good.

I agree with your thoughts on the chains. It doesn't have to be pure Christian thought, it is a thought that is based on experience. See, we really can learn from experience!
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And I agree with you! I've seen this by experiance, not by the Bible. Though talking FROM experiance, I can say that I've had many experiances confirmed in the Bible, when suddenly realising that AHA! that is what it's talking about, before I didn't know, since I couldn't relate to it, but when I could relate to it, I realised that this was exactly what I had experianced.

The hard part is avoiding a bad experiance because of something said in the Bible, cause before you had the experiance you didn't know that it was the experiance that the Bible referred to, since you didn't know it's "shape".

I understand why you ask "why can't we just let it be". But we can't, it's like seeing a crack without fixing it. To just let it be would be lazy. On the other hand though, each crack isn't for you to fix. And besides the world is doomed anyway, but in the meantime we should fix the cracks we see. Since the world is still "useful". You know that your car will break down in a couple of year (or less) but still you fix problems with it cause it can still be useful. But sooner or later everything breaks down.

So what cracks should we fix?

Of course the ones that we can fix. If you see a crack, don't just walk past it, maybe you are destined to fix it?

(mumble...mumble...but then I would anyway wouldn't I...mumble...mumble)

There are problems that are beyond you, but it can be easily fixed by someone else. God has a job for everyone. Everyone has a purpouse.
 
No, but if I was really interested in it, then I would have a far better chance at understanding it.
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I feel your trying to say atheists dont understand christianity because they arnt interested in it, the bible is a book, you need an average intelligence to read and understand it, regardless of interest, its the people that are more confusing and difficult to understand. Also understanding doesnt make any of it correct which as far as im aware is where most of the dispute lies.
I don't like football very much. Thus I know next to nothing about it, if I were in a middle of a football argument then I wouldn't have much to say.
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I get your point but i dislike certain sports, i still know a bit about them, sometimes i even watch them, i dislike books, i can still know authors and storylines, you are right we learn better when we are interested in something, we also enjoy ourselves more, but it doesnt mean a different level of truth and knowledge are reachable.
 
Though talking FROM experiance, I can say that I've had many experiances confirmed in the Bible, when suddenly realising that AHA! that is what it's talking about, before I didn't know, since I couldn't relate to it, but when I could relate to it, I realised that this was exactly what I had experianced.
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Could you not have learned the same thing without the Bible telling you what conclusions to make? I did not have a religious upbringing of any sort, yet I still have basic ethics and consideration for others. I'll be brave and say I'm as kind as I can be, but not because Bible promotes kindness.

Of course the ones that we can fix.
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And how do we fix cracks? I have no idea what's best for the world, so I don't attempt. Many times, I have no idea what's best for each individual, even the ones that are close to me. Each knows what's best for himself and does his best to fix things for himself; in need of assistance, they search for help. I can only do what I'm asked to do. So.... What cracks can one fix?


Christianity is a very wide-spread religion. It has made impact all over the world, historically and culturally. The Bible has been often discussed ever since it was written. It would be ignorant not to know what Christianity is about. That's why, I think, most people are interested in at least getting to know the basics.
 
Cyperium said:
Christianity say that no one is good except God and that we are all sinners.
.
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see thats what doesnt make sense,
some people do bad $hit so you could call those sinners,
however most people are good,
and many many people are totaly sinless Im sure,
saying that everyone is a sinner b/c Adam and Eve disobeyed God is illogical.
(its a fictional story anyway) ;)

www.geocities.com/inquisitive79/index.html
 
Lemming3k said:
I feel your trying to say atheists dont understand christianity because they arnt interested in it, the bible is a book, you need an average intelligence to read and understand it, regardless of interest, its the people that are more confusing and difficult to understand. Also understanding doesnt make any of it correct which as far as im aware is where most of the dispute lies.
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I don't say atheists in general don't understand christianity. Of course some don't, because they never felt like they wanted to know. But I am saying that the ones that are interested in it, understands it better. Wouldn't you agree on that?

Search and you will find. If you don't search then you don't know what to find! You don't know when a point is made, if you don't search for that point (or allready have it).

I get your point but i dislike certain sports, i still know a bit about them, sometimes i even watch them, i dislike books, i can still know authors and storylines, you are right we learn better when we are interested in something, we also enjoy ourselves more, but it doesnt mean a different level of truth and knowledge are reachable.
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There are a basic level in where we can find knowledge in the Bible, but the nature of the Bible makes it possible of finding higher levels of knowledge within the same text.

It's said that the words written in the Bible weren't made of human understanding, and thus cannot be understood by humans. It was made by spirit and thus can be understood with spirit.

See what comes to you.
 
whitewolf said:
Could you not have learned the same thing without the Bible telling you what conclusions to make? I did not have a religious upbringing of any sort, yet I still have basic ethics and consideration for others. I'll be brave and say I'm as kind as I can be, but not because Bible promotes kindness.
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Would it be wrong if you were nice because of the Bible?

Some people need some promotion.

And how do we fix cracks? I have no idea what's best for the world, so I don't attempt. Many times, I have no idea what's best for each individual, even the ones that are close to me. Each knows what's best for himself and does his best to fix things for himself; in need of assistance, they search for help. I can only do what I'm asked to do. So.... What cracks can one fix?
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Obviously we should start with ourselves...and if you see a crack that you believe that you could fix (outside or inside)...then fix it. You have abilities too. If you don't feel confident that you can fix it, then wait, everything doesn't have to be made at once. Next time you see it, if you are ready, fix it. Or maybe you'll see that someone else has.


Christianity is a very wide-spread religion. It has made impact all over the world, historically and culturally. The Bible has been often discussed ever since it was written. It would be ignorant not to know what Christianity is about. That's why, I think, most people are interested in at least getting to know the basics.
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Ok. Remember when you were a child? You thought that when you found something, you were the only one. This shows the true nature and appreciation of things.

If you are interested in it because you've heard so much about it, then I guess that is ok too. But then you have to be humble to actually appreciate it. To see that this is the world, this has been written in the world. In reality, by real-world people, following what they felt to be the spirit of truth.

Otherwise it won't matter, but just reading it can open up some doors too I guess. People that don't see will see and people that don't hear will understand.
 
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