Christians love to claim that they are more moral
because of being Christian, which of course is debatable. The U.S. is a "Christian nation" and yet it has a higher murder rate than Japan, where Christianity is a tiny minority. When you point out to them that once you've accepted Christ as your "savior" there's no reason not to sin, they cite Jesus' teachings about how to live, but there is no punishment for not following those teachings. You're supposed to do those things because you
want to once you've been "saved." But good works can't get you into heaven; only believing in Christ can, supposedly. So Gandhi is in Hell and Hitler is in Heaven. How is that moral?
If I were to suddenly believe in an immortal soul and decided to align myself with a religion to protect its future, Christianity would be the least appealing choice for these reasons:
Scapegoating. Instead of individual repsonsibility for bad actions, Christ was "sacrificed" in our place. If you are Catholic, you have a shot at going to Hell anyway if you commit a "mortal sin," but in general you get off scot-free.
Eternal reward / punishment. Eternity is a very, very, very long time. And you have at most 100 or so years to get it right here on earth. Why should someone be rewarded or punished with eternity for a finite life's decisions?
"Grace." Being a Christian isn't necessarily a matter of choice. A lot of evangelicals believe their religiosity is a gift from God. So not only do they get off scot free for eternity for being believers, they didn't even make the right choice on their own and yet they get the credit for it.
Predestination. In Calvinistic Christiantiy God is believed to to have chosen who gets the gift of "grace" in advance. Curiously, he seems to grace only people who were brought up in Calvinistic churches. Very convenient. Even non-Calvinists believe in some predestination if they consider the prophecy claims of Jesus to be true. In that case, Pontius Pilate and the Jews who demanded Christ's crucifixion were merely carrying out God's will.
Demented ideas of "parenthood." God the good "father" has decided all humans deserve to die for eternity because of Eve's sin, but then he changes his mind and sacrifices his one good child in exchange for all of them... oops some of them, depending on if they accept the whole redemption story. Before that, he wipes out thousands of innocents along with the sinners in his genocidal rampages. You can inflict any amount of physical harm to your children that you want as long as you don't kill them. Is that any way to treat your "children?"
Justice denied. If you sin, then you are forgiven because you believe you have been forgiven, your victim receives no redress for what you did to him/her at all. If the sin can be wiped clean, why not the harm done by that sin? There's nothing in the New Testament that shows any concern for the victim of a sin. If you murder someone then "accept Jesus as Lord and Savior (hallelujah)" their family still suffers that loss.
Problem of Evil. "Evil" in the theo-philosophical sense of pain, misery, death, destruction, or basically anything you don't like happening seemingly at random. God (and Jesus) can perform miracles but seems more interested in sending disaster to the world. Sure, it's a miracle for
you if you survive a tornado, but what about the person next door who died? Weren't they also praying to be spared? It seems so random. heh heh oh right.... it is! Fortunately the power of rationalization gives God a pass on things like this. If he spares you it's because he has plans for your life. If he lets a tornado kill a 6-year-old it's because he wants her to "be with the angels." Either way, it's not based on whether you're a good person or not.
If Christianity were to start as a cult today, it would be so thoroughly laughed at and discredited it wouldn't stand a chance. It only survives today because of childhood indoctrination and a long tradition of rationalization (oops that's called "apologetics"). If there had never been any religion before today and you suddenly had to pick from among the ten or so biggest religions, choosing Christianity would be selfish and amoral. There's nothing noble in being a Christian.
11 comments:
Christians want to have their cake and eat it too. They love the idea of being seen as the children of the light while the rest of us walk in darkness. They enjoy the status of calling themselves servants of the Lord, children of God. They mostly forget that they are doing what they do not to obey their god but rather to avoid his wrath. The entire belief system is based on fear and foreboding. God is love, but he is also a consuming fire. There is no contradiction in this world than the idea of a Christian god. The bible is one book that is and has always been ripe for cherry picking that is why it has endured all these years. There is something to suit everyone deluded believer that conforms to his own personal beliefs or convictions.
It can also be cherry-picked for the situation. It's why they have a repertoire of one-liners from the Bible to toss out to prove a point.
ugh, predestination! that was one thing that never set well with me. i always had questions about it and the answers i'd receive would be something along the lines of 'god closing his eyes and saving who he can'.
one person i can even recall describing the world as a 'toilet bowl' - god of course, trying to save those sinful ... turds? yea ... before the world flushes away.
if a you can't explain a concept simply without it being completely ridiculous (which here you really can't, even if the toilet bowl analogy is a bit out there), it's time to question the concept!
Oh wait, I forgot - questioning is for doubting thomases! >.<
Konichiwa!
Your last comment on this post is my new quote of the day. I thought I'd share the good news with you!
http://advocatusatheist.blogspot.com/2011/05/quote-of-day-lady-atheist.html
Deflating the ego & sense of self-worth is a classic mind-control technique. I haven't heard the toilet metaphor before but i'm not surprised.
Thanks for the props, Tristan!
LADY ATHEIST you obviously come from a Protestant or Evangelical background—nobody—and I do mean nobody could be this confused theologically—without help.
The only time choosing Christianity is amoral occurs when you choose a reductionistic denomination that is, well, amoral. Liberal Methodists and Presbyterians etc. are famous for adopting secular values versus Christian morals. Moral relativism through abortion, feminism, destruction of the family unit through rampant divorce and often serial marriage, gender confusion, birth control, support for sodomite or catamite sexual values, adopting Marxist liberation theology ideology, etc, etc. and then erring in faith and liturgy through poor biblical exegesis, and practice etc~
Like your post here—which is all over the place…non-Catholics are just so muddled in their understanding of the Faith. It's a miracle they remain Christians at all. Really.
I once worked with an atheist who insisted that the secular organizations he worked with and supported were doing good in the world around us. He was proud to lend assistance to their noble endeavours.
Well, that was until I showed him the 'equation'. At that point he lost his marbles, and cussed up a storm. Although an atheist—he grasped the immediate, and unfortunate, truth of my statement.
A true ascent of the mind to an eternal truth.
Fortunately, I wrote it out for him. I told him he would remember it forever.
Good - God = 0
Mother Teresa was once asked what the difference between her organization (that was helping the poor of the world) and other credible organizations (Habitat for Humanity, the Red Cross, Good Will etc.) was.
She acknowledged that these organizations were indeed doing good works for humanity. It's just that their works were not part of the Redemption.
The asker was not too happy with that statement.
The truth hurts.
The Catholic Church is part of that Redemption of the world.
In so far as other, non-Catholic Christians, align themselves with the mission of the Catholic Church, they too aid in the eternal salvific work of Jesus Christ. That stated, we must always remember the august, and harsh truth—that there is no salvation outside of the Catholic Church.
The Great God's blessings on all.
Hitler was a Catholic, remember.
@Never Was An Arrow II;
As usual, just more vapid ejaculations over how Catholicism is superior to the woo of all other Christians, blah blah blah. I also love that story you made up over how you got an atheist co-worker angry by saying, "hurp, derp, 'good' is god plus o".
Riiight.
"The truth hurts."
Which is why you run and hide from it along with all other Christians, whether Catholics or otherwise.
By the way, Lady, you might like my three latest posts.
http://acmebuddhistblog.blogspot
Enjoy!
I follow your blog, B.R. so I already knew about those posts :-D
"The U.S. is a "Christian nation" and yet it has a higher murder rate than Japan, where Christianity is a tiny minority."
For Japanese folk respect is highly important.Building a good family name is also very highly important too.This respect that needs to be "earned" gets passed along to the future generations,just any shame and disrespect gets passed on too.So this way respect becomes something highly valued.
Theist dont work the same way.Their ancestors can be thoughtless and careless and murder people left right and centre,even by burning them at the stake, yet theists will hardly bat an eye lid.To them these people lives were simply nothing more than a mere contingency.Theist wipe the slate clean.They do not accept responsibility.
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