Why Be a Christian

[Nix]

not bashing but wondering

[Patricia]

Just in case "God" is real.

[T-rade]

^^^
And for the hope

[Patricia]

lol, that's the reason people give, so they don't look stupid.

Most people I know, in a less simple way, say things that pretty much can be dumbed down to "Just in case He's real. I don't want to go to Hell."

My point of view is that..

While i'm sitting here being honest with myself and questioning things, you're lying to yourself and trying to lie to God about your faith.

Which one of us is going to Heaven and which is going to Hell?

I don't completely denounce that He could be real. I simply say i'm not sure.

I certainly don't believe in the general story of God and what Christianity teaches as a whole, but there are certain aspects of it that I can believe.

[Dr. ibarfly Jones]

Funny, I figured it out this out years ago. However it relates to all religion with deities that require worship.


Stockholm syndrome is a psychological response sometimes seen in an abducted hostage, in which the hostage shows signs of loyalty to the hostage-taker, regardless of the danger (or at least risk) in which the hostage has been placed. Stockholm syndrome is also sometimes discussed in reference to other situations with similar tensions, such as battered person syndrome, rape cases, child abuse cases and bride kidnapping. The syndrome is named after the Norrmalmstorg robbery of Kreditbanken at Norrmalmstorg, Stockholm, Sweden, in which the bank robbers held bank employees hostage from August 23 to August 28 in 1973. In this case, the victims became emotionally attached to their victimizers, and even defended their captors after they were freed from their six-day ordeal. The term Stockholm Syndrome was coined by the criminologist and psychiatrist Nils Bejerot, who assisted the police during the robbery, and referred to the syndrome in a news broadcast.

You only need to think of this syndrome in a spiritual way. Emotions run high when people think about mortality. Religions put a huge amount of pressure on people in order to control them. The fear of hell is a world wide concept that is the ultimate tool used to control people. Add in how at some point you are given examples of a person giving a scarifice (jesus) for your salvation things like this create that emotional symbiotic relationship that resembles the stockholm syndrome.

Also add that the brain washing tactics are started with most people that are followers from birth plays a great role. I could teach to 100 newborns that the Sun in the moon are in the sky to protect us from an evil in the space. And had them in an environment that foster that belief. What do yo think would happen? And how would they view the teachings. The same way stockholm syndrome victim views their captors. With reverance due to the emotional bond they created with them.

[wedo-syang]

WHY NOT, SHUT THE FUCK UP? huhhhh?

Nah on the real because i don't wanna be one of those idiots runing through life doing dumb shit and not carring for others you know...?

If i didn't belive in god and that the good people go to heaven and the bad people go to hell there would be no point for me to try to be a good person....I'd be out there selling drugs, fucking up and robbing people just like everybody else does......Never giving money to the poor and homeless you know?

Cuz you know the bad guys get all the money, girls and fame...........my faith protects me from all the evil stuff i could be doing.........but that's just me!!

[Dr. ibarfly Jones]

WHY NOT, SHUT THE FUCK UP? huhhhh?

Nah on the real because i don't wanna be one of those idiots runing through life doing dumb shit and not carring for others you know...?

If i didn't belive in god and that the good people go to heaven and the bad people go to hell there would be no point for me to try to be a good person....I'd be out there selling drugs, fucking up and robbing people just like everybody else does......Never giving money to the poor and homeless you know?

Cuz you know the bad guys get all the money, girls and fame...........my faith protects me from all the evil stuff i could be doing.........but that's just me!!

so are you saying without christianity you would be a "bad" person? Where do personal responsibility take place. And following the tenents of a religion is major fucked up if the only reason for following it because you are fearful of going to hell. I have debated wether or not this is a venial sin or a mortal. I think it fits the criteria of a mortal sin.

In all Catholic moral theology, a mortal sin, as distinct from a venial sin, must meet all of the following conditions:

1. its subject must be a grave (or serious) matter;(bingo)
2. it must be committed with full knowledge, both of the sin and of the gravity of the offense;(50/50)
3. it must be committed with deliberate and complete consent.(bingo)

To me heaven and hell is all about control. Just like the penalty of a crime, or the disobeying of a parents authority. Institution that must control have to have the means to punish. It is very interesting. One of the reason I stopped practicing was everything was based on fear and not the love of God.

[wedo-syang]

You might have point there.....i gotta admit.

BUt you gotta understand i was not raised that way you know...my father used to be (well, still is) a muslim, but he doesn't practice it anymore, my mom is a christian but she never really practiced it just the way most christians do....

So there was nobody that forced me to believe in god, man when i was younger we used to have religion classes in school and believe me I never gave a fuck about it till i was like 12 or 13.

i really can't tell when or why I started to believe in god. but i know it wasn't because i feared him, I was thankful for my life, the good life i was blessed with unlike a lot of people iI seen in my enviroment who really had bad luck by everything they did.....

See Ibar....I dunno wher you grew up or what kind of things you have seen in your life, but as far as myself, i have been in situations and seen things happening.....

I dunno what it's like in the states, but in a country like this if you don't belive in god, that everything around you happens for a reason and that the people who got the bad cards are supposed to have 'em
you will break down....

....sooner or later.......!!

[Dr. ibarfly Jones]

I understand. And believe it or not I am totally envious of people that have faith and believe in the after life. I really wish I had that. But my mind doesn't work that way. whether God made me like this or I a just the way I am. I don't know and don't care.

Whether not God exist doesn't change how I view my fellow man. I regardless expect myself to treat people with dignity and respect no matter whether or not hell is an option. Like I tell my kids... Don't do something because I tell you it is the right thing to do. Do it because it is the right thing to do regardless how I view it. For me intent is everything.