Why are you a Christian?

by GeneM 30 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

  • Black Sheep
    Black Sheep

    My beliefs were an accident of birth.

    Now that I know that, I am free to start over.

  • Heaven
    Heaven

    I WAS a Christian .... because my parents told me I was as a child.

    But then I grew up.

  • MrFreeze
    MrFreeze

    Bingo Heaven.

  • designs
    designs

    What is the 'yawning void'.

  • mindseye
    mindseye

    You don't have to believe in God to be a Christian: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_atheism

    Likewise, I don't think you have to be Christian to admire Jesus. I don't believe in original sin or any of the other trappings of Christianity, but respect Jesus as someone who challenged the status quo. Like the sages of Hinduism, I think Jesus realized that 'God' was cultivated through the self. In my view, his experience was constrained by the theology of his culture.

    smiddy wrote: The reason a person is a christian ,basically is because they were born to parents who were, if not practicing christians then at least nominal christians and so they go with the flow.

    I agree. Most of the people who claim to be Christians would be Muslims if they were born in the middle east, or Hindus if they were born in India. Most people are accommodationists, and adopt whatever beliefs that are most socially convenient for them. The bold few step out of line to explore other ideas.

  • GeneM
    GeneM

    I felt in my guts that he was there and it was all true, and then the feeling went away, which is what made me read The God Delusion... It wasn't the other way around. I didn't deconvert because of the strengh of the opposing arguments.

    I wonder how many people are like this.

  • soft+gentle
    soft+gentle

    geneM - I suspect that many people are like that. I think our natural state is to be at variance with ourselves and with the world around us.

  • sizemik
    sizemik
    I think our natural state is to be at variance with ourselves and with the world around us.

    I agree . . . belief in God is the default position, so needs no rationale. As soon as rationale is sought . . . belief goes *POOF*

    If you want to believe don't rationalise . . . just have faith.

  • soft+gentle
    soft+gentle

    ST - I'm not sure I agree with you, that believers have not been down the road of unbelief as you say in post 5692. I think the road of unbelief runs concurrently alongside the road of belief - the difference is that believers have made a committment to believe and they actively choose to believe.

  • sizemik
    sizemik
    the difference is that believers have made a committment to believe and they actively choose to believe.

    This I agree with.

    I think the road of unbelief runs concurrently alongside the road of belief

    This I don't

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