zombie, if you grew up in India, do you think you'd have the same mentality? You think you'd find that same god you believe in now? Highly unlikely, you'd live your life and by your current beliefs, rot in hell for all eternity because you didn't know anything else. you really believe all those millions of people, following other religions, will burn for eternity because they happen to not know anything else? that's a terrible thing to believe. sounds a bit selfish.
I mean it's hard to prove religion, it's a belief, and beliefs are made up of Faith and Study. The whole idea of religion is hard to grasp, but sometimes you need to take the risk, and go for it. [br][/br]Edited by merge: But at some point in their life they did hear about it.
I wasn't forced, I chose. Sure my parents being Christian influenced me, but still I like this religion, it fits me.
It aint that hard to choose if there's only one party, your parents, influencing you. You'd be saying the same exact thing if you grew up in the middle east with Muslim parents.
they heard about it in a negative light from day one and stuck with the religion they were raised knowing thinking "those poor christians are going to hell"(or whatever the equivalent would be) much like you're doing now.
Okay look. My parents arent Christians. This was my choice. How is it so hard to believe when any other religion believes the same of me. Its not selfish of me to choose a religion and follow it and believe it. Its selfish to just say "screw it" and not believe anything. Then just live any way you want regardless of any reprocussions. Like I said before, I wont bash anybody for their beliefs, but this thread was meant for us to discuss ours. Not to debate it. Yet, several people are here making fun, or trying to disprove Christianity.
It's impossible to prove or disprove a religion. It's fair to say that the complexity of the universe seems to warrant a creator, . This is the Paleys watch argument, and because of this it is fair game to call yourself a Deist. Nobody can tell you that they know whether or not a god exists. But to take that and call yourself a theist, you still have all of your work still ahead of you. To say that you believe there is a god, and that you believe you have a person relationship with that god is just out of the question. You cannot disprove an argument that cannot be proven. You just told me that you thought morals were innate, so why do you think that somebody who does not chose a religion is less moral?
I see. But even if, some of those people don't accept it, look at China for an example. Some one really close to me goes to China and does missionarie work for Christians, those people see this and are facinated by it, so they start to study it. So at one point in their life they will see the good side of everything.
it's selfish to believe that nobody deserves an eternity of torture? and that nobody will receive such a terrible fate? you're talking like i dismiss religion to live a life of drugs and adultery, no, those things are wrong. i believe in the least amount of people getting hurt, and to cherish this one life i get, and respecting others. selfish? hm.
Like all religions there is a place for people that don't believe in that religion's god. For Christians that place is Hell.
It's selfish to believe that your beliefs are more correct than anyone else's, especially when they both hold the same amount of water.
I'm going to point this out, but I'm pretty sure it was already brought up. If you think that people who don't follow your religion are going to hell, and there's another religion that thinks the same way, we're all ****ed in one big banana sandwich.
At Matty, when did I say anyone who doesnt believe is less moral? I didnt. There are plenty of non Christians that are far more moral than Christians. Morals arent the key to salvation. At Chuck, I respect that. I also believe in no harm or violence as well as respect for others. Many of my friends dont share my beliefs, but I dont disregard them now. I dont think you are selfish for that. Edit: I will take this time to back out now. This is going nowhere. Its become a debate and there is a reason there isnt a debate forum anymore. Ill be back later assuming this thread isnt locked.
Now that being said, lets turn this a way from being a debate. Why do you guys believe in your religion or why do you not believe in religion?
I remember when I said this would happen and that it was a bad idea. I'm sorry grunt but this statement is possibly one of the most conceited things I've heard yet and the reason why I dislike organized religion so much. Specifically this part, "So at one point in their life they will see the good side of everything." It simultaneously assumes you have a better way of life then people you don't know while showing an amazing lack of cultural understanding. First of all, whether you believe Jesus is the son of god or not is separate from much of what is in the Bible which is a collection of stories. Stories written in many cases hundreds of years apart from one another. So a rule for a religion of "all must hear my beliefs or go to hell (or die if this was the dark ages or if you're a radical sect)" is a very lame rule for a religion to have and is morally and ethnically wrong. Its one thing to personally believe if I am good (however you morally define what good is) then I will go to heaven and if I do bad things (however you morally define doing bad things) then you go to hell, then fine. Its another to then say, only people that do as I do and say as I say will go to heaven and people who don't will go to hell regardless of circumstances. And then you have things like for thousands of years before Christianity there was no concept of "hell" as that was not a thing in the Old Testament so what hell just sprang into existence when someone decided to talk about it? Did Jesus invent the concept? But, most Christians then make the case that before Christ was born everyone was auto-hell (or in purgatory) so must have been bad luck for those millions of people.