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Why do most, if not all, religions think they are right?
Believe in Jesus and you will be saved...what about all the people with the other beliefs? They can't go to Heaven? What if there were cultures in this world that never got the message about Jesus or Mohammed, etc.? Why do most people in these faiths want to try and convince you that they are right and you are wrong?
I believe in God because someone had to create us. Gases just don't appear and combust to form the Universe. I believe Jesus is my savior (not our savior) because of his teachings of Love Thy Neighbor and Do Unto Others. Do I think he was the son of God? I don't know. I mean I am me, and my father is my father, but I am not my father. God created life, God created Mary, yet Mary is the Mother of God?
My beliefs on Heaven and Hell: All people will go to Heaven, unless they have sinned and show no remorse. I feel Hitler could be in Heaven right now, because my God is a loving and forgiving God. And who are we to argue with God if Hitler is there?
This is not to offend people or to start arguments. I especially do not want people to reply to tell me I'm wrong. Tell me what you believe and we can have a good conversation. Faith is for each individual to decide what works best for them. As long as you have faith, because what else will get you through the hard times.
It is not only in religion that individuals feel they are right.
its in politics [ conservatives, liberals ]
sports [ kobe bryant is the best, no steve nash is .... ]
in music [ rappers talking of other rappers for example ]
in universities [ Ward churchill for example ]
in automobiles [ Ford vs Chevy for exmple ]
in marriage [ sorry , bad example, the wife is always right ]
etc..
But Christians are to believe in the Biblical standard. Without standards and absolute truths it is man made. Read, educate yourself, discuss, but most importantly believe, trust, live it thru a personal relationship with the Savior.
"But Christians are to believe in the Biblical standard. Without standards and absolute truths it is man made."
Ohhhhh man. But belief in the bible as a standard and absolute truth is a belief held by one particular religion… who’s to say that there IS an absolute truth? Adherence to Biblical standards as the ‘right’ way is a perspective applicable to those who consider the Bible to be the word of God… which includes Christians only…
Basically, it seems that you’re presenting all other types of situations in which individuals believe they are always right, and saying that neither really are, they all just have their own opinions and THINK they are right. And they want to convince everyone else of that due to what I mentioned before… the more people who agree with you, the more confident you are that you know what you’re talking about and really are right… strength in numbers.
But then, in the case of Christianity, as we all have access to the Bible, which is the be-all-and-end-all truth, those who disagree… well, they’re just wrong! Everything else is a matter of opinion, except for that which is disclosed in the Bible- because it’s there in black and white and is an ‘absolute truth’- and since we’ve all been told the Bible is the word of god, then hey! It IS the word of God, and it’s just inarguable fact… right?
To say that ‘without standards and absolute truth it is man made’ is to say that the Bible WITHOUT QUESTION contains the absolute truth. And so Christians are entitled to believe that they are right, and it’s acceptable to attempt to convert others to their perspective, because they are the only ones who accept the absolute truth of the Bible as God’s word. Since they have the TRUTH, then obviously they have the RIGHT to force it upon others… and with this perspective, I can easily foresee another crusade in our future. Scary.
My belief is that the Bible is man-made. Maybe parts, or hell (oops... I mean 'heck'), even all if it, were ‘inspired’ by some divine source out there somewhere... for your comfort, we can call it god. But the Bible was not written BY god. It was written by people. It is a combination of many individuals’ interpretation of what they thought god was trying to communicate. And, if Christians believe we are all imperfect beings, made in god's image but flawed by sin, then how can they presume that an imperfect person could comprehend, grasp, and communicate what an all-powerful god wants/thinks/feels/expects of humanity, and transcribe it with any accuracy or certainty? And it is entirely absurd to believe that human beliefs, prejudices, biases, agendas and ideas were not in any way integrated into this book… let's be realistic!
Not to mention translation after translation from language to language- don’t you think that impacts anything? And the way that scholars still debate over interpretations and translation and meaning…
I can’t put much stock in a book that has gone through so many people, so many hands, so many translations, and is still debated over today… and live my life based on the ‘standards’ I personally believe it presents- (because with all the debate around certain translations and interpretations of the Bible, you still have to ultimately choose what YOU take from it and what you don’t). And all that really is, honestly, is another way that people are looking for justification for their beliefs and reinforcement that they are right- Because they have a HOLY BOOK to back them up now, and it’s from GOD HIMSELF!!!
So if there’s strength in numbers, then imagine how confident you can be in your beliefs being the only ones that are valid when you have the WRITTEN backing of God!
I understand that this is what Christians believe, and I’m not trying to be judgmental- you believe you’re right, and why wouldn’t you? If you’re going to believe something, then you’re not going to believe it and base your life around it if you think that you might be wrong… which is why I don’t follow any one religion or make any definitive statements about the existence or nature of a god that I can’t validate without doubt. 'Faith' is just not my thing, and I feel like it's an easy out when we hit a question that has no answer, or an answer that just doesn't make sense, but we're tired of searching.
But please don’t present it in this way, it is condescending… to draw up a comparison of all other situations in which people think they’re right, and in all those cases it’s a matter of opinion… but then when it comes to religion, to say that Christians have absolute truth, they have the Bible to back their beliefs, their religion is not man-made… so they obviously have the upper hand in the realm of the ‘who’s right, who’s wrong’ debate that’s been going on for ages.
"Since they have the TRUTH, then obviously they have the RIGHT to force it upon others… and with this perspective, I can easily foresee another crusade in our future. Scary."
-- there is no force, everybody has free choice.
I understand that this is what Christians believe, and I’m not trying to be judgmental- you believe you’re right, and why wouldn’t you?
-- "judgmental" - what was your whole post about?
"But please don’t present it in this way, it is condescending… to draw up a comparison of all other situations in which people think they’re right, and in all those cases it’s a matter of opinion… but then when it comes to religion, to say that Christians have absolute truth, they have the Bible to back their beliefs, their religion is not man-made… so they obviously have the upper hand in the realm of the ‘who’s right, who’s wrong’ debate that’s been going on for ages.
Not cool. So please stop it."
Please stop what? Believing what I do, or expressing my opinion, or belief's?
If you do not believe what Christians believe, that is your choice.
You like Ford , I like Chevy or vice versa, that's cool.
I did not intend to indicate that YOU personally were trying to force anything upon anyone, even though your post did come across that way. If I misinterpreted your post, then I apologize. I can say from experience, however, that a fair number of Christians (and hey, lump my parents into that bunch as well so no one feels I’m blindly attacking anonymous people… they do it too!) feel it is their Christian duty to ‘evangelize’- and if that just meant sharing their beliefs and engaging in intellectual debate, and then leaving people the freedom to decide on their own without condescendingly telling them that they’ll ‘pray for them to someday find the truth’… that would be fine. But to hound people, walk up to people on the street and tell them that they are going to hell and hand them a pamphlet with all the details of how they can save their souls… I’m sorry, but that IS judgmental and disrespectful, that IS forceful and pushy… and while I have a choice, and everyone has a choice… if people believe that it is RIGHT to be forceful, because it is what they believe and they believe their way is the only way, that is a dangerous thing. The Holocaust. The Crusades. Devestating results.
And my post was not judgmental- I was stating my beliefs, and why I feel it is not right for another to push their beliefs upon me. I never once stated that Christians are wrong- I simply pointed out what I believe to be flawed logic within the structure of Christian religious beliefs and what I see as an over-dependence on the Bible. If it was perceived to be a judgment against Christians, again, I apologize for that. But my ‘entire post’ was not judgmental or about judging anyone. When you make the statement, ‘Read, educate yourself, discuss, but most importantly believe, trust, live it thru a personal relationship with the Savior’, that comes across as condescending- that people need to read and educate themselves, and then come to the conclusion that they NEED to trust, and have a personal relationship with Jesus because ‘that is the most important thing’- to Christians, perhaps. But since you didn’t qualify your statement in that way, it came across as preachy and pushy.
If this was not your intent, then I apologize for understanding it in this way and then proceding in a response based on a misunderstanding. But also try to understand that in a forum where we are expressing our ideas and thoughts in writing, clarity and proper wording of what you are trying to express is essential... and by the way your response was worded, it gave off that impression.
And lastly… please don’t take on the role of a victim or martyr. I’m not attacking you, I’m not trying to tell you not to believe what you do. You wrote… ‘Please stop what? Believing what I do, or expressing my opinion, or belief's?’ But why oh why was this ‘question’ necessary? I explained exactly what I asked to be stopped:
‘But please don’t present it in this way, it is condescending… to draw up a comparison of all other situations in which people think they’re right, and in all those cases it’s a matter of opinion… but then when it comes to religion, to say that Christians have absolute truth, they have the Bible to back their beliefs, their religion is not man-made… so they obviously have the upper hand in the realm of the ‘who’s right, who’s wrong’ debate that’s been going on for ages.’
I asked you to stop presenting your religion in a way that is condescending to those of other beliefs, setting up a list of topics in which people think there is a ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ belief when there’s really not, and then bringing in Christianity as something totally different from those other examples because, apparently, based on your presentation of your statement, Christianity really IS the right thing, and people just don’t know it… and then stating that ‘the important thing’ is to believe in Jesus. Say that to YOU, or to CHRISTIANS, the important thing is to believe in Jesus. But don’t make a blanket statement like that. It’s not important to me, so don’t assume it is!
That’s all I asked you to stop doing, and not just you personally, but all Christians and… hey, all religious people in general. I am plenty comfortable with an exchange of ideas and statements about what people believe, whether I agree or not. So don’t put words into my mouth as though I asked you to change your beliefs or not talk about them. That, my friend, is a silly thing to say.
Obviously if I did not believe in open communication, I would not have posted in this forum to begin with.
I quit taking part in these kinds of "discussions" because no matter what is said, it invariably ticks someone else off and then goes the fight.
But I will answer this question you had - if you had never heard about salvation in Christ, never had it preached, been ministered to in any fashion, you are not responsible. You have to hear the Word before even being able to accept it and you have to accept it before even being saved. We will all be surprised when we meet God. But I will disagree with you about Hitler. While God could forgive him, as far as anyone knows, Hitler always believed he was right with a capital R.
Man oh man-
Okay, for the record, I'm not saying I'm right and anyone else is wrong.
I'm not being judgmental.
I'm not telling people they can't say what they think or believe, and I'm not telling anyone to change what they believe.
Okay? Good. Now, let's move on...
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