I'm an evangelical Christian - ask me anything

[Insieme]

I'm happy to answer questions, though I'm not interested if people just come on to be insulting.

I can only give my views and talk about what I believe - evangelicalism covers a broad spectrum of beliefs and I can only speak for myself.

Ask away!

OP, you say the church doesn’t promote the need to worship or risk going to hell, but that is in fact exactly what they do. Otherwise people wouldn’t be fearful of not behaving in the right way would they?

It might not be a direct threat, but the scriptures are very clear on this.

As for the question you asked another poster up-thread as to whether believing must be worth a thought, actually no, I don’t think it is. The problem with so many Christians is that they believe that when people enter heaven everyone will be worshipping God because of how good he is. Except that that’s not the case. If I died tomorrow and ended up in Heaven because God had decided I should end up there I most certainly wouldn’t be worshipping him. If there in fact was a God I have absolutely no desire to worship a being who allows suffering, murder, harm to those he claims to love. And in factt that suffering is not merely confined to those who don’t believe is a clear indication that believing in an earthly sense brings no benefits other than a false sense of being, someone or something to call out to because the alternative is something many people don’t want to think about.

Also, the idea that some Christians seem to hold that people who speak out against faith are angry at God is completely misplaced.

For a Christian or someone of any kind of faith, they believe that God is real. Except that for someone who doesn’t hold a faith, they don’t believe. It’s not just a case of thinking that it can’t be real, it’s a case of knowing with certainty that it isn’t real, in the same way you and others who believe as you do believe to know that it is real. Iyswim?

I can’t be angry at God because there is no God. So a Christian being sad for me because I don’t have what they have is about them and not about me....

I'm reluctant to get too sidetrackedi to discussion of pagans, because I suspect that's not the main issue at hand. However, the pagans around at the time of St Paul (so the Romans, mostly) were completely different from the pagans around at the time of the OT, which I think is when sashh was talking about with her thoughts on rape and whether women were forced to marry their rapist.

And the Romans weren't terribly enlightened; women, slaves and children had next to no rights. In fact, unless you were a Roman citizen you were pretty disadvantaged, especially if you lived in a conquered land like Palestine. Against that background, Jesus seems almost modern.

SummerGems have I said that I think people who don't believe are angry at God? I don't think I have.

The point you make about not wanting to be admitted to heaven is exactly the one I was making upthread. For people who are certain there is no God, I'm not sure why they might say God is unfair or unkind in who he lets in. If heaven doesn't exist, it doesn't matter, and I'm not sure of the point of the question about his supposed unfairness iyswim.

If someone is genuinely unsure whether there is a God, or what he requires, then I can see why they would ask the question.

Women were treated better in society before organised religion.

Organized religious beliefs have existed for all of recorded history, so I'm curious about the evidence that they were treated better before then.

I just can't understand how humanity lived peacefully for so long nd then organised religion came in and the world's gone awry.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prehistoric_warfare

To the extent that there was peace in the paleolithic era it was probably due to low human population densities. There is abundant evidence of human massacres as far back as 12000 BC.

www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/ancient-brutal-massacre-may-be-earliest-evidence-war-180957884/

Skulls smashed by blunt force, bodies pin-cushioned by projectile points and hapless victims—including a pregnant woman—abused with their hands bound before receiving the fatal coup de grâce.

This violent tableau resembles something from the darker side of modern warfare. But it instead describes the grizzly demise of a group of African hunter-gatherers some 10,000 years ago. They are the victims of the earliest scientifically dated evidence for human group conflict—a precursor to what we now know as war.

So it perhaps not so peaceful after all before the modern religious era.

What set Christianity apart at the time was it's radical pacifism. The best book I've found on this is The Triumph of Christianity: How a Forbidden Religion Swept the World. The message of peace and brotherhood was completely new at the time. A Roman official remarked that "what makes Christians dangerous is not that they feed their poor but that they feed ours too".

Segmentation that question has been answered at some length upthread. Please excuse me if I just direct you there rather than repeat the same reply.

Insieme I hope you don't mind me jumping in from time to time. I'm really not trying to hijack your thread.

You just posted a link that said something about 'because the Bible said so'.

From my studies the world was far more peaceful and respectful of women's needs and position in the world.

Jesus apparently had women who founded in him, even financial help,but they all got fairly wiped out of history, or their real story, or given a bad name.

MissConduct I'm very happy for you to pitch in!

Segmentation, I've answered many questions about homosexuality for several questioners, at length and in detail. I think I've said everything I can usefully say on the subject now.

Skye I must respectfully very much disagree with you. My academic studies (undergraduate and postgraduate) focussed on the ancient / classical world.

Most (though not every) culture at the time of Jesus was far inferior in its treatment of 'average' women than the early church was. Just as most pagan societies earlier, in OT times, were ruthless in their treatment of slaves, women, and the elderly / very young.

That were dysfunctional. Right.

Segmentation, we disagree. I'm comfortable with that. We're all different.

Yes, I was also going to ask Skye where they would get the idea that humanity was somehow peaceable before 'organised religion'...

Hope you don't mind me chipping in either, Insieme!

I like the sound of that book, Misconduct, it's not one I've come across though had heard that quote about the Romans saying that about Christians :)

Madhair I'm about half way through the book on my Kindle. It's fascinating and beautifully written. It's available in the UK

How a Forbidden Religion Swept the World

but if you want the ebook it looks like you'll have to download it from the US Amazon site.

Oh of course! I have read some of Ehrman's work, I just didn't recognise the title. Very interesting, as he is atheist /agnostic himself. I really like his writing. I'll definitely take a look at that one. Thanks.

There's a difference between disagreeing and accusing people of being disfunctional and broken.

OP, but you said I know it's not as easy as just deciding to believe, and I can tell that you have some antagonism to God, or at least the God you think I'm offering. But doesn't it at least need thinking about? so yes, you are implying that non believers are angry with god even though no god exists.

That's getting into semantics, but I don't think antagonism is anger. Anger sounds fierce and rather emotional. Antagonism is just opposition, which I think it's fair to say is your position.

*Segmentation,
*
There's a difference between disagreeing and accusing people of being disfunctional and broken.

I haven't ACCUSED anyone of being dysfunctional. I have stated calmly and as gently as I know how, that the Bible says we are all broken. That's not an insult. It's not a criticism. It's merely saying that none of us are perfect, and we are not the people we hope to be at our best.

And I've said this in answer to questions, not because I enjoy challenging people about their actions. I'm sorry if you've felt it was personal. It's not. It's just what the Bible says.

MissConductUS that book sounds really interesting! I must go and see if I can find it.

The link you posted stated that homosexuals are dusfunctional, and that is why gay people are not supposed to live their entire lives never having a loving relationship. Do you really not see why what could be insulting? Even damaging to children growing up being told that?

Segment, you're taking one word out of an article that OP linked to and asking her to justify it. That's just being goady, particularly since OP has stated his or her support for gay marriage. Let's keep in mind that OP offered to answer questions about being an evangelical Christian, not debate every controversy Christianity touches on.

Why do you think the Bible has all the answers when it was written 2000 years ago when people still believed the earth was flat, we hadn't discovered evolution, and had no advanced scientific knowledge about there being other galaxies? So God created Earth, why did he create an inhabitable Mars for instance? Do you really think God made Eve out of Adam's rib?? It's totally ludicrous