Saturday, 04 July 2009
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Christian misconceptions: info gathering
For one of my MANY future blog ideas (see my home page for a list), I want to gather as many thoughts as posible about what the "average" non-Christian thinks about Christianity. What are some stereotypes, misunderstandings, generalizations, etc, about Christians and the faith of Christianity that you know of?
Or, if you are a non-Christian, yourself, what do you typically see Christianity as in your view?This is not meant to be a debate forum nor a space to attack others (even IF they are "clearly" wrong). So, I implore you, please just share YOUR thoughts. Don't worry about whether or not your thoughts/views are actually in line with what is true. Basically, I'm actually asking for your opinion (and if you've read any of my past entries/comments before, you know that opinions, by themselves, do not automatically equal what is true).
And also, please keep it respectful. Obviously, there's going to be a wide variety of varying ideas, even amongst people who share the same general beliefs. If you feel the need to reply to someone else's comment, do so sparingly and with grace. Otherwise, pretend you cannot reply to anyone's comment if you don't feel what you would say would not spark an argument.
So. What are your thoughts about how people think about Christians and Christianity?
PS - please rec this post so I can get as much feedback as possible. Even if you don't have any thoughts, maybe someone you know does. Thank you ever so much! :D
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Comments (77)
I think non-christians think christianity is this stuck-up brainwashed country club which you have to assimilate to in order to be accepted.
From the people I talk to, a lot think that Christians are judgmental and that we must have a lot of time on our hands.
In my true opinion as someone who doesn't follow your path...I have read the book twice over and really find more similarities than differences, much to the horror of the people I point that out to. For instance, we are not to harm another, we are not to lie, cheat, kill, maim, or defile our bodies. We are not to steal, or break up families, we are to find a true soul mate and be with them for life...but are not punished if it takes a trial run to find who that is. We follow basic "common sense" rules, also seen in the Commandments of your book. There is a "law" if you think about it, do no harm to others or it will come back on you three times worse than you dealt out...Thinking close it resembles the Golden Rule, treat others as you will be treated. Therefore I live by that. I take care of anyone who needs me, I will treat them as a friend, hoping they will call me friend in return. Basically, if I can't heal your body, I will heal your heart! We have people in my path who can feel things differently than some, more sensitive to outside forces. Have you touched a plant or a tree, or freshly tilled dirt and felt a heartbeat? That is why I love nature so much, someone brilliant made it for us to love, shouldn't we feel its spirit? I have always wondered why it has been said to me, that God made all of the earth, but his spirit isn't in it, it is somewhere in the clouds. How do you really know if you haven't touched the earth and felt the heartbeat? What if the same spirit that created the earth, was there waiting for you to discover it? That is why if you see me walking and I see a daisy field I'll touch the flower and thank it for its beauty, kindly take it home, and plant another in return to grow again. I believe I read somewhere, you have to give in order to receive, and be grateful. If you don't mind, really I think we are very, very similar, just one has less guilt. I am still trying to figure out which one that is...if you would enlighten me! (Hope this wasn't too long, I get quite opinionated, no one asks for my opinion much!) -Gypsy
I'm not a "non" Christian, just a struggling one I guess.
I often feel like it's some club I want to be a member of but don't know the secret password or something. Christianity almost feels like high school. Just like in high school I didn't know the right words to say, the right way to feel, the right way to dress, I didn't know the "right" people (God).
I don't know. People say its so profoundly simple to have a relationship with God but I don't see how it is. How do you know if you really believe? How do you know if you're really sorry when you confess your sins or if you're just doing it because you're supposed to?
That's how I feel. I dunno if this helps.
I think people see Christianity as rules or a religion rather than a relationship wiht God through Jesus Christ. I don't think they see how community is part of following Christ.
@TropicalOceanSunset - @eskeemo_kisses - @Gypsy - @PaytonFamily - @realungabunga - Thank you all for the feedback so far. This is coming along nicely. If you haven't clicked the red heart to recommend this post, please do. It will help generate more input, I hope.
@realungabunga - I agree completely. It's a sad misconception.
As an atheist who has had multiple encounters with various Christian denominations, I tend to see Christians as good people for the wrong reasons.
I admit they're great people, but I could never wrap my mind around the idea of willfully submitting to a servitude to a higher power, no matter what the entity. I couldn't help but wonder whether they need an unconditionally-loving father figure who is also a source of fear to be a good person.
Not that I prefer a bad person.
as a christian who was a former non-christian...i see flaws...i always have...i just try to believe now what is christian even when it's difficult...but i do see the that some christians are hypocrites...i started to believe in God...but thought organized religion as a whole was a joke...evangelists with their holier than though attitude, only to find out they used the word of God, for financial gain or cheated on wives, built amusement parks...whatever no where in the bible have i read some of the stuff these people come up with...so i consider myself an open minded christian.. i don't jump the gun and put people down for their views...i just ask the same in return..but who knows and until were all dead and gone, maybe then we see what is true...just a thought...i have atheiest friends...i have friends that are homosexual...whether i agree or not, is not why i'm friends with that person...i'm friends with them because they are good people, even though we disagree about religion...sometimes we have to put aside our differences, and agree to disagree, and just cherish the things we do share in common...were all just humans being....
I am a Christian and I understand I have my flaws but I often find myself being in the center of attacks for actually standing up for what I believe, not here necessarily, but it has happened before, I believe as a Christian I should love as Christ loved!
In Christs Love
Michelle~
@PaytonFamily - with Him you already know the password Jesus...don't let religion make you loose site of Him. Jeus is pointing you to a relationship with the Father...go for it.
I am a Christian, but I often have problems with the church. So, some of these are from my perspective, and some are from what others have told me. Christians are usually stereotyped as unwelcoming and too uptight. They are also seen as hypocritical, know-it-alls, etc. Some people see it as too strict. I don't know. These are just what came to mind.
i think we need to start seeing religion as a whole, and stop separating christianity from the myriads of others. it is actually the most recent, new, up&coming religions, with a mere 2,000 years as background. compared to earths geological timeline, that is a fraction of nothing. every generation has speculated their theories and ideas for purpose and meaning; each using only the knowledge we had around us. i think it is about time we threw traditional form out the window and began to challenge ourselves with new concepts. we thought we found the answer (we obviously didn't) so we stopped searching. i think it's time to start looking again. for reality. for truth. we use the idea of a god as a coping mechanism...and with that we never truely learned.
For me, Christianity is the single greatest cause of war and terror on this planet.
I think Christianity has a good set of morals to follow (forgiveness, kindness, love, etc.) but these morals are basically similar to most religions these days. I have a real issue with blind faith, which Christianity requires. Also, a lot of Christians tend to take things to the extreme. Yes, you should strive to be the best you can be, but perfection is just unattainable. I grew up around a lot of Southern Baptist Hellfire Christians, and that tainted my view a bit. Even when I was a Christian myself (I am now an agnostic-atheist) I had trouble respecting people who told others that they were going to hell for being different.
But I'm all over the place. Long story short, I think Christianity is okay in theory, but in practice it falls desperately short.
@realungabunga - Agreed~
@honeyyoumakeitsoeasy - Yes!
@Michellereneewrites4Christ - Same here...
Christianity is made up a loosely connected group of Abrahamic and post-Abrahamic tradition superstitions. (By post-Abraham I refer to the gnostics who see the old testament god as more of a deceiver.)
The typical Christian's religious views come from their culture with very little influence from the religious text. The typical Christian has a preconceived notion of right and wrong and project it on to their religious text. The teachings of jesus have little to do with morality other than marginal lip service played to ideas that are fairly universal. Again at large an individuals view of Christianity comes from sources of the culture around them. They do not beleive their texts can do wrong so they simply ignore what seems contrary to their sense of what is immortal, or factually incorrect. Claimign that objectionable or doubtful ideas are purely symbolic is a common loophole.
However, this way of thinking and excusing is a feature of people in general and not in anyway particular to Christians.
As far as I've seen:
Most Christians seem to think that atheists or people of other religions don't actually exist, they're just people who are angry at the Christian god and have turned to heathen ways out of spite.
Most Christians believe that they couldn't possibly be wrong in their belief, ignoring the fact that hundreds of other religions as well as denominations of Christianity exist. Yet they refuse to even consider that the "correct" form of the religion might not actually be Anglican Christianity, but rather Eastern Orthodox Christianity, as examples. That sort of thing.
Most Christians believe in what the Old Testament tells them when it's to their advantage to prove a point, but when they're asked about killing people who eat shellfish or staying away from women on their period, they say the OT doesn't matter.
Most Christians don't even consider the fact that in a thousand years, their religion will go the way of the Greek Gods and be nothing more than mere myth.
Most Christians don't want to question their religion and ask, "Why did god create us? What happens when we go to heaven? What happens when god gets bored of playing with his little human toys and destroys everything?"
Most Christians "follow Christ" in name alone. Their actions show otherwise.
Christianity is a denial of earthly life in favor of an afterlife that is so outrageous, it boggles my mind how anyone could possibly believe it. For the other people on earth who try to make it a better place, they are a source of frustration. They collectively use un-reason on almost all their collective beliefs, and attempt to block progress of the human race in most all sciences. None of that seems to bother most of them though because reason and accountability go hand in hand, if you lack one, you most likely lack the other.
So in my opinion, christians don't know, that they don't know.
As an agnostic who has a lot of Christian and non-Christian friends a like, I think Christians are people. They can be judgemental - but so can anyone. They can be kind - but so can anyone else. They are merely people who believe their Messiah died on the cross so that they could receive eternal life. They struggle with their faith just like everyone else struggles with other things. Some of them are jerks, and some of them are wonderful, beautiful people. It really depends on the individual, not the faith they choose to subscribe to.
That being said, I think this is a pretty cool idea for a post.
I am a Christian but I have encountered so many Atheists that I think I can say something about how they see us and our religion. Quite to the contrary of common belief, many non-Christians actually label us as unspiritual, judgemental fundamentalists, even though many of us may not be so. Others see us as irrational, conservative and self-righteous people (traditional Paladin style), even though some of us may not be like that. A minority of Atheists (strangely enough) encountered those who were really following Jesus (well, I personally think that their efforts are not enough), but the Atheists denounced those real followers of Jesus as being too soft, overly generous, excessively forgiving and weak. Sometimes, I don't understand why Christianity is one of the most "under-attack" religions. And Christianity itself is a highly-branched religion. There are many denominations: Catholic, Amish, Quaker, Anglican, etc. Christians are being seen as hypocrites not only because they sin just like other people even after being baptised as Christians, different denominations disagree amongst themselves making matters even worse. I was once an Atheist, and I used to be angry with religion. I believed that religious people must be blind and weak-minded. I believed that power is justice and there was no need for leaning against any God. Of course, not all Atheists look down upon religion or are necessarily angry with religion. Those were the olden days already... Now I have changed and the stereotypes I applied to Christians are being disproved.
Wow. I had been wondering about this for a long time, and have posted a few blogs: the hypocrite one and the question about why people don't like Christians. I know my writing is bad, but if you have the time, you can read what I think and the comments to it as well (I think they provided me good feedback
) I don't know if it will be helpful to you, but I hope so! I can't wait to hear what people have to say.
@AibellFaeire - Actually, if more people can see us as you do, life would be much better lol~
The best word to describe Christianity is: "clique". If you don't meet a certain criteria, they view you as lower than the dog-sh*t of a rabid homosexual canine. A fellow Xangan has frequently mentioned the negative Christian attitudes she experienced as an autistic child- and that is only one of example of such bigotry.
Another perfect word to describe Christianity is hate. They hate with such a passion that one can't help but laugh when they talk about love. I've often said that the only thing more dangerous than a demon is someone who thinks he is righteous; Christians honestly think they are practicing love. Unfortunately, in their twisted world, "love" takes the form of attending protests against the local abortion clinic and spitting on the patients as they walk by....
I hate to say it, but the same attitudes that burned children as witches and lynched Freemen less than 100 years ago still exist today- buried deep beneath all the rigid convictions of Christianity. The people are decent enough, but religion can be like a deranged, mass-murdering serial killer lying deep in slumber- it only needs an alarm clock....
@nowayout001 - =) I'm glad you think so.