Wednesday, 23 July 2008
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Christians Are Not Brainwashed and Delusional
I've been a Christian for a number of years now. Accepting Jesus Christ as my Savior was one of the most important decisions I could have ever made on my own, so it makes me angry when people tell me I only believe in Christ because I grew up in a Christian household (I actually have two brothers who deny Jesus in their daily lives.) If brainwashing me as a child were that easy, I don't think I'd struggle so much with my beliefs as an adult. I wish that when non-Christians hassle me about believing in God, they would step back and realize that not all of their assumptions about me are true. People think I fell into my beliefs because I'm weak and I have my eyes closed - that I'm brainwashed into believing - and I'm using a man-made "God" in order to comfort myself. I'd like the atheists and agnostics who attempt to disprove Christianity in front of me consider and respect that my beliefs aren't based solely on fact and logic. It really is about faith and just because faith isn't written down in a book doesn't mean I'm totally ignorant.
I want the atheists and agnostics who challenge my faith to ask my brothers why they deny Christ. If God and a relationship with Christ are just man-made schemes, why weren't they "brainwashed" into believing in a Creator? And yes, I understand that many will say, "It's because they're not blinded to reality like Christians are." If that's the case, how do we know who's actually blinded/brainwashed and who is in tune with reality?
I'd be lying if I said I never doubted God. I go through these phases of loving God for everything I have and don't have, but every once in a while I don't know where God is...but believing is still a conscious choice.
Have people ever accused you of being brainwashed or ignorant for your beliefs, whatever they are? How do you handle the criticism?
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Comments (118)
I ignore it.
The bible says that people will hate us and persecute us as Christians
I think that it is part of being a Christian to have to deal with people like that. I think the best thing I do is to treat them with love, and compassion. Believe me...it confuses people.
I think it's the best way to Witness without getting preachy and in their face! =)
amen! i'm sick of people talking as if Christians are mindless. i'm actually a logical, educated person.
I hear it quite a bit. However, I spent 4 years trying to find sense in some philosophy outside of Christianity while living under my Christian parents' roof. My sister has rejected Christ, and 2 of my younger 3 siblings haven't really indicated one way or the other on how they feel about the issue. My older brother and I, on the other hand, have both felt called in to full time ministry, something that my parents NEVER suggested to him, and only once to me when I was about 5, and then it was a half-joking remark because I apparently preached at some guy... There are most certainly brainwashed "christians," but usually they aren't in love with Jesus.
"Faith is the highest passion in a human being. Many in every generation may not come that far, but none comes further." ~ Soren Kierkegaard
Faith cannot be based on reason as it is essentialy "consent without inquiry." However, it can be supported by reason. And it should be.
It's sad to see so many intelligent individuals label Christians as being intellectually inferior. When people criticize, I try my best to listen and respond with gentleness and respect.
Unlike much of the emergent movement, I'll never sacrifice the essentials of my faith for the sake of pleasing others. Although it can be so tempting...
i guess it's the same when some christians say that atheists have no morals. or telling others that their way of life is wrong and scaring them saying judgement will befall them and they will burn in hell for denying the god that has revealed himself to them (assuming of course that they knew who or what god was when he was revealing himself)
just like there are some ignorant christians there are ignorant atheists and whoever else who make judgements about people based on one aspect of their life without any real understanding of the actual person and what drives them outside of their religious beliefs
it's a sad thing, but being christians we should feel okay with that and keep the faith and be able to hold our heads high despite that. you have your reasons for believing what you believe, and it'll be hard for others to relate to them, especially when they haven't experienced what you have. I believe in what I believe because I feel that God has revealed himself to me in many ways and I can't expect other people to feel or to know what I have experienced. All I can do is witness to them, try to get to know them on another level, and I would hope that in the end if they aren't convinced (not that i'm trying to convince them per say, but offering views on an alternative life style) that we could just agree to disagree without feeling one another is stupid or lack morals, because in the end we should respect each other enough as humans with feelings and intelligence
When we see more evidence for your God than we have seen for the Tooth Fairy, then we'll believe that you're not ignorant and irrational.
I have met a few Christians who were quite intelligent and reasonable in any aspect other than those their faith touched. However, when their religion got involved, things all seemed to fall apart, at least from a logical standpoint.
@la_faerie_joyeuse@xanga - Well, it depends on your viewpoint. I've taken college biology and astronomy and enjoyed them both. However, the theories that the whole universe came from nothing and the very first lifeform came into beings when chemicals reacted just right (the statistics of this actually happening are astronomically small) with nothing behind it is just completely illogical and irrational to me. To me, evidence for God is everywhere. I can look into my dog's eyes or at the mountains or at the stars and see evidence for God. God is the only logical way of explaining how everything came from nothing.
"I wish that when non-Christians hassle me about believing in God, they
would step back and realize that not all of their assumptions about me
are true."
And I wish when some Christians hassle me about NOT believing in god, they would step back and realize not all of THEIR assumptions about me are true.
Besides, must you really use blanket statements? Not all non-Christians are rude and belligerent and want to hassle Christians. Adding a simple "some" in front of your assertions about non-Christians would make this post seem a LOT less hypocritical.
You're irritated at (SOME) non-Christians who hassle you. That's justifiable. But turning around and writing a post like this that paints all non-Christians in the same colour doesn't do you any favours at all. It just makes you seem hypocritical.
So you're angry at some non-Christians who think all Christians are the same. Guess what? Not all non-Christians are the same either.
Sigh...
@docsfancyskip@xanga - I don't know if it's necessarily that you are a Christian that you get some idiots mocking you. I think it's just some humans in general being foolish. I'm an atheist, and I get mocked and chastised regularly. Is that part of being an atheist? No. It's simply that people fear what they don't understand, and people feel the need to mock and harass those who don't agree with them.
@bittersunday@xanga - Well said. :)
I've felt the same way as well.
my cousin was raised by a pagan, to be an agnostic. He is now a Christian.
brainwashing doesn't seem to work very well
Part of the problem is that many Christians (not all, but many) try to convert people to their way of thinking without providing any form of logic. They believe that their way of life is the ONE and ONLY way and any other way will lead to damnation. In many aspects, your typical Modern Day Christian is no better than any Scientologist, a Jonesenite (Jim Jones), or Mansonite (Charles Manson); they use the power of persuasion and brainwashing to achieve their means instead of just "spreading the word". If Christians would stop standing upon golden pedestals surrounded by halos and started acting like human beings, HUMBLE human beings, they might be mocked less.
Hinduism, while imperfect, does embrace the idea that there are MANY PATHS to "God" and accepts them all as equal. Christians should do the same.
@Schristian@xanga - well, I'm on no pedestal here, I am not better than anyone for anything I have done. How can I, who believe that Jesus Christ is the only way to be saved, be silent when I am certain that those who don't accept Him as Lord are damned? How can that possibly be loving. I'd love to think that just being good and nice was enough to make for a happy afterlife, and if that was what I thought was the case I'd be much quieter about such things. as it stands I cannot be silent.
On the other hand I don't need to argue tooth and nail with non-Christians. when asked I do try to explain my reasoned basis for believing as I do, but that is limited since no one can prove that anything is real, outside of, "I think therefor I am" I cannot prove God to be real, nor can I prove that I am sitting in a chair, or typing on a computer. I may be the only being in existence floating around in protoplasmic goop with no beginning or ending. So yeah, there is no point to lengthy discussions to prove God, or anything.
hope that makes sense, and doesn't sound combative, I don't mean it so.
WWJD................
@AdveniatRegnumTuum@xanga - " How can I, who believe that Jesus Christ is
the only way to be saved, be silent when I am certain that those who
don't accept Him as Lord are damned?"
That's exactly the mindset that causes Christians to be mocked and scorned. It's irrational, arrogant, and demeaning to people who want to have their own beliefs. "God" said to "spread the word", not "force the word upon others". So yes, you should stay quiet because what you're saying is offensive to those who have their own beliefs, it also is an oppressive statement that dismisses opposing ideas. That's not "free will", that's not "love". That's absolute condemnation and goes against the basic principle of "'God' loves you", which Christianity is SUPPOSED to teach and support.
Granted, my telling you to stay quiet is in of itself stifling, but I don't mean it in that way. What I'm trying to say is that if you truly want to show your love for another human being, support them, don't condemn or harm them or attempt to convert or control. That's not what Christianity was supposed to be about.
Then again, that's just MY viewpoint.
@Punky13dq@xanga - Kill all the gays apparently (according to Leviticus)
SOME Christians are brainwashed and delusional. Ever see the Westboro Baptist Church people? But certainly not all Christians.
In my opinion, if you have chosen to believe in God with your own will, you aren't brainwashed or delusional. If you've been raised strictly Christian and believe in God just for fear of Hell or something, or because you don't think there's another option-- in other words, because you never chose it... I'd say it's a bit of brainwashing. I admit to thinking that often people create a God to comfort themselves or need to feel that something bigger than us is out there. But that doesn't make you delusional. I have a good friend who would probably be dead if it wasn't for his belief in God. He needs to believe in God and believe that he is saved by Jesus. It gives him a reason to live, a reason to be clean, and a light in each one of his darknesses.
I do not feel I need that. And I think it's a main reason for my atheism.
@Schristian@xanga - Don't forget to kill those back-talking children and make certain you get a good price when you sell your daughters into slavery! (Also according to Leviticus) ;]
@captain_jaq@xanga - I think I love you. Let's have premarital sex, make some children, and then sell them to the White Man for a profit.
It's kinda funny, because I have only been a Christian for about 3 years now, and the only thing I get asked is "how seriously do you take this?" And it's weird for me because I remember being in that spot where I didn't believe in anything, and thought I was totally fine. I even worked in my home church for a while, and never gave it a second thought. But the thing I have come to learn is that I don't know what I would do if I didn't believe in God, because there are so many things that I don't think I would have done if it wasn't for Him. As far as the being "brainwashed" idea, that is just something that people who don't understand what God can really do, and they don't understand what a difference in their lives He can make. But don't think that just because there are a lot of Christians in the world, that all of them think like that. It is just a misgiven diagnosis.Â
@Schristian@xanga - to an extent I agree, If I went around preaching condemnation, and never gave to a poor person, was never willing to give some time to help someone move, never did a selfless act, then I'm just as damned as the next guy. At the same time doing those things does not save me either.
I do not at this time (i'm still not fully sure on the subject) feel that preaching condemnation is the way to go. From what I can tell, yes, people must understand the consequences of breaking the Law (of moses), but after that is known, it is not up to me whether they agree or not. I am certain that me carrying on about that works no good at all. Rather, I must love first in deed, then in words.
I know condemnation is offensive, we all have our pride. I am not angered by a Fundamentalist Muslim for considering me an infidel who God wants only to see destroyed. Nor do I think less of you for telling me I should just shut my fat mouth (my words, not yours I know), rather, I acknowledge your view, I even have carefully examined many views for truth, but in the end what's true is true. I do not mind that you disagree, even condemn me for speaking, albeit only on this earth. If you must think less of me for warning of coming judgment so be it, but I would rather have you think me narrow minded now than to have you ask me on the final day, "Why didn't you warn me?"
and I pray and strive to show Christs love in all things, from supplying physical needs to spiritual.
@Schristian@xanga - Okay! ^_^ as long as we can be gaymarried, have several abortions, and wear clothing made of two separate fabrics.
Oh, and when I fall barren, please stone me to death so I am no longer an abomination in the eyes of the Lord.
@captain_jaq@xanga - I shall do so, as long as I can molest my children when I see fit. Oh, and one daughter must be given up for prostitution. She may help the Lord during his second coming.