Christians, enlighten me.
Why do you (christians) beleive in god when there are so many other gods out there? All the other gods, like yours, cannot be proved or disproved. What is it that makes you so sure of your god and the events depicted in the bible?
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An interesting question you raise and certainly partially explained by Paradox44. What I think most people who are not people of faith believe is that we each believe that there is not just one God, but each "god" differs from the other. What I think some might be overlooing is that just like there are divergent species who are still the same animal but look different, there is also the possibility that the "gods" you are referring to might all be the same entity...? Wha do you think of that? They cannot be the same since they derive from different culture who have gone through different experiences. Some communities prospered from believing in multiple Gods that governed over things they couodn't explain (Rain, Sunlight, Lightning, etc). Some communities function better thinking that one god runs everything. Depends on the context of the culture. The reason why I believe in Jesus Christ and not all of the other gods that are out there is simple. The other gods didn't die on the cross for all of humanity, and rose from the grave. I believe the events of the Bible because the Bible is inspired by God. They even used eyewitness accounts, correct geographic locations, word of mouth, and also outside evidence such as archaeology to support some of the list above that I mentioned to strengthen it's position. Some people think that word of mouth is basically like the game telephone, but that's actually not the case. You see a lot of the people memorized what had happened from beginning to end and they had to get everything right. They even had to teach it to their children so that they could memorize it and they could pass it down through generations to come. That's how they translated the Word of God back then. Also in certain tribes today in Africa, they actually learned stories from 1,000s of years ago and they taught it to their children what happened during that time. They had to learn of the stories and learn every detail thing about it and they had to get everything right so that when they grow up to have children they can do the same thing and pass it through generations. Also if you look at the prefix Uni- it means one and you look at the word verse it means many words. You put it together and it's a spoken word meaning that the universe was spoke into existence. So that means in Genesis 1 where God said "Let there be light" and boom the universe began. 1
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If, hypothetically speaking, another religion purported that their text is the word of their God, who hirself made the ultimate sacrifice for the benefit of mankind- and then returned afterwards- would you then lend serious consideration to the religion? Would you go so far as to read their religious texts and speak with members of the faith? Would you attend some services at one of that faiths churches? Maybe you would, but I believe that you would be more likely to dismiss them out of hand due to your pre-existing beliefs. TBPH I think he's a troll. I could litteraly copy, paste his text, and replace all the key indicators with another religious figure and you'd have the same argument. ex. Srom said: "The reason why I believe in Jesus Christ and not all of the other gods that are out there is simple. The other gods didn't die on the cross for all of humanity, and rose from the grave." I'll say: The reason I believe in Buddha and not all of the other Gods that are out there is simple. The other gods didn't give up their life of luxury, and starve on a single grain of rice for six years. If you read that from anyone you didn't already know and respect, wouldn't you believe it to be the antics of a troll. p.s. I know Buddha's not a God, I was just using him as an example. My point to all of this is, don't waste your time asking serious, thought out questions to that one, you'll either get trolled, or get the same old rehearsed "God loves me, and I'm right" that he gives everyone. If, hypothetically speaking, another religion purported that their text is the word of their God, who hirself made the ultimate sacrifice for the benefit of mankind- and then returned afterwards- would you then lend serious consideration to the religion? Would you go so far as to read their religious texts and speak with members of the faith? Would you attend some services at one of that faiths churches? I would test what they believe in, and make a decision for myself on whether or not I feel like it's the right decision or not. 2
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From a non Christian point of view, i'd say it's a mix of faith (blind following) misinformation, and indoctrination. Also for some, after one of those other elements is challenged it's just out of fear of change. If your whole community is Christian, and you've only ever been around them, the thought of just uprooting your whole life that simply can be very s=scary. I don't know much about Mormonism, but the testimonies of some ex Mormons on YT seem to be often that their religion was like a cult, with communities tightly woven around said religion, so leaving was not always easy. 1
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While not a christian myself, I think that other posters here are getting only part of the issue. Not every christian is born to the faith; there are regular converts. I believe that in the case of conversion, acceptance of the divine aspects is more of a corollary to the focus of the faith- and that ultimately boils down to a desire for meaning and justice. All too often in this world, 'good' people are taken advantage of, while 'bad' people tend to get ahead. Sure, there are cases where the good deeds are rewarded and bad deeds are punished, but there is no certainty there. Even if I don't particularly agree with what they've chosen to believe in, I can certainly understand wanting to view the world as one where cooperation is ultimately preferable to competition. While my experiences hardly constitute a statistically significant sampling, I've observed that those who convert to the faith tend to genuinely be good people- the bigots are usually born into it. although i don't think its just the Christians who aggressively support their God, but i do believe that they've got more support from the major world population. we do follow the years according to Christ's birth and death. and even though there are other calenders of other religions, the dates are preferably followed according to Christ's birth. |
