Right now I am reading Godless by: Dan Barker. Dan Barker is a former preacher who became an atheist. It is a very interesting book and one I can relate to on many levels. Mr. Barker was "saved" extremely young and lived his childhood, teenage and young adult years absolutely immersed in his walk for Christ. Then it all changed.
The more books I read, podcasts/debates I listen to, etc. the more confused I am. Not confused in a "why am I questioning" sense...but in a why would anyone consciously choose to be a christian? Now this might sound extremely harsh and offensive and I sincerely do not mean it that way - however, Scott and I are determined to be completely honest on this blog.
I am realizing that so much of christianity depends on "faith"... Faith seems like a reason not to question - a cop out if you will. There are many discrepancies with the bible, with Jesus' story and the historical timeline of it all. I am not comfortable going into specifics as I am still learning and researching them myself. I challenge you to google "discrepancies of the bible" and just take a minute to read a few.
I am hearing a lot of defenses of the bible and it's discrepancies and they seem to all revolve around taking bits and pieces of it and ignoring other parts. If this book is truly the word of god and is to be held as a holy item then why is it not taken in it's entirety? Who are we as humans to pick and choose what is applicable and what is not?
Another issue I am dealing with is with god himself - why would I consciously choose to serve someone who is jealous, mind changing and violent? Who himself is the very definition of an oxymoron if you will...
If we are supposed to live our lives as upright, righteous people (which I was taught this entailed following the ten commandments) and a person makes a concerted effort simply because it is right - not to obey a god, why does that person deserve to go to hell? Ultimately wouldn't he be one doing "right" things for the right reason?
Scott and I were discussing hell the other day and he really drove the point home when he said "what kind of a god would send my precious 10 month old daughter to hell if she were to die tomorrow." Now Catholics believe in limbo and I have heard pastors talking about children not going to hell, but if you want to get down to the nitty gritty of it - no where in the Bible does it actually say that children who die won't go to hell...there is no age of accountability given that I know of. Why would I serve a god like that?
My quest continues ...
Until next time,
Camille ~*~
I am realizing that so much of christianity depends on "faith"... Faith seems like a reason not to question - a cop out if you will. There are many discrepancies with the bible, with Jesus' story and the historical timeline of it all. I am not comfortable going into specifics as I am still learning and researching them myself. I challenge you to google "discrepancies of the bible" and just take a minute to read a few.
I am hearing a lot of defenses of the bible and it's discrepancies and they seem to all revolve around taking bits and pieces of it and ignoring other parts. If this book is truly the word of god and is to be held as a holy item then why is it not taken in it's entirety? Who are we as humans to pick and choose what is applicable and what is not?
Another issue I am dealing with is with god himself - why would I consciously choose to serve someone who is jealous, mind changing and violent? Who himself is the very definition of an oxymoron if you will...
If we are supposed to live our lives as upright, righteous people (which I was taught this entailed following the ten commandments) and a person makes a concerted effort simply because it is right - not to obey a god, why does that person deserve to go to hell? Ultimately wouldn't he be one doing "right" things for the right reason?
Scott and I were discussing hell the other day and he really drove the point home when he said "what kind of a god would send my precious 10 month old daughter to hell if she were to die tomorrow." Now Catholics believe in limbo and I have heard pastors talking about children not going to hell, but if you want to get down to the nitty gritty of it - no where in the Bible does it actually say that children who die won't go to hell...there is no age of accountability given that I know of. Why would I serve a god like that?
My quest continues ...
Until next time,
Camille ~*~
There are so many places I could go with a comment, but I don't think I'm going to go there as I don't think what you need is a sussing out of these issues (but if you want, I'm more than willing to go there). I believe there are reasonable answers to the questions you are raising (and they are good questions), and while all require faith, so does the alternative. Simply put, I just don't have the faith to believe that there is no god. I've read the arguments and the cases for the fallibility of the Bible, and they're just not strong to me.
ReplyDelete@Ronnica
ReplyDeleteThe sunday school definition that I learned for faith was "belief in something I can't see." I've also heard it put as "belief without evidence."
How does it require faith, in this sense, to not believe in something I can't see?
I have a whole list of these things, and so do you. I don't believe in Zeus, Thor, Brahma, Allah, Xenu, or Ganesh. I also don't believe in fairies or leprechauns. I'd hardly call that faith. It's more like the opposite of faith. Antifaith, if you will: "belief in things I can see, and do have evidence of."
Thanks for commenting!
_Scott
The question of hell and who goes there is what lead to my eventual leaving of the church. I had a hard believing that a devote Buddhist, Jew, or Muslim would go to hell on what is essentially a technicality or difference of opinion. If they lived their lives, doing everything that their god told them to do - why would they be punished for it?!
ReplyDeleteDoesn't seem like a very loving god . . . sounds like a bait and switch to me.