Hello all,
I am asking the question, what turns people off from christianity? Is it all of the traditions, the rules, the "you must live your life sin free" or the fact that so many people are saying they are christians who rarely follow anything the bible has to say. In actuality they are hypocrites. Is that what the turn off is? I'm really curious to know because I used to think that I couldn't even go to church without having to be fully dressed in some new outfit or I thought that people weren't quite being honest when they "caught the Holy Ghost" or even when I saw a deacon smoking when I was a child! These where all of the things that turned me away from Christianity growing up until I got into the Word of God for myself and found out what He really intends for my life. So what turns you off from religion, and if possible what would have to take place to turn you on to it? Remember I don't like using the word religion, but I think that everyone could relate to what I'm talking about if I do. Thank you and I look forward to reading everyones thoughts without any judgemental actions.
6 comments:
Before I found Christ, what turned me off about Christianity and religion in general is pretty much what you said, hypocrites. I knew so many people that would call themselves Christians but did not live it. I mean these people would invite me out to church, sing in the choir,etc. But then they would display characteristics outside of church, or when they thought no one saw, that truly was the opposite of being a Christian. Not saying that anyone's perfect. We are all born with a sinful nature. But a true Christian is not a perfect person, but has a perfect "commitment" to trying to be as much like Christ as possible. It was not until recently that I met some brothers and sisters that truly lived their lives for Christ.
Last semester at GA State a brother names Jacob invited me out to a weekly forum called Bible Talk where students get together and discuss common issues and relate them to the Bible. To my surprise there were a descent amount of students there. We got really open about topics like sex, relationships, etc. So anyway, afterwards I was asked by the same brother that invited me, about having a personal Bible study. I was a little skeptical but I ended up saying why not? The next few weeks changed my life. Every few days he and I and some other brothers met up me up and discussed different topics about the Bible like the Word, the Cross, Discipleship, Baptism...etc. It was very eye opening. So many questions that I had were answered. But the thing was, they were not answered by the brothers. My questions were answered by scripture that the brothers showed me. It was just so nice to finally have answers and finally feel like I have a purpose. So anyway, I ended up getting baptized and now I live my life everyday with the Bible as my standard.
It is not always easy being a disciple but my love for God keeps me strong. I hope someone reads this and is inspired. Be easy and remember, JESUS IS LORD!
-Peace
I too am a christian but find myself being turned off from being a certain "denomination." Hypocrisy is def. one of the biggest turn offs to christianity. I have grown up a christian and it seems like being in the south/"bible belt" everyone else it too. But are they really? They say one thing and act another. The other major problem I see with modern christianity is that too many people are focusing on the sinner and not on the sin. People who call themselves christian and then say hurtful things about people who believe different. things or live different lifestyles. Just because you think they are wrong does not give you the right to humiliate them and put them down. We are supposed to love everybody, even if we don't love everything they do. We are all people. Too much focusing on the wrong and not enough on the right!
So my question to everyone is..is it okay to still sin and be considered a true disciple? We all know that people make mistakes but what about those repeated ones? Does anyone feel it is to hard to live a true christian lifestyle? Could that be a reason that religion is a turn off?
As an atheist, I might be able to give you some extra perspective.
For me, the turn off is that I just don't find the Christian theology to be true. I know a lot of people don't place the importance on logic, preferring to go on faith/feeling/inspiration. Some even find it logical, too. Obviously I don't, but I do find religion to be the most interesting subject under the sun. Logical or not.
Another turn off for me is the fact that religions are mutually exclusive in many areas. They can't all be right. That's when I first started thinking critically about religion, actually. I realized that in a lot of folks' (and fine folks too, i'm sure) minds, my Hindu friend was going to hell. I was young, but even at the time it seemed, at least, rude to me (and this isn't just something "organized religion" pushes, Jesus talked about Hell too...some even argue he went to hell before his "resurrection").
Also, the point where I solidified my atheism (toward all belief systems) was brought on by the book "Why I'm Not A Christian" by Bertrand Russell. Recently, "The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason" by Sam Harris was a good defense of atheism too, if anyone is interested (or if you just want to brush up on your arguing points).
Great topic, I look foward to keeping up with it.
wow, sorry it took me so long to get back on here, but I'm ready to go strong again with this topic. Thank you to everyone who commented so far, and matt that is a really interesting point of view on things. But I do have another question....Have you ever prayed before just to see what would happen, or is it kinda not worth the time to try? I was just wondering if anyone who doesn't believe at any point but a christians faith to the test. But then again God is not mocked, so I honestly don't know what would happen. I mean what if an atheist says Jesus if you're real, show me. You know like if He was serious then I believe there is a possibility that evidence could be shown.
As a 15yr old living around people who claim to be Christians but don't seem to make ab effort, I was set off a bit. Nothing is hard about Christianity, phyisically. I KNOW God is there and He loves me but I just can't pray wholeheartedly anymore.
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