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There are no historical or scientific evidence of Buddha's existence. Even if he did exist, he did nothing special for people to follow him, and was isolated in his home surrounded by good things only and did not see the actual world, nor did he help people in need unlike Jesus Christ. Buddha was jealous as well, and rejected God.
Jesus did not copy anything from Buddhism as they lived far away. He was a great person himself.
Don't bring any other religion/beliefs to this thread, or proselytise.
I would dare say that the view there sticks a fork in the "slight decline" theory. It's in rapid decline in the Western world and rapid growth in the Developing world. In 50-70 years they will experience the same decline that we are now.
(underlining mine) I agree with the above. If the general trend is that the more educated and less superstitious, repressed, hungry and so on one gets, the more he or she declines from just accepting Christianity, then once those "developing" nations begin to up their education too, they'll fall away from Christianity as well...hence tipping the scales against Christianity overall.
Christianity apparently is able to grow in repressed, undereducated areas. As those areas become educated, what happens then?
One doesn't need to be Christian to believe in Jesus' message of love and peace. For goodness sakes, Jesus was a Jew!
The fact of the matter is that many non-Christians believe that Christians are hypocritical and judgmental, and the history o violence based in that religion turns many off. Similar to how many people avoid Islam.
One doesn't need to be Christian to believe in Jesus' message of love and peace. For goodness sakes, Jesus was a Jew!
The fact of the matter is that many non-Christians believe that Christians are hypocritical and judgmental, and the history o violence based in that religion turns many off. Similar to how many people avoid Islam.
One doesn't need to be Christian to believe in Jesus' message of love and peace. For goodness sakes, Jesus was a Jew!
The fact of the matter is that many non-Christians believe that Christians are hypocritical and judgmental, and the history o violence based in that religion turns many off. Similar to how many people avoid Islam.
-One does need to be "born again" to be saved from the wrath of God.
-Matthew 10:34 34 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.
-Do you consider yourself a good person? Have you ever done anything wrong? Lied, cheated, stolen? If so, you're a hypocrite.
-One does need to be "born again" to be saved from the wrath of God.
-Matthew 10:34 34 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.
-Do you consider yourself a good person? Have you ever done anything wrong? Lied, cheated, stolen? If so, you're a hypocrite.
According to Christianity, yes.
Christianity has long held power via fear such as the above. As that fear is declining due to more knowledge, Christianity is losing its hold. It tends to be more popular among the repressed, the very poor, minorities (who experience repression daily) and others who feel quite helpless. It is LESS popular among those who are able to help themselves and who are non-superstitious. (This is a generality. Yes, there are educated people who are Christians, and there are uneducated people - myself included; no college - who don't believe.)
Look back on history, and it's plain to see (as evidenced by your "be afraid - be very afraid" "bottom-line" examples above) that it's obviously not "the message" that has been the draw; it's fear, and the desire to seek pleasure and avoid pain. Take away the fear and feeling of helplessness, and the religion becomes less powerful. What does that say? That it's the "Christians" who have been the hypocrites all along.
Yes, it is entirely possible to be non-Christian and be a helpful, kind, good person who does no harm and in fact, seeks to do good in the world. Of course it is. And it is in no way hypocritical to say, "I'm totally imperfect, but I'm doing my best in this world." How in the nine hells could that ever be considered hypocrisy? Scratching my head on that one.
The last bullet in the portion I quoted above is considered the "catch-all" of Christianity. Design things so that there's no possible way you can win (i.e. pretty much claim any human failing as "a sin" that will earn hell "without Christ") and that's a no-fail way of maintaining control. "There is NOTHING you can do by yourself to avoid hell, so you HAVE to conform to our beliefs." Do you truly think that that's the way God must work? If so, you're ruled by fear, not a true desire to know God just because that's a happy thing to do and you are somehow just naturally drawn to do so. In which case YOU are the hypocrite here. You want to do what you believe God wants so that you can get a reward. You want to GET something. You have a selfish, self-centered desire - get into heaven - and a fully human fear of pain (hell). But it's non-Christians, including those doing good and being peaceful, who are the hypocrites? Interesting.
By the way, I left out this bullet of yours in my quote above, but can you name the atheist societies that have been violent? Just some examples?
Christianity has long held power via fear such as the above. As that fear is declining due to more knowledge, Christianity is losing its hold. It tends to be more popular among the repressed, the very poor, minorities (who experience repression daily) and others who feel quite helpless. It is LESS popular among those who are able to help themselves and who are non-superstitious.
Look back on history, and it's plain to see (as evidenced by your "be afraid - be very afraid" "bottom-line" examples above) that it's obviously not "the message" that has been the draw; it's fear, and the desire to seek pleasure and avoid pain. Take away the fear and feeling of helplessness, and the religion becomes less powerful. What does that say? That it's the "Christians" who have been the hypocrites all along.
Yes, it is entirely possible to be non-Christian and be a helpful, kind, good person who does no harm and in fact, seeks to do good in the world. Of course it is. And it is in no way hypocritical to say, "I'm totally imperfect, but I'm doing my best in this world." How in the nine hells could that ever be considered hypocrisy? Scratching my head on that one.
Yes, the last bullet in the portion I quoted above is considered the "catch-all" of Christianity. Design things so that there's no possible way you can win (i.e. pretty much claim any human failing as "a sin" that will earn hell "without Christ") and that's a no-fail way of maintaining control. "There is NOTHING you can do by yourself to avoid hell, so you HAVE to conform to our beliefs." Do you truly think that that's the way God must work? If so, you're ruled by fear, not a true desire to know God just because that's a happy thing to do. In which case YOU are the hypocrite here. You want to do what you believe God wants so that you can get a reward. You want to GET something. But it's non-Christians doing good and being peaceful who are the hypocrites? Interesting.
most dont follow christ. if you truly followed christ you would be dead before 30. btw most preachers are telling you to throw yourself under the bus, not themselves.
What you said that was incorrect, to non-Christians, was that the only way to be a non-hypocrite is to follow Biblical teachings.
Also, I added an edit while you were posting. Can you name a few of those violent atheist societies you mentioned? They may well exist, that is not a "gotcha" on my part. However, I've personally never heard of them.
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