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Over the years I have talked to so many non-believers in my family, friends, acquaintances, and even strangers and I have notice a very common theme amongst most if not all of them, that their experiences with the church turned them off to becoming a Christian. It seems as though people and the actions that people take have often dictated how far people will go in the faith. I even had a conversation with my brother, who is not a believer, about this last night and he just started speaking about some of the negative experiences he had in church, the utter hypocrisy and how he moved further away from the church.
One thing seems clear to me, too often people put their faith in other people. That is one thing that I explained to my brother. To be a Christian it's important for you to have a relationship with God independent of the church you attend because a church should not determine your faith. I am certainly not excusing the behavior that goes on in the modern day church because a lot of it is off putting but I am just starting to wonder if the church has become to focus on pointing people to people instead of the word of God or are we just seeing people who have a flawed concept of what Christianity should be in spite of being taught otherwise?
Location: NYC based - Used to Live in Philly - Transplant from Miami
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I am a non-practicing Christian. I have distanced myself from church based on how Christians in the church treat gays.
But in general, I also distance myself because I see alot of hypocrisies. I am tired to see how these people are nice on Sunday but outside of the church, they are completely different beasts. No pun intended.
In addition, the same people will complain why I and others judge them and put them on spotlight. They should have known that non-Christians judge them because we expect them to be of higher moral standard.
I know I am wrong. Theoretically, we should focus ourselves to God Himself instead of His disciples. But sometimes, it is hard to do that when "the products" of the church itself is worse than any non-Christians out there.
This is just my 2 cents.
My DH tells me that church is like a hospital for the spiritually sick. We are all there to get better and if we all keep that in mind with a humble heart, we can forgive each other for the shortcomings and remember it's about our relationship with the Lord. With our humble attitudes, we may even attract people who are suffering in the world and who are put off by the church because of the false message out there.
A good verse:
Mark 2:15-17 And it came to pass, that, as Jesus sat at meat in his house, many publicans and sinners sat also together with Jesus and his disciples: for there were many, and they followed him. And when the scribes and Pharisees saw him eat with publicans and sinners, they said unto his disciples, How is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners?
When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
In answer to your question, we have lost sight of the central message of Jesus. For some reason, people outside of Christianity believe that being a Christian means you have to be perfect and sinless. Of course it's humanly impossible to be sinless, therefore Christians are looking like hypocrites. The focus is on Christians and not the message of Christ.
I go to church, but for quite a few years I fell away from God and avoided church whenever possible. I actually initially had a lot of resentment for people in my church that I felt were self-righteous and had a holier-than-thou attitude about others, even other believers within our church. This mostly came about when I attended youth group and Sunday school, and it was other kids that turned me off to church in general. Even though I still considered myself a strong Christian and close to God, I over time eventually fell away from God and went through a pretty dark and sinful time in my life in my 20s. I thought I knew everything and started to wonder how people could "limit" themselves with simple-minded concepts like religion and God. Boy was I wrong.
I eventually met my now wife and started going back to church with her, but I first had to forgive all those people who I felt had wronged me before I felt right about it. For me, it wasn't so much that I was angry at God or the institution of church, it was the zealous teenagers that made me feel guilty for not being as involved, or as peppy, or as righteous as they were. I hated those people, and that pushed me away.
Over the years I have talked to so many non-believers in my family, friends, acquaintances, and even strangers and I have notice a very common theme amongst most if not all of them, that their experiences with the church turned them off to becoming a Christian. It seems as though people and the actions that people take have often dictated how far people will go in the faith. I even had a conversation with my brother, who is not a believer, about this last night and he just started speaking about some of the negative experiences he had in church, the utter hypocrisy and how he moved further away from the church.
One thing seems clear to me, too often people put their faith in other people. That is one thing that I explained to my brother. To be a Christian it's important for you to have a relationship with God independent of the church you attend because a church should not determine your faith. I am certainly not excusing the behavior that goes on in the modern day church because a lot of it is off putting but I am just starting to wonder if the church has become to focus on pointing people to people instead of the word of God or are we just seeing people who have a flawed concept of what Christianity should be in spite of being taught otherwise?
People do hate to be told that they are doing wrong and need to be forgiven. The very nature of the Gospel is offensive to most people. Most people want to think they're nice, good people. In truth, we're all sinners.
People do hate to be told that they are doing wrong and need to be forgiven. The very nature of the Gospel is offensive to most people. Most people want to think they're nice, good people. In truth, we're all sinners.
This is why any church you pastored would always be empty because the gospel is not designed to condemn to get folk to believe, but for them to see beyond what they already know what they are, and lack, to him who is all that they can be and who makes all up their lack.
People do hate to be told that they are doing wrong and need to be forgiven. The very nature of the Gospel is offensive to most people. Most people want to think they're nice, good people. In truth, we're all sinners.
And there's the answer. Right there. Case. In. Point. People like you are the reason I hate Christianity, Vizio, plain and simple.
The OP wants non-Christians (which I assume includes former Christians) to talk about why they are not Christians, and this is exactly the reason why. I believe human beings are fundamentally good, decent people, who (in most cases) genuinely want to do the right thing... whose hearts are filled with love for one another, and hope for their fellow human beings. I believe that most human beings are "nice, good" people - people with flaws, people with shortcomings, and people with imperfections, but fundamentally good, loving people. I believe in the purity and the nobility of the human spirit.
But not Visio. In Vizio's worldview, people are not nice, good people. They are fundamentally sinners, and anything else they may be is secondary to that. I find that way of looking at humanity sickening, disgusting, and abhorrent.
People like Vizio are the reason I ran screaming from christianity. That view of human nature is why I now hate christianity, and would rather burn myself to death with a soldering iron than ever again call myself a Christian and associate myself in any way with such a warped, twisted, hateful religion.
I swore once that I would never attack Christianity in this sub-forum, and as far as I'm concerned I still stand by that vow. I say what I say here out of respect and love for the Christians who are still good, decent, human beings, who actually understood what Christ was trying to say, and who sincerely and genuinely wonder why some of us view their religion the way that we do. You have a right to know. I'm sorry if it hurts your feelings, but this is the answer to the OP's question.
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None of the church doctrines or the way the pastors or members of that church acted had anything to do with it.
It was all a pleasant experience.
It probably would have happened a lot earlier and with more rancor, though, had I been led by some on this forum.
And there's the answer. Right there. Case. In. Point. People like you are the reason I hate Christianity, Vizio, plain and simple.
It is CHRISTIANS who make Christianity a most horrid religion. The concept however, as Vizio illustrates, is somewhat flawed. The idea that humans are somehow inadequate and must have some demigod to champion humanity's cause to an otherwise angry and unreachable god......
Fact is, we as humans have done pretty well without a god. We have people living in space, we can harness the power of the smallest particle and we have cracked the genetic code of how we are made. No god needed for any of that.
I would ask any Christian, and I have before, WHY? Why should I be a Christian ? Why should I follow what I see as inferior beliefs? What benefit will I or my companions on this planet have from such actions ?
No Christian has ever been able to answer that to my satisfaction. Which is a part of the reason I stopped attending church long ago (except for the spectacle that is Midnight Mass).
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