A Christian Analysis of Why Christianity is Decling

[TroutDude]

Originally Posted by mordant

...snip.... I have repeatedly pointed out for example to Vizio that his morality IS subjective, that his dogma IS subjective and has no more standing than mine or that of other theists. And he simply can and will never acknowledge that because his entire belief system is built on the assertion that his morality and his theology are objectively ascertainable and handed to him from god himself. If the Bible is not crystal clear and inerrant then the whole house of cards comes tumbling down.

Exactly.

And nothing terrifies a fundamentalist more. Hence their aversion to truth.

[TRANSPONDER]

Man, you put your finger right on in the whole basis of the thinking and rationale: they are convinced that whatever they believe is put into their head by God, so anything and everything they say is right and true, because it comes from God.

Thus any time what they say is shown to be wrong and false, they simply ignore it or come up with some kind of "God knows better than humans' argument. Not only can they never admit they are wrong because if they did, the whole illusion would collapse, but they know they can never be wrong because God is inspiring them with the truth.

This explains all the craziness, all the smug arrogance and all the jedi -wave dismissal of the heaps of evidence that they really are wrong.

[censusdata]

Christianity is declining because many things the Bible says has been disproven by science, like the earth being flat and 6,000 years old and there being enough water to cover mount Everest. Also the Bible describes an active God that destroys cities with flames and heals lepers yet no credible human being as ever seen anything that couldn't be explained by science. The only reason Christianity still exists is humans have a fear of death and want to believe that there is a wonderful afterlife where we can meet all our departed loved ones. Science tells people that we died and are no more just like rover, which isn't as appealing.

[TRANSPONDER]

Originally Posted by censusdata

Christianity is declining because many things the Bible says has been disproven by science, like the earth being flat and 6,000 years old and there being enough water to cover mount Everest. Also the Bible describes an active God that destroys cities with flames and heals lepers yet no credible human being as ever seen anything that couldn't be explained by science. The only reason Christianity still exists is humans have a fear of death and want to believe that there is a wonderful afterlife where we can meet all our departed loved ones. Science tells people that we died and are no more just like rover, which isn't as appealing.

There are, I believe, a number of reasons why we have religion, and a fear of death is one of them. I think the way out of this (and also the hellthreat) is to consider Pascals wager, the other religions and their claims, the dubious nature of any feedback from the afterlife and the rather nicey -nice character of what we do have (messages from beyond, NDE's) which could be all they are claimed to be, even if they may not be.

Bottom line is, if you have to believe in an afterlife because you simply can't come to terms with not existing, then at least it isn't one you need to worry about or panic that you aren't Right with God or in the correct megachurch. All that denominational and doctrinal crap is just to boost their own authority and is nothing to do with gods, let alone afterlifes.

I really must start a thread "Which church do you go to?" to find out whether they just say "Oh, yeah, I'd use that one, but there are too many traffic lights on the way" or say that you are risking eternal torment because that church doesn't say you must give all you have but only all the money you have (even though nobody in either church does either - but then it's what you believe, not what you do - Faith, not works -that gets you the ticket to pass the pearly turnstile)

[thrillobyte]

Originally Posted by Lyndarn

extreme "Fundies" have perverted it to suit their extreme agenda

Remember a wounded fundie is a dangerous fundie.