Why does my disbelief bother Christians?

[Zzyzx]

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Many Christians appear to be upset because I and others do not share their belief in things supernatural. Some become angry when we refuse to believe their literature, dogma and preachings. Many threaten us with "eternal damnation" if we reject their gods.

Can anyone give a coherent answer to:

Why does my disbelief bother Christians?

[Flail]

Short answer to me is :

It is how the Christians and members of other sects have been indoctrinated to believe.

Christian beliefs offend Muslims, Jews, non-theists, agnostics etc. and vice versa for the same reason.. ..one sect is taught that other indoctrinations are wrong,evil or that "they" are specially chosen by God to convert and save those who have been indoctrinated differently...to me it is all a business model for customers....follow the money.

Religion in all of it's forms is the root of all evil in my opinion....and when beliefs become "knowledge and truth" supported by nothing more than words in a holy book", fighting,hatred and war will soon follow.

we have to stop teaching our children the nonsense of Religion and the rituals that separate us...we have to individually take a stand for love and kindness and the needs of others and leave our worn out notions and popular traditions behind...it is in the needs of others that God exists as our proving ground.

"for I was hungry and you did not feed me"

all of the good that comes out of Religion is from the people and not because of their special badge of memebership and could be accomplished by the good people that claim to be chosen, despite of and without their indoctrinations and rituals....we are all in this together....there is no one to judge and no one to hate.

[McCulloch]

Why does my disbelief bother Christians?

1. They are genuinely concerned that you don't spend eternity in torment, which they believe that you will if you do not believe.
2. You will act in society in a way that is consistent with your non-belief. They believe that behaviour may be detrimental to society.
3. Your non-belief threatens the confidence that they have in those things which they believe with no support.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head.

[realthinker]

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Many Christians appear to be upset because I and others do not share their belief in things supernatural. Some become angry when we refuse to believe their literature, dogma and preachings. Many threaten us with "eternal damnation" if we reject their gods.

Can anyone give a coherent answer to:

Why does my disbelief bother Christians?

People function mostly from a model of the world. Based on what they've observed or by projecting their own condition on similar things, they build expectations about how things should be. They have expectations about how people should act. Doing this lets us cooperate and prosper more efficiently as a society. That's what religion does. It is a framework of belief that makes society function more successfully (among other things).

When you expose that your beliefs are different you invalidate those expectations. You don't work from the same basis of truth, so they don't know how you think. They don't trust your decision making, and thereby they don't trust what you'll say or do.

Most people don't have a pattern of rational behavior for when that happens. Instinct tells them to reject what is different because it may be a threat. And then, rather than take a risk and evaluate personality and behavior, they turn inward on their model and look at those beliefs you don't share. They negate what they consider to be the beneficial consequences of those beliefs and project those negative consequences on you.

For example, belief in God and religion is the foundation of morality in their world. So if you don't have that same beliefs you've no basis of morality. They disregard your behavior and what you might say. They disregard entirely that there may be another, equally valid, basis of morality. They disregard the possibility that their model may be flawed, and that morality is not even related to religion or God.

The same thing happens with politics, and likely other topics as well.

[Negachrist]

Because you have a clue, and they don't.

Perhaps they don't like the thought that they've been wasting their lives on a stupid fairytale, and that if absolutely EVERYONE believes, it'll make their religion magically become true.

[Nick_A]

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Many Christians appear to be upset because I and others do not share their belief in things supernatural. Some become angry when we refuse to believe their literature, dogma and preachings. Many threaten us with "eternal damnation" if we reject their gods.

Can anyone give a coherent answer to:

Why does my disbelief bother Christians?

Personal disbelief never would bother a Christian. Certain sects of Christendom and those caught up egotistically with a sense of importance it provides may be bothered. But on that level people are bothered by people. it is the way of the world.

A Christian my be concerned with the strength of the Great Beast and its capacity to destroy the human spirit through secularism. I am defining the "Great Beast" as is used by Plato and here by Simone Weil. Simone describes the Beast well:

The Great Beast is introduced in Book VI of The Republic. It represents the prejudices and passions of the masses. To please the Great Beast you call what it delights in Good, and what it dislikes Evil. In America this is called politics.

Christianity offers inner freedom to humanity which is poison to the Beast. This is one reason there are so few Christians

[Negachrist]

browser hiccup

[Negachrist]

Ah, so they're not true [strike]Scotsmen[/strike] Christians, then?

[Nick_A]

Ah, so they're not true [strike]Scotsmen[/strike] Christians, then?

Precisely. The Great Beast as a collective functions at an animal reactive level. Christianity is a level of conscious awareness that recognizes the beast both within ones being and in external life. The Beast cannot be Christian anymore than a dog could be a Christian.

[Zzyzx]

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Personal disbelief never would bother a Christian.

Many who have identified themselves as Christians HAVE been very obviously bothered by my disbelief. Are those who are bothered by my disbelief NOT "Real Christians"?

Certain sects of Christendom and those caught up egotistically with a sense of importance it provides may be bothered.

In debate these sects of Christendom appear to be heavily represented and vocal.

Christianity offers inner freedom to humanity which is poison to the Beast. This is one reason there are so few Christians

How can I know if I am addressing a "Real Christian"? How can one "RC" identify another? How can False Christians be identified?

How do you or I know that YOU are not possessed by the "Beast"? How can we know that several of the fundamentalist members are not possessed by the "Beast"?

Is "talking in tongues" a sign of the "Beast"? Is a possible sign when one seems to be incoherent? What are the obvious signs?

Ah, so they're not true [strike]Scotsmen[/strike] Christians, then?

Precisely. The Great Beast as a collective functions at an animal reactive level. Christianity is a level of conscious awareness that recognizes the beast both within ones being and in external life. The Beast cannot be Christian anymore than a dog could be a Christian.

This must be heartbreaking news to all those who sincerely thought they were Christians and were headed to "heaven" only to find out from you that they are NOT Christians at all.

What must they do to become "Real Christians"? Are there special sects or special rituals or indoctrinations?