What if they're wrong?

[TopCat]

What if Christians are wrong? What if they're worshipping the wrong God? What if they lived their whole lives serving a God that might not exist?  What if they do everything right but there's no reward? So why do Christians believe their religion is the only right one? They look down on non believers saying they're wrong but what if they're wrong?

[sdelsolray]

They believe as they do because of religious indoctrination, in this case the lessons of tribalism, xenophobia, "if you're not with me you're against me" and "I'm special".  There are many more lessons, of course, but these four go a long way to answer your questions.

[jonb]

Look around, do you see how things are? Well TopCat, there is your answer.

[aitm]

What if Christians are wrong?

They are. Nothing happens

What if they're worshipping the wrong God?

They are worshipping an imaginary god, nothing happens

What if they lived their whole lives serving a God that might not exist?

They have, nothing happens

What if they do everything right but there's no reward?

They can't do everything right. There is no reward

So why do Christians believe their religion is the only right one?

they call it "faith"

They look down on non believers saying they're wrong but what if they're wrong?

Saying someone else is wrong is a mental game to impress themselves. They are wrong, there is no god.

[TomFoolery]

What if they do everything right but there's no reward?

Well, break it down into levels of piety and devotion and you'll probably find for the majority, it doesn't matter really.

I would venture to say that a lot of people who profess to believe in God probably go to church infrequently anyway, maybe a few Sundays and Christmas and Easter. So what have they lost? Maybe like 1000 hours of their lives to sitting in church listening to boring fucking sermons.

I did the math for people that go to church every Sunday too: a person who lives to be 75 and never misses a day of church will probably only spend like 6000 hours doing it. That's less than 1%. I choose to spend my extra time sleeping in on Sunday, or taking that extra moment to really relish taking a shit, so I consider it to be a wash for them anyway.

People that really spend a lot of time worshipping Jesus though? Well, sucks for them. They lived a life they thought would turn out pretty swell eternally but they bought snake oil and a rotting corpse just like the rest of us. And I still don't fucking care because I had a good time being an unrepentant sinner.

[Baruch]

What if Christians are wrong? What if they're worshipping the wrong God? What if they lived their whole lives serving a God that might not exist?  What if they do everything right but there's no reward? So why do Christians believe their religion is the only right one? They look down on non believers saying they're wrong but what if they're wrong?

Everyone is wrong, that is the normal state of affairs.  Enlightenment is knowing this ... and that being wrong doesn't matter.  Ataraxia aka serenity ... not apatheia aka emotionless.  Sort of like when there is a ball game and friends bet, but the score comes up where you and your friends all bet wrong.  Because the norm is one unpredictable damn thing after another.

[TopCat]

Thanks so much for answering my questions.  I'm still young and new at this. I have a bunch of questions that I would like answered but unfortunately my very religious family would probably look down on me. My uncle already has. Apparently you shouldn't question jesus. Just pray and believe

[AllPurposeAtheist]

Here's the rub. The only way to find out if you're wrong is to die and as far back as I can remember dead men tell no tales. I always tell them to go ahead and die then come back and tell me all about it.

[josephpalazzo]

You do NOT question faith, silly atheists...

[Mike Cl]

Thanks so much for answering my questions.  I'm still young and new at this. I have a bunch of questions that I would like answered but unfortunately my very religious family would probably look down on me. My uncle already has. Apparently you shouldn't question jesus. Just pray and believe

Not only are you not to question jesus, but you must not question the version of jesus the person you are talking to subscribes to.  The bible can be your friend.  Read it and then use what you have read to ask questions.  They can even be seemingly innocent ones.  For example--Genesis I and  Genesis II have totally different stories of creation.  Ask a bunch of questions about that.  And make a list of all the verses that Jesus is supposed to have spoken.  You can then fashion just about any point of view you'd like.  So, ask things by starting out--Jesus said in (whatever) and then said in (whatever)--How can this be??  Or some such.  That can be fun.

[AllPurposeAtheist]

Your first question should be,  Wait! Jesus was a dirty hippie? Long hair,  beard, wearing that thong? Maybe he was an exhibitionist.

[Baruch]

Your first question should be,  Wait! Jesus was a dirty hippie? Long hair,  beard, wearing that thong? Maybe he was an exhibitionist.

Jesus' thong was his sandals ... not his underwear.  Per the traditional story images ... one only saw his underwear when he was on the cross.  But yes, a dirty unemployed hippie/beggar.  Short hair and beardless = Roman.  Long hair and bearded = Greek or Jew.

[Baruch]

Thanks so much for answering my questions.  I'm still young and new at this. I have a bunch of questions that I would like answered but unfortunately my very religious family would probably look down on me. My uncle already has. Apparently you shouldn't question jesus. Just pray and believe

Good luck managing your family's expectations.  They are probably more than religious.  Think of the world as your extended family ... there are people and books written by people, than can help you answer these questions.

[Sal1981]

Also, keep a cool head, don't go into shouting-match.

[Mermaid]

Christianity is the religious equivalent of that Facebook post that says "Reply to this post with your favorite color and something amazing will happen" and 15,000 people reply with their favorite color.