What's so irritating about Christians?

[stromboli]

I hope you people realize that we are writing this guy's sermon for next Sunday. It will come back as a double edged guilt trip- his parishioners guilted over being hypocritical, not lovin' Jesus and not reaching out to us heathens etc. And us as the heathen fallen who lost their belief because worldly ways yada yada. Thing about that hypocrite- they never look in the mirror, but are very good at shaking their finger accusingly at everyone else.

Been there. Carry on.

[stromboli]

Some food for thought......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RB3g6mXLEKk&feature=share

[Mike Cl]

I hope you people realize that we are writing this guy's sermon for next Sunday. It will come back as a double edged guilt trip- his parishioners guilted over being hypocritical, not lovin' Jesus and not reaching out to us heathens etc. And us as the heathen fallen who lost their belief because worldly ways yada yada. Thing about that hypocrite- they never look in the mirror, but are very good at shaking their finger accusingly at everyone else.

Been there. Carry on.

Ain't that the truth!

[sdelsolray]

Hello everyone!  To be honest I am a Pastor who loves God with my whole heart.   However,  I am not here to preach or condemn anyone!!!!!  I wanted to pose this question and see if anyone would be willing to interact with me: What is the biggest criticism of modern Christians?  What makes them less credible or heard in society and on an individual level today? 

As to your first question:

A fundamental criticism is the internal process of the Christian religion itself, which is maintained and promoted by many Christians.  This "internal process" includes indoctrinating children by trusted adults, peer pressure to adhere to dogma and doctrine, discouraging rational thinking, skepticism and curiosity, promotion of xenophobia and tribalism and reliance on religious faith instead of evidence-based conclusions.

Of course, Christianity did not invent any of these behaviors, as they existed elsewhere in human societies before Christianity arose and still exist today outside of that religion.  Still, this particular recipe of behaviors is quite toxic.

As to your second question:

Many Christians employ irrational and infantile tactics, such as use of informal logical fallacies, misrepresentation of fact, disingenuous quote mining, and many others.  In addition, many exhibit willful ignorance, emotionalism, hubris and a desire to impose their beliefs on others.  Again, this recipe is quite toxic.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I hope you people realize that we are writing this guy's sermon for next Sunday. It will come back as a double edged guilt trip- his parishioners guilted over being hypocritical, not lovin' Jesus and not reaching out to us heathens etc. And us as the heathen fallen who lost their belief because worldly ways yada yada. Thing about that hypocrite- they never look in the mirror, but are very good at shaking their finger accusingly at everyone else.

Been there. Carry on.

OP, you can quote me. And you should note that you're no better than your flock. You've all been living the Christianity you prefer, not the one they made up back in the 2nd century. Not that I blame you, you can't lead 2nd century lives today, so the "Good Book" should rightly be called the "Once was Good, now is just irrelevant Book."

[Baruch]

My experience is different ... I was married to my pastor.  Supported her thru choir, thru seminary, thru pastoring.  It is a very hard thing that you are doing.  Harder for my wife, being a woman and all.  I wish you the best of luck, dealing with bishops, elders and laity.  I don't find Christians uniquely irritating, just that they are the majority of religious I have had to deal with ;-)

[AllPurposeAtheist]

I'm kind of mystified about how so many people actually think that you being a pastor somehow gives you some super secret magical powers of knowledge and insight into the inner workings of everyone's minds, but I have full faith that in the coming weeks and months you'll reveal to your flock the errors of our ways  and to reassure them that they are and will always be far superior to us..

[Gawdzilla Sama]

It points up nicely the level of knowledge the average believer has, doesn't it?

[AllPurposeAtheist]

Funny thing is I've been told that I have a god given talent to work with wood. God blessed me so much that he gave me the ability to drive a chisel right into my hand and the real miracle is that more people didn't die. Actually nobody died,but it sure does make you wonder why since I double as a homicidal maniac when I'm not doing my godly duties.

[PickelledEggs]

Probably the most infuriating thing I have personally experienced is a friend, upon realizing I don't believe in god, told me that he knows I will be going to hell whether I am a good person or not. It doesn't matter if I am the perfect human being, if I do not accept his fictional character as my lord and savior, I am doomed to an eternity of torture in hell.

He didn't even say this with any malice, or hatred towards me... He just said it like a "hey... it's the way it goes" kind of way. I lost him as a friend soon after, but that is the main turning point in our friendship. I don't think it's the people that infuriate and annoy me as much as the faith that drives them to be that way.

Similarly, the way creationism is pushed on to the public school system as a science, when it quite literally is the opposite of science. Religion confuses children and makes them think that critical thinking, and objective problem solving/analyzing is either wrong, or at the least, confuses them in the sense that they don't know what it is anymore.

I don't have a problem with religious people, just the faith they have that changes them for the worse.

[PickelledEggs]

Funny thing is I've been told that I have a god given talent to work with wood.

Maybe god wants you to play with his wood?

[widdershins]

I want to thank everyone who took the time out to respond to my question and especially everyone who directly answered the question.  I apologize if my question was mis-worded - I know that often time in such conversations Christians have been seen as judgmental and I wanted to express that this was not my intention from the beginning.  Again thank you to all who took my original post for what it was.  A good response to many of the questions raised can be found in Lee Strobel's, "The Case for Christ and Faith" series without me going on for pages myself.  He too was once an atheist.  It's a good read no matter what one believes.  Again, I appreciate the responses, each post gave me a lot to think about.

Different Christians are irritating to different degrees and in different ways.  One thing I find irritating is that Christians often tend to think their answers are so right that they present their biased, junk information to us under the impression that we are atheists for no reason other than we simply haven't looked into it.  They will assume, for instance, that we have simply never heard of that hack, Lee Strobel, or wasted a single minute of our lives listening to him babble his inaccurate and often just plain wrong nonsense about what is "historical fact".  It never even crosses their minds that we may have already looked into this twit and rejected what he had to say because his "historical facts" are not the same facts accepted by a preponderance of historians, whose actual job it is to determine what is and is not "historical fact".  Since Strobel is saying what they want to hear it never even occurs to them that the "information" he is giving is actually misinformation.

I know you think you have some amazing answers, but you don't.  We've heard it all, we've seen it all and, most importantly, we've critically examined it all and that is why we are atheists.  I'm not an atheist because I said to myself one day, "I think I'm going to reject God because I would like to keep sinning."  That's what many Christians think about us.  Do you realize how STUPID that belief is?  Why would ANYONE trade a few decades on earth for an ETERNITY because they like narrowly missing getting herpes from prostitutes or smoking crack?  If I thought for a second that I could trade a little time in this life for an eternity I wouldn't pass that up.  But I can't.

Let me simplify for you why, exactly, I'm an atheist.  Christians are trying to sell me eternal life, but I won't get it until AFTER I die.  That's the first warning sign of a scam.  Would you buy a house from me if you couldn't look at it until AFTER it was too late to get your money back?  And how am I going to get this eternal life?  Why, it's simple!  Magic!  I am a grown ass man who has no business believing in magic (you call them miracles) unless you can show me some damned magic!  There is NOTHING unreasonable about demanding that you PROVE magic is real if you want me to believe in it.  Yet when I ask for proof, what do I get?  "Thou shalt not temp the Lord, thy God", or "God has nothing to prove to you", or "You have to have faith before you can see miracles" (right back to the "buy the house THEN look at it thing).  These are "excuses".  This is the second warning sign of a scam.  And what do I have to do to be "saved"?  That varies by religion, but one thing they all agree on is that it isn't free.  It costs money.  10% (pre-tax, thank you!) AT LEAST.  If you want to be a GOOD Christian there are also offerings, of course.  You can't put a price tag on eternal life!  This is the third warning sign of a scam.  There are many, many more.

What you're offering is magical snake oil that I can't test until after it's too late to get a refund and your reasons to believe are nothing more than "because X says so".  Because the Bible says so, because your church says so, because your pastor says so, because you say so.  Can you think of ONE SINGLE reason to believe other than "because X says so"?  Watch your Strobel video again and find one.  Just one legitimate, proven, good reason to believe that doesn't break down to "because X says so".  One you can prove.  One that's not disputed (NOT one Strobel falsely CLAIMS is not disputed).  You can't because there is not ONE.

Yet you post this "amazing information" like we're idiots who've never given it a thought.  Oh, you're being pleasant enough, but you're suggesting we don't believe because we simply haven't done a damned thing to check whether we should or not.  Maybe "atheists" like a young Lee Strobel are atheists because they are morons, but that's not the "norm" for atheists, and it certainly isn't true of any here.  We are atheists because we DID look into it and consider it, not because we couldn't be bothered, as you appear to have assumed.   We are atheists because we had a good, long, UNBIASED look at religious claims and, like any intelligent adult should, laughed at the idea that magic is real nad we just can't see it because REASONS!  We are atheists because we've read the Bible.  We are atheists because we've read the claims of why we shouldn't be.  We are atheists because, no matter what your argument is for believing, each and every one of them, in its lowest, base form, is "because X says so".  If you can't believe that something is real until AFTER you're told about it, if it is an impossibility to come to the conclusion that a thing exists until AFTER someone has planted the idea of that thing in your head, then that thing isn't real.  That is just reality.  You would never envision Santa Claus, fairies, gnomes, trolls, Harry Potter or your specific version of God if nobody ever told you about these things.  You would never walk the earth seeking knowledge and gain an understanding of Harry Potter if you had never heard of Harry Potter or the stories he was in.  The same is true of any and all gods.  And if you can't see it until someone tells you it's there, if that is completely and utterly impossible, then that thing IS NOT REAL.  That is how reality works and not even Lee "Lie Through My Teeth" Strobel can change reality, though he certainly tries to do a number of facts.

[Unbeliever]

Hello everyone!  To be honest I am a Pastor who loves God with my whole heart.   However,  I am not here to preach or condemn anyone!!!!!  I wanted to pose this question and see if anyone would be willing to interact with me: What is the biggest criticism of modern Christians?  What makes them less credible or heard in society and on an individual level today? 

Thank you for starting this thread, it's been an interesting read!

I have little to add to the foregoing, since my fellow posters have done such a wonderful job of expressing most of the criticisms we have toward Christianity (and other such similar absurdities).

One thing I might expand on is the hypocrisy of many Christians. I realize we can't paint with too broad a brush, but it seems to me that very few Christians have actually read the whole Bible, cover to cover. I doubt Christianity would be a viable religion for long if all Christians would read what they claim to be the very Word of their God. That's what I did, when I was a young Christian, a Southern Baptist. Once I'd read the Bible all the way through to the bitter end, I could no longer convince myself to believe it was the message of any God to us lowly humans. Maybe you'd tell me that I needed the Holy Ghost in my heart, or something, in order to understand God's message.

That being said, how can anyone claim to believe the Bible who hasn't read it, and has little idea what it contains?

And how can anyone who has read it manage to convince themselves (as I was unable to) that it really is the Word of God to man?

I agree with a previous poster, I don't believe their are any Christians, only deluded sheep, who can be controlled and bilked of their hard-earned wealth by those unscrupulous vultures who have learned how to prey on them.

I don't know if that particular shoe fits you or not. I suppose you're one who's read the entire Good Book, so tell me - how can you believe it? And if you don't, how can you sleep at night knowing you're preaching a false gospel?

[marom1963]

What makes Christians less credible is the surrender of their minds. To cede the only thing that makes us higher primates: the faculty of logical, skeptical thinking and reasoning for the believe without evidence: faith.
That goes for ANY superstition/religion.
But let me ask you a couple of questions since you are here on our turf. As a Christian pastor you must belief that the Bible is the inerrant word of a omnipotent, omni-benevolent deity. You must also believe that laws of physics can be suspended in favor of the supernatural.

A) When did you stop taking the good book literally? You obviously don't stone people anymore for working on Sabbaths, the Sun does not revolve around the Earth and we can be openly secular without you hurling rocks at us. And don't forget the Jewish Bible has to be followed to the T (Matthew 5:17,18) according to Jesus.
B) As a pastor you surely must know that the Christian Bible is a mishmash of Babylonian, Sumerian, Egyptian, Roman and Greek fables and myths. There is absolutely nothing new in the Bible, so it cannot be possibly the word of a God, unless he is lazy or dumb. If you know this by being honest to yourself, how can you live with selling ancient Pagan mythology as the truth?

You're asking a group of people who spent more than a thousand years murdering each other for small differences of opinion to have a conscience? How many angels can dance on the head of a pin? You had better know! Your fingernails, toenails, genitals, bowels, and limbs might pay dearly if you do not!

[AllPurposeAtheist]

It's always struck me that a pastor even posting on this site should mean there's quite a bit of doubt there.  No fear of automatically going to H E double dirty q-tips? OH REALLLLYYYY? How do you know we aren't just gods little spies just waiting for one of your kind to amble in so we can say GOTCHA! ?
I'm calling big spooky right now!  Little spooky died for your sins,but not the sin of hanging out with KNOWN DEVIL WORSHIPPERS! HAHAHAHAHA!