Why do so many Christians seem so self-assured?

[themanbearpig12]

This is something very irritating I’ve noticed. Whenever I talk to a Christian about religion, often times I get into polite debates about doctrine and faith that can quickly turn ugly. I ask them questions like “Do you think that Jesus and Buddha both received enlightenment and are held in equal stature in the eyes of God?”, and they immediately laugh, snort, or get angry. The really annoying thing about many Christians, and of people of other faiths, is the way many swallow the beliefs and dogma that their Church or parents tell them to, or claim that all the answers lie in the Bible, which was written by men (perhaps with God’s help).

Now, I’m not trying to bash Christianity or call them all ignorant. Heck, I’m a Christian myself. I know that not all Christians are like this, and I know that organizations like the Catholic Church have done a lot of good (as well as bad) over the centuries. I’ve met a good amount of tolerant and open-minded Christians over the years. But I think that this applies to a rather small minority.

I often get answers to my questions like “Because Jesus Our Lord said so,” or “It is written in the Holy Book; therefore, it is true.” I ask them something like “Have you ever really sat down to think about why you believe in this set of beliefs, and not just what your parents taught you to believe? Like, really sat down and thought for a couple of hours, or talked to your Priest?” I usually get another nonsensical answer, and then they smile sadly and shake their head at me, as if I’m some lost, lonely soul who knows nothing about the truth, which they claim to know.

I’m very sorry if I offended anyone on here, but I would like to hear your opinions. I personally think Jesus would be disappointed and sad to see the way Christianity developed after his death. What do you think?

 

[dcdurel]

This is something very irritating I’ve noticed. Whenever I talk to a Christian about religion, often times I get into polite debates about doctrine and faith that can quickly turn ugly. I ask them questions like “Do you think that Jesus and Buddha both received enlightenment and are held in equal stature in the eyes of God?”, and they immediately laugh, snort, or get angry.

Of course they do, because if you claim to be Christian, then why would Jesus need enlightenment, since He is already God, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. Of course, as man, He learned from God, but since He was a Divine Person, He already knew in His Divinity what He learned as man. To say that Jesus did not know something, as a person, would be to teach the Nestorian heresy, if I remember correctly, where Jesus is split up into two persons. Raymond Brown was always pushing in this direction.

And second, where as all men receive some enlightenment from God, ONLY Jesus is the fullness of revelation, since He already is God. Buddha never claimed to be God or to even know who God was.

 

[suburbanzombie]

I think that these Christians who seem so self-assured are in reality the least assured Christians. If you have nothing better to say than “because He said so” or “because its written”, you are not sure of what you are arguing about, lol.

Then again, there could be some who have great faith but little facts to support their faith. I don’t believe these people are wrong, just not really great debaters.

I agree that people should know exactly what to say to the questions you ask if they are knowledgeable about their faith, however you can’t always expect someone to know all of the answers. Hopefully those who don’t have the answers will be encouraged to find them. I believe to have faith you don’t have to have proof, but you definitely need to know your reasons and what you are defending.

 

[edwest2]

It’s easy to point to those who laugh, snort or get angry. May I suggest you visit the National Catholic Register site?

ncregister.com/

Or perhaps a book by Pope Benedict?

Peace,
Ed

 

[Nathan_Wagar]

This is something very irritating I’ve noticed. Whenever I talk to a Christian about religion, often times I get into polite debates about doctrine and faith that can quickly turn ugly. I ask them questions like “Do you think that Jesus and Buddha both received enlightenment and are held in equal stature in the eyes of God?”, and they immediately laugh, snort, or get angry. The really annoying thing about many Christians, and of people of other faiths, is the way many swallow the beliefs and dogma that their Church or parents tell them to, or claim that all the answers lie in the Bible, which was written by men (perhaps with God’s help).

Now, I’m not trying to bash Christianity or call them all ignorant. Heck, I’m a Christian myself. I know that not all Christians are like this, and I know that organizations like the Catholic Church have done a lot of good (as well as bad) over the centuries. I’ve met a good amount of tolerant and open-minded Christians over the years. But I think that this applies to a rather small minority.

I often get answers to my questions like “Because Jesus Our Lord said so,” or “It is written in the Holy Book; therefore, it is true.” I ask them something like “Have you ever really sat down to think about why you believe in this set of beliefs, and not just what your parents taught you to believe? Like, really sat down and thought for a couple of hours, or talked to your Priest?” I usually get another nonsensical answer, and then they smile sadly and shake their head at me, as if I’m some lost, lonely soul who knows nothing about the truth, which they claim to know.

I’m very sorry if I offended anyone on here, but I would like to hear your opinions. I personally think Jesus would be disappointed and sad to see the way Christianity developed after his death. What do you think?

I can appreciate you frustration, I have noticed this phenomen myself while I was in the military and deployed to the Bible Belt (as a Catholic). I think a few things can contribute to an unnecessarily hostile response, and they tend to be interrelated to varying degrees.

1. They are uneducated.
2. Due to religion being in many cases a deep core belief, they take it too personally.
3. They are not praying enough, and so are not truly living their faith.
4. They are arrogant.

They could be any one of, or combination of these. The trick is to note the presence of one of these things, in them and yourself. This is crucial, because there are two people in the conversation. One of these traits in yourself may be setting off one of these traits in them. Lack of education on their part may cause arrogance on your part, which in turn may cause them to see you as attacking their deep-seated beliefs. These traits tend to play off of each other between the two people dialoguing. Every now and then, you will meet the balanced individual who truly lives his faith, and he is able to maintain an intelligent, respectful conversation with you. However, make sure you are not part of the problem. Does this make sense?

 

[Monica4316]

I think that a part of Christianity is not only believing that Jesus was a good person, a teacher, etc, but also that He is God and the only way to the Father. I think that often if Christians seem self-assured, it’s not that they are self-assured, rather they believe in this strongly. Do you believe in this too, as a Christian?

God bless you

 

[Jehoshua]

Its not as simple as ignorant answers. Not denying people who just say “because it is written” what your presumably experiencing is because christians have something.

faith.

Of course a christian will have doubt, doubt is natural, but a faithful christian (catholic, protestant etc etc) will obviously defend his faith whether they’re educated in the religion or not precisely because he has genuine faith that what he believes is true.

to do otherwise would connot a lack of that same faith.

 

[Iron_Donkey]

I imagine some of us are more self assured than others, and many of us more so than we have any right to be. That said, I think there are a few things worth pointing out about your comment.

I ask them questions like “Do you think that Jesus and Buddha both received enlightenment and are held in equal stature in the eyes of God?”, and they immediately laugh, snort, or get angry.

If I’m being honest here, I’d have to admit that my first reaction would be to laugh, although I would feel bad about it as soon as I realized that the question was sincere.

The thing is, the answer “no” is extremely fundamental to Catholicism and the more orthodox protestant Christian religions in general. Christ is God, He has no equals, or anything even approaching peers. Now I could explain why, but the truth is I don’t go through the process of explaining why in my head every time something involving the superiority of Christ to all things comes up. I’ve thought it through a couple times maybe, but since then it’s been in the “true drawer” for so long that I may forget that it was at some point a question.

It’s kind of what happens in a math class - you prove a theorem, then in the future you just use it. You don’t re-prove it every time a similar situation comes up. And some theorems are so fundamental that you are occasionally surprised when it turns out that someone hasn’t seen it before.

Or, to put it another way, it’s always instructive to reinvent the wheel, but you probably don’t want to do so every time you drive to the grocery store. And you’d probably be surprised if you ran across someone who hasn’t seen one before.

Many of us would just be surprised by your question, and our reactions would then vary.

I often get answers to my questions like “Because Jesus Our Lord said so,” or “It is written in the Holy Book; therefore, it is true.”

When you get the answer “because it’s in the Holy Book,” or any other answer referring you to authority, you’ve actually gotten a sort of compound answer. A bunch of answers for the price of one.

For example:

Lets say you ask “why are homosexual acts considered sinful?”

A possible answer would be “Some Name, Chapter X, Verse Y.”

For the Catholic, this is answer is really a chain of reason based off the existence of God, the fact that Christ is God, the fact that Christ founded a Church and gave it certain authority, and the fact that the Church used that authority to declare with absolute certainty that certain writings are infallible, and, lastly, that those writings support our view all of which (if true), taken together, would show undeniably that our view is correct.

Each part of that can be argued, but we’re not likely to automatically do so for a question on the level of the example when we’re discussing things with a self professed Christian, simply because most Christians have also arrived at the conclusion, in some way or another, that anything in the Holy Book is known to be true.

Of course, there is a wording issue here. If the question is phrased to ask us why we know that they are sinful, a reference to an authoritative source saying so is enough.

But if the question is why are they sinful, then we get into discussions involving natural law and what not - I don’t think the why is spelled out in scripture on this point, but I am not sure.

–I think part of the problem is this - Christianity is based on revelation. Results require reason, but it’s reason based off of revelation. So a lot of things end up being arguments based off of authority. But the thing is, despite that it’s popular these days to bristle at the mere mention of “authority” on matters such as these, an argument from authority is a valid argument if it is know that the authority is right. The whole point of revelation is that it is an authority that is known to be right.

Particularly, if it can be shown that “Jesus Our Lord said so,” and Jesus is in fact our Lord, then the question is answered. Answered pretty unquestionably too - Jesus is the eternal Word of God, He more or less IS Truth. Anything He said, if you accept that, must be true.

And last:

I often get answers to my questions like “Because Jesus Our Lord said so,” or “It is written in the Holy Book; therefore, it is true.” I ask them something like “Have you ever really sat down to think about why you believe in this set of beliefs, and not just what your parents taught you to believe? Like, really sat down and thought for a couple of hours, or talked to your Priest?” I usually get another nonsensical answer, and then they smile sadly and shake their head at me, as if I’m some lost, lonely soul who knows nothing about the truth, which they claim to know.

How is the second related to the first? I most definitely have spent some time thinking about this stuff, and I imagine that most people of the type who would get into extended debates with you have as well, but I’d really be thrown if I just spent some time explaining how the Bible teaches something, then get the answer “have you really ever even thought about this stuff?” I’d have a hard time not coming to the conclusion that you weren’t just rejecting our reasoning out of hand because you disagree with the conclusions. That might be unjust, but it is the first impression I’d get.

 

[fhansen]

This is something very irritating I’ve noticed. Whenever I talk to a Christian about religion, often times I get into polite debates about doctrine and faith that can quickly turn ugly. I ask them questions like “Do you think that Jesus and Buddha both received enlightenment and are held in equal stature in the eyes of God?”, and they immediately laugh, snort, or get angry. The really annoying thing about many Christians, and of people of other faiths, is the way many swallow the beliefs and dogma that their Church or parents tell them to, or claim that all the answers lie in the Bible, which was written by men (perhaps with God’s help).

Now, I’m not trying to bash Christianity or call them all ignorant. Heck, I’m a Christian myself. I know that not all Christians are like this, and I know that organizations like the Catholic Church have done a lot of good (as well as bad) over the centuries. I’ve met a good amount of tolerant and open-minded Christians over the years. But I think that this applies to a rather small minority.

I often get answers to my questions like “Because Jesus Our Lord said so,” or “It is written in the Holy Book; therefore, it is true.” I ask them something like “Have you ever really sat down to think about why you believe in this set of beliefs, and not just what your parents taught you to believe? Like, really sat down and thought for a couple of hours, or talked to your Priest?” I usually get another nonsensical answer, and then they smile sadly and shake their head at me, as if I’m some lost, lonely soul who knows nothing about the truth, which they claim to know.

I’m very sorry if I offended anyone on here, but I would like to hear your opinions. I personally think Jesus would be disappointed and sad to see the way Christianity developed after his death. What do you think?

One of my personal gripes are people who seem self-assured that all roads lead to God. Generally speaking, they’re people who haven’t done much travelin’, IMO.

 

[dcdurel]

“Do you think that Jesus and Buddha both received enlightenment and are held in equal stature in the eyes of God?”

That is an ignorant question. Buddha never claimed to have known God, and did not claim to be God. Jesus claimed to be God and proved it by His teachings and his miracles, which were not denied by those who lived at that time and at the time the historical Gospels were written.

Thus, Christians have the right to be annoyed or make fun of the question.

 

[dcdurel]

Another reason that committed Christians ARE so self assured is that they have experienced God’s grace through Jesus Christ, that has freed them from the slavery of sin, such as alcoholism, drug abuse, anger, etc. and has given them the ability to love others as Jesus has loved them.

No other religion claims to be founded by God other than Christianity, (the Catholic religion)

Remember Buddha did not claim to be God, Mohammed did not claim to be God, Moses, the lawgiver did not claim to be God, though the miracles associated with him prove he was directed by God. Thus no other religion has a direct founder who claimed to be God except Jesus Christ, who founded the Catholic Church who claim to be God.

 

[TheTrueCentrist]

Another reason that committed Christians ARE so self assured is that they have experienced God’s grace through Jesus Christ, that has freed them from the slavery of sin, such as alcoholism, drug abuse, anger, etc. and has given them the ability to love others as Jesus has loved them.

No other religion claims to be founded by God other than Christianity, (the Catholic religion)

Remember Buddha did not claim to be God, Mohammed did not claim to be God, Moses, the lawgiver did not claim to be God, though the miracles associated with him prove he was directed by God. Thus no other religion has a direct founder who claimed to be God except Jesus Christ, who founded the Catholic Church who claim to be God.

Self assured people who claim they are God are a dime a dozen, nowadays we just keep them all in mental institutions.

The Nation of Islam believes their founder is God incarnate. See also: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_who_have_been_considered_deities

 

[Lief_Erikson]

I’m very sorry if I offended anyone on here, but I would like to hear your opinions. I personally think Jesus would be disappointed and sad to see the way Christianity developed after his death. What do you think?

While I must disagree with you about Jesus being sad over how Catholicism has developed, I do agree with you that people should think about what they believe and understand why they hold to the truths (or errors) they hold to. They would be much better off if they did this prayerfully, with an open heart, surrendered to the will of God and the wisdom of the Holy Spirit.

I also agree that it would be wonderful if people thought with a more open mind about their faith, and considered the views of others when presented with new information. We need to pray a lot for the grace to be able to do that ourselves. Being able to do that on a personal level is one of my big responsibilities, and I need to pray for the grace to give true consideration to what others tell me, and think thoughtfully and prayerfully about it, perhaps with some studying and research, rather than just arguing.

Besides, if they are wrong, this process might help me to understand why they are wrong and help them. On the other hand, if they are right, then this may bring me benefit.

May we all become fully surrendered to the will of God, submissive to His wisdom, and “lean not on our own understanding.”

 

[dcdurel]

Self assured people who claim they are God are a dime a dozen, nowadays we just keep them all in mental institutions.

The Nation of Islam believes their founder is God incarnate. See also: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_who_have_been_considered_deities

But their founder did not claim to be God.
He did no public miracles as evidence that he as God and his teachings were not even close to being those of God.

for example, from the en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallace_D._Fard

“According to the supreme wisdom lessons, Fard taught that Whites were devils because of what the black man Yakub instituted on the island of Patmos or Pelan, which was a culture of lies and murder that was the order of rule, he established to ensure the creation of his new people. According to Elijah, Fard taught that Yakub had to establish a birth control law and a secret policy among the ruling class on the island. Their secret was that they were to kill all dark babies at birth and lie to the parents about the child’s fate. Then they were to make sure that the lighter skinned children thrived and become successful in society. This made light skin over time the preference. This was the establishment of the idea of White Supremacy. It was necessary to allow the process of grafting or making of a lighter skin race of people who would be different. The idea was that if the light skinned people where allowed to mate freely with the dark skinned people, the population would remain dark skinned due to the genetic dominance of the original dark skinned people. This process took approximately 600 years to produce a blond haired, blue eyed group of people. As they migrated back into the mainland they where greeted and welcomed by the indigenous people wherever they went.”

The only direct founder of any religion who claimed to be God was Jesus Christ, who founded the Catholic religion, AND who claimed to be God, and who proved it by His teachings and His public miracles.