What I dont understand christianity! Why must I just believe!
Hello steemit, I have been thinking about this a lot lately, well when I say lately I am referring to the last year or so of my life. I would like to ask a few questions about the Christian religion, about things I don't understand. My hope is that I might get some answers so I can make sense of it all.
This is where I stand, I believe there is a higher power but I have no idea what that means.
Here are my questions?
If God was, is and shall be everything then what happened to all the people who died before Christianity was globally adopted? Many people did not believe in God because he did not exist to them at the time therefore they did not believe in Christianity so they are condemned?
That brings me to my next point, It say's in the bible if you worship any other God other than the Christian god you are worshiping a false idol. So does this mean the most peaceful person on earth, a Buddest Monk for example, according to Christianity is condemned because he does not believe? What happens to all the other people of the world who have other religions? Does God just banish them all to hell?
Why must I have blind faith? Why must I just believe? I am told God will then come into my life and I will feel his presence. I must not question and have blind faith yet God created me in his own image so surely he would understand I need a little proof first? For me personally seeing or experiencing is believing.
I am hoping to get a little incite on these questions as I am coming to realize that Christianity causes more division amongst the world than anything els! I have raised with a christian background but cant find comfort and except it!
Thanks for reading
Cheerz
So, I've upvoted. I like the questions...
You shouldn't try to understand God, that is impossible.
Understanding what God wills us to do that is possible, and your questions hit on that point quite well.
~ "Before Christianity was globally adopted?"
History is a topic of importance. I have found that what one believes to be "Historical Fact" defines the religion they have.
~ "so they are condemned?"
God is more important than a few humans. Regardless, we can assume God has offered them the opportunity to receive forgiveness.
~ "What happens to all the other people of the world who have other religions? Does God just banish them all to hell?"
In life, we make all the choices (or at least feel that we do). Just because we lose that ability in death does not mean God is the one who placed us in "hell". Nor does it mean everyone who has not heard of Jesus is going to "hell". I put "hell" in quotes because I have less of an understanding as to what this "hell" is, that people talk about, than an understanding of who God is.
~ "Why must I have blind faith?"
Faith is required if the Truth of all things is to be impacted or moved by us. For one who does have Faith in Truth this is like asking; why must I believe in gravity or light?... You don't have to... Life is just better, if you do.
Truth does not yield to the "needs" of a petty human, and if it does I hope you come to an awareness, of how low it stooped, of how far back it bent, just so you could get your "proof".
~ "Christianity causes more division amongst the world than anything els!"
I'm glad you are being honest about this opinion. But you should think to yourself, who taught such an opinion to you. Yes, Jesus admitted his teachings would cause division. And, the Jews foretold that Jesus' teachings would cause division. But the division is caused by people picking specific teachings from Jesus(or the bible) and making those teachings the most important in the given Christian sect.
What was the most important teaching? Maybe what he said as he died?
"Father(Truth), forgive them"
So, we should forgive each other.
Now think, why does that create division?
I can't speak for others, but I had similar questions in the past about being a Christian (Roman catholic). I thought a lot about it and also found examples from a priest that showed me what really matters and what not. This is how I view things:
There are actually two things at play here. One is the religion itself, and one is what the church tells me what to belief. The things about hell, having full faith and your example with the monk (I come back on that later) and people who lived before Christianity fall in the latter part. These are things that "governing bodies" like the church use to enforce their existence and power over people. As long as you except these things, there is not much of a problem (I visit the Church from time to time, but not every Sunday.) The thing that is IMHO most important and where God will "judge" you on when you die (again, I think God is not an evil entity, where you have to proof yourself to) is how good you lived. The bible is a book with nice stories that tells you what good and what bad is (some parts are outdated due to its age though). Use it as a guide through your live, but don't follow it to the word. If you look at it like that way, a Buddhist monk, a Muslim and a Christian follow all more or less the same rules, while they might not follow the same God.
I had a similar experience when I was younger. People told me I "just have to have faith", but it was hard to understand what they even meant by that. How can you have faith in something you don't even understand? It was only later that I realized that faith is not necessarily "blind faith". Blind faith is believing in something without any evidence. But you can have faith in something precisely because you have discovered good reasons to believe it. Some people can believe without question, no problem. But others, like myself, need some good reasons first. Luckily, there is a long history of Christian apologetics (referring to "giving an explanation or reason", not "apologizing" for something), and if you're serious about wanting answers to your questions, you have only to look. A very good starting point is the book Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. You can listen to the audiobook for free on YouTube.
To address your questions about those who died before Christ came, or who never heard of Christianity: First of all, if God is all-knowing, then He knows exactly what is in a person's heart. He wrote His law, or moral code, onto our hearts (you might refer to it as your conscience). We are all aware of the essence of what He wishes from us (don't steal, don't murder, don't cheat, etc), whether we've heard of Christianity or not. But the more we are aware of, the more responsible we are for our choices. If a person has heard of Christianity and chooses not to follow Christ, he is held responsible for that decision. But if a person has never heard of Christ, his ignorance is no fault of his own. God knows the state of his heart, and he will be judged fairly in proportion to what he can be held responsible for, such as acting in accordance with conscience, God's law that is written on his heart.
God sees all time, past, present, and future, simultaneously. He knows the states of all souls before Christ came, as well as after. And if God is the measure of all goodness and all justice, then we can be assured that we will be judged fairly and with mercy.
We have something in common. I have written a blog on Steemit regarding From Ashes to Beauty. The fact that you are asking the right questions, I am sure there are lots of opinion. But only God knows what you need.
You're trying to 'understand' Christianity. This means you are trying to incorporate Christianity into your world-picture. Christianity is itself a fully developed world picture and it's very different from yours. That's why it won't fit in with your world picture.
You becoming christian will happen when you manage to step through the window of meaning into the Christian universe. This will feel like this: you will read something written by a believer, or you will hear a believer speaking about it, and suddenly you will "GET IT".
You will understand what the story of Christ MEANS. Not with reference to your world picture, it won't feel like understanding anything else you've ever understood before, it feels a little bit like understanding a geometry problem, but it's its own thing, it feels like the top of your head open and the truth of Christ shines down into your mind. You realize what it means that Christ conquered death, you realize what it means that he went up to be Crucified, you realize the good news. It's great.