Why are many Christians self-contradictory?

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Ragdollmaster
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Why are many Christians self-contradictory?

Post by Ragdollmaster » Fri Jun 12, 2009 9:36 am

It seems to me that the majority of people who hold beliefs in Christianity are extraordinarily self-contradictory, and worse, they realize it but don't care because that's what the priests and bishops have shoved into their faces, and they accept it in ignorance.

eg, most holidays, which mean "Holy Days", would be considered sin by their standards. Easter is a fertility ritual- the egg/rabbit are symbols of a Roman-Pagan sex god.

Halloween- well, that's barely disguised. Ritual carried out by old nomadic pagan tribes to celebrate demons and spirits coming into the world for one day, which Christianity has altered to include candy and nice ghosts like Casper.

Christmas is just a modification of Yule, a Norwegian pagan festival with lots of eating and chopping down trees to drive away demonic spirits. They really have no excuse for this as there's pretty much no chance Jesus was born anywhere even near December (some Biblical scholars think it's closer to late summer/early fall) and then considering that the only time birthdays are mentioned in the Bible are for evil rulers celebrating them, and one of them ends with the decapitation of John the Baptizer. Or John the Apostle. One of those two, but point remains someone who's a good person gets killed.

So why do so many Christians accept the bullshit handed to them by nearly all of the world's churches? Are they just too lazy to look for what they would perceive as the truth since they assume the Bible's historical accuracy? Or do they just want some kind of consolation and reassurance that they get to go be in heaven if they go somewhere once a week and give nice gifts a few times a year?

Not even going to start on the whole "be a good person" thing they always talk about when the immorality of society today is nearly tangible and encompasses Christians as well.

BIG sidenote; this isn't hating on all Christians. There are a minority, maybe just a few million, who earnestly want to believe they're doing the right thing and try to, which can be respected, but most of them are just following through a half-assed attempt for all the great benefits religion offers.

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Zhukov
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Post by Zhukov » Fri Jun 12, 2009 10:22 am

I have discussed this and similar topics with Christian friends.

Most of them simply do not require they're system of belief to be entirely rational or cohesive. The fact that some of the precepts or doctrines of Christianity are a bit contradictory is not an issue.

They would say that you are entirely missing the point. I think they would be right.

As for the whole hijacking of pagan festivals and such, that's just plain old human pragmatism at work. If you are trying to convert a bunch of heathen types, it's a lot easier if you can adapt their existing traditions rather then try and overwrite them entirely.
And, once again, you are missing the point. What matters to them is that they celebrate they birth (or resurrection etc) of Jesus. Whether or not this occurs on the exact date he was born is somewhat irrelevant.

Of course, the Christians I know are probably not an accurate representation of the entire religion. Many Christians would probably tell you that there is nothing self-contradictory about their beliefs and that the whole pagan festivals thing is simply not true. And I suspect that some of them could make their case a lot better then you have.



DISCLAIMER: I am not a Christian.
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Renegade_Turner
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Re: Why are many Christians self-contradictory?

Post by Renegade_Turner » Fri Jun 12, 2009 11:03 am

I wasn't aware that Hallowe'en was a Christian holiday?

I'm confused, though. You said in another thread that I could be insulting people, and that I was showing a lack of regard for that fact, but a lot of what you've just said could be insulting to certain Christians whether you intended it as so or not? Why are you not interrogating yourself in the same way and asking yourself the same questions?

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Re: Why are many Christians self-contradictory?

Post by invertin » Fri Jun 12, 2009 12:30 pm

Ragdollmaster wrote:Halloween- well, that's barely disguised. Ritual carried out by old nomadic pagan tribes to celebrate demons and spirits coming into the world for one day, which Christianity has altered to include candy and nice ghosts like Casper.
Except for the fact that Halloween didn't have trick or treating at all until recent times.

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Re: Why are many Christians self-contradictory?

Post by Count Roland » Sun Jun 14, 2009 6:50 pm

well actually the reason all these "christian" holidays fall on or close to the date of older pagan ones is because that was their way of converting people. they'd say oh look we celebrate all saints day which just so oddly happens to be on the same day as your people's favorite festivity. oh hey look at this your celebration of an equinox just happens to be one of the holiest days of our year which we celebrate the same way. come on over it'll be fun.

Healey

Re: Why are many Christians self-contradictory?

Post by Healey » Sun Jun 14, 2009 7:39 pm

!
Last edited by Healey on Mon Feb 15, 2021 9:25 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Why are many Christians self-contradictory?

Post by Ragdollmaster » Sun Jun 14, 2009 8:27 pm

Yeah, there are a lot of Christians nowadays who have changed their arguments to something like "God propelled/controlled evolution".

Which can't be either disproved or proved! Another Christian win-win situation! Let's go open our Yul- er, Christmas gifts!

@People talking about the pagan adaptations: Yeah, I know it was their way of converting people, but it was self-contradictory to an extreme. Christians absolutely despised Pagans- ever hear of the Salem Witch Trials? That was all fear propelling them to slaughter people they believe to be Pagan, most of them actually innocent. If they're willing to kill them, why would they pollute their own religion with theirs?

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Post by Zhukov » Sun Jun 14, 2009 8:41 pm

Ragdollmaster wrote:@People talking about the pagan adaptations: Yeah, I know it was their way of converting people, but it was self-contradictory to an extreme. Christians absolutely despised Pagans- ever hear of the Salem Witch Trials? That was all fear propelling them to slaughter people they believe to be Pagan, most of them actually innocent. If they're willing to kill them, why would they pollute their own religion with theirs?
Pragmatism.

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Lotus Wolf
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Re: Why are many Christians self-contradictory?

Post by Lotus Wolf » Sun Jun 14, 2009 9:59 pm

This reminds me of a quote...

"I like your Christ, he is alright. However, I hate your Christians, they are so unlike him..."

Can't remember who that was, but...

I have many opinions about religion in general, non of them good, but Christianity is right up there with Satanism in my book.

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Re: Why are many Christians self-contradictory?

Post by Viking Zippy » Sun Jun 14, 2009 10:12 pm

That was Gandhi, and according to the many results that Google yielded, it's more or less "I like your Christ, not your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ."

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Re: Why are many Christians self-contradictory?

Post by Ragdollmaster » Mon Jun 15, 2009 8:04 am

Who wouldn't like Christ? The man was practically a saint. (Hurhur see what I did there) Many historians acknowledge his existence as a human, the only real debate going on is whether or not he was God's son on Earth.

@Lotus: I... wouldn't quite go THAT far. Some of them at least try to believe they're doing the right thing while followers of a so-called devil are all hard-core emo kids 20 years later when they find out cutting themselves isn't enough. So they progress up the list of Satanic rituals until they get to the part where their stomachs are sliced open and all of their organs are roasted over a fire while they're still alive. Made that up, but... it's possible.

@Zhukov: Yeah, that's what they were doing, but for people who claimed to have such high moral status, it's a little ironic, don't you think?

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Re: Why are many Christians self-contradictory?

Post by Lotus Wolf » Mon Jun 15, 2009 12:44 pm

Self-contradiction is more or less present in all religions. That's why I have such a bad opinion about them.

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Re: Why are many Christians self-contradictory?

Post by Ragdollmaster » Mon Jun 15, 2009 3:47 pm

Of course it is. Moral codes in a religion might be sound, but when no one really follows them, what the hell's the point?

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Re: Why are many Christians self-contradictory?

Post by Renegade_Turner » Mon Jun 15, 2009 4:57 pm

Healey wrote:another for Christians to think about: you don't believe in evolution?
with all the proof that humans evolved from apes, they believe that Adam & Eve just popped up(what about dinosuars?) and created human population.

it's just plain stupid to me
Evolution has been proved, yes, but what about at the beginning? Yes, humans are a member of the class known as hominidae which includes, among others, gorillas. However, what about the gene pool these classifications morphed from? What about the origins of that gene pool? What about the beginning of life as we know it? How do you explain that? Science hasn't been able to.

The vast majority of Christians in today's world have acknowledged the story of Adam and Eve as a moralistic parable. To blame a very tiny minority of modern Christians for the mindset of modern Christians in general is just silly, so I don't know how you could say something like "you [all] don't believe in evolution?"

For example, my mother is a strong Christian. However, she is the primary science teacher and Physics professor in a school of over 1000. To say that there is no leeway for an amalgamation of the doctrines of creationism and modern science is a bit shortsighted in my eyes.

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Re: Why are many Christians self-contradictory?

Post by Ragdollmaster » Mon Jun 15, 2009 5:18 pm

And science is still expanding, too. New breakthroughs occur regularly as our general knowledge of everything expands.

@Healey: Very few do believe that people and the Earth 'popped' up.

Not using science in any way to justify the belief in something is nothing more than ignorance, but extremists will call it 'faith'.

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