On the whole do you find Christianity a good religion?
413546
Christianity in it's self is a good creed but it is of those who practice it determines if it is good or bad.\n\nNot all christians are mean,hateful,snotty,and judgmental but those who are gives our belief a very bad reputation.
509022
same as any other group of ppl. some are good, some arent so good. christianity started out with the best of intentions, but theres always going to be flaws with stuff like that.
462098
You wanted an answer, so here it is.\n\nShort answer: No.\n\n***\n\nReasons I'm not a Christian\n\nSummary:\n\n1. Christianity is a “me” religion.\n2. I wasted over twenty years being one and it never benefited me. In fact, it caused considerable harm.\n3. Jesus probably never existed.\n4. Even if Jesus *did* exist, he did not fulfill the requirements of Jewish Messiah as outlined in the Jewish bible.\n5. Even if Jesus *had* fulfilled Messianic requirements, the Messiah was never meant to be God; just a human.\n6. Even if Jesus existed and *had* fulfilled the Messianic requirements and *was* God, the Jewish Messiah was only ever for the Jews, and not the Gentiles.\n7. There is no need for the Christian idea of “salvation”. There is nothing from which to be saved. Adam and Eve didn’t bring death into the world. There is no devil; there is no eternal hell.\n8. The basic theology of Christianity is pure insanity.\n9. The Jesus portrayed in the Christian bible is not a being of love.\n10. Jesus is nothing original and nothing new.\n11. Christians are inconsistent with their views.\n12. The idea of Jesus paying for our sins is completely unethical.\n13. Fear-based belief systems are damaging; a form of emotional abuse, and can hardly be considered valid.\n14. Belief in a deity is not required for a person to be good.\n15. Emotional blackmail isn't my thing.\n\n***\n\nDetailed explanation:\n\n1. Christianity is a “me” religion.\n\nThe very basis of Christianity is incredibly selfish. If I believe in the Jesus story, it helps absolutely no one but me. Whether I believe because I want to go to heaven, or because I want to stay out of hell, it's still all about ME. No one benefits if I believe because I "love" God, or because I fear hell. No one, that is, but ME.\n\n2. I wasted over twenty years being a Christian and it never benefited me. In fact, it caused considerable harm.\n\nThat's basically it in a nutshell: I've been there, done that, got the tee-shirt - and I don't want to do it again. \n\nChristianity taught me to be ashamed for being me; that I was a "sinner" by genetic default, born bad and rotten to the core; that it was my fault that someone killed a guy over 2000 years ago and I should feel personally responsible; that God wouldn't want anything to do with me unless I took a metaphysical bloodbath. I was taught that I was second-rate for being a woman and that my role here on earth was to submit to my husband and pop out babies. That it was my fault that my ex raped me because I was a woman and I was too tempting for him.\n\nDid I have self-esteem issues? You bet I did.\n\n3. Jesus probably never existed.\n\nOutside of the Christian bible, there is absolutely NOTHING that is both historical and contemporary (of Jesus) to show that he ever existed. While there is enough literature left to fill a library from the time that Jesus supposedly walked the earth, NONE of it mentions Jesus.\n\nHere are some of the authors from the time Jesus allegedly lived:\n\nApollonius Persius\nPausanias\nArrian Phaedrus\nMartial Valerius Falccus\nColumella Phlegon\nJuvenal Statius\nDio Chrysostum Pliny the Younger\nJosephus Seneca\nFlorus Lucius Quintilian\nEpictetus Pompon Mela\nLucian Tacitus\nPaterculus Valerius Maximus\nAppian Petronius\nAulus Gellius Philo-Judaeus\nLysias Theon of Symran\nLucanus Suetonius\nJustus of Tiberius Silius Italicus\nDamis Pliny the Elder\nDion Pruseus Plutarch\nFavorinus Ptolemy\nHermogones Quintius Cutius\n\nThis list is from John E. Remsburg's book "The Christ: A Critical Review and Analysis of the Evidence of His Existence". \n\nThese authors were from the time of Jesus' alleged life, or within a century after - yet apart from a forged passage in Josephus' works - just ONE passage! - there is to be found no mention of Jesus whatsoever. (Most historians agree that this passage was forged, and if Josephus had truly believed that
509975
you know the same God? right. so much so that you have typed it G-d...right. as for whether you really are saved or good with God, no one can be the judge of that, except God Himself. however, the only TRUE RELIGION is christianity. end of story. it's the religion behind believing what you need and having the right relationship with Jesus/God. so there ya are. the truth.
655928
all religions are good in thier own way
236708
I believe in God, but religion is to binding. There are good values in every religion. Everyone beleves differently, but when any religion is broken down, God is the basis. So to me religion is not important, and does not limit me to my worship in the lord.
425274
Depends on the Christian and whether they truly understand and follow what the Bible teaches about what a Christian should be. For myself, I think it's fair to say that I do much more good to others than I do harm.
838725
I think that most Christians are good and do positive things. But then, I think that most people strive to be good and do positive things. We have all sinned and fall short of the Glory of God. No one is perfect.
994361
quite well said.\nNice religion isn't it??\nJust like any other religion I've encountered.
342704
It depends.  What do you think is good?  If you are a Christian, then you know that you are not good.  No human is good. No animal is good.  Only God is good.  But, in our world, most think of good as an earthly thing.  I'm not criticizing the non-religious people, just saying that if you are not religious, and you think of yourself as good, you most likely are.
912917
It would be insulting to you to say that my religion is "right", but it IS right for me.\n\nSince we are a world of 6 billion, we could hardly agree on anything as a group. We haven't yet....\n\nMy religion,Christianity (Evangelical Lutheran) serves me best in it's promotion of love and peace in our hearts and in the world. That part is a great element for me, I hope for others. The other elements of satisfaction are giving to those less fortunate, helping the sick and needy, sharing random acts of kindness and sharing the glory of the Gospel (The word of God) are all loving and gentle ways of living in our world.\n\nSince there is no judgement allowed in Christianity, no killing, stealing, adultery or disobediance to parents or authority figures, the discipline is simple, "Love others as you love yourself". \n\nWhile all of these guidelines of behavior have been violated by all Christians at one time or another, it is comforting to know that God still loves us and forgives us for these sins by our repentance and confession to Him. \n\nWhat could be more comforting than that?
1124815
It's a great concept. I am leaning towards it. I'm not in religious organization nor do I go church but I do believe in God. I have been studying religious Humanism which I believe is the same as Christin humanism. I believe in the trinity but yet I see contradiction in the scriptures. In my heart, I believe that Jesus was God. I just started studying this in the past few months.
319077
I briefly considered paganism when I decided to drop christianity, but I just couldn't get into it.  I don't think that paganism is just one religion, but I think the basic idea is that you revere, or even worship, nature.\n\nI just couldn't see myself praying to the sun god or whatever.  Why trade one god for another - or many?  I decided to go atheist instead because it made much more sense to me.\n\nBut anyway - I think they have a fairly good idea, being in tune with nature and whatnot.
1052217
You are missing the big picture that separates Christianity from other religions.\n\nChristianity teaches man is saved by faith alone and good works is a response to that gift of salvation.\n\nOther religions teaches that man is saved by good works and faith. Salvation is earned not given
1098176
Of course I believe in God, silly boy. I just don't choose to be Christian. I'm a Non Denominational Happy Pagan Person. God and I keep organized religion out of our relationship. It simplifies matters greatly.
224203
You left one of your list: "God said so" or "I've had personal experience with God."  Those people scare me.\n\nThe Bible is a good book.  The stories are engaging and are generally pleasant to read.  But that doesn't make it true.  I think that in part Christians believe in God for the same reason I'd like to believe that the Harry Potter books are true.  \n\nBut beyond that, the purpose of religion is to explain the unexplainable, to provide a source of morality, and to try to address the age-old question of the meaning of life.  If people believe they are serving God, they feel that their life has purpose.  If people believe in God, they can start to determine if they are good people because at least they know what it means to be a good person.  Whether or not they live up to their moral ideals, at least they know what to strive for.  If people believe in the Biblical myths, they know where they came from, why there here, and why things are they way they are.  Even if that knowledge is entirely wrong, they don't have to wonder about it.  Religion also provides continuity and some sort of stability from day to day, week to week, and generation to generation.\n\nNo one's going to be able to give you factual evidence for the existance of God because he doesn't exist.  But I'm not sure that even matters.  Believing in God isn't about being right it's about believing.  I'm not sure that the accuracy of the stories is really relevent to their power.\n\nBut that said, I'm still an atheist :)
1110378
Yes, Actually I support this view, and indeed I have answered as such in previous questions despite being a staunch atheist.\n\nI think that the historical jesus was a good man, who had good ideas about how to behave and conduct oneself.  However, I don't believe it had anything to with a 'higher power' or indeed anything supernatural.\n\nThere are many good inspirational works from people in history.  I for one have a library of Chinese Philosophy centering around Daoism mainly from BCE.