Is Christianity Really Brainwashing?

I agree with BillyBob. Period! Whatever the faith it causes problems that make people behave like they've been brainwashed.

To get back to the OP, is Christianity a form of brainwashing? I would say no, but it is a form of indoctrination (to teach (a person or group of people) systematically to accept doctrines, esp uncritically ) but this can also be said of many religions. For example if you come to Christianity at a later stage of your life (if you were raised a Muslim, or a Buddhist for example) reading the new testament would not brainwash you, where the problem lies is that people at a very young age are put into a religious environment and scared to defy its teachings with threats of eternal damnation, they are taught to fear the repercussions of questioning the church or religious body.

I think when Christianity first started, when people followed the way it was a very different religion than it is now, Jesus's philosophy (I see him as enlightened rather than divine) was of non violence, to turn the other cheek, to meet hatred with love, to heal and cure, and that god was a loving god. His focus was upon the weak and distraught, the ordinary people, when he was arrested, knowing the consequences of his arrest and his disciples fought the Romans attempting to make that arrest, Jesus stopped them, he healed the Roman soldier who had his ear cut off. Violence and hatred were not in his psyche, this can also be witnessed in his earlier followers, it is not an inconsequential matter that the early Christians were thrown to the lions in Rome, this was because the early Christian would NOT fight the gladiators, they would not use violence and therefore offered no sport to the crowds, the only entertainment was then to throw them to wild animals.

The trouble was this small cult (as it was seen by the Romans) kept growing, more and more Romans converted to Christianity, perhaps the idea of living in peace without excess in a moralistically bankrupt society appealed to them, but whatever the reason, this cult presented a real and very dangerous threat to an empire that had created its self, and maintained its self through military might, if its populous became non violent then the empire would surly fall and so a new strategy had to be made, the simple solution was to take over this religion and to use it for themselves, and so the holy Roman Catholic church was formed, and after that point wars were fought in "gods" name, it was OK to be violent towards enemies of the Roman state because god willed it...

There were many testaments written about the life of Jesus, how many may never be fully known, there is even meant to be a testament written by Mary of Magdalene, all of these were rejected however and only 4 were kept, those of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, many Christians believe that these are the same Matthew, Mark, Luke and John that were disciples of Christ that followed him on his Journey, but they are not, these are people that were not even born when Jesus was Crucified, but later wrote the testaments as if they were there, that in itself is misleading and should be a worry to many Christians.

Christianity has the same issues and problems as most religions, they are originally developed to answer the metaphysical questions inherent in all of us, to determine the meaning of life and to develop an ethical and moralistic way of living, however when someone is seen as enlightened others tend to give more credence to what they say, this in turns gives power and that power can be transformed by the corrupt and the unscrupulous ones, thins become twisted and far removed from the original message.

There are supposedly around 3 Billion Christians on earth, but if you mean real Christians, living by the original tenets that Christ preached I think that number would struggle to reach into the thousands, for the minute you let hate or anger into you heart you are already out of gods grace according to Jesus, and I see nothing but hate and bile coming from so called Christians here or anywhere else.

In my opinion, whilst religion claims it is all about god and worship, it is not, it is about control and power

Religion is about control, god is not about religion, and until that point finally sinks in, there will always be hate, there will always be wars and there will never be peace.

All religeon is brainwashing of course it is. Get them young and tell them scary stories that if they dont beleive their eternal soul will burn for eternity. Kids are too young to make informed decisions themselves and the only way to make religeon non-expolitation is to intorduce a minimum age of 16 and only after being taught about all religeons... let see how many choose Christianity.

Its so obvious Im surprised there has to be a thread about it.

Let me ask anyone who disagrees this simple question....

If the pope himself truly beleived in God he would spend all of his trillions of dollars worth of gold, property and companies and if this mony even only saved a single persons life then it would be worth it (if he truly beleived in god). Do you think if God was looking down at the pope he would be thinking...yes my son, keep the cash comming in I need a new boat!

reply to post by Scott495


Oi that was my idea read my last post
Great minds eh?

I wouldn't call it brainwashing in this politically correct society we live in, but I would call it psychological conditioning through threats of shame, death, and a $h!tty afterlife. Remember, "hell" wasn't always present in the Bible, including the New Testament, and during those early days Christianity wasn't as "popular" as it is now.
No one ever says they jumped on the Jesus Bandwagon because they liked the messages of love thy neighbor. If that's all it took, everyone would've just stayed pagan. No, it was the "sin" talk. The threat of damnation and "eternal" fire that converted most, and it's these empty threats that keep most in the church, and people back then were too naive or ignorant to understand that these threats were based on lies, marketing, and mistranslations.
I asked my father-in-law once what kept him going to church, and he didn't say "love", he said because he'd go to Hell if he didn't respect "Jesus and the lord." If fear keeps you Christian, then you really need to question the motives of the God your religion is preaching about.

Originally posted by boymonkey74
Excellent thread my fella

But expect a lot of them coming on here quoting scripture.]

LOL! Didn't you know... The Bible proves The Bible!

IRM

Originally posted by NOTurTypical
reply to post by LunaKat

 

Uuuh if you believe that stuff..then that is a conundrum. I don't believe any of that.

Okay, well.. you aren't required to under penalty of death. You can thank Jesus before you go to bed that you don't live in an islamic theocracy. Your unbelief would lead to the permanent separation of your head from your neck.

WOW, you people are unbelievable!! Because I don't believe in Christianity and didn't succumb to all the fear and brainwashing....now you figure you'll switch tactics and get me to believe by trying to freak me out about Islam?

I am seriously beginning to think there are truly no morals whatsoever in the majority of Christians. Its twist the so called "Word" and teachings to make any point, to be as obnoxious as possible and to justify hatred in whatever form that Christians wants to sling it. Especially that latter reason.

I am always amazed at the hatred pouring off Christians. But then again Christianity teaches all about demons, hell and Satan and so very very little about love and a decent God so I guess I should just not be surprised anymore. That fruit doesn't fall far from the tree with you people does it?

reply to post by LunaKat


I agree, and is one of the reasons I really loved the movie 'The Book of Eli'. Most Christians, you'll find, think they're the Denzel character "Eli" (truly righteous people living completely through faith), but are in fact the Gary Oldman character "Carnegie" (using the "Word" as a weapon to enslave people and insight fear).

Originally posted by FugitiveSoul
reply to post by LunaKat

 

I agree, and is one of the reasons I really loved the movie 'The Book of Eli'. Most Christians, you'll find, think they're the Denzel character "Eli" (truly righteous people living completely through faith), but are in fact the Gary Oldman character "Carnegie" (using the "Word" as a weapon to enslave people and insight fear).

I haven't seen that movie but I'll have to watch for it. Sounds like its spot on.

Originally posted by FugitiveSoul

I asked my father-in-law once what kept him going to church, and he didn't say "love", he said because he'd go to Hell if he didn't respect "Jesus and the lord." If fear keeps you Christian, then you really need to question the motives of the God your religion is preaching about.

I respectfully disagree. If fear keeps you Christian, then you need to question what kind of relationship you really have with God in the first place. To say you need to question the motives of God is like saying my daughter should question my motives and my love for her every time I choose to discipline her.

Well if you look deep enough, you'll find any religion or group could or does ''brainwash''. Christianity could be brainwashing people in to believing something which POSSIBLY isn't true. I don't say this out of hate of religion. I say this because I am unsure whether there is or isn't a greater power or a ''God''. It's just like any religion. Even an organization can brainwash people in to believing things that aren't right.

It's all in how you look at brainwashing. It could be meant in a way that they become mindless zombies who obey every order and they question nothing. Thing of an Anti ATS member. Or there is simply someone who follow others because of the influence they have on them. It may not always be a bad thing.

Originally posted by curiousrb
Well if you look deep enough, you'll find any religion or group could or does ''brainwash''. Christianity could be brainwashing people in to believing something which POSSIBLY isn't true. I don't say this out of hate of religion. I say this because I am unsure whether there is or isn't a greater power or a ''God''. It's just like any religion. Even an organization can brainwash people in to believing things that aren't right.

It's all in how you look at brainwashing. It could be meant in a way that they become mindless zombies who obey every order and they question nothing. Thing of an Anti ATS member. Or there is simply someone who follow others because of the influence they have on them. It may not always be a bad thing.

Yeah but I would say a primary technique of any group I would suspect of brainwashing is does it use fear and intimidation to gain followers? And failing that what is their reaction if the person still doesn't wish to believe it? Do they respond is pure hatred? Then there is a really high probability that they may be involved in something that involves brainwashing. Cause you know, at heart I just don't believe people are that way. I think a truly evil religion is making them that way.

reply to post by autowrench


In answer to the title of your thread...which is a question...

Yes it is...but also I believe that in many spiritual belief systems....there is a lot of good and good people.

I also believe that in (Heaven) are people from every religion and spiritual belief system....and also beings from other planets are there too; as well as many people who were gay...in the life they just left.

I believe that Jesus Christ really did live upon this earth at one time and he was well-intentioned.

There are many paths to (Heaven)...and really it is the condition of one's spirit and soul that matters...how you treat yourself and others.

Originally posted by EricD

Originally posted by LunaKat
Most definitely at least within the Catholic Church the leaders --upper higherarchy-- live the absolute lap of luxury. Look at the Vatican. Who but them lives like that? Not the majority of the worlds population doesn't. Not the elderly Grandma that chances are is sitting in the pew next to you. No they want what little she eeks out from Social Security to go into their collection plate. They raise tons of money where does it go?? Its not going to feed the world. Its going to pay for elaborate churches, mega churches, and Vatican. The poorer churches when they run into trouble financially are shut down. People try to get their churches saved because they've gone there all their lives and its "home" to them, but in the Church's eyes its a financial loss, so see ya. Go find another church.

Really? They live in the absolute lap of luxury? Can you provide some evidence of that? The money raised does not go towards feeding the world? It's for paying of elaborate churches, mega churches and the Vatican? Do you have any proof of that, either?

Do you have any information, links, proof or background for any of your statements?

And to cap things off, you start by slamming profligate spending and then end by slamming attempts at fiscal responsibility. Nice.

Here are a few things you might want to look into:

1) What's the annual operating budget of the Vatican? How does that compare to other institutions such as, say, Harvard?

2) What hospices, hospitals, orphanages, shelters and food banks are run by the Catholic Church?

3) How do you define luxury and what members of the Church hierarchy exist in that bubble? How do you support that claim?


Eric

Well said Eric. sadly there is nothing you can say to these people that will change their mind. There certainly are churches professing Christianity that exploit the people, just the same as there are charities which are as crooked as can be, with simply a small fraction of their contributions going to the actual charity or rather recipient. An earnest study is as far from these readers as Neptune. You will find their arguments filled with fabrication, fiction and often times outright lies, yet they will argue them as truths or conspiracy revelations. These are the ones spoken of as scoffers or the chaff. There will be no place in the presence of the Lord for these abominable people, and it will have been by their choice. Faith is about as explainable to an atheist as quantum mechanics is to a child, and no amount of wisdom will enter the mind of a fool. Churches are not necessarily Christianity, thus the many warnings to the early churches, and letters from certain Apostles. Religion has been corrupted all through the ages, if one could not gain power through political effort, the next best way of establishing political power was through religion. Religion wields great power. There is a great many hucksters that have set up shop in the United States, as it was relatively easy, religion held a certain amount of unquestioned trust. Thus the checks and balances were ineffective for the most part. Why would a man of God, be anything but....! Thus religion was ripe for manipulation. There are many many people that follow the teachings of Jesus Christ, in earnest, and a church need not be present, "where two or more are gathered in My name, I am there also", thus a church or religion or earthly building is unnecessary. Those who choose to attack Christ, will continue to do so, their hearts and minds are hardened, and God will let them revel in their foolishness, because they are not saved, nor will they be saved, unless God so chooses it.But it is very likely they will live convinced in their folly as a hedonist. Threads like this bring a multitude of scoffers and combatants to the topic, and they spew mindless venom, not bothering to study any proof's beyond gossips, innuendo's or " I heard ". Their arguments will carry some truths, chiefly 'religious' truths, which for a Christian are subject to 'mans' manipulations. Either you believe Jesus Christ was who He says He was, or you don't. Your choice will have a lasting effect. You will not have the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and the truth will remain hidden from you, as most of Revelations meaning was incomprehensible until these modern times. And should you reject Christ God or the Holy Spirit, it will also be hidden from the unbelievers, they will not discern. Everybody dies, and when that moment comes...... what will you think or say? Will you call on God, realizing the life you have wasted? The question now is............. are you willing to risk separation from God for all eternity. You can't even understand the Universe and its workings, how will your unbelieving worldly wisdom help you in eternity/infinity. The choice is yours, choose wisely, you only have one chance. .......peace be with you.

Originally posted by LunaKat

Yeah but I would say a primary technique of any group I would suspect of brainwashing is does it use fear and intimidation to gain followers? And failing that what is their reaction if the person still doesn't wish to believe it? Do they respond is pure hatred? Then there is a really high probability that they may be involved in something that involves brainwashing. Cause you know, at heart I just don't believe people are that way. I think a truly evil religion is making them that way.

You have a point there. If someone is ONLY using fear and intimidation to gain followers, I suspect that it could be an attempt at brainwashing. That's why it's so important to teach people how to develop a personal relationship with God. Without that, you have nothing, except fear. However, I don't believe that it hurts people to be reminded that that which created them also has the power and authority to diminish them. No one will escape death.

To the OP, I am a Christian and my personal experiences lead me to believe what I do, just as your experiences have determined what you believe. There is no explanation I can give you for why our experiences are different, but I know that we'll all face the same truth after this life is over.

reply to post by autowrench


All religion is brainwashing. It's a control mechanism for the weakminded.

Originally posted by Plotus
There will be no place in the presence of the Lord for these abominable people, and it will have been by their choice. Faith is about as explainable to an atheist as quantum mechanics is to a child, and no amount of wisdom will enter the mind of a fool.

And there we have it once again folks. Threat and claim that atheists are stupid people. Mind you that Plotus cannot even separate his thoughts into paragraphs and he just blathers on and on..but we're supposed to take his word for it that everyone else is stupid.

FAIL

Maybe it's brainwashing, but then it is only half of the problem. What religion do is only filling a blank spot in the mind.

From here i will just copy/paste what i said yesterday on another similar thread.

Believers have weak minds. Weak because they are not able to see the reality as it really is. The reality is that we don't know what is really going on, we don't know why we are here, we don't know why things are the way they are.

There is nothing in the natural world that can make us think that something like heaven or hell may exist, nothing at all. What we find in religious books is an over-simplification of something that we can't understand. Hell or heaven are only the representation of respectively the ultimate fears and hopes of mankind : suffer forever or live peacefully forever. We are just intelligent animals that try to understand what is going on. The real and only answer to that is : we don't know. We have made up gods that look like a man : they can be angry and they can be very generous, they do not allow you to disobey or else they want to make you suffer, they ask you to venerate them and pray to them.

Are you really aware of the nature of reality and its tremendous complexity? Do you really think that what we call god would act like a stupid angry man ? Do you really think god is man? Isn't that an over-simplification? What we call god is maybe something beyond our understanding. Maybe we are for "god" nothing more than a bunch of atoms, or maybe just energy ..

I understand that we are still a young species, and that we still have a lot to learn, and that's why i think beliefs are part of the activities of an immature species


(answering the "they had divine experiments, real contact with the divine" argument)
Is there any proof of that, or do we just have to *believe* people's reports ? Do you think that we understand the reality of things 100% or even the human brain 100% to be able to certify that we know for sure that what they saw or they thought they saw was exactly what they think or you think it really was ?

I am not a believer, but i am not an atheist either. I am agnostic, and it means (at least for me) that i don't feel the need to believe. I accept the ignorance, i don't reject it and replace it with something that i feel comfortable with.

It's the vanity of man that makes him think he has a direct line with the creator of the universe (if something like that even exists). Things would be very different if mankind wasn't the most intelligent species on earth ..

The vanity i am talking about is in the fact that you think you are important enough compared to the infinite vastness and deep mystery of the universe for the creator of all that exists to look upon you and give you his love. Do you think you are that important? Between you and me, you are the most proud and with an idea of self-importance, not me. I am as proud as a rock or as proud as water, because i know that what constitute this rock or that water is also constituting me.

Also, what makes you think the creator of the universe - if something like that exist and if that something is a unique and separated entity with a consciousness - thinks like you ? What make you think that he thinks in terms of love and other manly emotions? Again, you show vanity by thinking that god is like you, that he thinks like you, while he could be 100000000000000 others things that we have never heard about.

Humility is in my camp, because i know that i don't know.

Well, all i can say is that you falsely assume that you know, while you don't seem to understand that it is very easy for a human mind to believe anything and everything, that has been proved again and again through history. And like if it wasn't enough, what you believe in is a god that is strangely similar to a man, while you are yourself a man. That's called anthropomorphism.

In an infinity of possibilities, you chose to shut yourself up in an arbitrary explanation. I am sure that you believe what you say, and you see that's the problem. I am sure that you are completely comfortable with your beliefs, and you see that's the problem. The fact that what you call the "truth" is something comfortable for you is a problem in itself. Why should the truth be comfortable? Infinite love? WAAAAAAAAAH, i want it man, i want it sooo bad...... but, i can't accept it, i have too much respect for the truth, and while i don't know the truth, i am able to recognise false truths, easy truths.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

I think it was Gandhi who said 'The worst advertisment for Christianity is Christians'.

Christianity:
What began as a movement in Jerusalem, became a philosophy in Greece, an institution in Rome, a culture in Europe, and a big wealthy enterprise in America.

How far the apple has fallen from the tree, folks.
Is it any wonder people have such huge hang ups? In my mind, my heart, my faith, Jesus was and is divine. He came to share with the world what the kingdom of heaven looked like. People laughed, and still laugh because it is diametrically opposed to the way the kingdom of the world works.
Jesus had alot to say about money and posessions. None of them are necessarily 'bad' or 'evil', but He was aware of the great distraction they are. He Himself said, 'A man's life does not consist in the abundance of his posessions'.

Now let's contrast that with what people perceive to be 'Christianity' in this day and age:
The Catholic Church: Politically motivated empire used to control the people through fear and ignorance, accumulate vast wealth, create blind alliegance, subserviance to someone who has the kahoonas to call themselves infallible (ie the pope), fills its buildings with idols and icons which are strictly forbidden by the book it supposedly represents (worships Mary not Jesus (Mary queen of heaven being a pagan thing),) and pours a thin veneer of 'religious christianity' over a melting pot of ecumenical paganism to enable everyone to partake.
Wherever there is poverty and oppression, you'll find either communism or catholicism. Considering all the wealth the catholic church owns, you'd have thought it would give to the poor and oppressed to help them. Nope.

Extreme western/American Evangelicals with their 'Prosperity gospels' ("GOD wants you to be rich! Just send $500 to this address'....) . Alternatively, you have 'Kingdom/Dominion' types who are trying to impose the Kingdom of GOD on the world and force everyone into an equally religious theocracy.

I wonder if Jesus and His disciples would recognise the 'church'/'industry' that it has become.
I am trying to return to the source. I am trying to return to the life and way of discipleship Jesus laid out for those who were interested in following Him.

My Jesus told me to go into the world and share the gospel/good news. Like the parable of the sower, scatter the seed and where it falls, it falls. It's not my job to convince the soil/the hearer. People will always scorn, some will accept it, some will struggle with it. Either way, that's not my problem. Sow a seed and move on, leave the fruit and growth (or lack of growth) to the owner of the seed. Nowhere am I commanded to force people anywhere to believe me. Nowhere am I told to withold good from those to whom it is in my power to do good to. Nowhere am I told to acquire as much wealth as possible and worship it as my god.
That's the thing. Money/wealth brings with it a certain type of freedom. People want to be free. Money can buy you your dreams, your ideal life, your ticket out of the rat race, etc.
Money is the god of this world. Money is what we expect to free us, to save us, to deliver us to provide for us all our life. Clearly, there are plenty of religious people out there who feel the same way.

I guess I have a whole lot more to say but will leave it there.

I am truly sorry that people feel the way they do about Jesus (or rather, about christianity). But because of what people have done in His name, I understand why. I think it's one of the greatest tragedys and travesties of this life.

Originally posted by Taz2122
reply to post by autowrench

 

All religion is brainwashing. It's a control mechanism for the weakminded.

I keep seeing this statement come up. How come I never see the "strong minded" elaborate or post an explanation? Are they lazy? Do they not believe in anything? How strong to you have to be to do that?