Christians, why are you afraid of adapting other philosophies too?

This is for Christians who shy away from philosophies like Taoism or some forms of Buddhism that lack a "God" and are purely philosophical in nature. Do you think there's something inherently wrong about them, do you have a thing against foreign cultures (maybe apathy?), or do you just assume you don't need to study them because you already know so much?


And here's a follow-up question: Since fields of engineering (like civil engineering, electronics, etc.) aren't in the Bible, does that make them automatically false? If not, then that must mean it's possible for people to discover valuable or at least useful knowledge that isn't in the Bible, and that would have some big implications in itself.

You will get a million different answers because everyone interprets the interpretations of the bible differently.

This is not allowed, I thought. I thought people were supposed to follow it to the tee, but since the bible has been mistranslated and even plagiarized, how is this possible?

Originally posted by impaired
This is not allowed, I thought. I thought people were supposed to follow it to the tee, but since the bible has been mistranslated and even plagiarized, how is this possible?

A lot of Christians seem to think that many versions of the Bible (the ones they don't read) are perversions or represent Satan's influence trying to mislead them.

But since things like civil engineering and electronics engineering aren't taught in ANY Christian Bible, yet we get obvious use out of that knowledge anyway, it's a more interesting question to me. Maybe the Bible is not the only source of truth after all?

Seems like you dont want a response on this. Your OP was so condescending no one that may have had an answer for you would post here.

Originally posted by SlyingFaucers
Seems like you dont want a response on this. Your OP was so condescending no one that may have had an answer for you would post here.

Man, what's so condescending? Really?

Do you just not want to think of an answer to either question?

reply to post by bsbray11


Afraid? Christianity in its modern form has the odor of neo-Platonic philosophy all over it. Hell, the Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation comes from Aristotle.

They have adopted other philosophies, they just hate admitting it.

reply to post by madnessinmysoul


Indeed, the Catholic Church has made the (in my opinion) accurate claim to be the Universal Church because it has always assimilated other philosophies. The Church was, in the early days, a super-denominational group that allowed basically anyone to join, as long as they confessed to a brief list of beliefs. The early creeds of the Church were much easier to convince someone of than the modern creeds of any Church, which have become far too convoluted. The Old Church loved everybody, and lured them into its delicious honeypot of a religion, whereupon it began digesting them, making them more or less homogenous over the centuries. Nevertheless, the Catholic and Orthodox faiths are extremely diverse to this day, with various saintly cults filling the vaccuums left in indigenous cultures by the loss of their old Gods.

The Catholic Church is like a Symposium for every deity that has ever existed, officiated by Jesus Christ, and recognizing implicitly the prophethood of Muhammad, Buddha, and other global religious figures.

The Protestant faiths are intellectually and spiritually impoverished, the root of the Aryan-Nazi evil, and basically anti-life incarnate. Why else would they loathe debauchery and festivity, while the Catholic Church endorses carnivale?

I would say christianity is the most open minded religion on the face of the planet, after all christianity is western society (in many senses). Im catholic (one of the appearently strict forms of christianity) and im open to pretty much learning and understanding everything i possibly can. Your judging christians on the strict followers when the real bulk of the christian population would say something like, " Oh yeah Im christian, i think". Most christians I know dont ever go to church but they still dont denounce their faith.

In my opinion christianity is a pretty decent religion because it offers you the bible which is full of stories on how to respect and build civilization with your fellow man and its no big deal if I say creationism is bunk as i understand that because of the lack of science at the time of the bible being written how would evolution be in there anyways. I dont think God would have gone to a prophet and been like, " ok so your made of many little cells with DNA and I fixed yall up with some mechanisms like evolution so you can adapt to your environment, now pay attention cause hydrogen bonds form alpha helices naturally with the components of DNA and hydrophobic protiens are held on the inside . . . you getting all this Moses, oh yeah you only have a rock to write on, so on second thought we will just do the ten commandments.

Science can never disprove God, it can only disprove people that influenced christianity that were full of [snip]

Originally posted by LetsTouch
Your judging christians on the strict followers when the real bulk of the christian population would say something like, " Oh yeah Im christian, i think". Most christians I know dont ever go to church but they still dont denounce their faith.

This thread really isn't meant as an attack on Christians. I even started off with "This is for Christians who shy away from philosophies like Taoism or some forms of Buddhism..."

So far no one fitting that description has posted here, unless that was SlyingFaucer complaining about the OP being condescending because it fit his bill.

I'm rather inclusive in all the things I believe as well. And being a Southerner I can hardly have anything against Christians without having something against most of the people who live in my area.

reply to post by bsbray11


Oh boy. I want to try to answer this, but it will be hard to put it into words, so bear with me. I've told my story about how I was married to a pentecostal preacher for 14 years, over and over in here and then what eventually led to divorcing him, so I wont go into that part again, but I'll try to speak from the way I saw things when I was still living in the mind-set.

I think that a big part of Christianity is fear... fear of God, fear of going to hell, fear of being judged by others. You name it. Fear motivated me more than anything when I was going to church and trying to be a "good Christian." Of course, I was taught that being a "good Christian" was basically looking down on other people who weren't like me, staying away from people who believed differently from me, etc., etc. This is kind of beside the point really, but it does tie in to the fact that I was scared that if I didn't do all these things, I'd go to hell. And heaven forbid that the rapture happened while I was chatting it up with someone who was an alcoholic, or drug addict, or whatever! I can't speak for everyone... I can only tell about my own experience but what I experienced was a whole big bunch of fear-mongering.

Slowly, I started to use my brain (that God gave me for a reason!) and realized that most of the other "Christians" I knew were a bunch of superstitious, holier-than-though, hypocrites. There were a few genuine ones, but they were few and far between. These people were so scared of being rejected by other PEOPLE in the church that they stuck to the crap that had been crammed down their throats, instead of doing their own reading, praying, etc., and trying to figure God out by themselves.

I eventually got out of church and it was like leaving a prison. What I learned from my years in it all though was that Christians are scared of what they don't understand and the ones I knew never even TRIED to understand anything else. The teachings of Buddha, for example... how can you go wrong by living by the teachings of Buddha? I've researched all kinds of other philosophies and belief systems since I left the church and what I've found is that there is nothing WRONG with most of it! I remember being taught that worshiping nature was witchcraft and of course witchcraft was an abomination! Wiccans were usually the ones who were used as an example, but honestly, what is so bad about respecting nature and believing that whatever harm you do to someone else will come back on you? Christianity basically teaches the same thing, but stick a different label on it and it's instantly evil and "of the devil."

So, in my case, I can honestly say that fear of hell or "being left behind" is what kept me from exploring other beliefs. It was basically forbidden to wander outside the Christianity box because whoever did would burn forever!

Speaking from my experience, I think that ignorance is the reason people are afraid of adapting to other philosophies. The people I knew simply didn't think for themselves. They let other people do all the thinking for them and never questioned it. This is what I call "the blind leading the blind." I have found that when it gets right down to the basics of what Christianity is supposed to stand for, I'm a better Christian by choosing to study, learn, and practice other philosophies. Many of the people I knew thought that meditation was evil. What could possibly be bad about quieting the mind? I think the answer is that the churches I was involved in knew that if people were to meditate, they may actually come out of what they were brainwashed into believing.

I still consider myself to be a Christian, but many people would not. I believe in Jesus, but I do not believe in the King James Version of the Bible that most Christians basically worship. I meditate, I think Buddha was a pretty awesome dude, and I'm really into metaphysics, I believe in past lives, etc. I think all of this stuff ties right into to Christianity, but the people I used to go to church with would condemn me to hell for this. The only thing I can hold against them though, is not thinking for themselves. It's crazy what you will believe when you're terrified of believing something else.

Like I said, I can only speak for myself, but being that I believed just like every other Christian around me, I think the fear of hell is the biggest thing that keeps Christians from exploring other philosophies.

I have to say, now that I've gotten out of church and opened up to other philosophies, I can't say for sure what God is. Is he Universe? Is he the Creator? Is he a high and mighty spirit sitting on a throne? Is he (*gasp*) an alien? I don't know the answers to these questions, but I think I'm better off not knowing than blindly believing what someone else has told me. I do feel like God, whatever God is, loves me now though. When I was in church, I felt like God absolutely hated me and just wanted to see me suffer. I don't think that way anymore and I've grown so much spiritually that I just can't even explain it. When I was in church, I was spiritually dead.

God is love. Christianity taught me to hate. I think true Christianity is probably a good thing, but people got a hold of it and screwed it up. Once again, I'm speaking for myself only, but I think the same story probably applies to a lot of people. If you believe in God, develop of a personal relationship with God! You can't develop a personal relationship by believing what you've been TOLD to believe. That's really no different than belonging to a cult!

I could go on and on, so I'll go ahead and stop here. This is something I feel strongly about it though and I think that you, OP, have asked an excellent question!!!

reply to post by bsbray11


As a christian, all I do to consider my self as one, is try everyday to be a better person, using all the concepts Jesus The Christ gave us. Even if I fail, my attemps are considered by The Lord.

Christian is not the same as catholic or baptist or mormon. You can be christian without participating in any church in particular. It works like this :

You accept Jesus as the Son of God (The Father). After recognizing His authority, all you need is to follow what He teaches us. THAT IS ALL.

You can be a christian without knowing it, after all....all that Jesus tought us is love and how to elevate our level of conscience. I also know and accept other concepts that point in the same direction, regardless its origins.

Like me, many christians believe in re-encarnation or karma. The Kybalion (Hermetic Philosophy), doesn't represent a conflict with christianity in a pure concept. All these are universal or even further, cosmic concepts and they don't belong to any religion just because it appears in their books.

Concepts in other books besides the Bible can be accepted too. If you have time, do a little research about the history of the Bible. You'll find that it's not one book, it's actually a compilation of many texts. The Bible is an important piece of the puzzle, but there is more out there.

I wish these few words help you to understand what means to be a chrsitian.

reply to post by bsbray11


Yeah your right. I also think that the christians that shy away should be more open minded. I have lost a friend because he segregated himself from myself and others who tried to influence him to have an open mind or at least consider other ideas.

Originally posted by bsbray11
This is for Christians who shy away from philosophies like Taoism or some forms of Buddhism that lack a "God" and are purely philosophical in nature. Do you think there's something inherently wrong about them, do you have a thing against foreign cultures (maybe apathy?), or do you just assume you don't need to study them because you already know so much?


And here's a follow-up question: Since fields of engineering (like civil engineering, electronics, etc.) aren't in the Bible, does that make them automatically false? If not, then that must mean it's possible for people to discover valuable or at least useful knowledge that isn't in the Bible, and that would have some big implications in itself.

I'm proud to say i'm a christian.... However, i do not take it to an exteme I am more than willing to listen to other peoples religon if they are willing to listen to mine.i've got friends from every type religon and every weekend we have a civil conversation about what was said in church... And this part will throw most of you for as loop I'm a southern baptist there i said it happy now lol.If more people from every religon would open up and listen to whats the others had to say they would find they have alot in common and the mojority of the wars would stop. IMO i think most religon beleive in one GOD but just call him/her by a different name. I do see where your coming from tho most christians do get fighting mad but its not just them just about every religon has those types of people.

reply to post by gemineye


That was an admirable post you put there, both in scope and depth.

Warm applauds, and let's hope it inspires more people with your insight and attitudes to come forward.

From joining the religious subforums on ATS I sometimes get the impression, that a considerable part of the active evangelist christians here are bonkers.

From alpha to omega. From their weird presentations, which rather will scare away potential converts than attract them, through the inter-christian quibblings; ending with endless embellishment of their myth, reminding more of product-selling advertising than a genuine search for truth.

I'm not a christian myself, so I can't relate directly to OP's question. But as a student of comparative religion I have a perspective. It's my impression, that invasive extremists in general shy from broad bases of information. Their own 'message' must be kept 'pure', unsullied by 'heresy', dissent or whatever.

Extremists are often extremists because of their narrow mindsets, preferring simplistic 'absolutes'. 'Authorities' running various ideological groups naturally encourage such monomania.

History has Hitler-jugend, the Stalin-cult, Mao's red squads and 'christian soldiers'. They are the 'danger', not the average person living more or less nominally inside an ideology.

I myself find the need for nothing besides the words of Christ...I have studied numerous belief systems, Though some othes have truths, none other is as fulfilling..

reply to post by bsbray11


Your OP WAS condescending and I think it may deter people who may have had a relevant opinion on YOUR thoughts from posting. I did not respond to your OP, because I dont think I fit the bill of who you would like to respond.

I am a Christian. I beleive in God. I beleive in Christ. I beleive UFOs/aliens exist. I beleive ghosts exist. I beleive in life after death. I am on the fence on time travel. I beleive the bible is a historical document. I dont beleive the bible contains everything that has been and will ever be reported on the saga of man. I think most religions have some merit to them because they are all based around the same stories and teach the same principles and values.

I dont think I have neccessarily figured out how everything fits together as Im sure you havent either. I respect all religions and I respect everyones right to have their own opinions. Religion is beleif and faith.

The reason I jumped on your OP is because I think that most of the closed mindedness about religion comes from attacks at peoples intelect and beleifs. This prevents an open dialog that could be beneficial to all parties involved.

You are welcomed to faith with open arms, but speak upon, and you die. Why are people so against unity and peace? And why are people so arogant that they claim to know holy truth when its all open interpretation? Oh and how do you know it isnt gods will for religion to end?

Afraid of?

I thank God I was delivered out of those artificial phony "philosophies" and later came to know and realize the only true living God. How could I ever go back to the smelly empty vanity that they offer your ego. What shall I fear? Ha ha ha ha.

Originally posted by 2XOHsurf
Afraid of?

I thank God I was delivered out of those artificial phony "philosophies" and later came to know and realize the only true living God. How could I ever go back to the smelly empty vanity that they offer your ego. What shall I fear? Ha ha ha ha.

Could you please make some sense of this?

Are you sarcastic? What is your position?

reply to post by LetsTouch

Originally posted by LetsTouch
I would say christianity is the most open minded religion on the face of the planet,

I'm going to be logically fallacious for a moment, please excuse me:
Are you really serious with that? I can't believe you actually think that!

I'm sorry, I apologize for this, but I thought that it would be honest of me to share my initial reaction to this post.

Christianity (even in its modern form) is a 'follow us and miss out on eternal reward and/or be eternally punished'. It has a strict set of guidelines and doesn't take too well to the honest academic question to the lack of existence of the guy you have a very silly picture of as a historical figure (I mean seriously, a white Jesus? He would have almost certainly been a dark skinned, black haired individual.)

after all christianity is western society (in many senses).

No, western society is the intersection of rationalist and empiricist philosophy. It is the world given to us by science and rational thought, not one given to us by religion. Please, tell me how you can make the bold claim that Christianity is western society.

Im catholic (one of the appearently strict forms of christianity) and im open to pretty much learning and understanding everything i possibly can.

Huh, reminds me of how I used to be. Ended up an atheist myself. I mean, your Church condemns birth control (except for in the instance of other sins like prostitution), demonizes homosexuals, covers up pedophilia, actively suppresses the people of the nation I live in (Malta, the Catholic church has managed to prevent divorce from being legalized here, amongst other problems), and that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Granted, I admire your openness to learning, but your personal inclinations do nothing to the general character of your religion.

Your judging christians on the strict followers when the real bulk of the christian population would say something like, " Oh yeah Im christian, i think".

I judge Christianity, not Christians, though the OP does not make the distinction. Granted, I judge individual Christians for their own actions, though I'd never judge them all for the actions of one.

Most christians I know dont ever go to church but they still dont denounce their faith.

Hard to denounce something when you blindly accept it as true.
Most Christian I know don't know half as much about Christianity as I do, and I'm the atheist.

In my opinion christianity is a pretty decent religion because it offers you the bible which is full of stories on how to respect and build civilization with your fellow man

Yep, a great civilization full of slavery, misogyny, murdering of homosexuals, and a suppression of rational thought. Oh, and no guys with long hair, it's shameful. And the reasoning for it is sexist:

1Corinthians 11:14-15
Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?
But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for [her] hair is given her for a covering.

Have you actually bothered to read the Bible? Try reading Paul's various letters and tell me what you think.

and its no big deal if I say creationism is bunk as i understand that because of the lack of science at the time of the bible being written how would evolution be in there anyways.

Well, what else don't you accept in the Bible? I mean, I'm guessing you reject geocentrism, spiritual causes of disease, the flood story, etc but I want to make sure I have you figured right. I'd hate to assume.

I dont think God would have gone to a prophet and been like, " ok so your made of many little cells with DNA and I fixed yall up with some mechanisms like evolution so you can adapt to your environment, now pay attention cause hydrogen bonds form alpha helices naturally with the components of DNA and hydrophobic protiens are held on the inside . . . you getting all this Moses, oh yeah you only have a rock to write on, so on second thought we will just do the ten commandments.

You know what, some basic physics and biology would have been a great help. Germ theory. Antibiotics. Advanced farming practices.

And the ten commandments? They suck. They treat women as property, put the crime of disrespecting your parents as more grievous than rape, and almost half of them (the first 4) don't actually help people be moral individuals.

Hell, the Pythagorean theorem, F=ma, or the idea of crop rotation. Why would that have been so difficult?

Science can never disprove God,

True, but it's not on science to disprove it. The burden of proof is on the people claiming it, not on the people who don't accept it.

it can only disprove people that influenced christianity that were full of [snip]

Including Jesus! (if he even existed as a historical figure)