I hold Christian faith. In some ways, I hesitate to label myself as "religious," as it seems to me that a great deal of stuff that has been done and said in the name of Christianity is a bunch of rubbish -- while I believe Christianity itself is good, I also believe that a lot of cruft and misinformation has been tacked on over the years.
Even amongst Christians, there is a regrettable amount of division. This group believes X, this group believes Y, this group believes Z, and none of them want to have anything to do with each other. It's a mess, and I really don't understand why folks act that way. But it makes it hard to discuss matters of religious belief, because as soon as you present view X, those who hold view Y are prone to get angry or cut you off or whatever. Then adherents of view X get angry, and adherents of view Z think X and Y are both wacky, and... sigh
Certainly, not all religious people are like this; I don't mean to claim that at all. It may just be, like in many arenas of life, a vocal minority really can't get along, giving the more sensible majority a bad reputation.
Several years ago, I participated in a reasonably successful online forum about Christian music production. After a couple of years, a few people totally ruined it for everyone else by turning the forum into a religious flame war, and the forum was eventually shut down. My guess is that online communities centered around religious topics could only exist both peacefully and for a long duration with heavy moderation.
I've noticed there's a difference in how people who label themselves "religious" and people who choose the label "spiritual" act (at least in the Bible Belt). Most of the people in my hometown who chose religious would beat you over the head with how good of a Christian they are and criticize you for not following what was clearly the One True Way. My father-in-law is proud of being a religious man and it's frustrating that he's unwilling to accept other's beliefs.
The ones who chose spiritual were much more pleasant to be around. My spiritual friends usually let me know what time their churches' main events kick off and that I have a standing invite if I decide I'm interested. Most of the time I forget they go to church X until I ask them to do something and they have prior plans involving their church. They also don't brag about their work within the community. They tend to be the type who will say "Glad I could help" and really mean it when someone thanks them. In contrast, my father-in-law is proud of how religious he is and gets upset if he feels he wasn't properly recognized for his good works.
I've noticed that certain types of communities (usually the mainstream ones aimed at moms) tend to also be more religious than not. They're ok communities until something that has a religious aspect comes up and then it's witch hunting time. I've also run across a few niche Christian sites when looking for things related to my hobbies. They don't seem to have flame war issues, but they have closed forums for the main discussions and public forums to vet new members.
... I really don't understand why folks act that way.
They act that way because when 2 people disagree, and there is absolutely no way to determine who is right, the only way to convince the other person is to coerce them.
If I say "Santa has a blue suit", most people would say it's actually a red suit. Fine, lets go find santa and see what color his suit is, that is how you determine the truth, you go find out. But crapola, there is no santa, just fictional images of him, and if I take my 'facts' from a different fictional source than you, we will disagree forever because we are both hopeless morons.
But frankly, you don't have any reason to believe in Christianity. If believe you have talked to Jesus or an Angel, you need medical help. If you believe in these beings without having witnessed them then you are just buying into a very old rumor with no evidence whatsoever.
Comments
I hold Christian faith. In some ways, I hesitate to label myself as "religious," as it seems to me that a great deal of stuff that has been done and said in the name of Christianity is a bunch of rubbish -- while I believe Christianity itself is good, I also believe that a lot of cruft and misinformation has been tacked on over the years.
Even amongst Christians, there is a regrettable amount of division. This group believes X, this group believes Y, this group believes Z, and none of them want to have anything to do with each other. It's a mess, and I really don't understand why folks act that way. But it makes it hard to discuss matters of religious belief, because as soon as you present view X, those who hold view Y are prone to get angry or cut you off or whatever. Then adherents of view X get angry, and adherents of view Z think X and Y are both wacky, and... sigh
Certainly, not all religious people are like this; I don't mean to claim that at all. It may just be, like in many arenas of life, a vocal minority really can't get along, giving the more sensible majority a bad reputation.
Several years ago, I participated in a reasonably successful online forum about Christian music production. After a couple of years, a few people totally ruined it for everyone else by turning the forum into a religious flame war, and the forum was eventually shut down. My guess is that online communities centered around religious topics could only exist both peacefully and for a long duration with heavy moderation.
I've noticed there's a difference in how people who label themselves "religious" and people who choose the label "spiritual" act (at least in the Bible Belt). Most of the people in my hometown who chose religious would beat you over the head with how good of a Christian they are and criticize you for not following what was clearly the One True Way. My father-in-law is proud of being a religious man and it's frustrating that he's unwilling to accept other's beliefs.
The ones who chose spiritual were much more pleasant to be around. My spiritual friends usually let me know what time their churches' main events kick off and that I have a standing invite if I decide I'm interested. Most of the time I forget they go to church X until I ask them to do something and they have prior plans involving their church. They also don't brag about their work within the community. They tend to be the type who will say "Glad I could help" and really mean it when someone thanks them. In contrast, my father-in-law is proud of how religious he is and gets upset if he feels he wasn't properly recognized for his good works.
I've noticed that certain types of communities (usually the mainstream ones aimed at moms) tend to also be more religious than not. They're ok communities until something that has a religious aspect comes up and then it's witch hunting time. I've also run across a few niche Christian sites when looking for things related to my hobbies. They don't seem to have flame war issues, but they have closed forums for the main discussions and public forums to vet new members.
... I really don't understand why folks act that way.
They act that way because when 2 people disagree, and there is absolutely no way to determine who is right, the only way to convince the other person is to coerce them.
If I say "Santa has a blue suit", most people would say it's actually a red suit. Fine, lets go find santa and see what color his suit is, that is how you determine the truth, you go find out. But crapola, there is no santa, just fictional images of him, and if I take my 'facts' from a different fictional source than you, we will disagree forever because we are both hopeless morons.
But frankly, you don't have any reason to believe in Christianity. If believe you have talked to Jesus or an Angel, you need medical help. If you believe in these beings without having witnessed them then you are just buying into a very old rumor with no evidence whatsoever.