After Hours·5,441 discussions

Why I am not a Christian

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There are a couple of books with this title in aLibris, both in defence of modern or not-so-modern kinds of atheism. However, there is another, by a Chinese who had been brought up a Christian and decided on growing up that he had been deprived of his own culture (he knew about Joshua at Jericho, but not about some mythical lady’s tears washing part of the Great Wall away, for instance), so he took up some kind of Chinese religion instead of Christianity. Do you know this author’s name? I have forgotten it. I read an article by him in some English-language magazine in the 1950s or 1960s, explaining why he had now gone back to Christianity. I have forgotten his reason for that, too, so if you can point me at the magazine article you will make me happy.

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Needle in a haystack, I’m afraid. One magazine?

In reply to Why I am not a Christian

Lots of cultures, lots of beliefs. I recommend a philosophy that covers human experience in a useful, non-culture-centric way. Useful being the key word. I use the Bible. Works for me.

You should not be a Christian

In reply to Why I am not a Christian

Christian and Islam, They just promote their religion nothing else. If your religion is so popular then why you need to force the people to accept it. Why you do promotions.

I am a Hindu but I believe in Humanity which we read out in Our Bhagwad Geeta book. I respect all religions but don’t force peoples to convert them.

You are not the first person to make this point, and it’s a good one.

In reply to You should not be a Christian

There are many gods in your pantheon, many sects of Islam and many churches of Christendom. The particular group I belong to claim that the Bible – our holy book – forbids us to convert forcibly. Did you know that? You might consider ours to be like one of the free online courses that many universities have been offering. You can sign up to study the subject without obligation, and then you can adopt what you learn into your lifestyle or not, as you please.
In your case I can thank you for your interest and send you to our website, jw.org for more information. (We won’t force you to give us your money. 🙂 )Link removed by moderator

In the meantime I can point out that your Mr Modi is found by many to be doing just what you complain about, to citizens of his own country who happen to be Muslim.
If true, I find it sad, because a national leader’s
first duty is usually to help his own people, by nationality not by religion. Is it not?
If true, perhaps you can understand other people who also ignore the rules of their religion when it suits them.

I found this on (link removed by moderator)
“The Bhagavad-Gita is considered by eastern and western scholars alike to be among the greatest spiritual books the world has ever known.”
Funny. That’s exactly what we say about the Bible! 😀
Doug

And so you did EXACTLY what I knew you would!

In reply to You are not the first person to make this point, and it’s a good one.

I understand…you can’t help yourself…JWs MUST attempt to convert everyone by whatever means necessary. I remember as a young teen being told by a JW friend that in 1972 the JWs were going to be the only ones on earth, tasked with picking up everyone else’s bones, according to their “bible”. Well, guess what…DIDN’T HAPPEN! So, whatever ancient manuscript someone believes in…fine with me, but don’t make a fool of yourself. I also belly laughed at the so-called “evangelicals” that were predicting a landslide victory in the 2020 US election for one DJT…didn’t happen!!
So, be warned…no links to propaganda sites will be tolerated! I’ve removed the one in your comment.
Wiz

The version I heard said 1975. No matter, not our teaching. Your friend was

In reply to And so you did EXACTLY what I knew you would!

mistaken.

That “propaganda” link you removed. Can you please tell me what parts were not statements of verifiable fact about us? Those would be propaganda. Otherwise they would be simply teachings of facts about an organization. Like similar statements about Z-D, Tech Republic, the Democratic Party and the like.

“I understand…you can’t help yourself…” The Bible writer Paul put it this way. “… necessity is laid upon me. Really, woe is me if I did not declare the good news!” That good news is about God’s kingdom, the one Jesus himself described at Mt 6:9,10. (Which of the statements I just made are “propaganda”?) People call Paul a Saint and name churches after him; we’re in good company, anyway.

Looking forward to your reply.
Doug

You’re not going to get much of a reply from me.

In reply to The version I heard said 1975. No matter, not our teaching. Your friend was

To be quite honest, up until the recent addition of new moderators from CNET almost any live link would be deleted, unless it was an internal link such as to a pertinent ZDNet, TR or CNET article. I will say this…regarding almost every “prophecy” I’ve been exposed to over the years that has failed to come to pass ALWAYS gets recycled with some excuse that the original missed some such date, time between occurrences etc. and some new time frame offered for the “prophecy” to come true. Please note: I am not degrading YOUR faith or beliefs, those are YOURS, and by gosh you are entitled to them. One last note, we have gotten WAY off-topic from the OPs query…he was looking for a specific article published years ago. So, I think we’ve strayed far enough, long enough.
Take care! 😉

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